Even with her dragon trapped inside the labyrinth, her body was flushed and desire still pulsed between her legs. Until she had Finn naked and inside her, she would never be able to think straight.
She still had most of her brain for the moment. As long as Arabella lasted long enough to help her new clan, she could handle whatever her dragon threw at her. Probably.
Just as she pushed aside her doubt, Bram’s frowning face appeared on the screen. He didn’t waste any time to say, “What the bloody hell is going on, Arabella? The Dragon Knights have plastered your name and face all over the media and are demanding your blood. Are you safe? Where’s the Scottish bastard?”
Arabella’s nervousness disappeared at Bram’s words. Her voice was strong when she answered, “That bastard is my mate, so be nice.”
Evie’s head appeared next to Bram’s. “I knew it. Is Finn okay? Have our reinforcements arrived?”
Before she could answer, Bram muttered, “I’m clan leader, lass. Let me do my job.”
Sensing a couples’ argument, Arabella interjected, “No, the Stonefire Protectors haven’t arrived, yet. As for Finn, he’s handling another clan issue.”
Bram’s eyes met hers again. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
“It doesn’t matter if you like it. I trust him to handle it.”
Her former clan leader studied her a second before the corner of his mouth ticked up. “As much as I hate to admit it, Scotland has done you good, Ara.” His face became serious again. “But Finn must not have everything in hand or you wouldn’t be contacting me.”
“It’s not you so much as Evie and maybe Mel I need to talk to. All I need from you is to ensure you can send more help, if needed.”
Bram nodded, but Evie answered before him, “Tell me what you need, Arabella. If it’s in my power, I’ll help.”
A year ago, Arabella never would have thought she’d have a human friend, let alone miss her. She’d have to invite Evie along with Tristan and Mel, provided Bram would allow his pregnant mate to travel.
Arabella leaned forward a fraction. “As much as Finn wants to kill all of the knight bastards, he can’t if he ever wants another female sacrifice. Do you know of anyone who could help contain them? Or, of exactly how far we can take it without being called monsters, or worse? Neither he or I want to ruin all of Mel’s hard work in building good publicity for the dragon-shifters.”
Evie tapped her chin. “If only I knew where Alice was. Give me a second to think. Talk to Bram again while I do that.”
Alice was Evie’s human friend who knew more than anyone about dragon-shifter and human history. Unfortunately, she’d been missing for the past few months. No one on Stonefire or even their contacts had been able to locate her.
Arabella looked back to Bram. “While Evie figures that out, I have something else to ask. Does that BBC journalist, Jane Hartley, still contact you?”
Bram nodded. “Aye, she occasionally runs pieces, although she usually talks with Melanie about specifics. Why? Do you need to contact her?”
“Yes and quickly. I want to broadcast Lochguard’s security feeds and show the world the true colors of the Dragon Knights.”
Bram gestured his hand. “Let’s say I contact her. The feed will show dragons fighting as well. We don’t need the humans thinking of us as monsters.”
Arabella hesitated a second as her dragon inched ever closer to the exit point. If Arabella couldn’t set things in motion in the next half hour, she might not make it.
Bram was one of the few people she felt comfortable around enough to be herself, so Arabella spit out, “Listen, Bram, there’s something I didn’t tell you. I’m barely containing the mate-claim frenzy. As much as I wish I could give you two days to plan every detail, I need an answer soon. Consult Melanie and get back to me in ten minutes. I’ll set everything up and have it ready, just in case.”
Bram cursed. “Why didn’t you tell me, Arabella? I’m surprised Finn can put two thoughts together. Maybe I should fly up there.”
“No,” Arabella answered. “Right now, we have it under control. Just do what I asked and give me an answer. Evie, I know you can hear me, the same for you. I’ll patch the connection back through in ten minutes.”
Before Bram or Evie could reply, Arabella disconnected.
Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes and checked on her maze. Her dragon’s lust was seeping out from a few cracks in the ceiling, making her body hotter with each breath.
