Finding the Dragon

by Jessie Donovan

  If Delia had indeed listened to everything Jane had told her about past assignments, she wouldn’t rule out Delia wearing a wig or coloring her hair. “Did you overhear anything she said whilst using the phone?”

  “No, I went toward the back to give her some privacy. I turned around for a moment, but when I looked over my shoulder, she was gone. You can ask the cashier if he saw anything. Gwilym worked yesterday, too.”

  Jane could leave it there, but she wasn’t about to wonder what-if later. “Did my sister-in-law say anything else? Or did she only come to use the phone?”

  “Nothing else that I can remember. Many people come this way in the summer for the walks, especially with Cadair Idris right there, so I barely pay attention to the unfamiliar folk during the tourist season. I only remember about the phone because so few people ask that anymore. Sorry, love.”

  “No worries. Thanks so much for your help.”

  Jane gave a half wave and turned around. While knowing that Delia might be in a partial disguise was useful, she hoped the cashier had more information. True, they had yet to visit the dragon-shifter farms for clues, but Jane was impatient. Delia was part of her family now and she was anxious to find her.

  The young man at the cash register was in his early twenties, with dark hair and eyes. He looked up from his mobile and Jane asked, “Hello, did you speak to this girl yesterday?” She flashed Delia’s picture again. “She’s my sister-in-law, and I’m trying to find her.”

  “Yeah, she was the tall, fit girl asking about those tattooed blokes.”

  “Tattooed blokes?” she echoed.

  He nodded. “She said they stole her bag and she was trying to track them down. I thought it odd and asked about the police, but they weren’t helping her, or something like that. The three men with the tattoos come in here every week or two for cigarettes and then usually around the corner to the off-license for booze.”

  Jane had noticed the liquor shop on her way to the post office earlier. “Did you tell her anything else about them? Her brother’s worried about her, and if she went off to possibly catch the thieves by herself, I need to know as much as you can tell me before she gets into too much trouble.”

  The man shrugged. “There wasn’t much more to tell. All three blokes were Welsh with tattoos on their forearms, but that’s about all I remember. Wait, none of them had facial hair, either. I told her it was best to wait for the police to catch them.”

  Jane forced herself to smile warmly. “Thanks for your help. If you see her again, please call this number.” Jane handed over a card. The number was to one of the disposable phones she used for investigations and kept stashed in different locations. She wasn’t about to let anyone find her via her personal number.

  As Jane exited the store and turned the corner, she debated going into the off-license and asking more questions.

  But then she had an idea. The post office and newsagents had security cameras. She bet that even in Northern Wales they backed up security feed to an online storage service. Well, the post office should, at any rate. All she needed to do was contact Arabella MacLeod, a brilliant hacker who had helped Jane in the past. The dragonwoman lived in Scotland with her mate and children, but she had been born and raised on Stonefire. Everyone, including her and Kai, trusted Arabella.

  Since images would do better than another description of Welsh blokes with tattoos, Jane made her way north toward the river. She had a feeling the men Delia had asked about were connected to the kidnappings, or at least Delia believed so. Why Delia hadn’t kept her distance and shared what she knew to Clan Snowridge, Jane had no idea.

  If Delia were tracking down the men herself, it could end badly.

  Picking up her pace, she nearly ran to the rendezvous point.

  Kai would never blame Jane if anything happened to Delia, but Jane would blame herself. She’d pegged the teenager as being mature for her age and had told her too much about her past jobs. She needed to make it right, or she would end up causing more pain in Kai’s life.

