Just as Aaron was about to whisper the suggestion to Teagan, Orla’s voice cut through the happy moment. “Yes, yes, you’ll take her to bed later. For now, you two need to hurry. Whelan Ferrell said he has important information for you. You need to go.”
Whelan was one of Glenlough’s intelligence analysts.
Teagan frowned. “When did Whelan have a chance to tell you anything?”
“Right before I came here,” Orla answered. “But I wanted the mating done before Aaron changed his mind.”
Aaron growled. “I wouldn’t have changed my bloody mind.”
Orla tilted her head. “Good. You’ve passed another test of mine, Aaron Caruso.”
Aaron merely sighed. His new in-laws were never going to be easy.
Teagan jumped in. “What does he want to talk about, Gran?”
Orla leaned on her cane. “He’s found the link between Hugh, the missing money, and the recent attacks. And before you ask, that’s as much as I know. Whelan wanted to save the details for you.”
Teagan cursed. “You should’ve told us as soon as possible, Gran.”
Orla shrugged. “None of us have a time machine, so take off the silver cuffs and go see him.”
Aaron’s dragon roared. I don’t like keeping it a secret. She is our mate. The others need to know.
And they will. But wait until things calm down a bit, aye?
I don’t like always being patient, his dragon whined.
Then let’s do a thorough job of cleaning house and we’ll have many happy years to come.
His dragon merely grunted. Aaron traced the edge of Teagan’s cuff. “This is important, love. As long as I know you’re mine, that’s what matters.”
I don’t agree, his beast stated.
Constructing a maze, Aaron tossed his dragon inside. He’d apologize later.
With a sigh, Teagan removed her arm cuff, and Aaron followed suit. Once the bands were back inside the black decorative box, Teagan handed it to her mother. “I’ll entrust you with them until we can finally have them engraved.” Orla opened her mouth, but Teagan shook her head. “Don’t argue about being elder and the one who should look after them instead of Mum. I know you’d just end up engraving them your way. Besides, Aaron and I have pressing matters to attend to.” She looked to Brenna. “We’re going to have to delay your appointment with me, Brenna. Sorry.”
Brenna stood taller. “I understand, but I need to talk with you soon, Teagan. I can’t stress that enough.”
“And we’ll talk, I promise. After everything you’ve done for me and the clan lately, I owe you.”
Aaron swore he heard Brenna muttered, “I hope you remember that,” but no one else acknowledged it.
Impatient to find out what was going on so he could claim his mate properly in their own home, he tugged Teagan’s hand and pulled her through the door. “Now, let’s see this Whelan male and see if we can finally get the DDA’s scrutiny off our back for a little while.”
Teagan nodded. As they made their way down the hall and then another, she said, “Most of the victims from the attack should return home within the next week. Once they do, and Brenna as well, we’ll have more freedom when it comes to fighting for a future we want.”
He squeezed her hand in his and picked up his pace. As anxious as him, Teagan matched it without missing a beat.
~~~
Teagan waited for Whelan to sit in front of her desk before asking, “What do you have to report?” Whelan looked over her shoulder at Aaron, and she added, “Aaron has full clearance. Whatever you would say to me you can say in front of him.”
The fifty-something male with gray hair and blue eyes took out a folder from his briefcase. Teagan took it from him and Whelan said, “Information came in today that made everything click.” He waved toward the paper. “We already knew that funds had been trickling out of the clan’s coffers for several months, thanks to Killian’s discovery. It was difficult to trace since the transfer was made from a secret account to another international secret account.”
Teagan frowned. “International?”
“Yes, this extends beyond Ireland,” Whelan answered.
“Go on.”
The older male clasped his hands in his lap. “As I was saying, tracing the final destination of the funds was difficult. However, Arabella MacLeod provided information she hacked from the bird drones. According to haphazardly deleted data, they all originated from a point near Belfast in Northern Ireland.”
Since Clan Northcastle lived not far from Belfast, Teagan asked, “Northcastle?”
Whelan shook his head. “No, the coordinates are quite a distance from their lands. However, according to sources, it’s the base of the growing Belfast dragon hunter gang.”
The dragon hunters had caused a lot of chaos and damage to the British dragon clans, especially to Stonefire and Lochguard. Their attempts to set up camp in Ireland had failed thanks in part to Stonefire’s help, but rumors said they had been successful in setting up a large group near Belfast in Northern Ireland. It seemed the rumors were true.
Aaron spoke up. “I thought the drones were the calling card of the Dragon Knights.”
“They were originally, but it’s entirely possible that the hunters bought or stole the technology,” Whelan answered.
If that were true, Teagan’s job as clan leader would become a lot more difficult.
Not wanting to dwell on a maybe situation she prodded, “And?”
Whelan continued, “The missing funds may have bounced around the world to hide their tracks, but they terminated at a local branch near their base.”
“And where did they originate from? Did you find that out, too?” Teagan demanded.
“Aye, from Letterkenny.”
Letterkenny was a town in Ireland not far from Glenlough. “Where in Letterkenny? Was it one of us?”
Whelan took a laptop from his briefcase, laid it on the desk, typed something and said, “To answer who did it, you need to see this.”
