She blinked at his order, but nodded. He reluctantly released his grip on her arms and went to the dragonwoman currently handing out student lunches. Each step he took away from the human made his inner beast try to crawl out and take control. Tristan said, Let me take care of the young and then I will go back to her.
I don’t believe you.
I’m telling the truth, so let me do what needs to be done. Otherwise, she will leave without us. Is that what you want?
His inner beast growled. No. Hurry up.
Once his dragon retreated, Tristan approached the dragonwoman handing out lunches. As soon as he was close enough, he said, “Can you watch the children and take them to their next class? I need to take care of the mother of my child.”
The dragonwoman darted a glance toward Melanie, but instead of the disdain he’d expected, the older woman had sympathy in her eyes. The dragonwoman nodded. “I remember what it’s like to get morning sickness, and it’s ten times worse for humans carrying one of our children. Take her home and pamper her, Tristan. Humans are so fragile, and who knows if these next nine months will be her last.”
No, she will NOT die, his dragon screamed inside his head.
He pushed the beast back and said to the female, “So you don’t care that she’s an outsider on our land?”
The woman, Lia, if he remembered right, shook her head. “Why would I? She’s helping our clan’s future by coming here and being willing to bear one of our children, despite the risks to her life and her reputation if she leaves here after the child is born.”
“You’re in the minority, then.”
Lia shrugged. “Maybe. But all that matters is that you take care of her, Tristan. I’ve heard the rumors about you not even checking in on her this past week, and it’s disappointing. I knew your mum, and no matter what race the mother of her grandchild was, she would’ve expected you to take care of your future family.”
He made a noncommittal noise. He wasn’t about to discuss his mother with who knew how many students listening to his conversation. What Lia had already said was bad enough. He turned and said, “I’m going now.”
Without looking back, he walked over to Melanie. As he approached her, he caught the human’s scent and his dragon growled. Only when he put a hand on Melanie’s lower back did the beast fall quiet again. No doubt, it was semi-behaving because Melanie had just been sick.
Funny, that. His dragon stopped thinking about fucking her whenever she threw up. Morning sickness might work to his advantage.
He pushed against her back. “Come with me.”
Melanie looked up at him. “Where are we going?”
Without thinking, his hand started to rub her lower back. “You’re going to get cleaned up and then we’re going to pay a visit to my sister, Arabella.”
~~~
End Part Two
~~~
PART THREE
Chapter One
As Tristan led Melanie toward Samira and Liam’s cottage to freshen up before visiting his sister, Lia’s words from back at the clearing kept ringing inside his head: I knew your mum, and no matter what race the mother of her grandchild was, she would’ve expected you to take care of your future family.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Lia was right. Due to the brutal, tragic nature of his mother’s death, he rarely remembered what she’d been like when she had been alive. Part of the reason he’d been interested in humans as a boy had been because of his mother. Jocelyn MacLeod had believed much as Bram did today, in that she’d envisioned a future where dragon-shifters and humans would work together.
From what little information he’d extracted from his sister, their mum had believed that up until the end.
After Melanie’s interactions with the children, and Bram’s support, he was pretty confident that Melanie wasn’t working with the dragon hunters. But the real test would be if she could win over his sister or not. Arabella had gone through things that would make a lesser person give up on life. While she mostly kept to herself because of her lack of trust in others, she had found a way to help the clan by studying computer programming.
However, his sister was quite antisocial, to the point she may not open the door to let Melanie inside her home. He’d just have to make sure his sister could scent that Melanie was carrying his child. The faint trace of his scent in the human’s skin might be enough to convince Arabella to give her a chance, instead of slamming the door in their faces and retreating back to in front of her computer.
And for reasons he couldn’t explain, he wanted Arabella to open the door and give Melanie a chance.
As they passed one of the Stonefire’s eateries, the smell of steak and kidney pie filled his nose, making his stomach rumble. No doubt, after losing her breakfast, Melanie would be hungry too.
He was about to ask her if she wanted something to eat when she buried her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. He stopped walking and said, “What’s wrong?”
Her voice was muffled. “That smell...it makes me want to vomit again.”
“So you’re burying your face against me to cover me in sick and get revenge on me for impregnating you?”