Bram sat down. As he squeezed Ara’s shoulder, he said, “Arabella, it’s me, Bram. It’s time to release Tristan, love, and let me and my dragon help you.”
Ara tightened her grip around Tristan and said, “No. I don’t want your help.”
Bram’s expression turned determined, into what Tristan called his “I’m not taking your shit” face.
His leader moved his grip to the back of Ara’s neck and squeezed. “Arabella MacLeod, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you as your clan leader to let go of Tristan and look at me.”
At first, he wondered if Ara was too far gone to recognize the order and dominance in Bram’s voice, but she slowly moved her arms, sat up, and looked at Bram, who gave her a nod of approval.
Since Bram still gripped Arabella’s neck, Tristan stood up and said to his leader, “Phone me later and let me know what happens.”
Bram never took his gaze from Arabella as he said, “I’ve got this, Tristan. Go.”
Trusting his friend to take care of Ara, he turned to face Melanie. She was unusually quiet, and neither he nor his beast liked it. They liked her moving and lively. He needed to get her out of here.
He placed a hand on her elbow and ignored the heat that flared at the softness of her skin against his. “Let’s go.”
Melanie nodded, and he guided them out of Arabella’s cottage and toward his own. It was time to take Melanie home, not to Samira’s place, but to his. Neither half of him wanted to let her out of his sight. He only hoped he could control his dragon once they were out in the open. Without Arabella’s pain, his dragon would think of nothing but fucking Melanie. The human female wouldn’t understand the reason for the need, and for some reason, her opinion of him was starting to matter.
Rather than think too much on that, he guided her out the door and into the fresh air.
~~~
When they were at a safe distance from Arabella’s house, Melanie’s curiosity couldn’t take the silence any longer and she blurted out, “What can Bram do to help your sister that you can’t do yourself? You mentioned something about dominance, but I don’t fully understand what that means.”
“So you didn’t find anything in your research over the years about social structures within the dragon clans?”
She looked at him askance. “So you were paying attention to me on the first day. I wasn’t quite sure you were, given your level of assholery.”
From out of nowhere, Tristan chuckled. It was low and brief, but she loved how his short laugh made the corners of his eyes crinkle and lessen the harshness of his face. It made him even more handsome than when he was all alpha grumpy. Not that he wasn’t attractive when he went all caveman—or was it dragon?—in the bedroom, but this was different. This was a side of Tristan she wasn’t used to seeing.
This was a man she could see herself falling for.
His face relaxed with a faint smile and he said, “I like you this way better than when you’re reserved and quiet.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Good, because it seems with you, I can never be reserved, let alone quiet.”
His gaze turned heated. “Yes. Even through the dragon-haze, I remember how loud you liked to cry out in pleasure when I made you come.”
Warmth shot through her body at the memory of Tristan’s heat on top of her. She should feel bad about it considering Arabella was currently battling her own personal hell, but her hormones didn’t have a conscience.
Still, she wasn’t about to let his heated look derail her. She’d caught him looking at her back in the cottage with his flashing dragon eyes, and now he was doing it again. She knew what he wanted, but she was determined to get some answers before she let him fuck her again.
She cleared her throat. “So will you tell me about what Bram can do?”
His face took on a neutral expression. “Maybe. What do you plan to do with it? If you’re just collecting information for that book you want to write, I can’t tell you.”
She frowned. “No, I just want to know for me. Well, and...” She took a breath and said, “I also need to know what to do with our child. If this ‘dominance’ thing can be used on humans, I need some advance warning. I’m not going to let our little dragon baby try to pull one over on me.”
He looked over at her. His voice was controlled, almost like he was trying to hide some kind of emotion. “So you’re staying, then?”
“Yes, Tristan. Provided I survive the birth, I’m staying.”
He clenched his fist and his eyes flashed to slits and back. “You’re not going to die.”
She poked him in the arm. “Not even your level of stubbornness can prevent me from dying just because you say so.” He grunted as if he would argue with that statement and Mel decided to steer the conversation back on track. “Now, tell me about how dominance works with the dragon-shifters.”