Sacrificed to the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons 1)

She heard murmurs of “she must have a death wish” behind her, but she focused solely on the dragon.

She was rewarded when the dragon’s eyes flicked to hers and she saw a small spark. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it as encouragement to keep pushing. She took another step closer and said, “That’s right. If you die, then another male’s hands will be all over me and another male’s cock will be inside me, branding me with his scent. And if that isn’t enough, then realize you dying means that another male will raise your young.” She turned half away. “If you don’t let us help you, maybe I should start looking right now. I passed quite a few hot males on my way here.”

The dragon raised its head and growled. Resisting a smile, Mel turned her head back toward the dragon, looked him in the eye, and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t like those possible scenarios, now, do you? Well, then, if you want to be the only male who touches this body, then you’d better let the others help you so you can live. To do that, I need you to let your human-half come back into control.”

As the dragon continued to stare at her, Mel wasn’t exactly sure how she’d know if the dragon-half ceded control or not. But no doubt the dragon-shifters behind her would know if she couldn’t figure it out.

She was about to start scolding and taunting again when the dragon’s head lowered to the ground and let out a long, slow breath of air. The beast’s eyes were no longer frenzied, but rather stoic.

Yes, stoic like Tristan’s default expression.

“Tristan,” she whispered and barely restrained herself from running to the dragon. She was hopeful, but not stupid. She needed more than an expression to convince her it was safe to approach.

She clenched a hand over her heart, took a steadying breath, and said, “If it’s truly you, flick out your tongue.”

While there was still pain, something that looked like amusement hovered in the dragon’s eyes. Then he flicked out his long, forked tongue and turned his head to the side, exposing his chin.

Cassidy’s voice came from right behind her. “Tristan is back in control. No dragon would ever expose the vulnerable, soft skin of his chin unless the human was calling the shots.” The woman moved to Mel’s side. “Calm him a little further and convince him to let my people near enough to heal him.”

Mel was on the verge of tears, but managed to push them back and nod. Her job wasn’t quite finished just yet.

She took a few more steps toward the dragon and said, “Tristan, let me touch your beautiful, smooth scales again. Blink if you feel I can do that without you hurting me.”

The dragon slowly blinked and Mel’s heart warmed. She fought the tears that threated to fall and walked at a steady pace until she was less than two feet from the dragon. She raised her hand and slowly reached out until she could lay it on his snout. At the contact, the dragon gave a little hum.

She couldn’t hold back her emotions any more. She whispered, “Oh, Tristan,” before taking the last steps between them and then hugging his snout as she caressed the scales of his head and jaw. He might get to live.

She couldn’t prevent her voice from cracking as she said, “Please let the healers help you. I don’t want to live without you, you stubborn dragonman.”

The dragon chuffed and Mel decided that was a yes.

Only through sheer will did she convince herself to let go of the dragon’s snout. She quickly wiped her eyes before she turned and shouted, “He’s okay. Come help him.”

The healers didn’t waste any time and rushed forth. Cassidy, their leader, told Melanie, “Stay to the right side of his head while we fix him. Your touch and voice will help ground him and, most importantly, keep the human-half in charge.”

Mel nodded and moved out of the way, but she never severed contact with her dragon.

She looked into the huge dragon’s eye in front of her and whispered, “I know you’re all big and strong, but that wound has to hurt like hell and I want to help you forget about the pain. I’m not sure what to do, though, so I need

your help. I’ll try scratching and caressing certain areas, and blink twice if it’s good or three times if it does not. Now, blink once if you understand.”

The dragon blinked and Melanie smiled. “Good. I’ve always wanted to feel up a dragon.” She winked. “Now, where to start...”

~~~

Thanks to Melanie, Tristan had managed to battle back into control of his dragon-half.

His human was cleverer than he’d realized. Her threat of walking away to find another male had been enough to drive his dragon crazy and to turn to Tristan for help, asking what they needed to do to keep her.

And now she wanted to touch, scratch, and caress his dragon hide. She really was a different type of human.

While waiting to see what Melanie would touch first—he hoped behind his ears, because it itched like hell—someone poured something into his wound and a blinding pain rushed through his body. What the fuck? Were they trying to kill him?

He gritted his teeth and just barely resisted roaring into his female’s ear. His dragon pushed and growled to come out again. They needed to knock the dragon-shifters away. See? They were trying to kill him. They were pouncing on their weakness.

Tristan growled inside his head and told his dragon to stay in the back of his mind. Their female was right next to them. If they roared or thrashed about, they would hurt her. They could even end up killing her.

His inner beast didn’t like that thought one bit, and grudgingly retreated to the back of Tristan’s mind. As the pain dulled, he could feel Melanie stroking his snout and saying, “It was just some antiseptic. Stop acting like a big baby.”