Even in the midst of his frustration with his dragon, he couldn’t help but try to send soothing thoughts.
Then all of the sudden the healers turned and ran toward an oncoming figure. If his dragon would only stretch its neck, Tristan could see who had come. If not Melanie, then he hoped Bram. His clan leader had a better chance at helping him than the current group of nearby dragon-shifters in the landing area.
But with the other dragon-shifters gone, there was no threat and his dragon laid his head down on the ground and struggled to stay awake. His beast’s voice was weak inside his head. Sleep will bring relief and the pain will vanish. I can make all the pain stop.
Stay awake, dragon. Tristan knew that as soon as his dragon fell asleep, that would be it. He wouldn’t wake up again.
In a last burst of strength, Tristan shouted at his dragon. We need to stay awake. If you fall asleep, we’ll never see our human again. Never hold her. Never fuck her. Never stand by her side as she births our young. Don’t you want to live to see all of that? We must stay awake or she will be alone.
But his beast merely ignored him and tried falling asleep again. Tristan used what precious strength he had to battle his dragon-half. Tristan wasn’t one to beg, but in this moment, he would do it if it meant he could see Melanie again.
As the last of his energy faded, Tristan tried one last tactic. If you don’t let the healers help us, we will die. There will be no one to protect our female. She needs us. But his dragon was too far gone to listen to reason.
As his beast closed their eyes, Tristan was out of options. They were going to die.
~~~
A group of dragon-shifters she’d never met before surrounded Melanie. They were all telling her to go home, but she wasn’t about to cow down to them. She could hear Tristan’s dragon in pain, and the sound only strengthened the steel in her spine.
Putting her hands on her hips, she looked to the dragonwoman directly in front of her. The woman with mousy brown hair tied in a ponytail seemed to be their leader. Melanie would focus on her. “You all haven’t been able to help him, have you? So let me try. His dragon is attached to me. Tristan and his dragon would never hurt me.”
The ponytailed woman frowned and said, “No. I’m not about to put you or your baby at risk. Bram would have my head.”
Melanie shook her head and decided if the woman was going to use Bram as an excuse, so would she. “I don’t agree with you. Bram would want us to try everything we could to save a clan member. And right now, I’m Tristan’s last hope.”
One of the males in the group said, “She’s right, Cassidy. If he can scent her, he may let her come near.”
A few of the other dragon-shifters murmured their agreements and Melanie felt a glimmer of hope in her heart.
Cassidy crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, and Mel wasn’t sure what to think. Then the woman said, “I’ve done all that is required of me at this point. If you want to get yourself killed by a pain-crazy dragon, then that’s your own damn fault. Just make sure he doesn’t shift back into a human because doing that right now will kill him.” Moving aside, she motioned behind her with her head. “If you understand all of this and accept the risks, then go to him.”
Thank goodness. Mel nodded and squeezed between the dragon-shifters, not wanting to waste any more time talking. Once past the circle of dragonfolk, she could see Tristan in dragon-form curled up on the ground, the dragon’s eyes closing and then opening again as if he were trying not to fall asleep.
She had a feeling that if the dragon fell asleep, he’d never wake up again.
Mel knew she didn’t have long, so she did a quick scan of the dragon to find his injuries and sucked in a breath at the huge gash along one of his shoulders. Thick, red blood dribbled from the shoulder wound and she fought back the vomit threatening to come up. No, little dragon baby. We’re going to help your dad, so buck up.
With a deep breath, Mel took three more steps toward the dragon and said, “Tristan. It’s Melanie. Please. Look at me.”
The dragon’s eyes fluttered open, but otherwise ignored her.
She didn’t like the look in the dragon’s eyes, as if he was in such pain that there was no hope of relief. Tristan’s human-half would never give up, which must mean he’d lost control. She needed to try again.
She inched another foot closer and decided to screw the gentle approach. That wasn’t really how she operated anyway.
She waggled a finger in the dragon’s direction and said, “Now listen here, Tristan’s dragon-half. You’re hurt and maybe dying. If you don’t let some of those nice dragon-shifters over there help you, you’ll die. And if you die, that means I have to find another nice, handsome dragon-shifter male to take care of me, caress me, and even fuck me. Is that what you want?”