Sacrificed to the Dragon (10 page)

He raised an eyebrow. “You want to bargain with me?” She nodded. “Not many here would try to do that. There’s hope for you yet.”

She didn’t know how to interpret that, so she pushed on. “I want the ability to roam Stonefire’s land without needing your or some other dragon-shifter’s permission every time I go out.”

“Do you think that wise? While no one in the clan will physically harm you, especially now that you’re carrying Tristan’s child, I can’t control their likes or dislikes. Some of them will outright hate you for your intrusion here, and won’t be afraid to show it.”

Mel thought of the dragonwoman she’d encountered on the way here. “I’d rather take my chances. A few harsh words I can handle, but endless months of boredom I cannot.”

“There are a few sections which will remain off limits until I can better assess your loyalties. But provided you do the second thing I ask, I don’t see you roaming the unrestricted areas as a problem.”

Considering she’d been here just over a week, his caveats seemed reasonable. “Okay, so what’s the second thing you want to ask me for?”

“I want you to help teach the young dragons about humans.”

She frowned. “About what, exactly? I’m not a trained teacher. I’m studying to be an anthropologist.”

“I know that, and I think your degree will help you to present your people in an unbiased light. Isn’t that one of the tenants of anthropology? To try and limit personal bias?”

She decided to avoid getting into complicated theory about whether that was possible or not and simply said, “For the most part, yes.”

“Good. Then you’re exactly what they need. Our texts are outdated, and most of my clan is still somewhat biased against your kind due to our bloody, and often violent, past. You’ll be able to answer the children’s questions without peppering it with hate.”

She eyed Bram for a second. “Why are you so keen on changing the children’s perceptions? There is still a huge amount of bias against dragon-shifters in the human world. If the children get too rosy a view, it could end up harming them in the long run.”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “My other teachers can help balance your version with our recorded history, giving the children a better idea of the full truth. But I want to start the next generation on thinking that they can change the status quo instead of just putting up with it.”

Bram was cleverer than she’d originally given him credit for. “As long as there’s a dragon-shifter adult there too, in case things go wrong, I’ll try.”

Bram smiled. “Good. You’ll start in three days.”

Mel didn’t like the devious look in Bram’s eye, but at least she wouldn’t have to spend all of her time here doing nothing. Children were usually more honest and more open than adults were. She could probably learn just as much from them as they would from her.

Her only reservation was that Tristan taught the young dragon-shifters. If Bram thought to play matchmaker, he wasn’t going to be successful. Unless Tristan groveled and pleaded, which was highly unlikely, she wasn’t going to put herself out there only to have him shoot her down again.

The dragonman had made his choice. No matter how much she missed his presence in bed next to her, she wasn’t going to put up with his bullshit just so she could feel his hot, naked skin against hers again. The heartache wasn’t worth it.

Chapter Four

Melanie stood in front of four pupils in the five-to
-
six-year-old age range. The dragon-shifter teacher was introducing her, but Melanie didn’t pay much attention to what the dragonwoman was saying. Instead, she focused everything on remaining calm on the outside and not betraying the butterflies banging around in her stomach.

Don’t let the little ones smell fear, or they’ll walk all over you.
That had been Liam’s advice to her before she’d left this morning. People who taught human students probably gave the same advice, but since she’d been told how the five-and-six-year-olds were just learning to communicate with their inner dragons, not showing fear was doubly important—the newly awakened dragons were trying to find their own place in the dominance scale.

However, the longer she studied the faces of the three little boys and one little girl, the more confident she became. They weren’t staring at her with disgust or condemnation. No, they were just staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity.

The teacher turned toward her and nodded. Melanie nodded back and focused on the four students. “As the teacher said, my name is Melanie Hall. And I think the best way to get to know each other is for you to just ask your burning questions now.”

The little girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand, and Melanie motioned for the girl to speak.

The little girl looked her up and down before she said, “My friend said humans aren’t allowed on Stonefire’s land because they’ll either scream or try to hurt us. Are you going to scream or hurt us?”

“No, I’m not. Should I be afraid of you?”

The little girl crossed her arms over her chest and it took everything Mel had not to smile. The girl said, “Well, I know important people. So you should be good or I can tell on you and my uncle will make you behave. He makes everyone behave.”

The teacher said, “Ava.” But Mel put up a hand to signal it was okay. “So, your name is Ava?” The little girl nodded. “Well, Ava, is your uncle here right now?”

The girl’s arms dropped as she lost a bit of her confidence. “No.”

She took a step toward the girl. “Could he get here before I could tackle you?”

Ava darted a glance to the dragon-shifter teacher and back. “No.”

Mel stood right in front of the little girl and placed a hand on her head. “Then using him as a threat is useless. You should always be thinking of how to take care of yourself in the moment.”

The little girl stared up at her with awe. After another second, Mel crouched down and tickled the girl’s sides. Ava started giggling and squirming, and Mel stopped but remained crouched to look Ava in the eye. “What do you think? Do you reckon I’m going to run off screaming or try to hurt you?”

Ava stared at her for a second before she answered, “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“Because Drustan only tickles me because he fancies me. Do you fancy me, Ms. Hall?”

Mel laughed. “Not in that way, Ava. But I think I like you.”