  Jane only hoped Delia hadn’t been captured yet. Considering what had happened to Arabella as a teenager, when she’d been abused and set on fire by dragon hunters, Jane’s imagination started to run wild.

  ~~~

  Kai wove his way through the trees along the river as he paced and resisted looking at his phone again. “Arabella is taking a bloody long time to send me those images.”

  “It’s been five minutes, Kai,” Jane stated.

  He looked up at his mate. Despite her attempt at a calm face, worry danced in her eyes. “This is the only lead we have so far.”

  “Well, I could ask more people in town about the tattooed blokes, if it comes to it. Maybe someone noticed their car or which direction they drove off to. Not to mention Eira and Wren are at the farms now, looking for more clues.”

  His beast spoke up. Don’t take it out on Jane. She had the idea to ask Arabella in the first place.

  I know, but since no one found anything else useful and the Snowridge Protectors still haven’t found her, I’m starting to worry.

  Jane touched his arm. “If it were a clan member and not Delia, you’d be calmer. I know it’s difficult, but everyone needs Protector Kai right now. Do you think he can make an appearance?”

  “Can’t I be both?”

  She smiled at his growly tone. “What would everyone else think of Stonefire’s head Protector sulking?”

  “I’m not sulking. I’m worried and impatient. There’s a difference.”

  Jane placed a hand on his chest. “If you say so.”

  His beast laughed. You are acting like a child.

  Don’t start. Besides, it’s only Jane. She loves all of us.

  Good thing, too. Without her in our lives, you’d probably have knocked a few heads together already and caused a ruckus.

  Before he could reply, his phone buzzed. Taking it out, he opened it. Once he saw the caller ID, he put it on speakerphone. “What did you find, Arabella?”

  Finlay Stewart, the Scottish dragon clan leader and Arabella’s mate, growled. “Be nicer to Ara. After all, she did this despite having three wee bairns to look after.”

  Kai was about to tell him to fuck off, but Arabella’s voice came over the line. “Ignore Finn. His amount of charm seems to correlate to how much sleep he has, and he hasn’t had much of late.”

  “Not all of us are like you and can function well on three hours of sleep,” Finn murmured.

  Arabella carried on as if she hadn’t heard her mate. “I did find the images, but they’re unclear and pixelated. I’m having Ian and Emma work on cleaning them up, but I’ll send the original ones for now.”

  Kai didn’t know who Ian and Emma were, but didn’t think it was important enough to ask. “Are you running the images against any databases you can access?”

  “Of course, but it takes time, Kai. Just look at the pictures and deduce what you can yourself. I just wanted to let you know more is coming, because otherwise, I know you’d call up and demand something.”

  Jane spoke up. “I’ll try to keep him in line, Arabella. Thanks for your help.”

  “Good luck,” Arabella answered and she hung up.

  Kai checked his email and opened the images. He made sure Jane could see them, too.

  They were blurry and didn’t show much apart from the varying heights of the three males. Even zooming in, he couldn’t tell what the tattoos were supposed to be.

  Looking at Jane, he said, “I appreciate your work on getting these, but until we can get a clearer view, these are a dead end for now.”

  Shrugging, Jane replied, “You never know. The photo may prove useful later, even without a clearer version. If you see three men of those heights, and tattoos in the same places, it’s highly likely they’re a match. There can’t be that many men who match that description around here, unless there’s a dragon hunter lookalike plot afoot.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The bastards aren’t going to take the ti
me to find body doubles.”

  Jane winked. “That means you agree with me about the photo being useful.” Jane’s phone beeped, and she tapped it a few times before adding, “Wren found something at the farm with the first disappearance. Who knows, maybe that’ll lead us to Delia. We need to hurry to the area where you can shift.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right to fly that way again?”

  Steel flickered in her gaze. “Having my heart in my stomach will be worth it if we end up finding your sister.”

  Not for the first time, Kai wondered how he deserved a mate like Jane.

  His beast spoke up. As I’ve said before, she’s ours. Believe in her. Jane will grow old with us.