Shit. She needed to think about something else. Opening her eyes, Arabella went to work on setting everything up in case she could broadcast. She only hoped she could last the ten minutes until she called Bram back, and then a few more.
Finn was the only other person she trusted enough who also had the technical know-how to set up the feed to broadcast securely, but her male had his own problems to handle. Arabella had to believe he was faring better than she. Otherwise, Lochguard as she knew it might not survive and she’d lose her new home.
The second the thought crossed her mind, she pushed it aside. Finn was just as stubborn as she; he would use his last dying breath to save his clan.
Arabella only hoped it didn’t come to that.
~~~
Finn smiled at the final family before they turned to leave the great hall. Answering questions and placating fears had taken him five minutes, which was longer than he’d planned for.
His dragon was currently five minutes closer to escaping.
Growling inside his head for good measure to his beast, Finn exited the rear door of the great hall and jogged toward the small, unoccupied cottage about twenty yards away. He rapped on the door four times and it unlocked. Graham Boyd ushered him inside.
Finn asked, “Any luck so far in extracting information?”
Graham shook his head. “No. Although the techie-half of the MacAllister siblings might have a way of tracing how the Dragon Knights managed to sneak up on us and attack.”
Emma and Ian MacAllister had replaced Finn as tech security apprentices after he’d won the clan leadership. “How?”
“After the Dragon Knights bombed the two DDA offices, they mentioned online locations people could offer up information for them to use,” Graham explained. “Emma and Ian are checking to see if any sort of tips, or at least access, came from Lochguard or one of the surrounding villages. If they did, they might be able to further pinpoint an IP address and give us a location.”
“They’ve been careful in the past, Graham, so that seems like a long shot,” Finn replied.
Graham shrugged. “Part of my job as the clan’s analyst has been to pay attention to the Dragon Knights and see what buzz there is online and in the media. Lately, they’ve been making more mistakes. I think bombing the two DDA offices made them cocky, and that could work to our advantage.”
They reached a closed door and Finn paused to look at Graham. “Let’s hope so. In the meantime, let’s focus on Duncan.”
Once the other dragonman grunted his agreement, Finn opened the door to find Duncan surrounded by Alistair Boyd and the remaining three MacAllister siblings. A quick look told him Duncan was relaxed; if he had something to hide, he was doing a good job of not showing it.
Finn studied the older dragon-shifter a second and then stated, “I knew you wanted to be in charge of the clan, but don’t you think putting their lives at risk will alienate them?”
Duncan raised an eyebrow. “Who said I did anything? I was in the hall the entire time. Even if you check my mobile phone records, you’ll see I’m innocent. A real clan leader wouldn’t judge me guilty without proof.”
Finn kept his face expressionless, but his dragon roared at the insult. Finn checked his maze, but it would last for a while yet, so he continued, “It seems pretty fucking convenient that an attack would happen right as I’m about to claim my mate. Me being distracted would give you the perfect opportunity to swoop in and take charge. After saving everyone, you could call a leadership retr
ial.”
Duncan smirked. “That sounds like a brilliant plan. Maybe I’ll try it next time. It won’t be long before you fuck up so badly everyone will call for you to quit, especially with you taking the English dragon-shifter as your mate. She will bring nothing but danger to the clan, and you know it.”
Finn resisted clenching his fingers. The man didn’t deserve to talk about Arabella, let alone criticize her.
Taking a deep breath through his nose, Finn calmed down a fraction. “What’s more dangerous would be to isolate the clan further. At the end of Dougal’s eighteen years as leader, his practice of isolation and dragon superiority decimated our clans’ number and severed alliances. Even putting aside how we must rely on the DDA for human sacrifices, the humans who once called us friends are starting to turn on us, and as a result, they could start leaking information to the dragon hunters. Returning to those ways would make it worse. Why would you want to do that?”
“Because, dragons have become pawns of the human governments,” Duncan answered. “If we unleash our beasts and embrace our animal sides, then the world is ours for the taking. Dragons are the top predators and it’s time we start acting like it.”
