The Profilers Shield [COMPLETED]

Six – Dragon did a Spinny Thing

“She…”

‘Tell him!’

“I…”

‘Do it!’

Ember escaped from his warm arm that cocooned her, Dagur looked confused. He seemed to have snapped out of his trance and realised that he held her to him for some time. He felt so comfortable in her presence he didn’t notice her snuggling into him. Damn. It shouldn’t be like that. No attachment. No attachment. No-

“You’re my Mate!”

No attachment?

What?

Mates?

Tears slipped down Embers cheeks. Her faced was covered by her hands as she sobbed. Didn’t she want a Mate? Oh, right. She’s mates with the guy who bought her. Dagur didn’t know what to say as she grabbed the vase and threw the feathers at him. “Cleora thinks you’re courting her because you bought me stuff, in return she gave you feathers!” She said through sobs, her voice muffled by her hand, the other still clutching the vase. Dagur had no idea what to do. He just sat there awkwardly, not wanting to speak or move. Judging by his Shie- no- Mates reaction she obviously didn’t want Dagur to know, let alone be her Mate. Was he subconsciously feeding her dragon affection without realising? Ember smashed the vase on the floor and continued to sob. Dagur didn’t want his Shield hurt… f**k that excuse! He didn’t want his Mate hurt so he got her away from the glass but not before gently putting the feathers in a safe place on the coffee table. Everything seemed to fall into place. His affection wasn’t mistaken; maybe it was because he was subconsciously wanted to give everything for his Mate? Even as she sobbed, Dagur couldn’t help but smile. “Stay there, I’ll clean this mess up.”

Ember couldn’t help but sob. Even as she confessed, even as she cried, even as she flung the feathers and broke his vase he still didn’t say anything. Dagur didn’t care and probably didn’t know how serious it was that she found her other half of her soul in his. All he wanted to do was clean the mess she made! Ember didn’t even realise he finished cleaning the place up and she was still standing there sniffling and whimpering until Dagur was guiding her up to her bed. When Ember woke up it was morning, her eyes felt dry and her nose felt cracked with all the snot that ran out and dried. Her mouth felt dry and luckily she found a glass of water on the side table that she greedily drunk before getting up, ready for the day. Judging by the weather, she decided on a yellow dress and black tights with pale underwear. Once showered and refreshed, Ember went downstairs and made herself some cereal. Where was Dagur? She strained her ears for any sound in the penthouse but heard nothing. Maybe he was still sleeping?

Dagur was far from sleeping; in fact he was called late in the night for a job. It took him a couple of goes but he finally found the place after getting lost. He found himself in a rough area so he felt like he had to guard himself a little more than usual. People eyed him like he was a walking currency sign. Jokes on them though, his was wearing his cheapest attire in his wardrobe. He was just wearing jogging bottoms with a matching hoodie underneath his coat. They couldn’t steal anything of value. He finally arrived at his destination; a shack in a small forest. Places like that are only used for shady business and he wasn’t so inclined to finish the job when he job there. Well, finish the job how the client wanted to at least.

Dagur saw a figure as he went closer to the shack, he couldn’t see anything that was distinct about it or the figure. Shouting was heard inside the shack but he couldn’t tell what was being said. The figure motioned to the door for Dagur to go inside, which he complied. Inside was what he expected, the smell of damp was overwhelming and nothing was in it. What he didn’t expect though was a woman, probably in her 40s, tied to a rickety chair with a rope. She was gagged. Next to her was a man at least 10 years older, red faced from shouting. He was glad of the coat since it was freezing inside and Dagur felt a little tired. “You hired me?” The man glared at Dagur with distaste, something that he was used to, as he spat out in a hoarse voice, “speak in our language, you lazy half-arsed profiler!” Dagur hated the man already; he was the one who hired this half-arsed profiler, not anyone else in the early hours of the morning. “You hired me?” Dagur couldn’t help but speak through gritted teeth, trying to control his temper. He was sleepy, cold and knew he was going to be underpaid at the end of this job. “This b***h of a wife here cheated on me! She said she didn’t but I know she’s lying! I smelt it on her!” The man shouted, not even confirming he hired Dagur. Did people usually smell their partners? Was it easy to smell s*x? Dagur didn’t know but what concerned him most was getting paid and going home. This was an easy job; why not ask for another profiler? “Why hire me for this job? There are others.”

“You’re the most accurate; now tell me she’s lying!” Dagur looked at the terrified woman, obviously not used to seeing her husband this pissed. Dagur stared at the man’s soul first before looking into hers. She had some bad luck. This man was her husband in name only, not in love but she was fully devoted to him and did everything he asked without question as he mentally abused her over and over again. Calling her names every given second, not giving a damn who heard and it wore her down. Dagur glared at the man, who translated that as him being right and he slapped the woman so hard she fell to the ground, shaking. “You f*****g b***h, how many men had you whilst I worked hard to keep a roof over our head!? Is our son really mine!?” He spat at her as she whimpered on the floor.

