And without thinking, she blurted, "Good, then there's more for me."
His frown deepened, and Ivy had no idea why. If they were to act as mates, he was bound to see more of her true self going forward.
Strange how a marriage of convenience had encouraged some of the old Ivy, the person she'd been before she'd joined the Knights, to come out of retirement.
No, it wasn't the fact she was now legally bound to a dragon-shifter that'd done it. The mention of a surprise had been the only reason. Yes, that was it.
A knock on the door made her heart rate kick up. What she wouldn't give to get out of bed and go see what was waiting on the other side.
However, it'd taken both Nikki and Jane's help to change her clothes earlier. Ivy had a long road of recovery still.
But as a pale, dark-haired woman walked through the door, pushing a wheelchair into the room, Ivy wasn't sure what to say. If that was her surprise, then she'd grossly overestimated it.
Nikki waved to the woman. "This is Dr. Emily Davies. She's a human, like you, and has been helping our doctors here on Stonefire. She convinced the other doctors to allow you a short visit outside the surgery, provided Emily's there to monitor you and that you're also in a wheelchair."
Zain growled before Ivy could say a word. "No. Taking her from the room is bound to send her into a relapse."
Emily raised her brows, her Welsh accent filling the room. "Just because I spend the majority of my time doing research doesn't make me less of a medical doctor. I know humans better than any other doctor here, Zain. Or, do you want to challenge me on that?"
Before anyone else could jump in, Ivy blurted, "Why is a human doctor living on Stonefire?"
Emily smiled at her. "That's a long story, and one I'll save for another day. We only have about an hour before I have to bring you back here. And considering it's sunny right now, we should take advantage of the weather before it changes its mind. Because I know that if I had been in a coma for so long, I'd want to feel the sun on my face again."
Nikki tossed back the blanket around Ivy's feet. "Come on. She's right, and we outnumber Zain four to one anyway. He can't win against us."
Zain muttered, "I'm her mate. Or did everyone just forget what happened here?"
Sensing this was a sort of test and would determine how their fake marriage would play out, she looked at Zain and stated, "The doctors have cleared the visit, so I'm going. Unless you're going to physically restrain me to the bed, then stop wasting what little time I can have out of this room."
Nikki grinned. "I bet Zain has ideas of how to restrain you to the bed."
Blood rushed to Ivy's cheeks as a mental image of Zain lying on top of her, his face mere inches from hers, flashed into her mind.
No. She could barely sit up by herself. Ivy wasn't going to think of sex.
Let alone sex with a dragon, of all things.
And especially not a grumpy, verbally stunted one at that.
Zain stepped back and waved toward the wheelchair. "Then risk your health. But no one can blame me if she dies. I'm entrusting her into your care, Nikki, meaning she's your responsibility until I get back."
With that, Zain stormed out of the room.
Jane looked toward the ceiling. "Overdramatic Zain is not the best side of him."
While she yearned to ask what was the best side of him, she let it drop for the moment since Emily positioned the wheelchair next to her bed and motioned for Nikki to help her.
Emily nodded toward the chair. "Okay, let's get you situated and go. We have a very important appointment with a sizable group of people we can't be late for."
Since it took everything she had just to move what little she could when Nikki and Emily asked her to, Ivy kept her questions to herself.
"A sizable group of people" seemed like a lot. Especially when it came to those who didn't outright hate her or wanted to hand her over to the DDA.
It seemed the full breadth of her surprise wasn't over.
But odd as it was, she was starting to trust Nikki. She and Ivy were about the same age, and the dragonwoman always just seemed so happy.
Could she ever be the same?