“Send the information to Finn’s mobile,” Arabella gritted out. Her dragon roared and Arabella only just prevented herself from flinching. Not waiting for a response, she added, “Just tell me if I can switch the feed or not. I can’t last much longer.”
Evie nodded. “Set it to go live in fifteen minutes and thanks to Jane Hartley, the BBC will pick up the feed.” Evie gave the necessary connection details. “The DDA wants to share the publicity. Their taking down the Dragon Knights may help to restore the public’s faith in them.”
She didn’t have time to run the idea by Finn, but Arabella was pretty confident her mate trusted her judgment. “Making the DDA look good is all well and fine, but what did Mel say about how it’ll affect the public’s opinion regarding dragon-shifters? I’m more worried about that.”
Bram answered, “She says it’s a gamble, but if Lochguard is shown working with the DDA, then the public will see that the dragon-shifters aren’t trying to take over or destroy the human agencies regulating them.”
Arabella forced a nod. “Right. Anything else life or death I should know about?”
Bram replied, “Just have someone keep in touch. Once the frenzy clears, call me straightaway, Arabella MacLeod. We need to chat.”
Too exhausted from fighting her dragon, Arabella didn’t argue. “Fine.”
Evie added, “Enjoy the frenzy. Despite all of the crap going on, it’s a once in a lifetime event.”
Another crack appeared in Arabella’s mental maze. “I will. Now sod off so I can do my work.”
Bram opened his mouth, but Evie winked and the connection closed.
Arabella brought up another window on her screen and sent a message to everyone she trusted on Lochguard. After that, she set up the connection to go live in fifteen minutes. The BBC could monitor the feed and broadcast once the DDA showed up.
With her dragon banging even harder against her maze, Arabella clicked the final button on the computer. She stood and raced to the room Faye had shown her earlier to use for the frenzy.
She barely made it inside and typed the code that would lock the door until someone typed in the counter-code before her beast broke through the ceiling of Arabella’s maze. Lust flooded her body as her beast roared. Wetness rushed between her legs as her nipples turned to hard points.
Laying on the bed, Arabella curled into a ball and placed her hands over her eyes. She needed Finn, and soon. If her male didn’t find her within the next day, her dragon could take over and go searching for another male to mate with. Every dragon had a few possible mates in their lifetime. No doubt, her dragon already had a list going.
At the thought of sex with any other male, Arabella curled tighter and used the last of her strength to mentally battle her dragon. She wanted Finn and would use every iota of stubbornness she possessed to wait for him.
The bloody dragonman had better not get himself killed.
~~~
Finn’s head was pounding by the time he and Alistair neared the east entrances. According to information sent to his phone by Emma and Ian MacAllister, Lochguard’s Protectors were winning against the breach on the eastern perimeter. But neither one knew for how much longer, especially if a powerful weapon were introduced into the fight.
He really needed to talk with Faye.
As they neared the eastern border, dragons roared as they dove and retreated into the sky. To his practiced eye, about half of the flying dragons had slower reactions times than normal—they were tired. Lochguard’s Protectors would last another twenty minutes, at most, before exhaustion overtook them and forced a shift back to their human forms.
If only the older Protectors had stayed to help, then he would have one less thing to worry about.
Finn stopped at a high stack of rocks that formed a partial wall. They would provide enough cover to allow him and Alistair to shift. Just thinking of the battle he would have to wage with his dragon to shift gave him a headache. He only hoped his beast would cooperate long enough to warn Faye.
Turning toward the other dragonman, Finn whispered, “Remember what I told you. Use every dirty trick you learned as a young man to win, just make sure you don’t kill them.”
Alistair nodded as he shed his clothes. “I just hope you’re not as daft as you used to be. Being a risk-taker and getting killed isn’t an option, Finlay. The clan will fall apart without you.”
“I’m sure someone can keep it together.”
Alistair growled. “Don’t even think about taking a risk that could kill you. Think of your female. If you’d rather do something stupid to show off than be with her, then maybe you don’t deserve her.”
“She’s mine,” Finn spat out.
“Then fight for her,” Alistair replied.
Finn nodded. Thinking of Arabella set his dragon off. He growled. Shut it. If we don’t stop the attack, we’ll never have our mate. Behave a little longer.
Before his dragon could reply, his mobile vibrated inside his sporran-like pouch.
With a curse, he removed it and saw it was Bram. Pressing receive, Finn barked, “You had better have a bloody good reason for calling me, Bram. I’m about to shift and fight.”
The Stonefire leader’s voice came over the line. “Then shut the fuck up and listen. Help is on the way.”
Finn watched the dragons in the distance. “I already know that. Your Protectors are fighting alongside mine.”
“No,” Bram answered. “The DDA is sending helicopters from Inverness. Make sure your people don’t attack them.”
A million questions raced through his head, but Finn pushed them aside. Bram had earned enough of his trust to accept the claim without further questioning. “Fine. Can I go now?”
Bram growled. “Wait a bloody second. Did you get the information that Arabella sent? If you kill any of the Dragon Knights, it won’t look good for any of us.”
