She blinked back her tears. Having someone nearby who’d gone through this whole process before made her feel better. “Thanks.”
Samira gave another squeeze before she stood up. “I’ll draw you a bath and then make you something to eat. After that, we’ll pack your things and you can move in with me tonight.”
Too tired and full of emotion, Mel merely nodded again and watched Samira head into the bathroom.
As the sound of running water filled the room, Mel curled onto her side and put her hands under her pillow. Conceiving had been her entire reason for coming here, and expecting anything more than that was foolish. But somewhere deep inside, she’d believed that Tristan wouldn’t just knock her up and leave without so much as a glance.
But he had.
She almost started crying but then her stomach rumbled. Mel decided it was more important to focus on getting clean and feeding herself than crying tears over the dragon-shifter male she’d been assigned. She wasn’t the type of person to wallow in self-pity, and starting tomorrow, she was going to distract herself by exploring the dragon-shifters’ community and learning about their culture. Just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she was incapacitated. She fully intended to carry out her plan and find something to write about for her doctoral thesis.
“Mel, the bath’s ready!”
Uncaring about her nakedness, Mel climbed out of bed and went to take a bath. Maybe once she washed off Tristan’s scent she could stop thinking about his kisses. Or his caresses. Or the way he’d made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
After all, he’d only done those things because of his dragon. The man was consumed with so much hate for humans that he would abandon her without a word the instant he’d fulfilled his end of the contract and had known she was with child.
If that’s how he wanted things to be, then so be it. Bram had said a woman could refuse the mate claim after a child was born. In nine months’ time, Mel would be both a mother and free of a man who wanted nothing to do with her.
~~~
Tristan watched as two seven-year-olds squeezed their eyes shut and tried to shift. One managed to turn a hand into a claw with talons, but only for a few seconds before it morphed back into a human hand. The second child succeeded in turning a patch of his skin on his neck deep red, which would be the color of his hide, before that also disappeared.
He whistled between his teeth at the two children and they opened their eyes. He said, “That’s a good start, but if you’re not working with your dragon, you’ll never be able to change and maintain the shape.”
The little female looked up at him with big, brown eyes and said, “But Mr. MacLeod, I am working with my dragon. I pet her and coax her, but it doesn’t seem to work.”
Since he’d been doing this for years, he resisted a smile at the little one’s innocence. “Right now, your dragon is young and she wants you to pamper her. But, Misa, your dragon will soon become a strong beast that will fight for control. No matter how much your dragon begs or pleads, you must learn to be the one in command. Only then will you be able to channel your inner beast and make the change into a full-fledged dragon in the flesh. Does that make sense?”
Misa nodded and Tristan looked to the lad. “Were you doing the same thing?” The boy looked sheepish, but nodded. Tristan pointed to the far corner of the clearing encircled by high rock formations that served as his outdoor classroom. “Take some time to get a grip on your dragons. In a little while, I’ll call you over and we’ll try again. Okay?”
The two young nodded and scurried to the far side. Since all ten of today’s pupils were attempting their first shift or, like the two students he’d just dismissed, were getting to know their dragons, he had nothing to distract him from Melanie, let alone from thinking about his unborn child.
If everything went according to plan, he was going to be a father.
When he’d first scented the change, joy had shot through his body. The new life would not only add to his clan, it might give him and his sister the new start they desperately needed.
But the scent had also made his dragon go from being slightly possessive of Melanie to downright domineering. Despite everything, he’d tried to keep his beast from forming a bond, yet the dragon had become attached.
And so, when Tristan had been in control of his dragon again early this morning, he’d left without a word and returned to his duties. Working with the young dragon-shifters was the only way to force his beast to be calm and collected; protecting his clan’s young was the highest instinctual priority. Hell, working with and overseeing the children were the only things he could do to both stay away from Melanie and please his dragon.
As he walked around, checking his pupils’ progress, his mind started to wander to the last week. The first day had been all about letting his dragon loose to fuck the shit out of the human, but as the week progressed, and not even his mate frenzy induced energy-giving semen could prevent the human’s exhaustion, he’d had to let her rest more and more often. When Melanie had curled against him in her sleep, he hadn’t had the heart to push her away. And before long, holding Melanie’s soft, plump body in his arms had become something he’d looked forward to.
He’d very nearly forgotten that she was human.
Some might say he was crazy for focusing his hatred on a random human female, but apart from the dips and curves of her body or her soft cries during an orgasm, he knew very little about her. He wasn’t going to let his dick overrule his brain on this.
He’d hide out with the young dragon-shifters for a few days. He hoped the distance would help lessen his dragon’s attachment and need to claim her for good. Once that was done, he could check on the future mother of his child and investigate if she was a threat to his clan.
And if she was, mother of his child or not, he would find a way to get rid of her after their child was born.
~~~
Two days full of rest with food and sleep had done wonders for Melanie’s mental state. She no longer felt like crying every two seconds, and her brain was working at full power again, which was great since Bram had asked to see her.