Ava beamed and Mel stood up to talk with the other children. Within a few minutes, they were all relaxed and chattering away in the way young children did. She’d never thought of herself as a teacher, but maybe this teaching thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

~~~

Tristan stood inside Melanie’s empty cottage and tried his best to forget what he’d done here less than six days ago. Spending time with the young had indeed calmed his beast to a level Tristan could control. But right now, upon finding Melanie was no longer staying here, his dragon was snarling for him to find her. Now.

Her scent was nearly gone. Only through sheer force of will did he resist finding something that still carried her scent so he could bring it up to his nose and brand her smell into his memory.

Of course, that was his dragon’s need hammering inside his head. It’d taken him five days to calm the bastard down, yet at the first whiff of the human, his hard work had all but evaporated.

Fucking fantastic.

He turned and left the cottage. If he was going to investigate the human, he needed to find her first. She could only be in one of two places. He decided to start with Bram since Samira would probably bar him outright from talking with her. That human female could be as fierce and protective as any dragonwoman.

After knocking on Bram’s door, Tristan entered to find a nervous Cait on the far side of the room, her eyes downcast. Since he knew how easily she spooked, he remained silent and kept his distance. Bram flashed him a look of thanks and then said to the woman, “That’s all for now, Cait. You can go.”

The woman nodded, and rushed out the back entrance. Once the door clicked closed, Bram turned toward him, and Tristan said, “Since when does Caitriona Belmont leave her cottage alone?”

“Since Melanie Hall started visiting her.”

What has she been doing? Where is she now? I want her. Why can’t I have her?

He silenced his inner dragon and said, “Where is Melanie now?”

Bram sat down in his chair behind his desk. “It’s taken you five days to ask me that question, which means either you truly do hate her, or you’re fighting yourself because of what happened to your mother.”

He growled. “You seem bloody trusting with the human female considering how little we know about her.”

“Ah, but you see, you’re wrong about that. She’s won over my niece. And if Melanie Hall can win over Ava, I’m confident she can win over most of the clan in time. Her straightforward-yet-kind manner has already won over Cait, Samira, Liam, Liam’s siblings, and three of your fellow teachers. The one who’s judging her without knowing her is you, Tristan MacLeod. But that’s about to change.”

The mention of some of the other teachers made him suspicious. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but how?”

Bram raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been friends nearly our whole lives, but even if that wasn’t enough to care about your stubborn arse, the way you treat the mother of one of our clan is most definitely my business.” He grunted, knowing Bram was right, and his clan leader continued, “Melanie has been working with the young dragons, and from tomorrow, she’s going to spend three mornings a week with your pupils.”

Three entire mornings in Melanie’s presence a week would most definitely set off his dragon. While he personally was trying not to think what it’d be like to fuck her sweet, tight pussy again, he was going to hide behind the excuse of his students’ safety. “And if my dragon gains control, what then? The scent of my child will trigger the beast’s instincts.”

Bram shrugged. “If you were living with her and fucking her on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be a problem. But since you’re letting your prejudice get in the way of recognizing how wonderful the human female is, then you have to deal with those consequences. If it means resigning from your teaching job because you can’t get your shit together, so be it.”

“Bram—”

“No. This discussion is over. As clan leader, I’m kicking your arse out of my office so I can do some work.”

Tristan clenched his jaw. Pulling his clan leader title out had been enough to stop him from arguing, as Bram well knew. “Fine. Will you at least tell me if she’s staying with Samira?”

“Yes. Now get the hell out and go deal with your bloody issues. They’re giving me a headache.”

Tristan turned on his heel before he said something he’d regret and left.

He had planned to visit Melanie, but now that he knew he would have to spend tomorrow morning with her, he needed to retreat to the teaching area. If he didn’t calm his dragon down again, his beast wouldn’t care if children were present or not, it’d jump the female at the first whiff of her scent.

~~~

Melanie made her way to today’s training area. It was her third day of working with the students, and she’d discovered that without all of the bias and hatred of the adults, she loved interacting with the young dragon-shifters. They were as curious about her as she was about them, which would be a welcome distraction in the coming months. Especially since she’d been told that human women who were pregnant with a dragon-shifter child usually developed morning sickness faster than if she were having a human baby. As it was, the smells of certain foods were already making her queasy.

She placed a hand over her belly and smiled. After winning over Ava Moore-Llewellyn, whom she’d later learned was Bram’s niece, Melanie actually looked forward to being a mother. Even if her baby was stubborn when he or she got older, all of this time teaching had taught her how to not only handle difficult children, but also what to expect when it came time to deal with her child’s emerging dragon. Apparently, since the shifting gene was dominant, all human females who had a dragon-shifter’s baby would have a little child capable of one day shifting, too.

That was something else she wished she’d found out during her research before coming here. Not that it mattered; she was determined to stay and raise her child. But it might help with other women who were on the fence about whether to sacrifice themselves or not.

She just hoped her child would take after her and not Tristan. The asshole had yet to say anything to her since he’d scented her pregnancy a week ago.

Don’t think about him.
She had friends, a purpose, and an entire culture to study. If she could contact her family or let them visit, it would almost be perfect.

Of course, she had weeks before she’d be granted communication privileges, and only then if Tristan said so. Maybe if she excelled at this teaching thing, then Bram would grant her the privileges regardless.

Mel came up to the rock ridge sheltering the practice areas used for the young dragon-shifters. Since it was early summer, the teachers tried to bring the students outside as much as the northern English weather allowed, using the few months of sunshine for shifting practice.