Sacrificed to the Dragon (21 page)

The woman finally gave a sad smile and Mel’s stomach dropped as the dragonwoman said, “You are quite the brave one, human. Normally, I’d like to see what else you’re made of before giving out information, but I’ll make an exception in this case.” She gestured toward the landing area. “Go. Your Tristan is dying.”

Her heart skipped a beat.
No.
It couldn’t be true. Tristan was strong and brave, to an unbelievable alpha degree. He couldn’t be dying.

Mel turned toward the crowd. She’d just have to find him and convince his stubborn ass to fight for his life.

She searched out a path to the landing area and for once wished she had wings so she could fly over all these people. However, before she could ask anyone to move out of the way, the woman behind her yelled something in the dragon language. All eyes went to Melanie. Gone were the looks of contempt, disgust, or curiosity. Instead, they were now eyeing her with varying degrees of sadness and pity.

That definitely wasn’t good news.

Tears threatened to fall, but she forced them back.
Get it together, Hall. You can’t help him if you turn into a blubbery mess.

As a path magically cleared for her, she kept her head high as she half-ran, half-jogged toward the landing area. She wasn’t in the best shape, but she ignored the shortness of her breath and kept up her pace. She wasn’t about to let a little thing like being overweight stop her from reaching her man.

Besides, Bram hadn’t tried to contact her, and if Tristan were truly dying, he would have.

For now, she had to believe that rumors about her dragonman were inflated. After all, gossip tended to do that to the truth.

She only hoped that was the case this time because if Tristan was dying, she might not be able to keep herself together. She’d not only start crying, but her heart would break. Not just because her baby would be without a father, but also because she would miss the odd combination of his grumpiness and his tenderness.

Please, Tristan, hold on for me. I’m coming.

Chapter Three

Pain. Blood. Death.

Those three words repeated themselves over and over inside Tristan and his dragon’s head. Tristan’s human-half was weak, and the dragon-half had taken control, which meant his beast had fallen back on instinct.

The human part of him was vaguely aware of the other dragon-shifters trying to help him, but his dragon-half was snarling and whooshing its tail through the air to keep everyone away. His dragon roared inside their head.
They will pounce on our weakness. They will kill us. I must keep them away.

No, they want to help us. They will heal us
, he shouted at his beast. But his words fell on deaf ears.

He tried to muster the strength necessary to push his dragon back, but none of the tricks every dragon-shifter learned as a child had any affect on his beast’s pain-induced rage. Not even Tristan’s stubbornness was working. Due to the gaping, bleeding wounds on his chest and shoulders, Tristan’s usual inner strength was all but gone.

Yet if he couldn’t get control of his dragon, he would die.

All of the sudden, an image of Melanie naked in the grass, her gorgeous, pale curves on display and her eyes full of stubbornness, came into his mind. In his vision, she was rubbing her clit and beckoning him to thrust his long, hard cock inside her.

It was strange the things that came into your mind when you thought you were dying.

But then remembering Melanie also brought back the fact he might never see his child.

He tried to use the loss of Melanie and their baby as a way to garner the dragon-half’s attention, and for a second, he stilled. Then his beast’s pain-induced fit started up again and Tristan mentally let out a frustrated sigh.

If only he could see Melanie one last time. Maybe then he could find the strength to push his inner beast back and have a chance to survive. Not just for their baby, but for her as well. In this moment he wasn’t about to lie to himself. He cared for his little human.

However, she had no way of knowing he was injured, and even if she did, it was nearly too late. If he didn’t receive the attention he needed within the next thirty minutes, he would die.

Even then, survival wasn’t guaranteed.

Another group of healers approached him. His dragon snarled at them and then knocked two of the dragon-shifters flat on their arses with his tail. Three more dragon-shifters tried to approach him from a different direction, but Tristan knew their chances of success weren’t going to be any better; a dragon in pain would use up any and all strength to keep away perceived threats.

Before his three clan members were close enough to swat away, his dragon moaned into the air again. The constant, throbbing pain confused the beast. He wanted it to stop.

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?”

She heard murmurs of “she must have a death wish” behind her, but she focused solely on the dragon.

She was rewarded when the dragon’s eyes flicked to hers and she saw a small spark. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it as encouragement to keep pushing. She took another step closer and said, “That’s right. If you die, then another male’s hands will be all over me and another male’s cock will be inside me, branding me with his scent. And if that isn’t enough, then realize you dying means that another male will raise your young.” She turned half away. “If you don’t let us help you, maybe I should start looking right now. I passed quite a few hot males on my way here.”

The dragon raised its head and growled. Resisting a smile, Mel turned her head back toward the dragon, looked him in the eye, and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t like those possible scenarios, now, do you? Well, then, if you want to be the only male who touches this body, then you’d better let the others help you so you can live. To do that, I need you to let your human-half come back into control.”

As the dragon continued to stare at her, Mel wasn’t exactly sure how she’d know if the dragon-half ceded control or not. But no doubt the dragon-shifters behind her would know if she couldn’t figure it out.

She was about to start scolding and taunting again when the dragon’s head lowered to the ground and let out a long, slow breath of air. The beast’s eyes were no longer frenzied, but rather stoic.

Yes, stoic like Tristan’s default expression.

“Tristan,” she whispered and barely restrained herself from running to the dragon. She was hopeful, but not stupid. She needed more than an expression to convince her it was safe to approach.

She clenched a hand over her heart, took a steadying breath, and said, “If it’s truly you, flick out your tongue.”

While there was still pain, something that looked like amusement hovered in the dragon’s eyes. Then he flicked out his long, forked tongue and turned his head to the side, exposing his chin.

Cassidy’s voice came from right behind her. “Tristan is back in control. No dragon would ever expose the vulnerable, soft skin of his chin unless the human was calling the shots.” The woman moved to Mel’s side. “Calm him a little further and convince him to let my people near enough to heal him.”

Mel was on the verge of tears, but managed to push them back and nod. Her job wasn’t quite finished just yet.

She took a few more steps toward the dragon and said, “Tristan, let me touch your beautiful, smooth scales again. Blink if you feel I can do that without you hurting me.”

The dragon slowly blinked and Mel’s heart warmed. She fought the tears that threated to fall and walked at a steady pace until she was less than two feet from the dragon. She raised her hand and slowly reached out until she could lay it on his snout. At the contact, the dragon gave a little hum.

She couldn’t hold back her emotions any more. She whispered, “Oh, Tristan,” before taking the last steps between them and then hugging his snout as she caressed the scales of his head and jaw. He might live.

She couldn’t prevent her voice from cracking as she said, “Please let the healers help you. I don’t want to live without you, you stubborn dragonman.”

The dragon chuffed and Mel decided that was a yes.

Only through sheer will did she convince herself to let go of the dragon’s snout. She quickly wiped her eyes before she turned and shouted, “He’s okay. Come help him.”