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He walked until he was standing in front of his sister. Luckily, she didn’t try to run away from him. “It’s all right, Ara. If you have, I forgive you. But if you keep trying to hide your beast, I fear that you’ll go insane. Have you ever shifted because you couldn’t control it over the last decade?”
Fear flashed across his sister’s face. “Yes.”
He put an arm around Ara’s shoulders. “It’s all right, love. We’re part dragon, and it’s only natural.”
Ara shook her head. “No. No, no, no. If I’m in dragon form, then the dragon hunters will find me. I need to stay in human form so I can keep hidden from them.” She looked up at Tristan, her eyes wild and lost to decade-old memories. “I need to push the beast back, deep, deep into my mind. It’s the only way to stay safe.”
Tristan hugged his sister and stroked her hair, trying to decide what to do. Despite his, and others’, recommendations to see Stonefire’s equivalent of a therapist, Ara had always refused.
He glanced over and saw Melanie staring at them. Her eyes were honest and open, and he could swear they mirrored the pain he felt right now for his sister. Recalling how Melanie hadn’t been afraid to address the issue head on, gave Tristan an idea.
Never releasing his hold on his sister, he pulled out his phone with one hand and dialed Bram’s number. When his clan leader picked up, he said, “Bram, Arabella’s on the verge of a breakdown. Because of your dragon’s dominance, you’re the only one she can’t refuse to listen to right now. Will you come to her cottage and see what you can do for her?”
The line was quiet a second and then Bram answered, “I wondered when you would ask me, Tristan. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The line clicked off and Tristan guided his sister to the couch.
ChapterFourteen
Watching Arabella go from the fiery, confident dragonwoman she’d been with her to the barely functioning individual with Tristan made Melanie’s heart ache. To hear that the woman had resisted her dragon-half for nearly a decade made her sadness for Arabella only grow larger.
She wanted to help the dragonwoman, but she knew her intrusion right now would only make matters worse. So, Mel decided to do what her dad always did when there was trouble that required waiting around to solve—she would make some tea.
Since Tristan was preoccupied with holding his sister, Mel went to the room opposite she assumed was the kitchen, opened the door, and discovered she was right. As she put the kettle on and searched through the cupboards for teacups and a teapot, she wondered if Bram could help Tristan’s sister. If Arabella could only get over her trauma and act like she’d done with Mel, the dragonwoman’s personality—especially her stubbornness—would turn everyone’s head in no time. Before long, no one would blink twice at her scars or treat her differently because of them. The question was how to convince Tristan’s sister that it was not only possible, but also easy to let people in to look beyond the surface.
In that moment, Mel decided she would visit Arabella again whether she wanted it or not and work on convincing the other woman of her self-worth. Who knew, maybe someday Tristan’s sister would welcome her into her home as a friend.
Not that it would be easy. But just like seeing Cait give a weak smile had made her heart sing, so would it be to see Arabella strutting around Stonefire’s lands as confident as her brother.
Her motives weren’t entirely selfless, of course. After all, Arabella would be the aunt of her baby, and she very much wanted Arabella to be a part of her child’s life. To do that, Arabella needed to heal.
The kettle clicked off and she put a couple of tea bags into the teapot she’d found in the cupboards before pouring the water. As she let the tea bags steep, she leaned against the counter and tried not to think about the other major thing that had just happened in the other room. Mainly, Tristan’s acknowledgment about his hatred of humans clouding his judgment. Well, it’d been an almost-admission and she’d take it as such.
Between that and the way he’d followed her example of using a direct approach with Arabella rather than dismissing it, a small, very small, part of her started to think she and Tristan might have a chance at a future together. If he could look past the fact she was human and simply try to get to know her, maybe their sexual attraction would become something more. Not that she didn’t love the fact he was attracted to her, but there was more to Melanie Hall than her body or ability to breed children.
She sighed. She needed to be careful about wishing for fairy tale endings because it would be dangerous to hope for too much too soon. They hadn’t even sat down to talk about what would happen with their child.
She placed a hand on her lower belly. Would he try to take him or her away from her? At one time, she might’ve thought so. But after today, she was starting to think differently.
Focus, Hall.All of that would have to wait because, first things first, she needed to make sure Arabella was okay.
She splashed some milk into the cups before picking up the teapot and pouring the tea. Once they were full, she carefully picked up the mugs and maneuvered them out into the living room. As she set them down on the coffee table in front of the couch, she felt Tristan’s eyes on her. She geared herself up for another possible battle with the dragonman when he surprised her by saying, “Thank you.”
Looking up, her heart skipped a beat at the sincerity in Tristan’s eyes. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his being nice to her.
However, right now wasn’t the time to press him on it. That conversation was something she’d like to do without his sister present. She would wait until after Bram arrived and she could get him alone.
For now, she acted as if he said thank you to her on a daily basis. “You’re welcome. I didn’t know if you took sugar, so they’re just tea and milk.”
He raised an eyebrow. “For someone with a not-quite British accent, you act British in a pinch.”
Maybe it was selfish, but she very much wanted to have a normal conversation with Tristan without him growling or glaring at her.
She darted her eyes toward the dragonwoman to make sure her condition was unchanged, but Ara was still leaning against Tristan’s shoulders with her eyes closed.
Right. If there was anything else they could do to help Arabella, Tristan would’ve done it already, so she looked back to Tristan’s face and said, “Not that you ever asked, but I’m half British. My mom’s American, and I spent my first eighteen years there.”
“Why did you leave?”
