With that, the man went over to a patch of trees, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared. Even from fifteen feet away, she felt the intensity of his gaze, and she was starting to understand how most women would freak out at it. However, Mel had dealt with worse during her part-time jobs all throughout university; first at a bar and later a restaurant. A grumpy, verbally stunted jerk would be like a walk in the park in comparison.
Determined not to waste what precious time she had left with her family, Mel turned back to her parents and tried to ignore the heat of the dragon-shifter’s gaze that was undoubtedly still trained on her back.
~~~
Tristan watched the short, curvy woman with reddish brown hair and green eyes as she hugged her parents. She was a bit rounder and softer than the females of his people, but at first glance, he didn’t find it unappealing. The woman’s tits alone should be able to get his cock hard enough to do his job.
Provided he could get her naked first. He wouldn’t force her, but thanks to Bram’s choice of sacrifice, it was probably going to take more than a few caresses to get her willing. He glared in Melanie’s direction as down payment for the trouble the woman was going to cause him.
If Bram thought Tristan was going to turn into a gentle, flattering male for the human female, his clan leader was in for a surprise. The human female was here for one purpose, and one purpose only—to breed. He’d do his duty and fuck her until she became pregnant. Then he could go back to his life until the child was born. If she managed to survive the birth, he could only hope the woman would flee back to the humans and leave the child’s upbringing to him.
Like most dragon-shifters, Tristan cherished the gift of children, even if his would be half-human.
However, he was getting ahead of himself. Melanie would have a two-day adjustment period before she was required to have sex with him. He just wanted to hurry up and get it over with, but he’d signed the sacrifice contract and he wouldn’t embarrass his clan by breaking it.
The woman’s time was up. He was about to go fetch her when she gave a wave to her parents, picked up her suitcase, and strutted toward him. He’d discovered one thing about her—she was punctual.
When she was only a few feet away, he put out a hand. “I can carry your bag.”
She shook her head. “I don’t even know your name, so how am I supposed to trust you with my things?”
No matter how much trouble it’d be later, he still preferred feisty to whimpering or scared shitless. “I’m Tristan MacLeod of Clan Stonefire.”
She peered up at him with her light green eyes and Tristan frowned. Why were human women so short?
Melanie stared at him for another two seconds before she offered him her bag. “That still doesn’t really tell me who you are, but since I’m staying with Stonefire for at least the next six months, I can hunt you down if you run off with my things.”
He pierced her with a stare. “If I decided to run off with your suitcase, I guarantee you wouldn’t be able to find me. I have wings.”
“Right. You’re a dragon. I’m not sure how I forgot about that.” She offered her bag again. “Well, take it then. I’d say it’s heavy, but you look like you can handle it.”
She’d forgotten he was a dragon? Fuck. So much for using the rumors of dragon brutality to get her to leave him alone. The female was going to be a bigger challenge than he’d anticipated. His preemptive glare had been justified.
For now, he just needed to deliver her to his clan leader. He could worry about how much trouble she was later.
He took her bag. “We have a meeting. Follow me.”
He turned and started walking. Since he didn’t try to pace his strides with her much shorter ones, she had to half-jog to keep up. Good. Maybe if he kept her winded, she wouldn’t try talking to him. He had no intention of getting to know Ms. Melanie Hall.
~~~
Melanie wasn’t sure what she had expected on meeting her first dragon-shifter face-to-face, but Tristan MacLeod hadn’t been it.
Yes, he was tall, lean, and muscular—okay, she’d admit sexy—but he could probably snap her in two if he tried. Manners and politeness definitely weren’t his forte. She doubted he even knew how to smile.
And yet, she had a sinking feeling he was the male who had been assigned to her.
Best not to jump to conclusions, Hall. Right. She was a social scientist. She needed to observe and obtain more information before forming any sort of definitive opinion. Maybe the dragonman was merely having a bad day.
At least, the walk was doing some good to help calm the fluttering in her stomach. She might’ve put on a brave front for the dragon-shifter, but inside she was nervous as hell, and she’d only been on the dragon-shifter’s land for ten minutes.
She took a deep breath and remembered her decision to treat her time with the dragon-shifters as nothing more than a difficult fieldwork assignment.