Cured by the Dragon (Stonefire British Dragons Book 8)

by Jessie Donovan

  Quinn stepped in. “Ignore him, Ms. O’Shea. The cloudy weather affects his mood.”

  Aaron was going to punch Quinn the next time they were alone.

  The corner of Teagan’s mouth ticked up. “Is that so? You’re living in the wrong country then, boy-o.”

  Rather than growl he wasn’t a boy, Aaron drew all of his irritation deep inside and forced his voice to be neutral as he asked, “What did you find out about the attack on the child?”

  Teagan’s eyes widened a fraction but quickly turned fierce. “While there weren’t any toxins or visible puncture wounds, our doctor finally found a tiny splinter-sized piece of wood embedded in the boy’s scalp. Once we were able to remove it, they ran tests and found it was coated in an unidentifiable substance that mostly still remains a mystery.”

  Aaron leaned forward. “How’s the boy now?”

  Concern flicked in Teagan’s gaze. “He’s alive, but his inner dragon has become unpredictable and he’s under constant watch.”

  Quinn chimed in, “That sounds more like the result of a targeted attack than a random teenager having fun with a new toy.”

  Teagan nodded. “Aye, although we still haven’t discovered who did it.”

  “Send us the information you have and we’ll see about spotting something you missed,” Aaron said.

  Teagan leaned back in her chair. “Putting aside the fact you just insulted my clan doctor’s abilities, isn’t your doctor the one who was attacked?”

  “She was, but Sid can still take a look. There’s another doctor here, as well,” Aaron answered.

  “I’m not sure I want to share this information around. If Clan Northcastle gets wind of this, they might try to seek out the attackers and target Glenlough.”

  Clan Northcastle was the dragon-shifter clan in Northern Ireland. Northcastle and Glenlough had a history of being allies for a few decades, becoming enemies, and then allies again. Currently, they were suspicious of each other.

  Aaron answered, “As much as I don’t want to admit it, I trust Lochguard. If you need to talk with Finn Stewart to ease your worries, we can arrange it. However, each second that ticks by with the political bullshit is a second lost to finding out what the bloody hell is going on. Our doctor lost her dragon, and if this unknown substance affects inner dragons, waiting could end up making things much worse for her.”

  Teagan studied him a second before adding, “You care for your clan’s doctor.”

  Aaron growled. “Of course I do. Why is that a surprise? Sid has kept our clan together for nearly half my life.”

  His dragon spoke up. There’s no need to attack her. She is doing her job. A clan leader should always be cautious.

  And what about Sid? She’s taken care of all of us, and it’s more than time we take care of her.

  Teagan’s voice prevented his beast from answering. “I will send the information. However, my stance on keeping your Protector, Brenna, here until I meet with Bram in person won’t change.”

  Brenna had accompanied Aaron on a mission to Ireland and remained with Clan Glenlough.

  Aaron wanted to say Teagan’s statement was childish, but Quinn beat him to the reply. “Of course. Once we sort out this mess, I’ll personally talk with Bram and try to set up the meeting.”

  Teagan nodded. “Good.” She looked to Aaron again. “If you were clan leader, you’d understand the necessity of keeping Brenna here. Try to think things through rather than lash out.”

  Before Aaron could do more than open his mouth, the screen went blank.

  He growled. “That bloody female lives to put me down.”

  “She’s not putting you down so much as trying to point out your lack of patience.” His friend studied Aaron a second before adding, “Although given how much your dragon chimes in whenever she’s near, I think there’s another reason she gets under your skin so easily.”

  Aaron stood. “As I’ve said before, I’m not talking about that. Now, let’s make sure that woman sends the information as promised.”

  “Suit yourself,” Quinn murmured before exiting the room.

  As Aaron followed, his beast poked his head out again. Her pupils flashed too. We need to find a way to see her again in person.

  You just want to kiss her.

  Of course. But she probably wants to kiss us too.

