Page 5 of Sacrificed to the Dragon

He started walking again, and all Mel could do was stare. How in the hell was she supposed to sleep withhim? She’d tried not to build up any fantasies about her life with the dragon-shifters, but never in a million years had she expected such a bastard to be assigned to her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice; her hands were tied with the contract she’d signed.

Mel clenched her fists at her side and picked up her pace to catch up with Tristan. At least by the terms of her contract, she had two sex-free days to get to know the clan and have her basic questions answered. Somehow, in those two days, she needed to either find out why Tristan hated her so much or try to find a way to transfer the contract to a different dragonman.

ChapterThree

Thankfully, for the rest of the walk to Bram’s house, Melanie remained silent.

Tristan had laid out the facts and been as blunt as he could be, but if the stubborn glint in her eye was anything to go on, his brusque manner wasn’t going to be enough.

He still couldn’t believe her first question about his clan was whether dragons ever took humans up for a ride in the air or not. Even putting aside the fact she didn’t know much, if anything, about dragon-shifter ways, would she ask a human male she just met if she could have a piggyback ride?

No. She wouldn’t.

Humans felt entitled and had always viewed themselves superior to the “dragon beasts”. The restrictive laws in Britain about where they could go or who could visit their land only reinforced that fact.

As a boy, he’d dismissed the tales of human cruelty as nothing more than stories. But then they had tortured and killed his mother and he’d finally understood what monsters they could be.

At least Melanie had reminded him of that fact. A small, very small, part of him had wondered if his assigned female would be different. It was good to know she wasn’t.

Since his behavior didn’t seem to scare her off, he’d just have to think of other ways to persuade the female to leave either when her time was up or after she gave him a child.

To be honest, he wanted a child. A little male or female to help start a new family. His sister Arabella had been with his mother when the humans had captured her, and to this day, she hadn’t forgiven herself for leaving as their mother had begged her to do. But maybe a niece or nephew would finally help her to heal and move on.

Of course, that brought his problem full circle, to the female trailing behind him. Children required sex, and since he wasn’t a rapist, he’d have to get creative to get her naked.

The sound of Melanie’s half-jogging steps stopped. Wondering what she was doing now, he turned around to see her gaping at the collection of houses and workshops in the clan’s central living area. All of the houses were two stories and simple stone or brick, but even if her accent wasn’t quite English, she would’ve seen similar buildings in the little villages she’d passed on her way here.

On closer inspection, he realized that she wasn’t staring at the buildings but rather at the commotion going on behind them. The young dragons were practicing their take-offs and landings in the designated safe area.

The sight was an everyday occurrence to him, but not to the human.

But he didn’t care. All that mattered was getting her to Bram as fast as possible. He itched to go for a quick flight before the welcoming ceremony and every minute the female wasted watching the young dragons was a minute less of freedom spent in the skies.

Tristan walked over to Melanie and barked, “Stop gawking. We have a meeting with the clan leader.”

Her mouth had been hanging open, but she promptly shut it and scowled up at him. “There is nothing in my contract about having to follow your every order.” She crossed her arms across her chest and he forced himself not to look at her plumped up breasts. “Just ask me nicely to pick up my pace and see what happens.”

Yes, that determined glint was still in her eyes. As much as he wanted to get to Bram’s house, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why aren’t you afraid of me? For most humans, a dragon-shifter barking at them would send them into a fit.”

“I’m guessing by your comment that you didn’t read my file, so here it is: I’m earning my PhD in Social Anthropology. You do know what anthropology is, don’t you?”

He glared, careful not to let his confusion at her change of topic show. “I might be a big beast, but I have a brain. Anthropology is the study of culture.”

“Close enough.”

“And that has to do with your behavior how, exactly?”

She gestured to their surroundings. “All of this is new to me, and all I want to do is look at every detail and store it away into my memory. New cultures don’t scare me, they fascinate me.”

Bloody fantastic.His assigned female was going to take a lot of persuading to make her leave at the end of her time. “You can look your fill tomorrow. Right now, you either need to start walking, or I’ll use other ways to get you to the meeting.”

She pointed a finger at him. “You act all scary and badass, but unless you want to risk your clan’s participation in the sacrifice system, you won’t hurt me.”

She was right; he would never deny the future of his clan that way. Nevertheless, he could do many things without hurting her.

Melanie huffed, but fell quiet. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or be worried that she was coming up with a way to get back at him. If she kept standing up to him and challenging him at every turn, he might just have to tie her to the bed to keep her out of trouble.

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