Sacrificed to the Dragon (16 page)

Before he could stop it, an image of Melanie on her hands and knees in the grass, his hands gripping her beautiful, full arse as he pounded into her tight pussy, flashed into his mind.

His dragon hummed.
Yes. We should fuck her in the grass. Soon. She would like that.

You can’t know that.

She’ll like it.

His cock was now at attention and one-hundred percent on board with that fantasy, but as his sister moved against his side, he felt guilty and mentally said to his dragon,
Not now.

He knew his dragon’s need for sex was instinctual, and there was nothing he could do about it. Fighting his dragon’s instinct tended to make things worse in the end, but he could at least delay this particular battle until after his sister was taken care of.

There was a knock on the door and he focused back on the here and now. That would be Bram, and he hoped his leader could do something for Arabella.

He tried to pry Ara’s arms from around his waist, but her arms only tightened around him. He poked his sister in the side. “Let go. I need to answer the door.”

She shook her head against his side. “No. I don’t want Bram. He’ll force me to talk about the dragon hunters or try to talk to my dragon.”

With any luck, yes, he would.

Normally, he’d argue with his sister until she gave in, but right now, she was still half-trapped inside her memories. Otherwise, she’d have fled out the back door by now.

He tightened his grip on Arabella to make sure that didn’t happen and he looked at Melanie. “Can you answer the door and let Bram in?”

She nodded, set down her tea, and went to the door. He tried his hardest not to watch her arse as she walked, but he failed. He was mesmerized by the full plumpness of her hips as they swayed with each step she took. His dragon growled inside his head to slap her arse and pull her close.

His inner beast said,
Our female will help erase our sadness. Hold her. Squeeze her. Then you’ll feel better.

Shut it, dragon.

His dragon huffed but went quiet again.

By the time Melanie came into the room with Bram, he had mostly managed to get both himself and his dragon under control. His clan leader kept his distance, but Tristan could see the concern in his eyes for his hurting clan members. “What do you want me to do, Tristan?”

He looked down at Ara and back to his clan leader. “Talk to her and see if you can get her out of her head. Despite what we thought, her dragon-half is still there. I saw her eyes flash to slits twice.”

Surprise flashed in Bram’s eyes before he studied Arabella with his piercing blue gaze. Tristan hoped his friend was coming up with a plan. If anyone could help his sister, it was Stonefire’s leader.

Finally, Bram nodded. “Right. I’ll try. But if I can get her away from you, I think it’s best for you and Melanie to leave while I work my clan leader magic on her.”

Bram was hiding it well as he always did, but Tristan could sense the dragonman’s unease and sadness concerning Arabella. He decided to ease the tension in the room. “And by magic, I hope you don’t mean your dick.”

Bram smiled. “Not that my cock isn’t like magic on a stick, but no, Tristan, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to me. After all, I remember Ara as a wee thing. She’s like a sister to me.”

Tristan smiled and nodded. “Right. Sit on the other side of her and take a hold of her shoulders. She’s probably too far gone to run, but I’m not taking any chances.”

He waited to see if Arabella would protest, but she must’ve retreated back into her memories because she didn’t so much as move.

Bram sat down. As he squeezed Ara’s shoulder, he said, “Arabella, it’s me, Bram. It’s time to release Tristan, love, and let me and my dragon help you.”

Ara tightened her grip around Tristan and said, “No. I don’t want your help.”

Bram’s expression turned determined, into what Tristan called his “I’m not taking your shit” face.

His leader moved his grip to the back of Ara’s neck and squeezed. “Arabella MacLeod, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you as your clan leader to let go of Tristan and look at me.”

At first, he wondered if Ara was too far gone to recognize the order and dominance in Bram’s voice, but she slowly moved her arms, sat up, and looked at Bram, who gave her a nod of approval.

Since Bram still gripped Arabella’s neck, Tristan stood up and said to his leader, “Phone me later and let me know what happens.”

Bram never took his gaze from Arabella as he said, “I’ve got this, Tristan. Go.”

Trusting his friend to take care of Ara, he turned to face Melanie. She was unusually quiet, and neither he nor his beast liked it. They liked her moving and lively. He needed to get her out of here.

He placed a hand on her elbow and ignored the heat that flared at the softness of her skin against his. “Let’s go.”

Melanie nodded, and he guided them out of Arabella’s cottage and toward his own. It was time to take Melanie home, not to Samira’s place, but to his. Neither half of him wanted to let her out of his sight. He only hoped he could control his dragon once they were out in the open. Without Arabella’s pain, his dragon would think of nothing but fucking Melanie. The human female wouldn’t understand the reason for the need, and for some reason, her opinion of him was starting to matter.