“It isn’t her you should be worried about.” Dagur said, shoving the man as far away as possible as he picked up the chair and untied the woman from it. Tears streamed down her face and Dagur ungagged her. “It seems your husband is self-conscious of his own cheating and took it out on you.” He said to the woman, her eyes wide with shock and her hand to her mouth.

“You weren’t meant to profile me, just her!” The man shouted as if it would help his situation. “It’s part of the job. Now I’ll tell you what you’re going to do.” Dagur took him by the shirt and pulled him up, his feet off the floor to be face-to-face. “Leave. Divorce. And never be in my sight again.” Dagur said out loud but then whispered in his ear, “Or shall I tell the King about your illegal doings?” The man nodded in response without hesitation. Dagur threw him out the door, the other figure that was outside before helped him up. As soon as the man was on his feet he ran, the figure not far behind. Dagur went back inside the shack. The woman still in shock was on her knees on the floor. “You.” Dagur got her attention. He took his coat off and the woman shrunk and started to sob. The hoodie came off next and was dropped in front of her. Dagur put his coat back on, if he was freezing, so was she. “Wear that. Go here.” Dagur instructed as he passed a piece of paper with an address on it. “They help women in your situation.”

The woman sobbed some more until she wailed, “I did! I did cheat on him!” Dagur helped put the hoodie on her and took her shoulders in his hands gently and tried to say even gentler, “Last time I checked, r**e doesn’t equal to cheating.”

Dagur finally came back home after what felt like a long journey back, the woman cried so much Dagur was sure she was only made up of 50% water by the end of it. He opened his front door and saw his dragon pacing in the living room. She heard the door and looked relieved to see him. “Hello, little dragon.” Dagur greeted as he came in. He patted her head. She must’ve gone for a fly earlier on. “Nice flight?” Cleora did the little spinny thingy when she was happy and lied next to him on the sofa, but not before plucking off another feather to give. The gesture gave him more warmth in his heart due to fully knowing why he was given it. “Thank you, little dragon.” Since his Mate broke the vase he had nowhere to put them, so he placed it with the others on the coffee table. “Ember told me your name is Cleora and I’m your Mate.” Cleora nodded happily and shuffled closer to rest her head on his lap. He petted her head some more. “I haven’t loved anyone before so you’ll have to teach me.” Dagur said absentmindedly as he kept stroking Cleora’s head. It made him feel more comfortable to talking to the dragon rather than Ember, probably because Cleora couldn’t say anything back. Could his Shield hear him? He didn’t care, he kept talking. “Sad isn’t it? 3200 years and I hadn’t been emotionally or physically connected to a woman. People thought I had another s****l orientation.” Dagur felt like he was talking to himself, not another being as he rambled. Cleora kept silent but looked closely at him, as if she understood every word. “Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you all this. You’ll be disappointed in your Mate.”

Sadness washed over Cleora. How could she be disappointed in her Mate she waited so long for? “I had always been a loner; people never really liked me or anything. As I grew up people thought it was a dominating persona thing I had going on. I just didn’t know what to say or do.” Cleora listened intently as Dagur rambled about himself, Ember kept quiet in her head as they both listened, which was rare because usually either of them had something to say. But their Mate was talking and they wanted to know everything from his favourite plant to his hopes for the future. “I had a clan once, but they made me leave once they found out my abilities. I was 10 human years old. I guess they didn’t want people knowing their activities with just a look.” Dagur smirked at the floor. “I still got my education, and even got a degree.” A degree? What’s that? It must’ve been an Old World thing. “Hardly anyone had abilities back then so people had to show their worth by studying for a piece of paper.” Dagur chuckled, noticing the confusion on her face. “An expensive piece of paper.” He muttered. Study and buy a piece of paper? That seemed not worth the hard work. “The Old World died and then the New World built itself up. I gained clients along the way, one being King Malik. The end.” Ember decided she wanted to be in control and they shifted. She grabbed the throw on the sofa and wrapped herself in it, making sure not to show anything indecent. Dagur looked at her, a little shocked and Ember smiled as she grabbed his hand to put on her head again. Dagur automatically felt the soft strands of her hair as her head lay on his lap again, facing up to see him. “I’m a princess of a small island that inhabits dragons. I was running away after my parents accepted a hand in marriage in place of myself from a prince I didn’t know to create peace.”