  As much as Kai had doubted bringing Jane along, their investigation seemed to be doing him good. The more determined Jane was to find his sister, the more faith he had that she would always stay with him. After all, a female wasn’t going to go out of her way to face fears or put her life on the line for a male she planned to leave.

  His dragon roared. Stop with those thoughts. We are Jane’s as much as she is ours. Hurry up and go to the area where we can shift so that we can keep working.

  He kissed Jane gently. “Do you think you can match my pace or should I carry you? I’m going to run.”

  She tilted her head. “I’ve been working out more, so I should be able to keep up. Let’s find out.”

  As Jane turned and dashed toward the clearing, Kai ran after her. Nothing stirred a dragonman’s blood like a chase. Once his sister was safe, he would have to try it with Jane in a remote location so he could catch her and show his mate how much he loved her.

  Not that he needed more motivation to find Delia. But any excuse to spend time with his mate was something he’d also fight for.

  Chapter Five

  While riding in a blasted basket was better than being carried via dragon talons, the instant one of Snowridge’s Protectors released Jane’s basket on solid ground, she jumped out and ran toward the edge of the landing area.

  She thought she’d become more accustomed to flying, but it seemed she didn’t mind only when Kai carried her.

  However, she wasn’t an idiot and about to throw a tantrum for not having her mate escort her back to Snowridge. Kai, Wren, and Eira had gone to further investigate the identical tire tracks they’d found at both of the farms. Snowridge’s tracker, a female Protector named Carys, had taken Jane’s place in the investigation. With Jane’s regular human hearing and senses, she would have been a burden and only slowed them down.

  Not that she was going to sit back and do nothing. Jane’s gut said that someone had probably helped Delia with money or transportation to get off Snowridge. From what she’d heard, Delia would sometimes sneak away with friends but was caught more often than not. While there was a small chance Kai’s sister had done the deed alone, Jane wouldn’t dismiss any possibility.

  So she was going to retrace her sister-in-law’s steps. It would give her something to do and help her forget to worry about Kai.

  Well, to mostly forget. As skilled as her mate was, if he ended up finding a dragon hunter hideout, there was always the chance he could be injured, or worse.

  The hunter bastards didn’t play fair and wouldn’t think twice about using drugs or even an electrical blast gun to take down a dragon. If at all possible, they wouldn’t kill him straight away since dragon’s blood was valuable. But she’d heard from Nikki Gray about how the dragon hunters had drained one of Stonefire’s Protectors to death. She clenched her fingers at the thought of her golden dragonman being subjected to the same.

  No. Everyone was better prepared than during that old incident, as well as being fully aware of the dragon hunters’ barbarous tactics. Kai would take care of himself.

  Taking a deep breath, she headed toward the main entrance inside the mountain and was greeted by Kai’s mother, Lily. The older woman blurted, “What did you find out?”

  She could sugar coat the facts, but she owed Lily the truth. “We know who Delia was searching for, but we’re still not sure where she is.”

  Lily bobbed her head. “That’s at least one step closer to finding my daughter.”

  Jane resisted blinking. “I had always wondered where Kai had got his levelheadedness from.”

  Lily wrapped an arm around her waist and guided them inside the rock. “I wasn’t always this way. However, Kai’s father was, and it rubbed off on me a little. He may not have been my true mate, but I loved him.” She gave a sad smile. “I only wished Kai could remember more about him. He was a brave male, just like our son.”

  Kai rarely talked about his father, mostly because he’d been eight years old when his dad had died and didn’t remember a lot. “Once all of this is sorted, you’re going to have to tell me some more stories. Kai may be too stubborn to ask for them, but I know he yearns to hear more about his dad, too.”

  “That I can easily do.” Lily gave her a gentle squeeze. “So, Kai mentioned on the phone something about you digging around for information here as well. Tell me what you need, and I’ll help in any way that I can.”

  They turned the corner of the corridor and entered Lily’s home. Once the door closed, Jane asked, “I’m trying to retrace Delia’s steps. Her file only mentioned going to classes and not coming back from her lunch. I thought maybe her teachers might know or at least overheard something.”

