Sacrificed to the Dragon: Part Two Read Online Free Page A

His absence felt...wrong.
    She looked back over at Samira. “Where’s Tristan?”
    Samira’s face went expressionless. “He went back to his job this morning.”
    “Training the young dragons?”
    Samira nodded. Melanie’s brain was almost fully alert now, and she made the connection. She looked down at her belly. “That means I’m pregnant.”
    “Yes. He told Bram that your scent changed last night. When you carry a dragon-shifter’s child, you also carry the father’s scent. At least until the child is born.”
    I’m going to have a baby. Mel closed her eyes. Fear, relief, longing, loneliness, and even a little bit of joy swirled around inside her head. She’d known this was coming, but still, it was a shock all the same.
    Especially since her baby might end up killing her in about nine months.
    She took a few deep breaths. She vaguely recalled Bram telling her that when a dragon went into the mate frenzy it was because the female in question was his best chance at having children and finding happiness. Maybe, just maybe, that gave her better odds at surviving the birth.
    She opened her eyes and stared at Tristan’s side of the bed. While she still barely knew him since he’d been distant any time his dragon hadn’t been in the forefront, the thought of growing and birthing a child by herself, amongst strangers no less, brought tears to her eyes.
    Mel felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned her head. Samira gave her shoulder a squeeze and said, “Don’t worry, Mel. Until Tristan realizes he’s a fool for staying away from you, you can come stay with me and Liam.”
    She blinked back her tears. Having someone nearby who’d gone through this whole process before made her feel better. “Thanks.”
    Samira gave another squeeze before she stood up. “I’ll draw you a bath and then make you something to eat. After that, we’ll pack your things and you can move in with me tonight.”
    Too tired and full of emotion, Mel merely nodded again and watched Samira head into the bathroom.
    As the sound of running water filled the room, Mel curled onto her side and put her hands under her pillow. Conceiving had been her entire reason for coming here, and expecting anything more than that was foolish. But somewhere deep inside, she’d believed that Tristan wouldn’t just knock her up and leave without so much as a glance.
    But he had.
    She almost started crying but then her stomach rumbled. Mel decided it was more important to focus on getting clean and feeding herself than crying tears over the dragon-shifter male she’d been assigned. She wasn’t the type of person to wallow in self-pity, and starting tomorrow, she was going to distract herself by exploring the dragon-shifters’ community and learning about this culture. Just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she was incapacitated. She fully intended to carry out her plan and find something to write about for her doctoral thesis.
    “Mel, the bath’s ready!”
    Uncaring about her nakedness, Mel climbed out of bed and went to take a bath. Maybe once she washed off Tristan’s scent she could stop thinking about his kisses. Or his caresses. Or the way he’d made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
    After all, he’d only done those things because of his dragon. The man was consumed with so much hate for humans that he would abandon her without a word the instant he’d fulfilled his end of the contract and had known she was with child.
    If that’s how he wanted things to be, then so be it. Bram had said a woman could refuse the mate claim after a child was born. In nine months’ time, Mel would be both a mother and free of a man who wanted nothing to do with her.
     
    ~~~
     
    Tristan watched as two seven-year-olds squeezed their eyes shut and tried to shift. One managed to turn a hand into a claw with talons, but only for a few seconds before it morphed back into a human hand. The second child succeeded in turning a patch of his skin