Sacrificed to the Dragon: Part Two (3 page)

He nodded as he palmed her breasts and squeezed. Since they were already heavy with desire, the pressure of his fingers on her tender flesh sent a shock to straight between her legs.

She should be sore and tired, but she felt surprisingly full of energy. And a small part of her wondered what the dragonman would do next. His need to mate must be rubbing off on her; she was horny, and if he was ready, then so was she.

She said, “I’m willing, Tristan. Take me again.”

He growled and leaned back on his heels. His posture gave her a chance to stare at his thick, still hard cock. How all those inches had fit into her in the first place, she didn’t know. However, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she desperately wanted—no, needed—to feel it inside her again.

Tristan growled, and between one second and the next, he flipped her over on the mattress. His hands caressed her large, squishy buttocks. His touch was rough and warm, and each slow brush of his fingers was deliberate and made her feel treasured and desired.

She knew most men liked a big ass to go from behind since it gave them a cushion, but Tristan’s caresses made her feel like he’d been waiting for an ass like hers his entire life.

Then his hands reached beneath her hips and pulled up her body until she was on her knees with her ass in the air. She refrained from asking questions since Samira had told her that when the dragon was mostly in command, it rarely replied. The inner beast was all about instinct and sensation.

Speaking of which, Tristan ran a finger through her folds and she arched into his touch with a moan, the roughness of his fingers causing a wonderful sensation along her slit. She was rewarded with a slap on her left cheek. The slight stinging pain sent more wetness between her thighs. Tristan ran his fingers up her folds and circled her clit repeatedly. The almost-touch made her nerves throb and ache. To try to relieve it, she moved her body to try to catch his fingers on her clit. But Tristan’s reflexes were faster, and he moved out of the way. She decided to try another tactic to relieve her frustration. She whimpered and wiggled her rear end.

He rewarded her with a pinch to her clit and she cried out. But before there was enough pressure to give her an orgasm, he released her.

She ached to the point of pain. If he didn’t fuck her soon, she felt as if she’d burst. She whispered, “Please.”

He slapped her other ass cheek. “Female. Ready. Now.”

“Yes.”

And without preamble, he thrust into her with one swift motion. She fisted the sheets in her hands at the intrusion. In this position, the fullness was almost too much to handle.

Then he started to move. His hands were now on her hips, guiding her forward and back against his cock, his rhythm picking up pace until his balls were slapping against her clit with each thrust.

If she’d thought he’d taken her rough before, then now was downright brutal. He was in complete control of their rhythm and the movement of her hips, but she loved the feel of his hairy legs against hers, the pure male dominance of his touch as he pulled and pushed her hips against his. She would be bruised later, but right here, right now, she didn’t care about anything but her next orgasm.

For a second, she wondered what had happened to her; she wasn’t this sensual, demanding creature, but then Tristan slapped her right ass cheek and she moaned, gripping the sheets tighter in her fists. She was so close.

Tristan let out a roar as he stopped pounding and held her firmly against his cock. Again, she felt the heat of his seed and she was blinded by another intense orgasm. If Tristan hadn’t been holding her up by her hips, she’d have fallen over.

Then all too soon, Tristan pulled out and she felt empty again. She must’ve made a noise, because Tristan flipped her on her back and said, “Again. Now.”

His pupils were flashing between slits and round globes. The dragon was insatiable.

And yet, despite how exhausted she should be feeling after two wild bouts of sex, her core throbbed, wanting more.

Then Melanie did something she’d never done with a man before, and bent her legs up before running a hand to her clit. As she stroked it, she purred, “Yes. Again.”

Without warning, Tristan pushed her legs wider and thrust into her again. Somewhere in the back of Melanie’s mind, she wondered if she could be killed by too much sex because it was certainly looking like that might happen.

Chapter Three

“Melanie, wake up.”

Melanie turned her head into her pillow. “I’m tired. Go away.”

Someone shook her shoulder. “Melanie.”

She was awake enough now to realize it was a female voice speaking to her, which meant it wasn’t Tristan-slash-dragon waking her up for more sex. She peeked open an eye and saw it was Samira.

She was beyond exhausted, and not to mention sore, but somehow her brain realized that the presence of someone other than Tristan in her cottage was significant. She turned her head a little and asked, “What?”

Samira brushed Melanie’s hair off her face. “How’re you feeling, my dear?”

She grumbled. “That is what you woke me up for?”

“No. But I need to make sure you’re awake before I tell you why I’m here.”

She was naked, but under a sheet, so Mel turned onto her back and stretched her arms. She grimaced at the soreness between her legs. “How long was I locked up in here?”

“A week.”

Wow, a week. She vaguely remembered the sun coming and going, but it was a haze of sleeping, eating, and fucking. Oh, and orgasming. There had been lots of orgasming.

She looked over to the other side of the bed, but it was empty. While she’d done very little talking with Tristan over the last week, she’d grown used to his heat and weight either beside her or on top of her. His absence felt...wrong.

She looked back over at Samira. “Where’s Tristan?”

Samira’s face went expressionless. “He went back to his job this morning.”

“Training the young dragons?”

Samira nodded. Melanie’s brain was almost fully alert now, and she made the connection. She looked down at her belly. “That means I’m pregnant.”

“Yes. He told Bram that your scent changed last night. When you carry a dragon-shifter’s child, you also carry the father’s scent. At least until the child is born.”

I’m going to have a baby.
Mel closed her eyes. Fear, relief, longing, loneliness, and even a little bit of joy swirled around inside her head. She’d known this was coming, but still, it was a shock all the same.

