Sacrificed to the Dragon (27 page)

She had to.

He nodded at the nurse and followed her down the hallway into the newborn room. Since dragon-shifter numbers were low, there weren’t any other children in the room.

As he approached the two little carts that held them, he could scent his son and daughter and his dragon relaxed a fraction.
We must protect our young. We won’t let anyone harm them.

Tristan didn’t argue and reached a hand out to caress the cheek of his son and then his daughter. And for the first time in memory, he felt tears prick his eyes. He whispered to his children, “Don’t worry. Your mum will be a bit late, but she’ll be here. She loves you and would never abandon you.”

As the feel of his children’s skin helped to calm him, he only hoped he wasn’t lying.

~~~

Melanie heard a voice so faint she couldn’t make out whether it was male or female, let alone what they were saying. There was so much noise. Beeping and yelling. Metal crashing and more yelling.

But she didn’t hear the cries of her children.

Her children. Where were they?

Then she felt a jolt go through her body followed by a split-second burning, which caused her to gasp in a mouthful of air. She opened her eyes and saw four dragon-shifters standing around her.

As her muddled mind tried to figure out what was going on, one of the dragonwomen—the doctor, she remembered—said, “Melanie. Thank fuck. Can you hear me?”

It took a colossal amount of energy for her to whisper, “Sid?”

“Yes, it’s me. You’re going to be okay.”

“Tristan?”

“He’ll be back soon. You know how protective male dragon-shifters are, so I kicked him out. He’s with your children.”

Her children. She wanted her children. “Where are my babies?”

Sid said, “We’ll bring them in shortly. I think you’re out of the danger zone, but I want to monitor you for the next ten minutes just to make sure and also deliver the afterbirth. It’s safe for you to fall asleep, so close your eyes and I’ll wake you when Tristan comes back with your twins.”

She whispered, “Tristan,” before eyes slid closed. After nearly a day and a half in labor, she couldn’t help but fall asleep.

A short time later, she woke to someone shaking her. “Melanie, wake up. Tristan’s here.”

At the sound of her mate’s name, Melanie forced her eyes open. Her brain was still bleary with exhaustion, but her power nap had helped with her concentration.

The doctor moved out of the way and she saw Tristan holding two little bundles.

The picture of her tall, muscled dragonman holding two tiny, ridiculously pastel bundles in green and yellow made her smile. “Hi,” she whispered.

Tristan rushed to her side and maneuvered himself into the chair at her bedside. He leaned over and kissed her before he said, “Hi, yourself.”

“You’re being nice to me. It’s weird.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry, it won’t last long. Now, how would you like to meet your children, Melanie Hall-MacLeod?”

Tears filled her eyes and she nodded. He raised one bundle, the yellow one, and said, “This is our daughter,” —he then raised the green bundle— “and this is our son.”

She was too exhausted to attempt picking up either of her children. Instead, she said, “Can you place one in the crook of my arm, Tristan?”

“I can do better than that.”

He rearranged her arm and placed their daughter. Then he gently laid their son on her chest and kept him steady by supporting him with his hand.

At the feel of the warmth of her two children, tears rolled down her cheeks. Happy seemed too tame a word to describe what she felt right now.

As she looked from her son to her daughter and then up to her mate, she decided she felt complete.

Tristan kissed her, lingering a few seconds before pulling away. “Sid told me we only have a few minutes before I need to let you rest. So I wanted to tell you our children’s names first.”

She frowned. “Tell me? Since when do you get to decide?”

He grinned. “I’ll think you like my names.”

She doubted it, but she was too tired to argue. “Fine. What ridiculous names did you decide on? Gerard and Millicent?”

“No.” He nodded toward their son. “This is Jack Ryan.” He then nodded toward their daughter. “And this is Annabel Piper.”

Melanie blinked. “But those are the names I wanted.”

He smiled and caressed her forehead with his free hand. “You more than deserve the privilege of naming them, love. I think I can live with my children being named Jack and Annabel MacLeod.”

Tears started falling again and Mel somehow managed to whisper, “Are you sure?”

“Of course. I already registered their names with the nurse, so it’s a done deal.”

“Oh, Tristan.”

He leaned down and kissed her. Then he laid his forehead on hers. “All that matters to me is that my family is alive and healthy. Our children’s names mean little as long as I have you.”

Love spread throughout her body. “Tristan MacLeod, I love you.”

He smiled. “And I love you too, my little mate.”

As they smiled at each other, their daughter started to fuss so Tristan stood up. “I think the nurse is going to help you feed the baby. And then I’m kicking the nurse out so you can get some sleep.”

“But you’ll stay with me and the babies?”

“Always.”

Melanie was really doing the waterworks today, but given the amount of hormones currently surging through her body, she decided she could cry as much as she wanted.

When the nurse came over, Tristan gingerly picked up their son Jack, moved out of the way, and traced the little man’s cheek. The sight of Tristan MacLeod, alpha dragon-shifter extraordinaire, cooing a baby warmed her heart.

She hugged her daughter close and decided that she and Tristan had come a long way. What had originally started out as an exchange to save her brother’s life had turned into her own happily ever after.

Not that times wouldn’t be tough in the future, especially once she finished her book, but Melanie had her own family now and she would do whatever it took to protect them. She didn’t doubt for a second that Tristan would do the same. Together, they might be able to make the world a better place for their children.

