Melanie noticed the water glass in front of her and started tracing shapes in the condensation with her finger. The action helped her to remain calm and resist letting her emotions break free.
So much for trying to get to know both Tristan and his clan tomorrow. Bram was suggesting for her to jump into bed with Tristan blind. Yes, although she was attracted to him, could she do it? Could she allow a man she barely knew, and who had treated her badly except for a short period this evening, to have sex with her?
She wasn’t completely terrified of the idea, but she wanted more information. “How long do we have before he returns?”
“I’d wager he went for a hunt, and he should be out until mid-morning tomorrow. Our dragons always like to sleep in dragon form on a full belly, and they can be lazy bastards when they choose.”
She had a feeling Bram was trying to lighten the mood a little, but it wasn’t working. “Let’s say I agree, and I have sex with Tristan early and he keeps at it until I’m pregnant. Then what? I know he doesn’t like humans. Will he just closet me away until I birth his child and then toss me aside?”
“Since I’ve never fallen prey to a dragon mate frenzy before, I don’t know. I think it’s best you talk to Samira. She’s the only human female we have here who has both experienced the frenzy and accepted a dragon-shifter’s claim.”
Mel nodded. From what little she knew of Samira, the woman was happy. That gave Mel a small hope that things might not be as bad as her gut was telling her they were going to be.
Bram signaled for one of his men to come to their table. After he whispered an order, he stood and offered his hand to her. “Will you allow me to see you safe to your cottage? If I’m by your side, the others won’t start pestering you with questions. And since I just sent for Samira to meet you at your cottage for a chat, I think you want to get there as soon as possible.”
Mel placed her hand in his and straightened her shoulders. The memory of Tristan’s kiss, his act of leaving her, and the whole news of a dragon’s mate frenzy was starting to sink in and it was overwhelming. She needed to find somewhere private to process everything that had happened to her in the last twenty minutes. As it was, she was on the verge of an information overload-related breakdown. Nevertheless, she was half-British. She could keep a stiff upper lip like the best of them and contain her emotions for a little bit longer.
As Bram maneuvered her down the stairs and through the crowd, she kept her gaze fixed ahead on nothing in particular. She just needed to make it to her cottage, and then she could change her clothes and try to figure out what to do from here.
~~~
Thirty minutes later, Melanie was curled up on the couch in her cottage trying not to cry. Despite changing into her favorite cotton pajamas and taking out all the pins in her hair, relaxed was the last word she’d use to describe her situation. All she could think about was how a half-crazed dragonman wanted to fuck her until she was pregnant.
Yes, “fucking her” was the appropriate phrase to use. She could hardly call a dragonman crazy with lust thrusting into her until she collapsed or conceived as doing anything else. It certainly wouldn’t be making love.
She squeezed the pillow in her arms for comfort. She’d never expected a fairy tale ending by coming here, but at the very least, she’d wanted a day to get to know Tristan before getting naked with him. She’d spent more time with the single one-night stand she’d had during her undergraduate years than she had with the dragonman who intended for her to bear his child.
Now more than ever, she wished some of these practices had shown up in her research. Of course, she could understand why the dragon-shifters kept the mate frenzy a secret. It would deter a large number of women from ever signing up to be sacrifices, and considering the uneven birth rates of thirty-five percent female to sixty-five percent male amongst the dragon-shifters, they needed human women if their race was to survive.
The fact that dragon-shifters needed humans to survive was ironic considering the humans were the ones who had decimated their numbers in the first place.
There was a knock on the door. Melanie tossed aside her pillow and jumped up to answer it. She desperately needed a distraction.
She opened the door a crack, but it was Samira, so she opened the door wide. She tried to smile, but failed, and tears started to roll down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t help it. Losing her family, being thrust into a new culture she didn’t understand, and finally, being the object of a dragon’s frenzy despite the fact he hated her was enough to make even the strongest person break down.