He turned the screen to face her and Aaron and clicked Play.
A video played with no sound, but that wasn’t important. What was relevant was the person sitting down at a desk with one of the bank staff, probably making a bank transfer. Teagan had seen a picture of the female not too long ago during one of her briefings with Killian, before the leadership challenge.
It was the human female her clan member Renny Walsh had been seeing, named Colleen.
Her dragon roared, but Teagan ignored her. “We need to talk to both the female and Renny.”
“Already done. I didn’t want to bother you without evidence,” Whelan stated.
Aaron spoke up. “Then tell us what you found out.”
Whelan didn’t hesitate, despite the order coming from Aaron. “Renny’s female was the one to leak the information to Killarney. Renny had no idea—the widow had merely been using him for information. Someone in her family was killed by a rogue dragon fifty years ago. The family still holds a grudge and wanted revenge. When Renny ran into her in the countryside by chance, she seized on an idea.”
Aaron whistled. “Talk about cock blindness.”
Whelan ignored the remark and continued, “On top of that, Hugh wasn’t invited to participate in the plan until later. Originally, it was made without him. But when word spread of him joining the challenge, Orin Daly seized on the additional distraction. Orin and Padraig only knew about Teagan’s secret and had no idea the information was coming from the widow.”
Teagan leaned forward. “And the money? Renny can barely operate his phone. There’s no bloody way he could’ve embezzled from our accounts.”
“No, he didn’t do it,” Whelan answered. “But the human female’s nephew works with computers. In short, he had the skills necessary and helped out. The nephew and the widow figured that donating money to the Belfast dragon hunters would only increase their chances of bringing us down. Thanks to the widow’s relationship with Renny, she learned about the time and
place of the trials, which she shared with the dragon hunters. Orin and Padraig had no idea about the funds. And, well, the rest is history.”
And to think the entire headache of the last week was because a family had held a grudge for over fifty years.
Her beast said, It shouldn’t surprise you. We’ll just have to be careful from now on about which humans are allowed to see any of our clan members.
To say the least. At this rate, we’re going to have to change a lot of things.
Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.
Aaron’s voice filled the room. “You said you spoke to them already, right? Where are they now?”
“Still in custody.” Whelan looked at Teagan. “What do you want to do with them?”
She sighed. “I don’t really have a choice but to turn them over to the DDA. Otherwise, the Belfast hunters will think it’s okay to attack us again. However, if the Irish government is aware of their meddling, they’ll reach out to both the British Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Hopefully it will put the Belfast hunters at the top of their watch lists.” Whelan bobbed his head and Teagan added, “But maybe leave out the part about Arabella MacLeod’s involvement and say one of our own techs hacked the bird drones. While it’s not illegal for our clans to work together, I don’t want to experience extra scrutiny if I don’t have to.”
“Of course,” Whelan said. “Unless you have any other questions, I’ll set things in motion.”
Teagan smiled at the older dragonman. “You’ve done a brilliant job, Whelan. Thank you. You can go.”
Once Teagan and Aaron were alone in her office again, Aaron laid his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. “I had no idea about anyone secretly seeing a human female.” He looked around the room. “I’m going to have to disrupt your system to get caught up. Otherwise, I’m going to be next to useless to you.”
She placed a hand over one of his. “For you, I might just consider tweaking my system. Anything to make it easier to have more help. If we aren’t careful, things will spin out of control in Ireland. Not only that, we could have another war with Northcastle, too, if I don’t smooth things between us soon. Especially if the hunters drive them out of Northern Ireland. Then Northcastle will be looking for new territory.”
“We won’t let it come to that, love. I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ll help you sort out the clan as quickly as possible.”
She was about to tell Aaron how she loved him, but her phone beeped with a message. It was a reminder about her appointment with Brenna.
Aaron leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Go. I’ll start working here.”
She met his gaze. As expected, she didn’t see anger or hurt, only understanding. “We’ll have our celebratory night of hot sex as soon as I can manage it. I promise.”
He winked. “It just gives me more time to plan what I want to do to you.”
She turned and drew his head down for a kiss. Once she released his lips, she murmured, “Good. Because I might even let you tie me up, if you prove yourself useful.”
He growled and she laughed.
Aaron pulled away and helped her to her feet. “Go, before the temptation to take you on the desk becomes too great.”
As much as Teagan wanted to try his suggestion, she forced herself to walk to the door. “Reach out to me when you need me. I’ll keep my meeting with Brenna as short as possible.”
With a wave, she exited the room. It was time to have what could be her final meeting with Brenna before the English female had to go back to Stonefire.
At the thought, sadness flooded her body. The female was more than useful; Teagan felt a kindred spirit with regards to goals and proving one’s self.
But Teagan pushed aside her own desires. There was nothing she could do but send the dragonwoman home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Brenna paced the front room of Killian’s secured cottage. In an effort to save time in case Teagan wanted to question Killian, Brenna had requested Teagan to meet her at his place to discuss her future.
While she understood Teagan was the leader, she was still late, and Brenna just wanted to get this conversation over with.
