Page 35 of Sacrificed to the Dragon

Still, she wasn’t about to let his heated look derail her. She’d caught him looking at her back in the cottage with his flashing dragon eyes, and now he was doing it again. She knew what he wanted, but she was determined to get some answers before she let him fuck her again.

She cleared her throat. “So will you tell me about what Bram can do?”

His face took on a neutral expression. “Maybe. What do you plan to do with it? If you’re just collecting information for that book you want to write, I can’t tell you.”

She frowned. “No, I just want to know for me. Well, and...” She took a breath and said, “I also need to know what to do with our child. If this ‘dominance’ thing can be used on humans, I need some advance warning. I’m not going to let our little dragon baby try to pull one over on me.”

He looked over at her. His voice was controlled, almost like he was trying to hide some kind of emotion. “So you’re staying, then?”

“Yes, Tristan. Provided I survive the birth, I’m staying.”

He clenched his fist and his eyes flashed to slits and back. “You’re not going to die.”

She poked him in the arm. “Not even your level of stubbornness can prevent me from dying just because you say so.” He grunted as if he would argue with that statement and Mel decided to steer the conversation back on track. “Now, tell me about how dominance works with the dragon-shifters.”

He unclenched his hand and said, “Well, certain dragons are submissive, while others are dominant. Our inner beasts are a lot like animals in that respect. The more dominant ones have cores of steel. Not only that, they have stubbornness and both an inner and outer strength.”

That description fit Tristan to a T.

“So how can Bram’s dragon help Arabella’s?”

“Her dragon was dominant, once upon a time. These days, it’s like a ghost. Arabella has convinced her dragon to hide in fear, so when a strong one gives an order, hers will most likely comply.”

She frowned. “But she didn’t listen to you. And while I’m not an expert, you seem pretty dominant to me.”

He smiled. “I guess I should take ‘pretty dominant’ as a compliment.”

As much as she really wanted to, she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. The asshole version of Tristan could return at any time, and she didn’t want to provoke him unnecessarily. For now, she was going to push her luck and ask another question. “So is that why Bram is clan leader? Because of his dominance?”

Tristan’s eyes moved to look at the hills and mountains in the distance. “Partly. In addition to his dragon’s strength, he’s a brilliant fit for the job because of his ability to be patient one minute and then stern the next. I don’t think I’ve seen Bram lose his head since he was a teenager. He has massive amounts of control, more than I could ever hope to achieve.”

She fought a smile at his admission of a fault. “How was he chosen?”

Tristan looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. “Inquisitive one, aren’t you?” She shrugged and he chuckled again. “Fine. I’ll humor your anthropologist’s curiosity for a little longer.”

Before she could think about it, she said in a dry voice, “Don’t strain yourself on my account.”

He chuckled and Mel loved the fact she could make him laugh. But as quickly as it had come, his laugh and smile were gone. She would definitely need to find a way to bring it back again. She might just make it her own personal challenge.

She nearly faltered at that thought. Since when did she care about making Tristan smile?

Luckily, Tristan’s deep voice stopped her from thinking too hard on that question. He said, “When the clan leadership trials opened up right before our last leader retired, the interested dragonmen and women had to pass a series of obstacles in their dragon forms.”

“So, like a display of skills, to prove to the clan the dragon-shifter could take care of them.”

“Yes. The very last trial is the most important because it tests how well a dragon-shifter can keep control over their dragon when in dragon-form.” He looked over at her. “Under pressure, it’s easy to let the dragon-half take control and lose your humanity.”

Melanie was hungry for more information. “So how do they test that?”

Tristan silently stared, his deep brown eyes assessing her. For a second, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “Several clan members attack a candidate, but not before chasing him or her and then playing a series of mind tricks. The test last three days, and it can be quite brutal.”

“But necessary.”

He gave a look of surprise. “Yes.”

She smiled at catching him off guard. She explained, “I’ve studied what little I could find about the dragons and their history, and a weak leader would be the death of a clan. You’re human, but you’re also part dragon. The dragon side needs to do what’s necessary to protect those they love.”

“And it’s not always neat and pretty. I would do whatever was necessary to protect our child, even fight a dragon to the death.” He stopped walking and faced her. “While I hope it doesn’t come to that, does the idea of me doing what’s necessary scare you?”

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