“Oh.”
“Yes, ‘oh’. Come here, Melanie, and lie next to me.”
She took a few steps closer, but remained out of the range of his hands and arms. “Not until you tell me what happened the day of Miles’ rescue.”
Right. The rescue. “That could take some time, love, and you look about ready to fall over.”
She started to move toward him but caught herself. “How do I know this isn’t a trick to get me into your bed and then you avoid answering any of my questions?”
This woman had risked her life to save his. Tristan was done with being anything less than honest with her. “My male ego may not like what happened, but you’ve earned an explanation. If not for you, Melanie Hall, I would not be alive. I will answer your questions. I swear it on our baby’s life.”
Melanie blinked, but then smiled. “I’m still trying to get used to this nicer version of you. It’s a bit of a shock, really.”
He growled. “I’m sure some of it will wear off when I’m not recovering from a near life-ending injury. Now, get into my bloody bed or I’ll find a way to cart you over here myself.”
She laughed. “I’d like to see that.”
He tossed back his blanket and moved to sit up. Melanie put up her hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll come over. Just don’t try to get up or you might rip open your cut again.”
She moved to his bed, sat down, and swung up her legs. The instant her head touched the pillow he threw his arm over her and squeezed. He whispered, “I’ve missed your soft body next to mine.”
Her tone held warning. “Tristan, you’re not well enough for sex. You know that.”
He moved his head to lay it on her shoulder. He kissed her exposed skin over her collarbone. “Believe me, if I were, you’d already be naked and under me by now.”
Her breath hitched and his inner beast hummed. She likes the idea. Later, we’ll take her over and over again. Then she’ll never want to wander from us. She will stay forever.
Quiet, he muttered at his dragon-half. I can’t think with you banging on around inside my head.
The beast gave a huff and fell quiet, recognizing that it was the human-half of them who would have to convince their female to stay.
Melanie’s soft, lyrical voice echoed beneath his ear. “Okay, so I know what the whole clan knows and that you had to help Kai and Zain rescue the teenager, who is bruised but alive and should be okay in time with the support of his family. But everyone was surprised you went into the Carlisle compound. Why? Everyone just dismisses a rescue as a Protector’s job, not a teacher’s. If that’s true, why did they ask for your help in the first place?”
Apparently, his clan had kept more closed-lipped around Melanie than he liked. His dragon snarled at the lack of trust in their human, and Tristan nuzzled her exposed skin to calm both man and beast, loving the soft warmth of her skin. “The Protectors are similar to a human private security company. They’re the best of the best and each of them has trained with the human military for a time. Usually, they are the ones to rescue or help get a dragon-shifter out of trouble. But the two young males who reported Miles’ capture forgot to mention it was the Carlisle dragon hunters. Once we found that out, we had to change our plans and act fast.”
“Why?”
He resisted tightening his grip around his human and instead leaned into her warm curves to keep his anger concerning the dragon hunters in check. The contact worked. “The Carlisle branch of dragon hunters will torture, abuse, and sometimes even rape a dragon-shifter before draining it of blood. The problem is, young dragon-shifter blood won’t cure anything. They would either keep the young male until he was an adult, subjecting him to years of abuse, or kill him and sell his scales, teeth, and talons to the highest bidder.”
“People still buy those things?”
Only because of Melanie’s presence next did him did he keep his anger from his voice when he answered, “Yes.”
She shuddered and he squeezed her in reassurance. Mel said, “Why didn’t you wait for back-up? That seems like the most logical thing to do.”
Yes, his human was clever. “Because if the Carlisle hunters had moved Miles to one of their secret locations, we might never have found him. There wasn’t time to call for back-up, so despite my lack of training, Kai and Zain asked for my help and I couldn’t say no when one of our young’s lives was at stake.”