By the time the lunch cart was being rolled toward the students, it was clear that she’d won over his pupils by being honest and open. She never dismissed them as too young to understand or said their questions were silly or daft.
Tristan started to wonder if Bram’s words were true and that his mistrust of her was unfounded.
But he would talk with her in private before making any final decisions on what to do with her.
He raised a hand in greeting at the middle-aged dragonwoman rolling the lunch cart toward them. The scent of warm roast beef hit his nose and his stomach growled. While dragon-shifters weren’t carnivores, their beasts always loved the smell and taste of meat.
He turned to dismiss the students for lunch when he saw Melanie holding a hand to her mouth and looking rather pale. He glanced around, but he didn’t see any threats. He moved to her side. “What’s wrong? Are you ill?”
She nodded and dashed for the far side of the clearing, leaned over, and dry heaved. He asked the lunch attendant to keep an eye on his students and he went to Melanie’s side. Without thinking, he rubbed her back as she lost what must’ve been her breakfast.
~~~
As soon as the smell of roasted meat had hit her nose, Mel’s stomach had started churning right before the nausea hit her. Apparently, her early morning sickness had decided to rear its ugly head in front of Tristan of all people.
To avoid embarrassing herself by getting sick all over him, she rushed away from Tristan and the children to a spot near the wall of rock. She dry-heaved for about thirty seconds before her breakfast finally came up, burning her throat. At some point, a warm hand caressed her back, and the reassuring, warm touch made her feel a little better.
When she had nothing left to vomit, she stood up and a blue reusable water bottle was thrust in front of her face. Tristan said, “Here. Take it.”
Wanting to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth, she took it without a word, rinsed out her mouth, and spit out the water. After a few sips of water, she started to feel somewhat normal again.
And to think, she had months of this to look forward to. At least she had Samira and Liam to help her through the worst of it.
After one more deep breath, she looked up to thank Tristan for the water, but her words died in her throat at the fierce look in his eyes. The look kicked her temper into gear, and before she could stop herself, she said, “What have I done now to deserve that look? Is my vomit, caused by your baby by the way, offending your sensitive dragon nose?”
He growled. “No. You’re ill and my dragon doesn’t like it.”
She’d been civil in front of the children, but she decided to let loose in a quiet, steely voice. “Oh, that’s right. Only your dragon cares about me because I’m breeding. You are perfectly all right to ditch me at the first scent of pregnancy.” She waved toward the students. “Go eat your lunch, Tristan. My time is up, so I’ll leave you alone for today.”
She moved to leave when Tristan’s hands clamped around her upper arms. “I will see you home.”
She gave a pointed look at the grip on her arm and back to his face. “Why? I can walk, and you made it clear that I’m on my own. I fulfilled my end of the sacrifice contract by conceiving and I don’t need your protection. If something happens, Samira or Liam will help me.”
As soon as she mentioned Liam’s name, Tristan’s pupils flashed to slits and back again. “You shouldn’t be asking another male to look after you.”
Aware of the children, Melanie kept her anger to a restrained whisper. “You gave up any claim as to what I do or who I ask for help the instant you snuck out and left me alone in that bed.”
“I have my reasons for doing that, but you wouldn’t understand.”
She narrowed her eyes. “If this is about what happened to your mother and sister, I know about that.”
His fierce look grew fiercer. “Who told you?”
“All that matters is that I know. And while focusing hatred on all humans might seem like a fine idea to you, it’s useless, Tristan. And I would think you’d see that if you only gave me a chance.”
“Giving you a chance would mean being near you. As long as I remain with the children, my beast’s need to claim you is replaced by a need to protect the young. If I meet with you anywhere else, even in front of others, my dragon will push to the forefront and seek you out.” He leaned down until his breath was hot on her ear and whispered, “My inner beast is already attached to you. I guarantee that if you let me fuck you even just one more time, I won’t be able to keep my dragon away from you as I’ve been doing the past week. And you remember what happened the last time my dragon broke loose, and that’s just a glimpse of what could happen.”
~~~