Sacrificed to the Dragon (6 page)

She doubted she would be able to relax for weeks, if ever, but she nodded, anxious to get this whole process over with.

Bram raised a hand and the hall fell quiet. When he spoke, his voice was loud and clear, and in English. “We are gathered here to welcome our newest female sacrifice. Her name is Melanie Hall. Tristan MacLeod has been assigned as her male. As with previous contracts, we have guaranteed her safety for the next six months. Each and every one of us will do whatever it takes to protect her.”

A few people muttered words she couldn’t understand, but as Bram scanned the room, the hall went deadly quiet again.

Bram continued, “Per tradition, we’ll now finalize Tristan’s claim on the sacrifice with the First Kiss.”

She blinked. A first kiss? Here, in front of all these people?

Bram turned toward her and Melanie forced her gaze from the crowd of people to Bram’s deep blue eyes. “You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to Clan Stonefire, and while this has been finalized on paper, it is our tradition for the male in charge of you to solidify his claim to the entire clan by kissing you in front of everyone, which will guarantee his protection.” He motioned with his hand and she felt Tristan’s heat beside her again. “Tristan MacLeod, is there something you’d like to ask our guest?”

She turned toward Tristan. It took everything she had to look at his eyes and not his lips.

His brown eyes were unreadable. While she wished they were full of heat in anticipation of her kiss, the sight was far better than disgust or contempt. As she waited for him to speak, her heart pounded in her chest. Would it be a mere peck or the full-on, tongue-twirling variety?