Since the asshole, her current codename for Tristan, hadn’t bothered to even stop by and say hi, she was going to turn to her other designated protector and find out what she was actually allowed to do here. If she had to spend nine months twiddling her thumbs, she’d go insane.
She passed an unknown female dragon-shifter and Melanie smiled in greeting. But the woman glared at her and hissed, “You shouldn’t be here, you human whore.”
She blinked. After spending so much time with Samira, she’d forgotten that not everyone accepted her presence here.
Before she could say anything in response, the dragonwoman was gone.
She instinctively put a hand over her belly. Liam had picked up Mel’s “scent of pregnancy” yesterday within seconds of entering his and Samira’s home. While she had yet to take any official pregnancy test, two dragon-shifters scenting it had made the whole thing a lot more real to her. Now that she had something to protect, she really needed to get to know the people of this community and weed out the threats from the allies.
She may not be a dragon, but she’d do anything to protect her family.
But since she couldn’t even go around Stonefire’s community without Bram’s say-so, she picked up her pace. She needed to convince Stonefire’s leader that she wasn’t a threat. Well, as long as no one threatened her, of course. She wasn’t about to take people’s crap just to keep the peace. Even if the asshole who’d knocked her up wasn’t going to protect her, Liam and his brothers and sister would. Liam was an actual nice guy, and for a second, Melanie had been jealous of Samira.
Then the jealousy had passed. Nice was a little too boring for her taste.
She nearly faltered at that thought. What? Did she prefer a broody, asshole of a sex god instead?
She shook her head and sprinted the last few feet to Bram’s office.
She needed a distraction.
When she knocked, she was told to enter. Inside, Bram was at his desk. He gestured toward the chair. After she sat down, he took a deep inhalation and said, “It’s true, then, about the baby. You’re well, I take it?”
She resisted being snarky since this man was the key to any sort of freedom she might have here. “As well as anyone in my situation could be.”
He nodded. “Good. While I wanted to see how you’re doing, the real reason I asked to see you is because I have a job for you.”
“A job?”
“Yes. Two, in fact. The first is more of a personal favor than anything, but I’m hoping you can help me out.”
Doing a favor might help her in the long run. “What do you need?”
“It’s about Cait.”
She leaned forward in her chair. “What happened? Is she okay? I wanted to check on her, but I was told I had to come here first.”
Bram stared at her for a second then said, “Before Tristan’s mate frenzy came on, you met with Cait. You know she’s had a tough time here, and it’s mostly my fault.” When she didn’t countermand him, he gave a sardonic smile. “Okay, it’s ninety-nine percent my fault she’s miserable. I never should have made Neil take a sacrifice. But it’s done and can’t be changed.” He leaned back in his chair. “You know she’s depressed and unhappy. What you might not know is that after talking with you the first day before the welcoming ceremony, she actually started venturing outside her cottage. Only short trips, mostly to watch some of the young play in the designated safe area, but she hasn’t done more than visit the healer for months now.”
Now, more than ever, she wanted to check on Cait. The woman sounded lonely. But Bram had yet to ask her for the favor. “And what does this have to do with me?”
“She has about three months before she’s due to give birth. I want you to be friends with her and see if she can be even marginally happy. She doesn’t like Samira because Samira has a dragon male who loves her. And even though I have moved her into a cottage next to mine and have tried to take care of her ever since Neil left, she’s afraid of all dragon-shifters, except maybe the children. Even though she intends to leave as soon as the child is born, I’d really like her to go back to her people as unbroken as possible.”
“Why? To protect your reputation?”
“No, because it breaks my heart that she’s been hurt because of me.”
Bram’s expression and tone made it seem as if he truly cared for Cait, but she didn’t know him well enough to know if it was all an act or not. And while she’d planned on trying to befriend Cait anyway, her gut told her that this was her chance to ask for what she wanted. “I’ll say yes on one condition.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want to bargain with me?” She nodded. “Not many here would try to do that. There’s hope for you yet.”
She didn’t know how to interpret that, so she pushed on. “I want the ability to roam Stonefire’s land without needing your or some other dragon-shifter’s permission every time I go out.”
“Do you think that wise? While no one in the clan will physically harm you, especially now that you’re carrying Tristan’s child, I can’t control their likes or dislikes. Some of them will outright hate you for your intrusion here, and won’t be afraid to show it.”
Mel thought of the dragonwoman she’d encountered on the way here. “I’d rather take my chances. A few harsh words I can handle, but endless months of boredom I cannot.”
“There are a few sections which will remain off limits until I can better assess your loyalties. But provided you do the second thing I ask, I don’t see you roaming the unrestricted areas as a problem.”
Considering she’d been here just over a week, his caveats seemed reasonable. “Okay, so what’s the second thing you want to ask me for?”
“I want you to help teach the young dragons about humans.”
