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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.”
“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.”
