Seducing the Dragon: Part Three Read Free

Scottish leader in private, then she’d have to do it during the gathering. She was Stonefire’s best tech expert, and Bram wanted things to run smoothly, as well as securely, with their fragile new alliance with Lochguard.
    Fine. She could meet with the leader at a gathering. A room full of people would help stave off her memories. They might even help keep her episodes at bay. But the gathering was formal attire, which meant wearing half a bloody dress.  
    As a teenager, she had loved the traditional dresses which fastened over one shoulder, hugged her breasts, and flared out at her hips, but no longer. Her tattooed arm was burn-free, but even with the strip of material over the shoulder of her healed burns, her other upper arm was pink and wrinkly.  
    In other words, ugly.
    She shouldn’t care, but this was the first formal gathering she would attend in nearly a decade. At that moment, her heart thumped in her chest as her stomach churned. Unless the Scottish leader decided to dance around the great hall naked, everyone would be staring at her and talking about her. She was “poor Arabella”.
    She narrowed her eyes. Well, fuck them. Putting her shoulder back, Ara turned from the mirror and headed toward her front door. She may still be afraid of her inner dragon and have flashbacks of her time with the dragon hunters, but she could take care of herself. She would prove it at the gathering.
    Snagging her cloak and tossing it over her shoulders, Ara exited her house and into the brisk April evening air. Her cottage was quite far from the main living community, but she loved to walk. The silence always brought a sense of peace.  
    Within ten minutes, she could see the outline of the great hall.  
    She arrived early, just as Bram had requested, so as she approached the giant brick building, the area was mostly empty. Five or six dragon-shifters raced in and out of the hall with the meal preparations, but they were so preoccupied, they didn’t even notice her.
    Tugging her cloak tighter around her shoulders, she entered the great hall and looked around the long, rectangular space for Bram. She spotted him in a corner talking with a tall, blond dragonman she didn’t recognize. His hair was short, yet his face was covered in a blond scruff, which was an odd contrast to his formal, kilt-like attire. While his dragon-shifter tattoo was on the arm turned away from her, she knew every dragon-shifter in Stonefire by sight and he wasn’t one of them. The unfamiliar male had to be from Lochguard.
    Her stomach churned even more. As her heart rate kicked up, a small sense of panic crept upon her. Why would Bram ask her to meet alone with the other male? The blond was tall, muscled, and could pin her down without breaking a sweat.
    Much like how the dragon hunters had pinned her down as a teenager before torturing her.
    Closing her eyes, Ara breathed in through her nose and out her mouth. Bram was in the same room. He would never allow anyone to hurt her. As long as he remained, she could handle meeting the other male.
    Her distress brought out her inner dragon. The beast rarely spoke to her, but it sent wary thoughts of calm. A year ago, Ara would have run from the room and tried to banish the beast from her mind. Yet after nearly nine months of counseling and encouragement from her brother and his mate, she had the strength to say, It will be okay. Go back to sleep.
    Her dragon gave a soft roar before retreating. Maybe one day, Ara would be able to converse and work with her inner beast like every other dragon-shifter, but it was not that day.
    “Ara.”
    As soon as she heard Bram’s voice, she opened her eyes. An apologetic expression was written all over her leader’s face as he continued, “Finn came early. I told him to wait over there, but if you’re up to it, we can talk to him now. I’ll be right there beside you, so you won’t have anything to worry about.”
    While a part of her was relieved Bram would protect