“She must’ve just sent it because I didn’t see it earlier. Even without it, trust me to know killing a human is a bad idea. Anything else? Or, would you like to tell me the color of the sky? I’m sure that’s more important than taking care of my people.”
“I would call you a bastard, but I’d be just as surly in the same situation.” Bram stated. “Give those knights an extra roar from me and scare them shitless.”
“Will do,” Finn turned off his phone and stripped. He looked to Alistair. “DDA helicopters are coming. I’m going to signal Faye to follow me and shift back to tell her. The others will follow her lead afterward, with the right signals. While I do that, make sure the younger ones don’t do anything stupid. Even though you were too stubborn to enter the British armed forces to become a true Protector, you’re nearly as good as them.”
Alistair grinned. “I’m going to bring that up at a later time.”
“Fine, just go do your fucking task,” Finn growled.
The second Alistair nodded, Finn reached out to his dragon. Listen, the sooner we warn Faye, the sooner we can be with Arabella.
His beast continued to snarl. With a mental sigh, Finn decided to use one of his risky tricks and shift without releasing his dragon.
Finn brushed against the ceiling of his mental maze and his dragon banged his head under his hand. Using the tentative link, Finn imagined his arms and legs turning into forearms and hind legs. After a few seconds’ pause, his shift started. He only hoped he could maintain the change. If his dragon retreated into the bowels of the maze, Finn might lose the connection and turn back into a human.
It was risky, but he’d done it several times before. Fergus had discovered the technique and they’d improved it together.
Then wings grew from his back as his nose turned into a snout. By the time he was a seventeen-foot dragon, Alistair was already in his red dragon form, eyeing Finn with suspicion. No doubt, the clever dragonman had theories about how Finn could shift while containing the mate-claim frenzy.
Ignoring Alistair’s gaze, Finn grunted, jumped, and beat his wings until he was high ab
ove the rock shelter he’d been using. A quick survey told him Faye’s blue dragon form was in the thick of the defense line.
Motioning a hind leg toward Alistair to say he was ready, Finn carefully plotted his course toward his cousin.
~~~
Faye MacKenzie swooped down and roared as loud as she could at the group of Dragon Knights working on some sort of tubular weapon.
The sound succeeded in stopping them and making them cover their ears. Reaching out her back talons, she tried to nick the strange device. But just as she was about to take it, one of the Dragon Knights threw his body in the way and she had to draw back. They kept protecting the bloody thing.
Not killing the bastards was taking every bit of her restraint, especially since their actions told her the device was powerful and would probably cause major damage if they ever had enough time to set it off.
Beating her wings, Faye rose into the air and allowed one of her team to swoop down in her stead. Eventually, the humans had to get tired. In the meantime, she and her team would keep trying to steal the device so that they could study it and then destroy it.
Her respite from scaring the damn knights allowed her to monitor the rest of those fighting.
While Stonefire’s Protectors were flying and attacking with gusto, most of the Lochguard dragons had slower reaction times than normal. True, most of her team was younger and lacked experience since the older, more seasoned Protectors had sided with Duncan. Not only that, most of the seasoned Protectors had disappeared earlier in the day, leaving her severely understaffed.
If she ever found the deserters, she would teach those old traitors a lesson.
Her dragon spoke up. Don’t waste time on them. Let me eat a few of the invaders and the rest will flee.
I wish I could let you, but I can’t.
I still don’t understand why you resist the easiest solution.
Shush. I need to concentrate.
With a grunt, her beast fell silent.
Faye had nearly completed her survey of the situation when a familiar gold dragon caught her eye. Finn was here.
When he opened both of his back talons and closed them two times, she nodded. He wanted to talk with her.
She gave her unique dragon call and her second-in-command, Grant, met her eye. She pointed a wing at him and the green dragon nodded in understanding; he would lead in her absence.
As soon as Grant moved toward the front line and roared an order, Faye dashed left and right to avoid hitting any of her allies.
Finn was landing near a rock outcropping about forty feet away. The spot was closer to the forest and hill on the eastern perimeter than she liked, but none of her scouts so far had reported anything unusual in the section of forest. Still, she studied the trees for any telltale signs of movement or trouble. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so Faye headed toward her cousin.
She was about halfway there when a loud crackle sounded. Turning, Faye barely had time to acknowledge the light coming at her before a jolt of pain mixed with burning shot through her body. Her muscles spasmed and she lost control.
She couldn’t move her wings.
Her dragon roared inside her head and tried to take control. Faye was weak and allowed her, but not even her beast could make their wings work. Unless someone helped her, there was nothing to break her fall below and the height was too high to survive.
Faye would die.
Using the last of her strength, she tried moving her body toward the trees. They would break her fall and give her the best chance of survival.
While she believed she’d changed her trajectory, she was too tired to keep fighting. Just the air whooshing against her dragon hide sent a thousand needles of pain dancing across her nerves.
Her last thought was she’d been careless and had let Finn down.
As her body barreled toward the ground, the world went black.
~~~
Finn had barely landed when Faye’s cry of pain reverberated through the air. Jumping up and beating his wings, he watched some sort of electric charge dance across her body.
