She was very close to saying screw it and just let Tristan have her. But before she could take the last step to acceptance and vocalize her thoughts, Samira spoke again. “The decision is up to you. But if you think you can’t do it, then you can come stay with me. Liam, my mate, has already said he’d gather his brothers, sister, and his friends to protect you from Tristan until the third day.” She took and squeezed Mel’s hand. “Just tell me what you plan to do.”
She stared into Samira’s deep brown eyes and decided that she’d made an ally who might turn into her friend. Mel hadn’t been sure at first if they’d get along since Samira had seemed to dismiss Cait’s depressed state. Now, after the woman was all but saying she’d chase off a crazy dragon just to help her, Mel decided she’d been wrong about her. No doubt, there were things about Cait that Mel didn’t know. Samira could just be acting as the other human woman had asked.
She took Samira’s hand in hers and squeezed. “Thank you for the offer, but no. As soon as Tristan is back, he should come here and I’ll start doing what I was brought here to do—have sex with a dragon-shifter.”
Chapter Two
Tristan had resisted the pull to return to Melanie for as long as he could. The hunt, taking down two bucks, and the resulting sleep had preoccupied his dragon-half for a little over half a day. Now the dragon was overpowering him little by little, and he knew that it was better to track down Melanie with his human-half marginally in charge rather than with his dragon in complete control.
Especially since he knew full well his dragon wouldn’t bother with consent, and human or not, Melanie didn’t deserve that.
Female. Home. Now.
Still in dragon form, he jumped up and beat his wings until he was high enough to use the wind currents to glide toward Stonefire’s land. He trusted that Bram had prepared Melanie for what was about to happen. Otherwise, he would face the ultimate test of control once he landed back home.
As he soared south, he placated his dragon with thoughts about Melanie’s soft, warm body pressed up against him. Or how her mouth had felt like silk against his tongue. His dragon hummed in appreciation and pressed Tristan to fly faster. The dragon wanted to see the human’s curves in the flesh.
His dragon was a persistent bastard, but one of the upsides of having a dragon-half was that it would give him incredible stamina, allowing him to fuck Melanie for as long as it took to impregnate her. Once that was done, he could go back to his life and not be faced with seeing the human on a daily basis. Provided, of course, he could prevent his dragon from forming a long-lasting attachment.
While he’d keep Melanie at arm’s length once she was pregnant, he wouldn’t be as harsh as Neil had been with Cait; he would avoid insulting his human and would always protect Melanie and his unborn child against any threat. But Tristan wanted to prevent his inner beast from forming too much of an attachment to Melanie because the mate claim frenzy was dangerous. The more his dragon grew attached, the less his human-half would be able to deny his beast. His honor and duty would prevent harming the human, but there was no way in hell he wanted to be mated to one for the rest of his life.
His sister was still suffering years later because of the damage caused by humans and their greed.
Soon, he was gliding down to the landing area inside Stonefire. Once he was on solid ground again, his inner beast roared. His female was here, and she was fertile. They needed to find her. Other males might already be trying to take her.
Tristan reassured his beast they would find her, but first, they needed to be in human form.
His dragon retreated a little, and Tristan imagined his wings retreating into his back, his forelegs straightening, his talons turning into fingers, and his stature shrinking back to his six-foot-three height. The pain of the shift and change of his body was as natural to him as breathing, and within a few seconds, he was in human form again, naked as the day he was born.
A male approached him and his dragon sneered, but soon calmed down. He was the only male who could deal with him right now and not end up a bloody mess on the ground. Bram was clan leader; even his dragon deferred to Bram’s position and slightly greater dominance.
When his clan leader reached him, Bram’s expression was unreadable. “Are you under control?”
His dragon paced inside his head and said, Our female is waiting. Why are we stopping? Can’t our leader see how much we need our female? She will give us young, which will help the clan. We should go. Now.
Soon, he told his dragon. It didn’t really calm the beast, but allowed Tristan enough control to answer Bram coherently. “Barely. Is Melanie ready? And make it quick, Bram. I don’t want to lose complete control of my beast.”
“She’s ready and willing. Still, all I ask is to keep your human-half in control for as long as you can. While Samira talked to her, I don’t know if Melanie truly understands what’s about to happen to her.”
His dragon growled. Our female is waiting. Go to her. Now!
Tristan grit his teeth, fighting the urge to leave. “You know I’ll try. But I need to go before it’s too late.”