War's Rose

Her Name

          Aries contemplated what Draven had just asked him ‘what did he want to do with his mate?’ Should he be the possessive dominant dragon he is and claim her here and now or should he slowly let her adjust to the idea of being a Dragon’s mate? He looked back at Draven an asked “What would you do if she was your mate?” Draven took no time in answering “I would lock her in my private bedchambers, and no one would ever see her again.”  Aries did not doubt this one bit by the sly look on Draven's face he knew what he meant. Which made Aries think of all the things he wanted to due to his new little mate.  Aries primal instincts were kicking in, he was wanting to protect his little one, his mate. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold off from claiming her. Her scent driving him insane! Just as he thinks he's able to control himself he hears a familiar voice, Ma. She's telling the new slaves after they're done eating, they can head to the washrooms and she will have their new clothing brought in shortly. Aries lets out a low guttural growl. Draven places a hand on Aries's shoulder and asks, “What's wrong?” in a concerned tone. Aries says, “The thought of her naked near another man.” He is practically growling out every word. Just then all the slaves stand up and start filing out to head to the washrooms. His mate was at the back of the line again. As she walks by, he can’t hold back any longer and grabs her by the waist and wraps both arms around her. Startled and a little shocked she lets out a small gasp. He leans down to her neck almost having to bend in half. He inhales her scent and immediately feels the calming effect she has on him, knowing that she is safe in his arms. Aries feels his mate shaking like a leaf under him and holds her a little tighter. This starts to anger him, the fact she fears dragons to this extent. Still at her neck breathing her in he whispers, “There is no need to fear me little one, I will never hurt you.” He picks her up bridal style and gives a node to Draven. Draven just smiles at him and shakes his head as he lets out a small laugh. Aries takes his mate back to his room so she can bathe in his room under his watchful eye. His heart warms as his mate slowly starts to relax in his arms and curls into his chest. After a few Minutes they arrive at his room. He slowly sets his mate down making sure she's steady on her feet before completely letting go. He opens the door and gently places his hand on her back and guides her in. She still has not said a word only the little gasp. He brings her to the middle of his room so she can take in her new surroundings. His room is very big compared to anything she had ever seen before the bed was so massive it could have held a whole family. There are a few doors and she isn’t sure where they all go. As she stares at the new environment, Aries grabs a few things for her that she will need for her bath. Finally, Aries gets a small glimpse of her face. Her wild hair covering most of it still. Aries once again places his hand gently on her lower back and leads her to the little washing area adjacent his room. He kindly asked her in the softest voice he can manage “Do you need anything else?”   Back to looking at the floor she shakes her head no. Aries slowly pulls the door closed to give her some privacy. As his little mate is in the bath, he makes sure his room in decent order. As he is waiting on her to finish up, not knowing how long she'll take. He thinks about what she must have been through to be this timid and scared of Dragons. Aries contemplates if she may have come from another horde, one that didn't treat humans fairly. Unfortunately, there are many hordes that find humans inferior and treat them as though their lives don’t matter. It's even worse to see how those dragons treat their human mates. Torture would be putting it nicely he has seen it himself first-hand. Aries worries his little mate will think he is one of these evil Dragons that will make her life a living hell. Aries realizes she has no clothing to change into that's clean. So, Aries opens his door to find a servant passing by an asks her to go fetch Ma from the kitchen. The servant nods and takes off towards the kitchen. Aries has this overwhelming urge to go check on his little mate and he's fighting it hard to give her privacy and not scare her any more than what she already is. After a few minutes here's a small knock on the door. He goes to open it and sure enough there is Ma. “did you need me?” Ma ask kind of nervous. Ares smiles at her and says “yes, I do need you. I need your help with my mate. Can you please go check on her and make sure she's ok?”  Ma gives him a warm smile and heads to the washroom. After a few more minute’s Ma comes out still smiling and let's Aries know she's running to get new clothes for her and a brush to tame her wild hair. Aries politely says, “Please don't make it anything too revealing.” Mom just shakes her head as she walks out the door to fetch the clothes. Aries sits on his bed not knowing what to do with himself. In a matter of hours his life has changed completely, no longer is he thinking of his duties to the Horde but now she consumes his every thought. Aries is overjoyed he found his mate but now this means he has a weakness. Other Hordes could use her to try and weaken me and overthrow us. If a leader of a hordes’ mate is taken its not as effective as you would think with the way some hordes are now running things. But take the best war dragon’s mate that also heads your army and that could be an issue. Aries’ mind is racing through so many scenarios he doesn't notice his little mate peek out of the washroom. Suddenly he is brought back to the present as Ma knocks on the door letting him know she is back. He sees a nice-looking dress laid over her arm in a blush color. He thought how perfect it would look on his mate against her natural coloring. He goes to follow Ma, but she stops him in his tracks and says, “You can wait until I’m done”. She laughs as she sees him pouting. A sight she definitely thought she would never see from a big bad war dragon like Aries.

