“Of course you couldn’t.” Melanie laid her head on top of his. “So how did you get your injury?”
He grimaced and moved a hand to cover Melanie’s lower abdomen. As much as he didn’t want to admit his mistake, the mother of his child deserved to hear the truth. He said, “I was doing a sweep of their compound from the air while Kai and Zain did it on foot in their human forms. Normally, there’s a certain height you can fly and avoid getting attacked by the hunters. But I didn’t count on the Carlisle group having a newly developed weapon that could take a dragon out of the sky. It wasn’t a missile, but more like a long-range laser that can slice through dragon scales. I wasn’t quick enough to dodge it.”
The memory of him being hit followed by the burning pain that had nearly taken him out of the sky rushed back and he tried not to wince. The new weapon was going to cause the dragon-shifters a lot of trouble in the future unless they could find a way to protect against it.
Melanie snuggled into his side and he leaned in to her touch. The reminder of his warm female banished the painful memory.
Since his human was being a little too quiet, he said, “Are you okay? Is the baby making you nauseous again?”
“No. I’m just trying to contain my anger. How could the British government allow those poachers to still exist? Between the torture, rape, and now anti-dragon lasers, you think they would take care of it.”
Her concern for his people warmed his heart.
He stroked her cheek. “If you’re going to live with Stonefire, then you should know that until public opinion changes, the government will barely give a fuck about you and they care even less about the dragon-shifters. That includes our child.”
~~~
Melanie was doing a pretty good job at keeping her temper in check. She’d known that the dragon hunters were bad, but Tristan was starting to give her a more complete picture of the day-to-day threat they posed to the dragon-shifters. What kind of person could torture and abuse a defenseless teenager?
Not only that, but hearing that the British government wouldn’t help protect her baby because it was half dragon-shifter was the last straw. She needed to do something to change the status quo, and she might just have a way to do it.
She half-sat up and looked down at Tristan. “If Bram gives me a chance, I think I can change public opinion.”
He frowned. “How do you plan to do that?”
Well, here goes. “I was being sincere when I mentioned to the children about wanting to write a book about the dragon-shifters. Now more than ever I think humans need something to help them move dragon-shifters from the ‘abstract’ to the ‘very real’.”
He stroked her hip as he said, “I don’t doubt for a second that you could write a bloody fantastic book that would help us. After all, you managed to convince both me and my sister that not all humans are bad. But are you aware of the risks? The anti-dragon factions are quite brutal and will make you their number one target. Once that happens, it’ll be near impossible for you to go off our land for quite some time.”
The thought of never visiting Manchester’s city center or the wilds of Scotland again made her heart ache, but she pushed it aside. The only thing she’d truly miss was her family, but maybe with time, Bram would allow them to visit, especially if they were targeted because of her efforts to help the clan.
She ran her hand up and down her dragonman’s chest, needing the combination of his familiar hardness and heat to ease some of her worry. She finally replied, “If that’s what it takes to ensure better treatment for my child, then so be it.”
He squeezed her hip. “You are bloody amazing, Melanie Hall.”
She smiled and blushed. She wasn’t used to such praise from Tristan. “Does that mean you’ll help me pitch the idea to Bram?”
“Pitch it? Hell, I’ll tie him down if I have to. It’s a brilliant idea and definitely merits a chance.”
She full on grinned. “I’d like to see you try. Bram’s quite dominant, you know.”
He cupped her cheek and strummed his warm, rough finger against her skin. “For you, my little human, I’d chance it.”
Tears prickled her eyes. Melanie had always been the champion of others. From the kids picked on at school, to her brother, to even Caitriona Belmont here on Stonefire’s lands. Yet she’d never really had anyone want to champion and stand by her. The fact that her broody, alpha dragonman was willing to risk his clan leader’s ire meant the world to her. For the first time in her life, she was beginning to think she might have someone to stand at her side and help her fight her battles. Someone to both encourage her and give her the truth when she needed to hear it. Someone to laugh or cry with when it came to her failures or successes.
And that person was the stubborn dragon-shifter lying next to her.
He had mentioned wanting to “keep” her, but in reality, she wanted to keep him.