Finn wanted to punch the proud look off Duncan’s face, but resisted. He needed to keep the man talking. Not only to give the MacAllister siblings more time to find evidence of the betrayal, but to also see what other threats could be lurking in Europe and elsewhere in the world. If Duncan had been conspiring with other clans, Finn needed to find out.
He crossed his arms over his chest and tried his first tactic. “And one dragon clan, most of whom would be forced into obeying your orders, doesn’t stand a chance against the rest of the world. The humans have more alliances than you can imagine when it comes to protecting against rogue dragon-shifters.”
Duncan tilted his head. “Yes, that would be a problem for one clan, wouldn’t it?”
To prevent from growling, Finn gritted his teeth. A few seconds later, he tried another approach. “You don’t seem like the type to come up with this plan yourself. You’re clearly not clever enough, so who are you following?”
Duncan’s pupils flashed to slits and Finn knew his tactic was working, especially when Duncan growled out, “If I don’t want to follow humans, then why would I want to follow another, foreign dragon clan? The British Isles and Ireland are all I care about.”
Interesting. Even if Duncan was bluffing about being in charge, his claim about the British Isles and Ireland didn’t rule out trouble possibly brewing in Ireland.
Once Finn sorted out the mess with Duncan and the Dragon Knights, he’d have to address Ireland and investigate any threats. He’d always planned to form an alliance with the western Irish clan, the most amicable and open-minded of the Irish clans. His timetable would just have to be sped up a few months.
Finn decided to poke some more at his rival’s ego. “The Republic of Ireland’s northern clan is stronger than you any day, Duncan. I’m guessing you’re taking orders from him.”
“Killian is more concerned with how many females he can bed than anything else. Your ignorance only highlights why you’re not fit to lead,” Duncan hissed.
Finn had one last piece of information he needed to know before he could stop with these games. “That leaves Marcus down south. It must irk you to follow an English dragon-shifter’s lead.”
Duncan looked to open his mouth but then promptly shut it. Bingo. While it was highly likely that Duncan was responsible for the current attack, he was taking orders from Marcus of Clan Skyhunter.
If Finn were a lesser dragonman, he would sigh at the growing list of threats he needed to address. But he wasn’t. Once Arabella and Lochguard were safe, he would take on the world with his mate at his side. And while less romantic, he’d need Bram’s help as well.
The corner of Finn’s mouth ticked up. “Your silence tells me everything.” Finn leaned forward a fraction. “You now have a choice—you can either tell me everything and I’ll kindly hand you over to the DDA, or I can find out on my own and then I’ll claim my clan leader’s legal right to give you a just punishment. Which will it be?”
Duncan merely stared at him as the seconds ticked by. Clearly, the dragonman thought he was cleverer than everyone else.
After another minute ticked by, there was a knock on the door. Finn turned from Duncan just in time to see Emma and Ian MacAllister enter the room with triumphant expressions. Since the pair were still both young, he didn’t risk inflating their egos. He ordered, “Tell me what you found.”
Ian cleared his throat. “I can prove Duncan and some of his supporters are at least partially responsible for the attack.”
Finn raised an eyebrow. “Well? I don’t have a lot time. Tell me.”
Emma jumped in. “As you instructed two months ago, we changed everyone’s electronic codes for the secret entrances and kept track of everyone on the list you gave us to see who entered and exited, how often, and with how many people.”
The list had been of everyone who had wanted Finn ousted. A quick glance to Duncan’s blinking told Finn the older dragonman hadn’t known of the secret surveillance.
Finn nodded. “Go on.”
Emma continued, “Nothing suspicious had been documented until a little over half an hour ago when the codes issued to Duncan Campbell and about five others were all used along the eastern perimeter.” She handed a paper list to Finn. As he scanned the names, she continued, “We voided the codes so no new intruders can use them. Even those who are inside will now be trapped.”
Finn looked up from the list. “What did you see on the security feeds?”