Especially since her baby might end up killing her in about nine months.

She took a few deep breaths. She vaguely recalled Bram telling her that when a dragon went into the mate frenzy it was because the female in question was his best chance at having children and finding happiness. Maybe, just maybe, that gave her better odds at surviving the birth.

She opened her eyes and stared at Tristan’s side of the bed. While she still barely knew him since he’d been distant any time his dragon hadn’t been in the forefront, the thought of growing and birthing a child by herself, amongst strangers no less, brought tears to her eyes.

Mel felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned her head. Samira gave her shoulder a squeeze and said, “Don’t worry, Mel. Until Tristan realizes he’s a fool for staying away from you, you can come stay with me and Liam.”

She blinked back her tears. Having someone nearby who’d gone through this whole process before made her feel better. “Thanks.”

Samira gave another squeeze before she stood up. “I’ll draw you a bath and then make you something to eat. After that, we’ll pack your things and you can move in with me tonight.”

Too tired and full of emotion, Mel merely nodded again and watched Samira head into the bathroom.

As the sound of running water filled the room, Mel curled onto her side and put her hands under her pillow. Conceiving had been her entire reason for coming here, and expecting anything more than that was foolish. But somewhere deep inside, she’d believed that Tristan wouldn’t just knock her up and leave without so much as a glance.

But he had.

She almost started crying but then her stomach rumbled. Mel decided it was more important to focus on getting clean and feeding herself than crying tears over the dragon-shifter male she’d been assigned. She wasn’t the type of person to wallow in self-pity, and starting tomorrow, she was going to distract herself by exploring the dragon-shifters’ community and learning about this culture. Just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she was incapacitated. She fully intended to carry out her plan and find something to write about for her doctoral thesis.

“Mel, the bath’s ready!”

Uncaring about her nakedness, Mel climbed out of bed and went to take a bath. Maybe once she washed off Tristan’s scent she could stop thinking about his kisses. Or his caresses. Or the way he’d made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

After all, he’d only done those things because of his dragon. The man was consumed with so much hate for humans that he would abandon her without a word the instant he’d fulfilled his end of the contract and had known she was with child.

If that’s how he wanted things to be, then so be it. Bram had said a woman could refuse the mate claim after a child was born. In nine months’ time, Mel would be both a mother and free of a man who wanted nothing to do with her.

~~~

Tristan watched as two seven-year-olds squeezed their eyes shut and tried to shift. One managed to turn a hand into a claw with talons, but only for a few seconds before it morphed back into a human hand. The second child succeeded in turning a patch of his skin on his neck deep red, that would be the color of his hide, before that also disappeared.

He whistled between his teeth at the two children and they opened their eyes. He said, “That’s a good start, but if you’re not working with your dragon, you’ll never be able to change and maintain the shape.”

The little female looked up at him with big, brown eyes and said, “But Mr. MacLeod, I am working with my dragon. I pet her and coax her, but it doesn’t seem to work.”

Since he’d been doing this for years, he resisted a smile at the little one’s innocence. “Right now, your dragon is young and she wants you to pamper her. But, Misa, your dragon will soon become a strong beast that will fight for control. No matter how much your dragon begs or pleads, you must learn to be the one in command. Only then will you be able to channel your inner beast and make the change into a full-fledged dragon in the flesh. Does that make sense?”

Misa nodded and Tristan looked to the lad. “Were you doing the same thing?” The boy looked sheepish, but nodded. Tristan pointed to the far corner of the clearing encircled by high rock formations that served as his outdoor classroom. “Take some time to get a grip on your dragons. In a little while, I’ll call you over and we’ll try again. Okay?”

The two young nodded and scurried to the far side. Since all ten of today’s pupils were attempting their first shift or, like the two students he’d just dismissed, were getting to know their dragons, he had nothing to distract him from Melanie, let alone from thinking about his unborn child.

If everything went according to plan, he was going to be a father.

When he’d first scented the change, joy had shot through his body. The new life would not only add to his clan, it might give him and his sister the new start they desperately needed.

But the scent had also made his dragon go from being slightly possessive of Melanie to downright domineering. Despite everything, he’d tried to keep his beast from forming a bond, yet the dragon had become attached.

And so, when Tristan had been in control of his dragon again early this morning, he’d left without a word and returned to his duties. Working with the young dragon-shifters was the only way to force his beast to be calm and collected; protecting his clan’s young was the highest instinctual priority. Hell, working with and overseeing the children were the only things he could do to both stay away from Melanie and please his dragon.

As he walked around, checking his pupils’ progress, his mind started to wander to the last week. The first day had been all about letting his dragon loose to fuck the shit out of the human, but as the week progressed, and not even his mate frenzy induced energy-giving semen could prevent the human’s exhaustion, he’d had to let her rest more and more often. When Melanie had curled against him in her sleep, he hadn’t had the heart to push her away. And before long, holding Melanie’s soft, plump body in his arms had become something he’d looked forward to.

He’d very nearly forgotten that she was human.

Some might say he was crazy for focusing his hatred on a random human female, but apart from the dips and curves of her body or her soft cries during an orgasm, he knew very little about her. He wasn’t going to let his dick overrule his brain on this.

He’d hide out with the young dragon-shifters for a few days. He hoped the distance would help lessen his dragon’s attachment and need to claim her for good. Once that was done, he could check on the future mother of his child and investigate if she was a threat to his clan.