Then she fell.
The second it took him to recognize what had happened seemed like an eternity. But then Finn’s dragon broke out of his maze, roared and urged him not to mate, but to save their family.
Protecting family was the only need more powerful than the mate-claim frenzy.
Finn beat his wings as fast as he could, knowing he had precious seconds to reach Faye before she fell to the ground. If he didn’t reach her and help to slow down her speed, she would most likely die.
His dragon growled. We will save her.
Finn pushed his muscles to the limit, but then Faye abruptly changed course. Fuck. He might not make it in time.
Flapping his wings as fast as he could, Finn was just about to maneuver under her body when something shot through the air. Finn’s instinct kicked in and moved just in time to watch a bolt of electricity whiz past him.
Another dragon swooped under Faye, but her speed was too great. She bounced off and crashed through the trees of the nearby forest. The sound of each broken branch was a stab to his heart.
Finn dove down toward Faye as the other dragon, which he recognized as Grant, went back to the front lines. He would thank the other dragon-shifter later; Grant’s actions may just have saved Faye’s life.
While his heart thumped in his chest, Finn descended carefully, listening for any unusual noises. Faye had fallen outside the perimeter, into the Naver Forest. He had no idea if the area was secure or not.
When Finn was just above the treetops, he heard voices. Landing as quietly as he could on a sturdy branch, he peered through the hole made by Faye’s body and spotted two humans touching Faye’s tail. When one pulled out a dragon-sized needle, Finn dove down and knocked the humans to the side. Each hit a tree and slumped into unconsciousness.
Going to his cousin’s side, he nudged her blue neck. At first, she simply slumped right back down. After three more nudges, there was a small twitching and then a noise in her throat.
She was still alive. But he wasn’t a doctor and didn’t know how severe her injuries were, let alone if she were dying.
Surveying his surroundings to ensure it was free of any other humans, Finn raised his head and let out the dragon wail used when someone needed help. An answering call told him someone was coming.
Finn lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against Faye’s. He wanted to swear at her and tell her not to die, but shifting was too dangerous. He could better protect her in his dragon form.
His dragon spoke up. I won’t let anyone harm our sister.
Faye may not be his sister by blood, but blood didn’t necessarily make a family. He would always think of Faye MacKenzie as his little sister.
Hell. What would he tell his aunt if Faye died on his watch? He nuzzled his cousin’s cheek again and willed her to stay alive, and not just because he didn’t want to be scolded by his aunt.
After what seemed like an eternity, two dragons descended and landed on Faye’s other side. The gold female dragon had a satchel gripped in her right foreleg and a dragon carrying net in the other. It was Layla, the younger of the clan’s doctors and one of Faye’s oldest friends.
Pain flashed in Layla’s eyes right before she dropped her parcels and shifted into her human form. The brown-eyed, black-haired woman went to Faye’s head and checked her pulse before opening his cousin’s eyelid. Letting it go, she moved to Faye’s right wing, the one she had landed on.
Unable to read Layla’s expression, Finn waited until the doctor was done with her examination.
About thirty seconds later, Layla looked to Finn and explained, “She’s alive, but I need to get her back to my surgery. I’m most concerned about her wing. Forcing a shift may do irreparable damage to it, so Grant and I need to carry her back. There are a few dragons above us, keeping an eye out for trouble, but they could use your help in protecting us as we fly with her.”
; Glancing to Grant, Finn quickly shifted back. “Grant, you play watch out. I need you to stay with the Protectors. The DDA are sending in helicopters to deal with the Dragon Knights and you need to stop them from attacking the machines.” Grant bobbed his head and Finn looked to Layla. “I’ll help you carry her back.”
Layla answered, “Okay, then help me lay out the net.”
She ran to the other side and tossed the net to Finn. Together, they laid it out next to Faye; as he worked, Finn wondered if his dragon would continue to remain in control.
His dragon spoke up. Stop worrying. We must focus on protecting her and getting her to safety.
Will you lose control before then?
No. Faye is our sister in all but name. We must protect her.
I wish you’d remember that the entire clan is our family now.
His beast grunted. Don’t push it. I still want our mate.
With the net and handles laid out, Finn embraced his dragon and shifted back into his golden beast. He looked to Grant and pointed upwards with a talon. The green dragon nodded in understanding—Grant would check the sky before they took off.
Grant jumped into the air as Layla shifted into her dragon form.
As they waited for the temporary leader of the Protectors to check for danger, Finn helped Layla to roll Faye onto the net. His cousin whimpered while remaining unconscious and it squeezed his heart. Even though his cousin couldn’t hear him, Finn thought to himself, I’m sorry, Faye Louise. I’ll try to be gentle.
As soon as Faye was in position, he and Layla both took hold of the carrying handles on their respective sides. Finn looked to the sky. Where the bloody hell was Grant? The sooner Finn got Faye out of here, the better.
The green Protector finally poked his head in the hole above and gave a low dragon call; all was safe.
Healed by the Dragon: Boxed Set (Parts #1-4) Page 19