  Ignoring his dragon, Aaron headed in the direction of the Protector’s IT specialist, Nathan. He needed to focus on helping Sid. After all, Aaron had just returned home to Stonefire less than a year ago. Was it too much to want to merely enjoy his friends and family and forget about females? They only brought trouble and he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to face it again.

  Chapter Seven

  Gregor frowned at the computer screen. There had to be at least a hundred files to sort through.

  While he appreciated Arabella’s hard work, finding something to help Sid might take longer than he liked.

  His beast spoke up. Acquiring what we want most in the world is almost never easy.

  It’s not about me, dragon. The longer it takes to sift through everything, the longer Cassidy risks an episode that might steal her sanity.

  Then we’ll just have to stay close to her side. Even if she sleeps in the surgery most nights, we can stay in the same room.

  She probably won’t go for that.

  So? We won’t give her a choice.

  Gregor smiled at his dragon’s confidence. You have a lot to learn about the human sides of females.

  Since his beast huffed and fell silent, Gregor opened the first file and scanned its contents, about the adverse effects of a specific sedative.

  As he finished the first and worked his way through five more files, he rubbed his temples. Each case was idiosyncratic and spoke of rare reactions to drugs, not unlike with humans. All dragon-shifter doctors were partially trained at human universities, so Gregor was quite familiar with human biology. Maybe one day his kind could start up their own universities and instill the desire to share knowledge amongst all dragon-shifter doctors.

  Or, even better, establish some sort of professional network to help answer questions and lend assistance.

  But all of that had to wait. Helping Cassidy was all that mattered.

  Just as he opened the next file, he glanced at the clock in the corner of his computer screen. It was time to check on his most important patient.

  Exiting the room he used for research, Gregor rushed down the hall. While he’d hoped to have something to share with his doctor, he wasn’t about to lose hope.

  Entering her room, he found her asleep on her side. With a hand under her cheek and her mouth slightly open, Cassidy looked as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

  His dragon spoke up. We need to work harder. Our female deserves the same peace when awake.

  Oh, so now you want to win her approval?

  Cassidy’s eyes fluttered open. When she met his gaze, she smiled and the sight stole his breath away.

  He quickly recovered to catch her words as she said, “I’m surprised Ginny let you in here when I was sleeping.”

  Moving to the side of her bed, he brushed a section of hair off her face. “Oh, aye? She can try to keep me away, but I have a special touch with older females. After all, Lochguard has plenty of strong, older dragonwomen who run the clan in the background. If I can handle Lorna MacKenzie, I can handle your Ginny.”

  Cassidy snorted. “Lorna MacKenzie has known you your whole life and probably has some weakness when it comes to you. Ginny doesn’t and she’ll do what’s necessary.”

  “Right, I’m sure she’s a secret black belt who can pin me down.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Enough about Ginny. Did you find out anything yet?”

  The eagerness in her voice stoked his inner fire to find an answer. “No, but Arabella found me plenty to look through. As I thought, the reactions that seem isolated sometimes have a pattern. Two cases concerned an allergic reaction to a certain sedative.”

&
nbsp; Sid raised her brows. “The dragon-slumber drug?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t found anything about that yet. Still, I bet the more I comb through the records, the more patterns I’ll find. Once we get you well again, maybe we should ask Arabella to look beyond the UK. Combined, we can put together some kind of reference for dragon-shifters.”

  “Between that and your desire to study brain activity surrounding our dragon halves, you might just have enough to do until you’re old and gray.”

  The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Oh, I have another idea to squeeze in—a dragon-shifter university. I may need your help on that one.”

  Gregor winked, and Cassidy laughed before replying, “Anything else I should know about?”

  He didn’t miss how she ignored his comment about needing her help in the future. Given his cautious doctor, she wouldn’t accept the possibility of a sane future until it happened.

  His dragon growled. I still think the frenzy will bring out her dragon.

  I won’t risk it.

  I thought you’d moved past your ridiculous fear of childbirth.

  It’s not that, although I won’t completely discount that possibility, but Cassidy will stress over remaining sane if she ends up pregnant. That increases the risk of a dangerous delivery or complication.