She frowned. “About what, exactly? I’m not a trained teacher. I’m studying to be an anthropologist.”
“I know that, and I think your degree will help you to present your people in an unbiased light. Isn’t that one of the tenants of anthropology? To try and limit personal bias?”
She decided to avoid getting into complicated theory about whether that was possible or not and simply said, “For the most part, yes.”
“Good. Then you’re exactly what they need. Our texts are outdated, and most of my clan is still somewhat biased against your kind due to our bloody, and often violent, past. You’ll be able to answer the children’s questions without peppering it with hate.”
She eyed Bram for a second. “Why are you so keen on changing the children’s perceptions? There is still a huge amount of bias against dragon-shifters in the human world. If the children get too rosy a view, it could end up harming them in the long run.”
He waved a hand in dismissal. “My other teachers can help balance your version with our recorded history, giving the children a better idea of the full truth. But I want to start the next generation on thinking that they can change the status quo instead of just putting up with it.”
Bram was cleverer than she’d originally given him credit for. “As long as there’s a dragon-shifter adult there too, in case things go wrong, I’ll try.”
Bram smiled. “Good. You’ll start in three days.”
Mel didn’t like the devious look in Bram’s eye, but at least she wouldn’t have to spend all of her time here doing nothing. Children were usually more honest and more open than adults were. She could probably learn just as much from them as they would from her.
Her only reservation was that Tristan taught the young dragon-shifters. If Bram thought to play matchmaker, he wasn’t going to be successful. Unless Tristan groveled and pleaded, which was highly unlikely, she wasn’t going to put herself out there only to have him shoot her down again.
The dragonman had made his choice. No matter how much she missed his presence in bed next to her, she wasn’t going to put up with his bullshit just so she could feel his hot, naked skin against hers again. The heartache wasn’t worth it.
Chapter Four
Melanie stood in front of four pupils in the five-to-six-year-old age range. The dragon-shifter teacher was introducing her, but Melanie didn’t pay much attention to what the dragonwoman was saying. Instead, she focused everything on remaining calm on the outside and not betraying the butterflies banging around in her stomach.
Don’t let the little ones smell fear, or they’ll walk all over you. That had been Liam’s advice to her before she’d left this morning. People who taught human students probably gave the same advice, but since she’d been told how the five-and-six-year-olds were just learning to communicate with their inner dragons, not showing fear was doubly important—the newly awakened dragons were trying to find their own place in the dominance scale.
However, the longer she studied the faces of the three little boys and one little girl, the more confident she became. They weren’t staring at her with disgust or condemnation. No, they were just staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity.
The teacher turned toward her and nodded. Melanie nodded back and focused on the four students. “As the teacher said, my name is Melanie Hall. And I think the best way to get to know each other is for you to just ask your burning questions now.”
The little girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand, and Melanie motioned for the girl to speak.
The little girl looked her up and down before she said, “My friend said humans aren’t allowed on Stonefire’s land because they’ll either scream or try to hurt us. Are you going to scream or hurt us?”
“No, I’m not. Should I be afraid of you?”
The little girl crossed her arms over her chest and it took everything Mel had not to smile. The girl said, “Well, I know important people. So you should be good or I can tell on you and my uncle will make you behave. He makes everyone behave.”
The teacher said, “Ava.” But Mel put u
p a hand to signal it was okay. “So, your name is Ava?” The little girl nodded. “Well, Ava, is your uncle here right now?”
The girl’s arms dropped as she lost a bit of her confidence. “No.”
She took a step toward the girl. “Could he get here before I could tackle you?”
Ava darted a glance to the dragon-shifter teacher and back. “No.”
Mel stood right in front of the little girl and placed a hand on her head. “Then using him as a threat is useless. You should always be thinking of how to take care of yourself in the moment.”
The little girl stared up at her with awe. After another second, Mel crouched down and tickled the girl’s sides. Ava started giggling and squirming, and Mel stopped but remained crouched to look Ava in the eye. “What do you think? Do you reckon I’m going to run off screaming or try to hurt you?”
Ava stared at her for a second before she answered, “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because Drustan only tickles me because he fancies me. Do you fancy me, Ms. Hall?”
Mel laughed. “Not in that way, Ava. But I think I like you.”
Ava beamed and Mel stood up to talk with the other children. Within a few minutes, they were all relaxed and chattering away in the way young children did. She’d never thought of herself as a teacher, but maybe this teaching thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
~~~
Tristan stood inside Melanie’s empty cottage and tried his best to forget what he’d done here less than six days ago. Spending time with the young had indeed calmed his beast to a level Tristan could control. But right now, upon finding Melanie was no longer staying here, his dragon was snarling for him to find her. Now.
Her scent was nearly gone. Only through sheer force of will did he resist finding something that still carried her scent so he could bring it up to his nose and brand her smell into his memory.
Sacrificed to the Dragon: Complete Boxed Set (Parts #1-4) Page 7