Rather than think too much on that, he guided her out the door and into the fresh air.

~~~

When they were at a safe distance from Arabella’s house, Melanie’s curiosity couldn’t take the silence any longer and she blurted out, “What can Bram do to help your sister that you can’t do yourself? You mentioned something about dominance, but I don’t fully understand what that means.”

“So you didn’t find anything in your research over the years about social structures within the dragon clans?”

She looked at him askance. “So you were paying attention to me on the first day. I wasn’t quite sure you were, given your level of assholery.”

From out of nowhere, Tristan chuckled. It was low and brief, but she loved how his short laugh made the corners of his eyes crinkle and lessen the harshness of his face. It made him even more handsome than when he was all alpha grumpy. Not that he wasn’t attractive when he went all caveman—or was it dragon?—in the bedroom, but this was different. This was a side of Tristan she wasn’t used to seeing.

This was a man she could see herself falling for.

His face relaxed with a faint smile and he said, “I like you this way better than when you’re reserved and quiet.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Good, because it seems with you, I can never be reserved, let alone quiet.”

His gaze turned heated. “Yes. Even through the dragon-haze, I remember how loud you liked to cry out in pleasure when I made you come.”

Warmth shot through her body at the memory of Tristan’s heat on top of her. She should feel bad about it considering Arabella was currently battling her own personal hell, but her hormones didn’t have a conscience.

Still, she wasn’t about to let his heated look derail her. She’d caught him looking at her back in the cottage with his flashing dragon eyes, and now he was doing it again. She knew what he wanted, but she was determined to get some answers before she let him fuck her again.

She cleared her throat. “So will you tell me about what Bram can do?”

His face took on a neutral expression. “Maybe. What do you plan to do with it? If you’re just collecting information for that book you want to write, I can’t tell you.”

She frowned. “No, I just want to know for me. Well, and...” She took a breath and said, “I also need to know what to do with our child. If this ‘dominance’ thing can be used on humans, I need some advance warning. I’m not going to let our little dragon baby try to pull one over on me.”

He looked over at her. His voice was controlled, almost like he was trying to hide some kind of emotion. “So you’re staying, then?”

“Yes, Tristan. Provided I survive the birth, I’m staying.”

He clenched his fist and his eyes flashed to slits and back. “You’re not going to die.”

She poked him in the arm. “Not even your level of stubbornness can prevent me from dying just because you say so.” He grunted as if he would argue with that statement and Mel decided to steer the conversation back on track. “Now, tell me about how dominance works with the dragon-shifters.”

He unclenched his hand and said, “Well, certain dragons are submissive, while others are dominant. Our inner beasts are a lot like animals in that respect. The more dominant ones have cores of steel. Not only that, they have stubbornness and both an inner and outer strength.”

That description fit Tristan to a T.

“So how can Bram’s dragon help Arabella’s?”

“Her dragon was dominant, once upon a time. These days, it’s like a ghost. Arabella has convinced her dragon to hide in fear, so when a strong one gives an order, hers will most likely comply.”

She frowned. “But she didn’t listen to you. And while I’m not an expert, you seem pretty dominant to me.”

He smiled. “I guess I should take ‘pretty dominant’ as a compliment.”

As much as she really wanted to, she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. The asshole version of Tristan could return at any time, and she didn’t want to provoke him unnecessarily. For now, she was going to push her luck and ask another question. “So is that why Bram is clan leader? Because of his dominance?”

Tristan’s eyes moved to look at the hills and mountains in the distance. “Partly. In addition to his dragon’s strength, he’s a brilliant fit for the job because of his ability to be patient one minute and then stern the next. I don’t think I’ve seen Bram lose his head since he was a teenager. He has massive amounts of control, more than I could ever hope to achieve.”

She fought a smile at his admission of a fault. “How was he chosen?”

Tristan looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. “Inquisitive one, aren’t you?” She shrugged and he chuckled again. “Fine. I’ll humor your anthropologist’s curiosity for a little longer.”

Before she could think about it, she said in a dry voice, “Don’t strain yourself on my account.”

He chuckled and Mel loved the fact she could make him laugh. But as quickly as it had come, his laugh and smile were gone. She would definitely need to find a way to bring it back again. She might just make it her own personal challenge.

She nearly faltered at that thought. Since when did she care about making Tristan smile?

Luckily, Tristan’s deep voice stopped her from thinking too hard on that question. He said, “When the clan leadership trials opened up right before our last leader retired, the interested dragonmen and women had to pass a series of obstacles in their dragon forms.”

“So, like a display of skills, to prove to the clan the dragon-shifter could take care of them.”

“Yes. The very last trial is the most important because it tests how well a dragon-shifter can keep control over their dragon when in dragon-form.” He looked over at her. “Under pressure, it’s easy to let the dragon-half take control and lose your humanity.”

Melanie was hungry for more information. “So how do they test that?”

Tristan silently stared, his deep brown eyes assessing her. For a second, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “Several clan members attack a candidate, but not before chasing him or her and then playing a series of mind tricks. The test last three days, and it can be quite brutal.”

“But necessary.”

He gave a look of surprise. “Yes.”

She smiled at catching him off guard. She explained, “I’ve studied what little I could find about the dragons and their history, and a weak leader would be the death of a clan. You’re human, but you’re also part dragon. The dragon side needs to do what’s necessary to protect those they love.”

“And it’s not always neat and pretty. I would do whatever was necessary to protect our child, even fight a dragon to the death.” He stopped walking and faced her. “While I hope it doesn’t come to that, does the idea of me doing what’s necessary scare you?”

She stopped and looked up into his deep brown eyes. Her gut told her that her answer would be important to her future; mainly, if she would have one with Tristan as maybe something more or not.

Suddenly, the thought of never feeling Tristan’s body against hers or to never again argue or stand toe-to-toe with him caused her heart to ache. Whenever she was with this dragonman, she finally felt like herself. No pretense, no putting on her mask, just her. She’d never even felt that way with her own parents.

Add that to what she’d learned of his past on top of his trust in her by introducing her to his sister, Mel decided that if she wasn’t careful, she might even come to love him.

But since today was the first time he’d been civil, she was getting her hopes up a little too early. Regardless, she would be honest. “Sometimes, yes, your dragon-half scares me.” Seeing his face become shuttered, she crossed the few steps between them and placed a hand on his chest. “But I sort of like it when your dragon comes to the forefront. It’s a part of who you are, Tristan, and I don’t want you to hide it from me. Ever.”