Ian’s face turned grim. “Ninety-five percent of the fighting is happening along the eastern border with Naver Forest. While no more Dragon Knights can step foot on our land using the codes, we can’t see deep enough into the forest to monitor what else they might be doing. It’s possible they have a weapon and are waiting to use it.”
Fuck. A few illegal weapons could devastate his Protectors.
Careful to keep his expression calm and collected, Finn said to Emma and Ian, “Good work. Now, I want you to locate anyone who provided codes to the knights and send Shay the information to retrieve them. Also, tweak anything else in our security that might be a potential weakness or turned against us. Keep me updated by sending information to my mobile phone. I’ll check them on the way to the eastern perimeter.”
Ian asked, “What about Arabella MacLeod’s project? Should we deny her access as well?”
What the hell was his lass up to? “No, I trust her, but she’s the only one outside of you and the usual designated clan members who have full access.” He glanced at Duncan and back at Ian and Emma. “Since I have enough proof to lock up the traitor and his followers, I’m going to the eastern perimeter to help Faye and the Protectors. However, I have one last request—I want you two to reach out to Arabella and see if she needs any help. While she’s capable, I want her to have backup in case her frenzy breaks loose.”
Alistair Boyd’s voice rumbled from behind him. “And what about yours, Finn? Is it about to break loose?”
Finn turned and answered truthfully. “Not right now, but it could soon. I need your help, Alistair. The MacAllisters and your brother Graham can look after Duncan.”
Alistair and Finn had fought over a lass or two in the past. The version of Alistair from even three years ago would’ve held it against Finn. The older version, however, merely nodded once and said, “You have it, Finn. I’d do anything to protect Lochguard.”
Finn answered, “Right, then let’s go. I can fill you in on the way.” He looked to the three other MacAllister siblings standing near Duncan. “Tie him up and guard him.” Finn moved his gaze to Graham Boyd. “I’m going to leave you in charge of them. If you think the command center is in danger, then put it under lockdown.”
Once they all murmured their affirmations, Finn left with Alistair right behind him.
Without his focus o
n Duncan, his dragon’s tantrum was starting to seep out again. Between the shots of lust and the incessant roaring, Finn had the worst headache of his life.
Yet somehow, he pushed on and filled Alistair on what needed to be done. Some things were more important than being at ease. Finn had a future to secure.
Chapter Three
Arabella’s dragon jumped and pounded against the roof of the mental maze for the hundredth time. Each time her beast did it, it only made it harder for Arabella to concentrate.
But she was nearly done with her preparations to broadcast the security feed. Any minute Bram and Evie would call her back. Then she could activate the feed and lock herself in a room until Finn could find her.
Part of her hated the fact she needed to hide away from everything, but at least it wasn’t because of Arabella’s weakness or the past holding sway over her future. No, the mate-claim frenzy was purely instinctual. As strong as she’d become, it still wasn’t enough to completely drown out the age-old instinct to mate.
Her beast roared and jumped again. Another crack appeared in the ceiling of the mental maze. Her dragon had no interest in finding the exit point. She would break her way out.
A ringing chime filled the room, signaling an incoming call. Arabella gritted her teeth and hit receive. Bram’s face appeared on the screen and instantly turned concerned. He stated, “You’re close to losing it, lass.”
Clenching her jaw, she muttered, “Tell me something I don’t know. What’s the verdict?”
Evie’s head appeared next to Bram’s. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re lucky the Dragon Knights bombed the DDA offices two months ago. They’re bloody determined to enact justice.”
Hope warmed her heart. “This means they’ll help?”
Bram jumped in. “Aye, they already sent reinforcements via helicopter from Inverness and should be there within the next twenty minutes. Although you’d better warn your Scottish dragon-shifters, Ara, because if any of them attack the DDA helicopters, the DDA will take them down and haul them in for questioning and a possible sentencing.”
Healed by the Dragon: Boxed Set (Parts #1-4) Page 18