He shut his mouth and fought a smile at her bossy tone. The short, fragile human wasn’t afraid to order him around, and both halves of him liked that. A lot.
Seeing that he was keeping quiet, Melanie sat up and continued, “But you were a bastard out of pain. Once I saw you interacting with the children, I knew there was a good man inside of you, buried beneath your animosity and anger. And since we were already tied together because of the baby, I decided it was worth fighting to see if I could help you. Your child will be half human, and I couldn’t—and still can’t—stomach the thought of you hating that part of him or her.”
This time he wasn’t about to allow her to think that of him. He said, “I could never hate our child because it will always be half you.”
Her hand found his and squeezed. “Oh, Tristan.”
He really should say more, but fancy, pretty words were not his forte.
His dragon-half, however, was pushing him to say more. Tell her how we feel. Then we should claim her and never let her go.
Tristan agreed with his beast. He didn’t want Melanie to leave. Even if, for some reason, she didn’t survive childbirth, he didn’t think he could ever care as much for someone again as he did for Melanie Hall. Her stubbornness, determination, and love had won him over. Completely.
But just as he wrestled the nerve to say something, there was a knock on the door. Melanie quickly rubbed her eyes and said, “Come in.”
Tristan had expected a doctor or maybe Bram. But it was neither.
His sister Arabella was standing in the doorway.
~~~
Over the past week, Melanie had won over Arabella bit by bit, but right now, she wished the dragonwoman would be anywhere but here.
Mel knew it was selfish, but Tristan was finally awake and she wanted to spend time with her dragon-shifter. Especially since the last of his inner walls constructed to keep her out were crumbling. His comment about never hating their baby because it was half hers had proven it.
But Arabella was Tristan’s sister and she had spent a good deal of the last week relieving Melanie of bedside duty and making sure Melanie had food to eat. While Ara still acted self-conscious whenever a dragon-shifter stared at her scars, at least she wasn’t cooped up in her house, locked away from the world.
And she had to be nearly as relieved as Melanie that Tristan was doing better. She smiled at the dragonwoman and said, “Did you hear? He’s awake?”
She frowned. “Why didn’t you call me?”
Mel still had a grip on Tristan’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t look at me like that. It was only a few minutes ago and I think I earned a few minutes alone with my dragonman.”
Tristan tugged at her hand and said, “Your dragonman is awake and can talk for himself. Can we stop pretending that I’m not here?”
She couldn’t help but smile and motioned for Ara to join them before Melanie turned back toward Tristan. “There, now you’re the focus of our attention again. Does that soothe your male ego?”
He frowned and Mel barely resisted laughing. He said, “I’m not awake five minutes and you’re teasing me again. What happened to taking care of me? I think this qualifies as being unwell enough to merit it.”
“If you think I’m going to coddle you and wait on you hand and foot, then you’ll be waiting a long time.”
Tristan smiled and Mel’s heart skipped a beat. The man was beyond handsome when he smiled.
Before he could say a word, Arabella sat down on the other side of Tristan and said, “So I’m guessing that you’re going to keep the human.”
Melanie tried not to hold her breath as she waited for his answer. Every cell in her body screamed that Tristan cared for her and never would toss her aside, but he’d never said anything out loud and she desperately wanted to hear it. She wasn’t a needy person by nature, but she’d like to know what her future held.
Well, at least for the next seven or eight months. She could still die in childbirth.
But she pushed that thought aside. Right now was a happy time. Tristan was awake and teasing her. Arabella didn’t hate her and could stand being in her company. Things were good compared to when she’d first arrived here a few weeks ago. She could worry about dying later.
Tristan glanced at her before looking at his sister. “I’m not sure anyone could ‘keep’ her. You’ve seen what she’s like. A right menace she is.”
Mel’s heart plummeted, but then Tristan looked at her with mischief in his eyes and hope surged again. He said, “But I plan on spending the time we have until our baby is born convincing Melanie to stay with me. Both the man and the dragon want to keep her.”