Sacrificed to the Dragon: Part Two Read Online Free PDF Page B

dragonman had made his choice. No matter how much she missed his presence in bed next to her, she wasn’t going to put up with his bullshit just so she could feel his hot, naked skin against hers again. The heartache wasn’t worth it.
     

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Melanie stood in front of four pupils in the five-to - six-year-old age range. The dragon-shifter teacher was introducing her, but Melanie didn’t pay much attention to what the dragonwoman was saying. Instead, she focused everything on remaining calm on the outside and not betraying the butterflies banging around in her stomach.
    Don’t let the little ones smell fear, or they’ll walk all over you. That had been Liam’s advice to her before she’d left this morning. She reckoned it was probably the same way with human students, but since she’d been told how the five-and-six-year-olds were just learning to communicate with their inner dragons, not showing fear was doubly important—the newly awakened dragons were trying to find their own place in the dominance scale.
    But the longer she studied the faces of the three little boys and one little girl, the more confident she became. They weren’t staring at her with disgust or condemnation. No, they were just staring at her with wide-eyed curiosity.
    The teacher turned toward her and nodded. Melanie nodded back and focused on the four students. “As the teacher said, my name is Melanie Hall. And I think the best way to get to know each other is for you to just ask your burning questions now.”
    The little girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand, and Melanie motioned for the girl to speak.
    The little girl looked her up and down before she said, “My friend said humans aren’t allowed on Stonefire’s land because they’ll either scream or try to hurt us. Are you going to scream or hurt us?”
    “No, I’m not. Should I be afraid of you?”
    The little girl crossed her arms over her chest and it took everything Mel had not to smile. The girl said, “Well, I know important people. So you should be good or I can tell on you and my uncle will make you behave. He makes everyone behave.”
    The teacher said, “Ava.” But Mel put up a hand to signal it was okay. “So, your name is Ava?” The little girl nodded. “Well, Ava, is your uncle here right now?”
    The girl’s arms dropped as she lost a bit of her confidence. “No.”
    She took a step toward the girl. “Could he get here before I could tackle you?”
    Ava darted a glance to the dragon-shifter teacher and back. “No.”
    Mel stood right in front of the little girl and placed a hand on her head. “Then using him as a threat is useless. You should always be thinking of how to take care of yourself in the moment.”
    The little girl stared up at her with awe. After another second, Mel crouched down and tickled the girl’s sides. Ava started giggling and squirming, and Mel stopped but remained crouched to look Ava in the eye. “What do you think? Do you reckon I’m going to run off screaming or try to hurt you?”
    Ava stared at her for a second before she answered, “I don’t think so.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because Drustan only tickles me because he fancies me. Do you fancy me, Ms. Hall?”
    Mel laughed. “Not in that way, Ava. But I think I like you.”
    Ava beamed and Mel stood up to talk with the other children. Within a few minutes, they were all relaxed and chattering away in the way young children did. She’d never thought of herself as a teacher, but maybe this teaching thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
     
    ~~~
     
    Tristan stood inside Melanie’s empty cottage and tried his best to forget what he’d done here less than six days ago. Spending time with the young had indeed calmed his beast to a level Tristan could control. But right now, upon finding Melanie was no longer staying here, his dragon was snarling for him to find her. Now.
    Her scent was nearly gone. Only through sheer force of will did he