  “I’ll give you a list of her teachers.”

  Lily hesitated. Jane raised her eyebrow. “What don’t you want to tell me?”

  “How do you do that? Figure out that I’m hiding something?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a gift. But just tell me everything, Lily. Hiding even the smallest detail could make all the difference in the world.”

  Lily searched her gaze and finally sighed. “I was hoping to spare you the anger, but most of Delia’s morning classes are taught by Maggie Jones.”

  She blinked before narrowing her eyes. “As in the same Maggie Jones who stomped on Kai’s heart all those years ago?”

  “While I appreciate your protective nature, you can’t win against a dragon-shifter, Jane. Not even a soft-voiced one like Maggie. Remember that when you see her.”

  Jane took a deep breath and counted to three. Usually only her brother could stir her temper. “You’re right, of course. It’s just that dragonwoman’s actions still affect Kai.” Jane debated sharing more, but as Lily merely waited patiently, she decided to blurt out, “No matter what I say or do, Kai thinks I’m going to leave him one day.”

  Lily gave a sad smile. “For all his alpha, Protector image, my son has always had a secret sensitive side. You’ve healed him better than I ever could have, Jane. I have faith that one day you’ll chase away his doubts. Deep down, he probably knows that you’re here to stay. But until that small part of him finally accepts that he didn’t drive Maggie away, only her cowardliness did, he’ll continue to be his own worst enemy.”

  Jane was used to being the strong woman who stood up to anything. But in that second, she didn’t try to hide her insecurities. “I only hope that he’ll heal fully one day. I’m not sure what else I can do.”

  Patting her arm, Lily added, “Don’t worry. As soon as you two have a child, he should wise up.”

  Jane kept a smile pasted on her face but inwardly frowned. Having a baby to convince Kai that she would stay with him wasn’t the best idea; a child should be wanted simply for them. There had to be another way.

  Still, she couldn’t bear to smash Lily’s dreams of being a grandmother yet again, so she said, “Thanks for listening. I’ll talk with Kai about this, but it’s nice to share things with someone else who understands him well.”

  “Oh, I think you know him better than I do these days. He’s lucky to have you, Jane Hartley.”

  Lily engulfed her in a hug and Jane wrapped her arms around her mother-in-law. “I think we need to come visit more often.”

  The older dragonwoman pulled back. “What would be even better
is if you brought your parents here sometime. I’ve met Rafe—he’s as bad as a dragonman when it comes to temper and alphaness, if I may say so—but not your parents. Snowridge’s leader owes me a few favors, even after all of this, and I’d happily call them in for the Hartleys.”

  Bobbing her head, Jane answered, “Once we find Delia, I’ll work on it.”

  “Good luck, child. If Maggie gives you any trouble, you call me immediately, do you hear?”

  Despite Lily’s soft appearance, there was no doubting the steel in her voice. “I will. Tell me where to find her and I’ll start straight away.”

  As Lily gave her directions, Jane’s heart rate ticked up. She’d put off this meeting long enough. It was high time for her to talk with the mysterious Maggie Jones. The trick would be focusing on Delia and not allowing the dragonwoman to provoke her, if she tried. Jane knew little about the dragonwoman, but all of that was about to change.

  ~~~

  Kai wished he could soar over the area in his dragon form to find the truck they were looking for, but they couldn’t risk being spotted and scaring away their possible targets.

  So he followed Carys as she led them along the country road north of Dolgellau. Thanks to the abundance of trees to either side of the road, it was easy to mostly stay out of sight.

  The brown-haired dragonwoman with green eyes stopped in her tracks and glanced to the left. She waved in the same direction. “They turned off the road here.”

  Kai scanned the area. The dirt road went through open spaces to a farmhouse in the distance. Not even his dragon eyesight could make out the details, so he took a pair of high-powered binoculars from his pack and zeroed in on the farmhouse.

  In addition to the old two-story structure, there were a number of outbuildings and a large barn. While there was no truck in sight, several of the buildings were large enough to hide one inside.