  Cassidy reached out and grabbed his hand. “Tell me why your smile faded, Gregor. If it’s bad news you’ve been hiding about my case, then just tell me straight. I can handle it.”

  ~~~

  Sid had momentarily forgotten about all the things that could go wrong and had simply enjoyed talking with Gregor. Hell, she even mustered up the courage to tease him.

  Then a frown creased his brows as his pupils flashed and worry crept into her mood. Had he been merely preparing her for the worst?

  Gregor finally answered her question. “I haven’t hidden anything, love. My dragon and I are still working out a few things.”

  For a split second, Sid longed to have an inner dragon to argue, discuss, and even laugh with. Memories of her beast were distant, but her dragon had been the easygoing one out of them.

  However, if Sid had kept her beast, she may have strayed from her path of becoming a doctor. She loved being a doctor above all else. That was one positive thing, at least, about being half a dragon-shifter.

  Gregor’s deep voice cut through her thoughts. “If talking about my beast is too painful, I can put it off. But I think you’re strong enough to handle it.”

  “I can. I’ve done it for years as a doctor, after all.”

  “Aye, you have. Although, given my dragon’s tantrums, I sometimes wonder if you’re not the lucky one to have a silent mind.”

  Whenever someone had brought up her dragon in the past, Sid had always changed the subject. Yet as she met Gregor’s curious gaze again, the words spilled from her lips. “As a teenager, I would’ve agreed with you. My dragon never stopped going on about adventure. To be honest, I’m surprised I survived the seven years I had with my dragon. I snuck off Stonefire’s land more than once. One time, I wanted to find the mythical dragon egg.”

  Gregor sat on the edge of her bed and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. “As in the legendary necklace from the first dragon-shifter to set foot on the isle of Britain? You do realize that’s a myth, right?”

  Sid changed positions until she sat against her pillows. “Of course I do. Dragon-shifters don’t lay eggs, yet the myth says the female wearing the necklace spawned three dozen eggs that we all descended from. It still doesn’t mean that it’s not tempting to go looking for it, especially for a teenager. After all, the necklace could be real even if the myth is rubbish.”

  “So, did you find it then?”

  She blinked. “No one ever asked me that, not even my parents growing up.”

  “You’re a very capable female, Cassidy Jackson. If it does exist, you have as good a chance as any of finding it.”

  The Scottish dragon-shifters were a charming lot and if it had been anyone else, Sid would’ve dismissed the compliment. But Gregor’s eyes were sincere.

  Although why he’d put so much faith in her after such a short period of time, she didn’t know. Did it work that way with all true mates?

  A dull thud started in the back of her mind. Sid winced, and Gregor touched her cheek. “What’s wrong, lass? Is the sedative wearing off already?”

  For the first time, a roar sounded off inside her head. Sid arched her back as the pressure increased.

  She was barely aware of Gregor’s lips on hers before her mind ripped in two. Screaming so loud her throat hurt, the world went black.

  ~~~

  Five seconds after Gregor tried to kiss Cassidy, she screamed and slumped onto the bed unconscious.

  Drawing on twenty years of practice, Gregor pushed aside his panic and forced himself to look at her vital signs. Her heart rate was slightly erratic, but not dangerous. All of her other signs were still within acceptable ranges.

  Opening one of her eyelids, he discovered a slitted pupil; just as if a dragon were in control. For one second, he merely stared.

  Then his beast snarled. Help her.

  I will once I bloody well know what’s wrong.

  Checking her other eye, the other pupil was the same.

  Had her dragon finally broken free? And if so, would it be insane?

  As Gregor tried to think of what to do since he’d never been in this type of situation before, sharp points dug into his arms. Looking down, he saw the tips of Cassidy’s fingers had extended into talons and were embedded in his skin.

  He tried to loosen her grip, but rather than remove her hand, the talons dug in deeper.

  “Cassidy, if you can hear me, you need to fight your dragon.”