          Ma goes into the wash area and sees the young girl sitting with her head down on a stool. She hands the clothes to the young girl and asks if she needs help to which she shakes her head yes. As the young girl stands, she is very shy about taking off the bathing towel which has her almost completely covered from head to toe. “Sweetie I need you to let go of the towel so we can get your dress on you.” Ma says in a quite soft manner. The girl nervously bites her lip, stands and drops the towel. Ma feels as if the air has been knocked out of her this poor little girl has scars all over her back, sides and upper legs. Ma starts to get her dressed quickly before Aries comes in and sees her like this. Ma knows Dragons don’t like people touching their mates and when Aries sees this all hell is going to break loose. We will be lucky if he doesn’t kill someone. Ma helps her dress in a beautiful floor length, off the shoulder, V-neck gown. Off the shoulder dresses a preferred by dragons so they can have access to their mate’s neck just in case they need their calming effect. Ma finishes off lacing the dress up in the back and has her sit back down on the stool to brush her hair and pull it back. Ma works her magic and in no time, she has brushed all the knots out and is pulling some hair from each side into a braid. When she is done the young girl looks like a lady, her hair is down in the back and looks even longer now that it's thoroughly brushed and the strands of hair Ma pulled back are holding her hair out of her face. Ma looks at her and smiles and asks, “Are you ready?” She just nods her head yes, and they walk out of the washroom.

Aries is pacing the room until he hears Ma clears her throat gaining his attention. His mate is still behind her looking down. “She is ready” Ma says happily. Aries can't stop staring at his mate, taking everything in. She was tiny even for a human, she would barely come up to his chest. He slowly walks toward his mate, and Ma takes this as her que to leave. He hears the door click closed and keeps walking. When he is inches away from his mate, he hears her breathing and heart rate pick up. He gently lifts her head with his hand to see her face. He is taken back with how in love he is with her she couldn’t be more perfect. From her heart shaped face to her rose tinted pouty lips to her cute little nose and finally those beautiful enchanting eyes she had Aries under her spell. He stared into her eyes a blend of emerald green and a deep brown work together to draw him in. Once his tongue wasn’t tied, he leans in   a says, “I never knew someone could be so prefect”. This made his little mate blush a soft pink color that made her look even more adorable. In one swift motion she picked her up bridal style and walked over to the bed. He carefully sat on the bed and pulled her to a more comfortable position on his lap still holding on to her as if she would fly out the window if he let go. He looks her in the eye and starts to talk “Little one, can you tell me about yourself? Can you talk to me? I promise I will not hurt you in anyway you are safe with me.” She looks up at him not sure what to say or where to begin. “How about we start with your name unless you want me calling you pet names the rest of our lives?” She got a weird look on her face and started to open her mouth but stopped. Aries looks at her wondering what's got her tongue? “You can speak freely around me; I want to know everything about you. The good and the bad.” He almost pleads to her. She opens her mouth and finally says something! “My master’s wife called me Aria.” Aries was overjoyed at finally hearing his mates beautiful voice. “It’s a beautiful name” he tells her as he leans his head down to her and kisses the top of her head. Aria gets a sad look on her face “Aria is just what she called me; I don’t know my birth name”. This made Aries sad to think she didn’t even know her own birth name. As to not jump into any topic too upsetting, he asked, “Why did she call you Aria?” She let out a small smile and said “My master’s wife loved listening to me to sing while we worked in the garden. She would sing along to sometimes. And my voice reminded her of an Aria she heard once.” Aries was over the moon happy to get this little bit of information about his mate. Aries was scared to ask her, but he needs to know so he can understand her better, he looks at Aria and asks, “Little one, I need to know how you feel about Dragons?”