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There was a grunt from Bram’s direction, and she looked back at him and he said, “Melanie, you can get to know your surroundings tomorrow since tonight will be busy.” He waved toward Tristan. “Tristan will take you to your quarters. Some of the human women will visit with you and prepare you for tonight.”
“Tonight?”
Bram nodded. “Yes, tonight. I’m not surprised Tristan didn’t tell you about the welcoming ceremony because he hates group gatherings, but you two will have one all the same. It’s a chance for the clan to get to know you, and for us to wish you two a fruitful pairing.”
Mel’s cheeks flushed at the thought of “pairing” with Tristan.
Bram continued. “While I wanted to meet you, there is another reason I asked Tristan to bring you to me. If for any reason you are scared for your safety or are being mistreated, come to me. I trust only a few people more than Tristan, but it’s important for you to know you’re not alone. You are part of Stonefire—at least, for now—and I do everything I can to protect my clan. Remember that.”
At the fierceness in his eyes, she believed him. She nodded, but as the silence dragged on, she said, “Is there anything else?”
Bram eyed her for a minute before he said, “One last thing. If you betray my clan, you will be punished. Some human females in the past have tried to steal dragon’s blood or other secrets, and are now serving life sentences in prison. I know this is all forbidden in the fine print of your contract, but I’ve found a straightforward reminder helps to lessen the number of offenses.”
She wondered if just taking notes would fall under the category of stealing secrets. She’d have to talk with Bram about that soon, just in case. “I understand.”
Bram stood up. “Good. Now, Tristan will take you to your assigned cottage where you’ll live for your time here at Stonefire. I’ll see you again tonight.” He put out a hand and she took it to shake.
She felt a hand at her elbow. She looked to her left and saw Tristan standing next to her. She hadn’t even heard him stand up.
He tugged at her elbow. “Let’s go. The females are probably already waiting for you.”
Bram released her hand. With a nod, Tristan turned her around and guided her out the door.
As he urged her toward the biggest collection of houses she’d seen so far, some of Mel’s bravado faded. Meeting with some of the human women would give her a glimpse of how her life would be here. Given the two males she’d met so far, she didn’t have high hopes everything would magically get better once she settled in.
ChapterFour
Tristan couldn’t get Melanie to move fast enough. He wanted to drop her off and get a small reprieve from her incessant questions, and her oddly addicting scent.
Carrying her on his shoulder had been a mistake. The instant her full, plump breasts had pressed against his back, his cock had gone hard. Sliding her down his body had only made him harder.
If that wasn’t enough, her scent told him she was nearly at the fertile time of the month, and his inner dragon had screamed at him to throw her on the ground and fuck her. Even now, with Melanie at his side, his dragon was impatient, not understanding why he would give another male the chance to get her with child ahead of him.
Tristan might’ve grown up the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, but his dragon functioned primarily on instinct. Hunt, fly, fuck, eat. That’s what his beast understood.
While every dragon-shifter learned from an early age how to control their dragons, spending two days with a female who was both fertile and who had caught the eye of his dragon would be the ultimate test of self-control. That was why he’d tried to convince Bram in Mersae, the dragon-shifter language, to let someone else show her around Stonefire’s land tomorrow. However, Bram had been firm and told him to get his dragon under control. If Tristan couldn’t manage to do that, then he wasn’t worthy of a female to birth his children.
An hour ago, he would’ve been happy to give the human sacrifice to someone else. But after feeling Melanie’s soft body pressed up against his, the thought of another male taking her made his dragon roar inside his head. When Bram had taken her hand, he’d barely resisted throwing his friend across the room.
The whole situation was fucked up. Bram was his oldest friend and clan leader, but his dragon didn’t seem to care. It wanted Melanie. Period. Unless he wanted to unleash an angry, snarling dragon on his clan—losing control of his dragon would get him kicked out or worse—passing her off to another male wasn’t an option.
His dragon pushed his way to the front of his mind.The female is ours. Take her. Bond her. Now.
He wrestled the beast back and was barely in control again when Melanie’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Are you going to tell me about tonight’s event?”
He glanced over at her. The sound of her voice calmed his dragon. For once, he was grateful for the distraction of her questions. “What’s there to tell? People will get together, eat, drink, and dance.”
“Is that why you don’t like big get-togethers? Because you have to dance?”
“No.”
She tugged on her elbow but Tristan didn’t release his grip. “Well?”
They were almost to her new dwelling, and he decided talking would keep the human part of him front and center. “I don’t like contained, crowded places. I’m part dragon, and I much prefer the freedom of the skies.”
“But what about airplanes? Or air pollution? I’d imagine flying isn’t as grand as it might’ve once been.”
Keep her talking. I want to hear her voice, his dragon told him. Since they were nearly to the cottage, he decided to listen to his beast. “Even with those things, there’s nothing like using the power of your wings to soar over an ocean, or a mountain, or a forest. Humans must rely on airplanes, cars, and boats to get them from one place to the other, but as a dragon, I can fly anywhere. My wings are my independence.”