  In response, her eyes opened and she hissed. As he moved to pin her top half down, she pounced and sent them tumbling to the floor.

  Gregor managed to pin Cassidy underneath him, but one of her arms snaked loose and ripped off his shirt as she hissed in a voice not quite her own, “Mine.”

  Shit. He was probably dealing with her dragon. And not just any dragon, but possibly an insane one, hell-bent on completing the mate-claim frenzy.

  The door opened and Ginny’s voice drifted in. “What’s going on?”

  Dragon-possessed Cassidy snarled. “Get out. My male. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take him.”

  Gregor finally succeeded in pinning Cassidy’s arm down. He never severed eye contact with his doctor as he told Ginny, “We need to sedate her. The sedative that worked before is still on the counter. Hurry.”

  “No!” Cassidy yelled before her arm grew into a dragon’s forelimb. She pushed against his chest and her increased strength sent Gregor flying across the room.

  He thudded against the wall, but not hard enough to do permanent damage. Still, it took him a second to regain his wits enough to stand. By the time he did, Cassidy was gone.

  He raced to Ginny on the floor, but she was conscious and murmured, “Find her. I’ll alert the others.”

  With a nod, Gregor raced down the hallway. He followed the trail of scratched walls and furniture tossed to the side. He hoped she didn’t do the same damage to any of her clan members or Cassidy would never forgive herself.

  Pushing his muscles to run faster, he tried not to panic. Even if she didn’t severely hurt anyone on her way out of the surgery, if Cassidy made it outside and succeeded in shifting, he might lose her forever. Not because she could fly away, but rather if she reached a human settlement and terrorized it, the DDA could shoot her down.

  His beast roared. We must stop her.

  Aye, so be ready to shift as quickly as possible.

  While he felt his dragon pacing and waiting, Gregor followed Cassidy’s trail. As he reached the reception area, he caught a glimpse of her long hair disappearing out the front door.

  Gregor didn’t have time to check the clan members huddling on the sides of the room. He only hoped Cassidy hadn’t killed
anyone. She may never come back to him if she had.

  The late day sun hit his face, and he spotted Cassidy’s tall form dashing toward the rear entrance to Stonefire.

  “Cassidy,” he yelled out. She looked over her shoulder, but rather than stop, the bloody female ran faster.

  In the distance, he spotted Nikki Gray entering from the back gate. Before it could close, Cassidy pushed Nikki aside and darted out the entrance. While his dragon urged Gregor to follow their doctor, Nikki had landed front first on her stomach. Since she was several months pregnant, Gregor stopped. He couldn’t risk the lives of two people for one, even if he wished it differently.

  Just as he crouched and murmured, “Nikki, are you okay?” her mate, a human named Rafe Hartley, dashed toward them.

  “Nikki,” the human male yelled before crouching down and turning her over.

  Nikki’s eyes fluttered open and Gregor motioned toward the rear entrance. “Rafe, you need to go find Cassidy, and quickly. I’ll look after Nikki.”

  “There’s no fucking way I’m leaving her,” Rafe bit out.

  Nikki’s voice was soft as she said, “Go, Rafe. I’m okay. I think Sid’s dragon-possessed. If we don’t stop her, the DDA might kill her.”

  Gregor met Rafe’s gaze. “Please find her. If I had your skills, I’d go in your place. But I don’t. I’ll look after your mate. My skills will help more than comforting words from you.”

  After sharing a glance with Nikki, Rafe kissed her gently and stood up. “Fine. But if anything is wrong with Nikki when I get back, I will have your hide, dragonman.”

  Nikki pointed toward the rear entrance. “Just go, Rafe. And hurry.”

  With a nod, Rafe punched in his code and disappeared. A few seconds later, two dragons soared overhead and circled around the nearby forest and mountains.

  His dragon hissed. We should be searching for her.

  We’re not trained soldiers. They will find her faster than we could.

  Nikki’s voice prevented his dragon from replying. “Rafe will find her, Dr. Innes.”