Sacrificed to the Dragon: Part Three Read Free Page A

out the back door.”
    Melanie’s expression relaxed a little. “She’s that skittish?”
    He nodded. “Yes. I don’t make promises lightly, but after our visit with Arabella, I promise you we’ll sit down and have a proper chat about you, me, and the baby. For now, can we just put it aside and see how my sister is doing?”
    Mel’s eyes searched his before she said, “All right, but if you break your promise, Tristan MacLeod, so help me, I will find a way to tie you down and get some answers.”
    He fought the urge to smile, but couldn’t resist. He shook his head. “You might be a good foot shorter than I, and quite a few stone lighter, but somehow I think you’d find a way to accomplish that if you put your mind to it.”
    Melanie raised her chin. “Of course I would. Everyone told me I wouldn’t be able to save my brother, that my odds of qualifying to be a sacrifice would be too great. Yet here I am, while Oliver is finally healthy and out of the hospital.”
    He couldn’t help but tease her. “So through sheer force of will you made your DNA compatible? Somehow I doubt it.”
    Melanie gave a shy smile and his dragon crooned at the same time his heart skipped a beat. He’d always found her attractive, but the shy smile made her look pretty and vulnerable at the same time. That made him want to haul her against him and protect her all the more.
    But he didn’t have time for that right now. He motioned with his head toward the cottage. “Come, let’s catch Arabella before she disappears.”
    She nodded and walked the short distance in silence. Apparently, the human could listen to something he said if she wanted to.
    Once they arrived at the cottage, Tristan motioned for Melanie to stand off to the side. Then he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He only hoped Arabella hadn’t already fled out the back.
     
    ~~~
     
    Melanie stood a few feet off to the side of the door and tried not to be selfish and wish Arabella wasn’t home. She did truly want to meet Tristan’s sister, but a part of her wanted to see if she could get the dragonman to tease her again, as he’d done a minute ago.
    Her intuition that the version of Tristan she’d seen with the children was the true one had all but been validated. He could be decent when he tried.
    The question was, could he act that way all the time around her? And why did she want to try to find out if he could?
    To be honest, she didn’t know. Or, rather, deep down she knew why she wanted him to act like that around her, but she wasn’t about to get her hopes up. Caitriona had admitted to being that way once, and Melanie didn’t want to end up the same way. True, she could never be as reclusive or shy as Cait, but it would be all too easy to lock her heart against any other dragon-shifter, especially since she had yet to meet one who compared with Tristan MacLeod’s ability to sear her skin with a touch, or make her instantly wet with a kiss. The man did things to her body she’d never dreamt could be possible outside of a book.
    As Tristan knocked on his sister’s door, Melanie put her hopes and wishes aside. She didn’t think Tristan had exaggerated his sister’s pain, and if there was a way to help ease it, she would find it. Somehow, she knew winning over Arabella MacLeod would determine how her future would play out with Tristan.
    After knocking for about twenty seconds, the door opened a crack. Melanie couldn’t see anything from where she was standing, but Tristan leaned toward the crack and whispered something she couldn’t hear. Then the door slammed shut and Tristan ran a hand through his hair. Melanie was about to ask what had happened, but he put up a hand for her to remain silent.
    This time, Tristan didn’t bother to knock. He merely shouted at the door. “Arabella Kathleen MacLeod, open this door or I’ll break it down. The mother of your niece or nephew isn’t feeling well. Are you really going to make her stand out here in