Dagur stared at her as she told her story, making sure not to read her soul. Even if he could know everything about her in a few minutes, it felt right to listen and learn that way than invade her privacy. Ember lifted her head of his lap and shuffled so that her throw-clad body was close to him as much as possible, her head now leaning against his shoulder, her legs bent to her chest. A few shuffles here and there indicated she was trying hard to hide her modesty. A little bit of her legs were poking out and they looked pale and smooth as if they hadn’t seen the sun. He couldn’t see any of that internal red that he was so used to seeing. Ember continued, “I had a huge argument with my parents, their logic was that if I hadn’t found my Mate by now, then I wouldn’t find them at all.” A slight laugh came from both of them. It was nice to just sit and listen to a little of their history. The atmosphere was calming; especially after the night Dagur had… he didn’t get paid! Damn! He didn’t care though after some thought, he helped someone and that was enough payment for him. “I was captured by the person you bought me from, people bought me and took me back over and over again. I know it was a bad situation, but I’m glad I found my Mate.”

Both of them never felt closer since they first met, it hadn’t been long but the Mate bond helped them grow closer as the days passed. The lack of protection from King Malik hadn’t had any repercussions as of yet so that was nice. They usually had the routine where they were together most of the morning doing and talking about whatever, and then before dinner Ember would have a fly and that was when Cleora came back to be petted and chatted to. Dagur never thought that someone would be fully interested on what he had to say that didn’t include work so having someone around like Ember was nice. He didn’t care if she only listened to him because he was her Mate; it was still nice to voice out his thoughts. Four more days had passed before King Malik sent an invite to one of his parties, which was obvious that the king wanted Dagur to fulfil a job for him. Dagur rolled his eyes as he saw the envelope in his hand. The fancy lettering in gold and the kings’ insignia made the quality stationary look cheap but Dagur wouldn’t tell a soul he thought that. He opened the envelope to see a matching card inside. The gold was hard to read, he had to catch it in the light to even start to see it. It was on Friday night, at his mansion. That’s what it literally said, his mansion. Dagur thought King Malik’s ego was as big as his f*****g mansion.

It was Friday night, Ember did her routine of flying a little and then coming back, shifting when she was in her room. That was the only problem with shifting, she had to strip her clothes and therefore shapeshifting back was an uncomfortable situation for her. Luckily Dagur had large throws lying around the house to cover everything. She put some pyjamas on before she went into the bathroom to shower. Unlike most girls, she didn’t have to shave so that cut her shower time in even more than half. But unfortunately for her, Ember had to make sure to control her body heat so her hair wouldn’t get frizzy by it; otherwise she would look like a lion. A low heat on the hairdryer worked fine for her. Once it was dry Ember plaited little bits of hair on either side of her head 3 times before bringing them to the back of her head and tying them back with little elastic hairbands. Back at her home country, she had a lot of hair accessories, usually little gems that were hoarded and was made into the accessories by Ember herself. It was her little hobby when she was at home, but now she had none of those things so her hair looked a little dull. Maybe she should pay a visit back home now that she had found her Mate? Ember smiled to herself, she wasn’t rejected so that was a big plus but she wasn’t accepted either. Shaking her thoughts out of her head, there was a more serious thing to think about at that moment: what to wear?

After a few minutes, Ember still couldn’t think of what to wear. Dagur said she was coming with him but not as what. A Plus One? Or just as his Shield? Ember finally decided on the latter. It was the safer option so she picked out a black pair of jeans and a floaty top. Easy to move in and comfy enough without looking too casual. Ember left her room and bumped into Dagur in the process. It looked like he just came out of the shower, his hair still slightly wet and him only wearing joggers. Damn. He was toned but not obnoxiously muscly, his tribal tattoos, which Ember came to learn were some kind of markings from his clan, were prominent on his skin. She wanted to trace them with her fingertips… Ember cleared her throat and finally glanced up; Dagur was waiting for her to say something. “R-ready when you are.” Ember stammered and went passed him, trying not to cause any sparks by touching him. Too late, Dagur grabbed her arm to make her stop. “Didn’t you like the dress I bought? The grey one?”

Confused, Ember frowned. “Yeah you know I loved it.”

“Wear it then.”

“But as your Shield I need to be prepared, and being in a dress wouldn’t help.” Ember heard him sigh. “I thought you’d come with me as my Mate, not as my f*****g Shield.” Dagur muttered and Ember couldn’t help but beam up at him. Ember whimpered when his grip went too tight around her arm and he quickly let go. “Wear the dress.” Dagur said again and went into his own room.

Dagur looked in the mirror and smoothed down his suit jacket. There was a reason he liked the shop he got both the dress and his suit. The quality was almost as unrealistic as how well it fitted. It looked as amazing as Dagur felt. He smiled, thinking about how happy Ember looked when he said he was bringing her as his Mate rather than a Shield. Her red eyes lit up with affection. It felt nice. Dagur tied his burgundy tie around his neck and buttoned up his jacket. He hoped he was doing this Mate thing right. He wanted to show Ember that being her Mate was more important that having her hired as a Shield. Ember said before she was glad she found her Mate, so the only reasonable thing is to show off, right? Dagur ran his hand through his now dry hair a few times and called it styled. It looked fine to him and he stared at the final product in the mirror. He was suitable to be shown off… right?