For now, she watched her mate and cuddled her daughter, content to live in the moment because she’d never been as happy as she was right at that moment.

*~*~*~*

End Part Four

*~*~*~*

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Don’t be sad that it’s over! The boxed set of Bram’s story,
Seducing the Dragon
,
is available now on all major online retailers
. Also, make sure to turn the page for short excerpts from
Seducing the Dragon
as well as a book from one of my other series,
Reclaiming the Wolf
.

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If you like my dragon-shifters, then you might enjoy the first story of my Cascade Shifters series,
Reclaiming the Wolf
. Turn the page for excerpts from both
Seducing the Dragon
and
Reclaiming the Wolf
.

With Gratitude,

Jessie Donovan

Check out an excerpt from
Seducing the Dragon
(Stonefire Dragons Story Arc #2):

Chapter One

Evie Marshall pulled her car into the parking area next to Clan Stonefire’s main gate and willed her stomach to settle. Sure, she was nervous, but it wasn’t because of the dragon-shifters flying overhead or the glares she knew she’d face once she stepped onto their land. She’d worked the last seven years with the Department of Dragon Affairs down in London, and visiting a dragon clan’s land wasn’t anything new.

Yeah, right.
Who was she kidding? Today was different from her other visits. She was here to seduce a dragon-shifter, and not just any dragon-shifter, but Stonefire’s clan leader, Bram Moore-Llewellyn.

That was her goal, anyway. Whether she’d succeed or not was yet to be seen.

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of failure. If she couldn’t convince Bram to allow her to stay with the dragon-shifters then the dragon hunters would kidnap her, and maybe even kill her. Their warning last week had been clear: stop working for the Department of Dragon Affairs and join them or be hunted down as if she were a dragon herself.

Inhaling in and out repeatedly, she tried to pull herself together and push aside her fear. The British government had brushed off the threat and wouldn’t help her, so she’d do whatever it took to seduce Bram and earn a place in his clan. Rumors said he was civil with humans, and if she could make him care about her, the alpha dragonman would protect her.

Focus, Evie. Right.
Glancing at the clock on the console, she realized she needed to get a move on. From her past experiences down south with Clan Skyhunter, she was aware that while dragon-shifter clan leaders liked to keep her waiting, she had damn well better be on time or face a scolding.

After giving her hair one last smooth and plumping up her slightly too small breasts, Evie grabbed her duffel bag and exited the car. As she closed the distance between her car and the front entrance, it took everything she had not to stumble or twist her ankle on the uneven gravel. She’d worn heels maybe ten times in her life, and despite the hours of practice she’d done over the last week, she wobbled more than strutted with each step.

Shit.
Things weren’t off to the greatest of starts.

Careful to walk slowly and not fall on her arse, she headed toward the stone structure about twenty feet away, which served as the clan’s security checkpoint. Since employees from the Department of Dragon Affairs, or DDA, weren’t allowed to drive onto Stonefire’s land, Evie went to the smaller entrance and called out, “Hello?”

Soon, a tall man with light blond hair and the ever-impressive thick, twining dragon-shifter tattoo on his muscled arm approached. She might’ve worked with the dragon-shifters for years, but her heart rate always kicked up when she saw one. They must have some kind of special gene which made them all gorgeous. This man was no different. The way his low-slung jeans clung to his fit body made her a little wet.

If she were lucky, Bram would be a little less attractive. The last thing she needed was to go instantly wet in his presence and start thinking with her lady parts instead of her brain.

The blond-haired dragonman’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Ms. Evie Marshall with the Department of Dragon Affairs?”

Careful to keep her face calm and collected, despite the butterflies banging around in her stomach, she nodded and handed over her identification papers. “Yes. I’m here to do my post-birth interview with Melanie Hall and to further investigate the death of Caitriona Belmont. My office should’ve made all of the arrangements for my three-day visit.”

The dragon-shifter gave her an unreadable glance before he thumbed through her documents. No doubt, he could hear her heart banging in her chest, or even worse, smell the fact she found him attractive. While he was probably used to the latter, she hoped the former wouldn’t raise any suspicions about her reasons for being here.

Only when he nodded and held out the papers for her to take back did she let out a mental sigh of relief. He must believe she was merely here for an inspection.

She retrieved her papers, and then he turned and motioned to another guard a few feet away. “Dacian over there is your assigned guard for the duration of your visit and he’ll take you to see Bram.”

At Bram, the clan leader’s name, her heart gave a few extra hard thumps inside her chest. In less than half an hour, she would finally meet the man who would determine her future.

“Thank you,” she said and smiled over at the dark-skinned man named Dacian.

And damn, the defined muscles peeking out from his shirt combined with the striking planes of his face only confirmed her theory of the secret dragon-shifter hotness gene. Her chances of Bram being less attractive so she could focus were looking slimmer by the minute.

Despite her best smile, his face was guarded as he motioned with his head for them to start walking. Without so much as a word, he turned around and headed down the worn dirt path.

Hmph
. Stonefire’s reputation about being friendlier with humans than Skyhunter wasn’t looking good so far. She bloody well hoped Bram was nicer than Skyhunter’s leader, Marcus, or she would most definitely have her work cut out for her.