Killian appeared in the doorway between the front room and the dining room. “All pacing does is irritate the hell out of me. Sit down and wait.”
Brenna turned on him. “I thought we established that neither one of us would be giving orders to the other. We only make requests.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Then would you sit down, my lady? Before you wear a fucking hole in my carpet.”
Her dragon growled. Are you sure we can’t wrestle him to the ground and teach him a lesson? He might’ve been stronger before, but he doesn’t have his beast. We will win.
No.
She closed the distance between them. “You should be nicer to me. After all, I’m the reason you aren’t wearing restraints and are out of that jail cell.”
“It may be a bit bigger, but this cottage is still a prison.”
Just as she opened her mouth, someone knocked on the front door. She raised her chin and said, “We’ll discuss this later, unless you’re backing out?”
“No bloody way. You’re probably my best chance at freedom.”
She wanted to ask what the fuck he was talking about, but the knock grew more insistent, so she raced to the door. Opening it, Teagan stood there. Brenna stepped aside. “Come in.”
Brenna half expected Killian to disappear and leave delivering the news to her, but when she and Teagan entered the front room, he sat sprawled in a chair. He gave a mock salute. “Clan leader.”
Brenna watched Teagan’s face closely. Having her brother play the arsehole couldn’t be easy for her.
And yet, Teagan’s expression never changed from neutral. She moved her gaze to Brenna. “What did you need to talk to me about? Should we go somewhere private?”
Brenna’s heart rate kicked up as she moved to stand next to Killian’s chair. She quickly glanced down, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
She had to be dreaming. There was no way that the amnesiac, moody version of Killian would encourage her.
Her beast huffed. Forget about him for now. We need Teagan’s permission.
Clearing her throat, Brenna met Teagan’s eyes again. “As you know, the Irish DDA has said all foreigners must leave the clan for the foreseeable future.”
Teagan frowned. “I would reverse it if I could, Brenna, but you know I can’t.”
Her heart beat faster. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “I’m aware. But I found a way to stay.” She motioned toward Killian. “Killian has agreed to mate me.”
Teagan blinked. “What?”
“It’s true, great leader,” Killian drawled. “Brenna is the only reason I haven’t tried to escape yet. If you want me to stay in one place, you’ll let us do the deed.”
Teagan put out a hand. “Wait, did I miss something?”
Brenna answered, “You’ve had a lot on your plate or I would’ve told you sooner. But think about it—I could stay to help you fill in the gaps with the Protectors. And once the Irish DDA eases its restrictions, Killian and I can dissolve the mating. All we have to do is pretend it’s real in the beginning and Killian’s agreed to do that.”
Yes, yes, her dragon said. I still say sex will make it authentic.
Hush for now. This is important.
Teagan looked at Brenna, then Killian, and back. “Let’s say I agree. With a few exceptions, the clan must think it’s a true mating and not a farce. Otherwise, the DDA may sniff around. That could end up getting all of us into trouble. Are you two really going to be able to keep up the ruse? While I trust you, Brenna, I don’t know who Killian is anymore.”
Killian placed a hand on Brenna’s lower back. The heat of his palm raced through her body and ended between her thighs.
Her dragon growled. It’s just a touch. Calm down.
Rubbing slow circles on her back, Killian said, “We can both play our pa
rts.” He looked up at her. “Can’t we, darling?”
She cleared her throat and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Of course we can, love.” She looked back to Teagan. “So? Will you allow it?”
“This could end badly on so many levels.”
Brenna forced herself to walk away from Killian. The loss of his warm hand made her dragon whimper, but she ignored her and closed the distance to Teagan. “Everything will be fine. It’s just a temporary arrangement that benefits everyone. But we can’t do it without your permission. We’ll need you to vouch for us if the DDA questions the mating.”
Teagan searched her gaze. “I owe you for your part in keeping the clan safe the other day. This would fulfill that favor. Do you really want to waste it on this?”
Brenna nodded. “Yes. I’ve never felt as much at home as I have on Glenlough. Not to mention I have much to learn from you and your grandmother. I can’t do any of that if I go home to Stonefire. Besides, I’m young and not interested in finding a real mate for many years to come. So living with him”—she motioned toward Killian—“won’t be a problem. Well, beyond dealing with his behavior.”
To his credit, Killian didn’t make a remark. For whatever reason, he wanted Teagan to agree.
For what seemed like the longest minute of Brenna’s life, she merely stared at Teagan and waited.
When Glenlough’s leader finally let out a sigh, hope bloomed in Brenna’s chest. Teagan spoke up again. “Fine. But do it quickly. We’ll use the mating ceremony and ensuing celebration to lift the clan’s spirits. However—” She paused and stared daggers at Killian. “—you must convince the clan this is a true mating. At the first sign of doubt, I’ll dissolve the mating myself and send Brenna back to Stonefire. That will include you trying to run away without her. Understood, Killian?”
Brenna watched Killian’s face. For all that he’d lost his memories and his dragon, he was still bloody good at keeping all emotions from showing. He folded his hands over his stomach before answering, “I’m staying around for now. That’s all I’ll say for the moment.”
Aiding the Dragon (Stonefire British Dragons Book 9) Page 26