He opened his mouth to speak and she stopped breathing.

~~~

As Tristan waited for Bram to say all the necessary formalities, his inner dragon urged him to pull Melanie flush up against his body and kiss her already. The kiss did more than physically show his claim in front of the clan; it also covered the sacrifice in his scent, which would help to keep the other males away.

But Tristan was stronger than his dragon, and he maintained the distance between their bodies. If he was going to survive tasting Melanie for the first time, without taking her right there on the stage, he needed to prepare himself.

He took slow, controlled breaths and imagined scratching his dragon’s nose, and then behind his ear. Before long, his inner dragon was crooning in contentment. Inside his mind, Tristan said,
You and I can have her soon. Until then, let the human part of us take care of her.

His dragon seemed to settle, trusting Tristan at his word.

And just in time, too. Bram asked, “Tristan MacLeod, is there something you’d like to ask our guest?”

Tristan kept his features expressionless as Melanie turned toward him, her cheeks flushed. He could hear her heart racing, but the question was whether it was because she was nervous or because she was aroused at the idea of kissing him.

Rather than think on it, he said in a loud, clear voice, “Ms. Melanie Hall, will you do me the honor of allowing me to show my promise to protect you with a First Kiss?”

She swallowed, but then quickly nodded.

He took a step toward her and raised his hands to her cheeks. Melanie sucked in a breath at his touch, and he simultaneously felt a little thrill from the heat of her soft skin. Right here, right now, she looked innocent and vulnerable; nothing like the fiery woman who’d stood up to him a few hours ago.

If she were a dragon-shifter female, he’d probably kiss her and never let go.

But she was human, and he needed to be careful. He’d give her a quick peck and then somehow survive the rest of the celebration and the following day.

He gave his inner beast one last soothing sound before he stroked her cheek and lowered his head to meet her lips.

Her lips were soft, warm, and tasted of woman. The contact shot straight to his cock, and suddenly, the quick peck wasn’t enough. He needed to feel the moist warmth of her mouth. His inner dragon roared that he wanted, no needed, to discover her taste.

He could’ve fought his beast, but with Melanie’s scent surrounding him and the softness of her skin under his fingers, he couldn’t make himself pull away.

Instead, Tristan traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, but she didn’t open. With a growl, he moved one of his hands from her face to her waist and hauled her lush body up against his.

Melanie gasped the instant her softness came up against his hard body and he took advantage, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Her taste was a mixture of woman and something sweet, a biscuit perhaps, and he was desperate for more. He gave one stroke, then another, learning the contours and feel of her mouth.

But as desperate as he was to taste her, she stood still, as if she was just waiting for him to hurry up and finish.

His dragon didn’t like that one bit.
More. Taste. Take more.

To please his dragon, he just needed to give her a little encouragement.

He nipped and sucked her bottom lip before moving to the top one. He pressed her soft belly harder against his aching cock and she let out a little noise of surprise. He invaded her mouth again, but as he stroked her tongue, her hand went to his shoulder and she started to meet his strokes, shyly at first, before gaining confidence.

While her belly was pressed against his cock and her taste was filling his mouth, he desperately wanted to fill his hands with some of her curves. He could think of nothing but what it would feel like to hold and caress the heavy weight of her breast in his hand. Then he could tug and roll her hard little nipple with his fingers, and eventually take the tight bud into his mouth and start his torture all over again.

His inner dragon chimed in.
Yes, we need to tease our female and ready her for our pleasure.

He slowly started to move a hand up her ribs to put his plan in motion when someone pinched his arm. He broke the kiss with a growl, only to find Bram staring at him with a warning in his eyes. Tristan pulled Melanie tighter against his body. This was his female. His. He needed to get her away from the other males. He didn’t even trust his clan leader. Any male that saw her would want her.

Tristan looked down at his female, her eyes wide, her lips red and swollen, and moved to kiss her again. His dragon’s need was pounding inside his head:
Mark her. Protect her from the other males. Make sure everyone knows she’s ours.

He had barely started stroking inside her mouth again when he felt a grip on the back of his neck and he growled louder this time as he forced his lips from the warm female to find Bram staring at him. When the clan leader whispered, “Stop it,” his leader’s words broke through his lust-haze. He glanced down at Melanie, her lips slightly parted and her eyes filled with desire. Then he looked out to the crowd, and realized the enormity of what he’d nearly done. He’d been so very close to fondling her breasts, or possibly more, on a stage in front of his entire clan.

Bloody hell.
What was wrong with him?

If his near public indecency wasn’t bad enough, his dragon was roaring for him to kiss her again and then fuck her as soon as possible so he could brand her with his scent. Bram said something, some sort of traditional words, but Tristan was losing the battle with his dragon. If he didn’t leave right now, he could very well toss Melanie over his shoulder, bring her to his cottage, and fuck her with or without her consent.

No.
He wasn’t that type of male. He wouldn’t break his contract or force someone against her will. He needed to leave.

Without a word, he rushed down the steps of the dais and pushed past his clan members until he reached the cool night air. As he struggled to keep his human side in control, he headed for the landing and take-off area. Apart from fucking Melanie, the only thing that would calm his dragon would be a long flight followed by a tough hunt.

He stripped his clothes and imagined wings sprouting from his back; as his body grew large, his hands turned into claws and talons, and his skin turned into a tough, black hide. When he was finally a fifteen-foot tall dragon, he spread his wings, used his powerful hind legs to jump, and beat his wings to take him up into the air.

Once he was high above the Stonefire community, he let his dragon mostly take over.

As he continued to beat his wings, his inner beast let out a long roar of frustration and said,
I want the human. The other males will take her in our absence. We need her. Let’s go back and claim her. She is ours.

Tristan forced his wings to keep beating, making sure their flightpath took them away from the great hall.
But if we return, we’ll miss the fat bucks I wanted to hunt. Fresh meat will help you forget about the female. Now is the only time we can go.

His dragon remained silent for a second before he said,
Yes, let’s hunt. It will give us more energy to claim our female.

Not wishing to debate the finer points of when or how they’d claim Melanie Hall, Tristan said,
Right, then let’s go.

Changing their direction slightly, Tristan headed for their favorite hunting spot in northern England.

As the tension started to ease from his body, the human-half of Tristan started to realize he was fucked. His dragon’s possessiveness wasn’t normal. The only time a dragon would get so out of control was when they’d tasted their potential mate.

And Tristan’s dragon-half wanted a human named Melanie Hall.

*~*~*~*

End Part One

*~*~*~*

PART TWO

Chapter One

One second
,
Melanie Hall had been enjoying the most passionate kiss of her life in Tristan’s arms full of tongue, teeth, and delicious friction of lips. And the next, he’d pushed her away and bolted from the hall without so much as a word or even a backward glance.

She watched in confusion as Tristan exited the building. Was this part of the normal First Kiss ceremony? Or had something gone wrong? She absolutely hated not knowing what was going on around her.

Once Tristan was gone, everyone turned around to stare at her. Some were whispering while others were shaking their heads. She had no idea if Tristan’s actions were normal or not, but clearly the dragon-shifters knew something she didn’t.

She focused on that, trying to find out what they knew, to keep her hurt from showing. She’d never been kissed like that before, as if Tristan had been starving and she was the only thing that could ease his hunger. Yet, at the end, Tristan hadn’t been able to get away from her fast enough.

She felt Bram’s hand on her arm and she looked up at him. His expression was guarded when he said, “Come. Sit down with me, Melanie.”

His voice broke through her shock and despite her resolve to stay strong, her voice cracked. “I don’t understand. What just happened?”

He gestured toward the table. “Sit down with me and I’ll explain as much as I can.”

She nodded and somehow made her legs carry her to the seat next to Bram. The table faced out, and she could still see all of the Stonefire dragons looking at her. Now that she’d seen the dragon-shifter females, who were all tall, toned, and beautiful, she wondered if the whispers were about Tristan’s misfortune to be assigned her, a mere human.

No.
As humiliating as Tristan pushing her away after their kiss and fleeing was, she wasn’t going to give everyone the satisfaction of dismissing her because she was curvy, short, and a “mere human”.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. She did it one more time and decided she had her emotions under control enough to talk without breaking down. She looked over at Bram. “Tell me why they’re all whispering and staring at me. Since Tristan isn’t here to protect me, it’s your job now to do it.”

He gave a half smile. “Never give up that backbone or core of steel, lass. It’s sure to win you the respect of the clan.”

She wasn’t sure how to interpret the pseudo-compliment, so she decided to press her question again. “Just tell me. Please. Is that how it always goes with the human sacrifices?”

Bram shook his head. “No, we haven’t seen anything like it since Samira.”

She frowned. “Samira? What does she have to do with this?”

“I wish I could tell you it’s nothing and that everything will be fine. But in reality, things could go very, very wrong if we’re not careful.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “You aren’t making any sense. Please just tell me what’s going on.”

Bram gave her a serious look. “Tristan’s dragon-half wants you as its mate.”

She blinked. “What? Dragon mates are like spouses, right?” Bram nodded. “Then how in the world could his dragon want me for that kind of future? I’ve barely known Tristan a day.”

“That doesn’t matter. As soon as a dragon-shifter kisses a potential mate, the dragon knows what the human-half ignores. Mainly, that you are his or her best chance at not only reproducing several times, but also that you’re his or her best chance at happiness, which means a long life and the ability to raise young.”