Chapter Twenty-Four
Two days later, Aaron stood with Teagan in one of the conference rooms inside central command. Orla, Brenna, Teagan’s mother Caitlin, and Colm MacDermot were inside the room as well.
To prevent sabotage or backlash, he and Teagan were mating in private. Teagan had asked Colm to be a witness in case the DDA questioned the mating; a nonrelative’s word would hold more weight. As Aaron caught Colm’s eye from across the room, they nodded at each other.
His dragon spoke up. See? I told you he’s not a threat.
Maybe not, but he had yet to prove himself before. His help with coordinating search and recovery teams after the attacks has more than earned him my respect.
Good, because we need to forge our own allies within the clan.
His dragon fell silent and Aaron looked back to Teagan. She smiled at him. Keeping the fact that she was his mate from the others would be bloody difficult. However, the most important thing was that the DDA would know about the mating as soon as possible, both in Ireland and the UK, and it would allow him to stay.
Once the clan was stable and the DDA wasn’t breathing down their backs, he and Teagan would make a formal announcement.
He studied Teagan’s face for any traces of regret, but only saw love. Still, as leader, Teagan was supposed to speak first. Yet she hadn’t said a word in the last sixty seconds.
Aaron asked softly, “Are you having second thoughts?”
“Of course not,” Teagan answered. “I was trying to think of any last-minute ideas so that Killian could attend, too. It feels wrong for my brother not to witness one of the most important days of my life.”
Taking her hands in his, he squeezed. “I know, love. But you laid out all the risks with having him here. Not only could he use it as a chance to escape, but he might also share our secret before it’s safe. If he regains his memories eventually, he’ll forgive you.”
“I hope so,” she whispered. “And I’m sorry we couldn’t have your mother here either. The DDA is watching us too closely to risk sneaking her onto the clan’s lands.”
Aaron gave a sad smile. “I’m sorry, too. But once things calm down a bit, we’ll find a loophole for her to visit. An in-law should count for something.”
Orla tapped her cane. “Yes, yes, it’s a shame. Now, let’s begin. We all have appointments to keep today.”
His dragon huffed. I feel bad for her late mate. He must’ve been a saint.
Rather than answer his beast, he squeezed Teagan’s hands again. She nodded and took a deep breath before saying, “Aaron Caruso, you are the best kind of male. You support me when needed, but also know when it’s necessary to take charge. In addition to your strength and intelligence, you have a way of erasing my doubts and frustrations in a way no other male has done before. Your humor and cooking skills are just icing on the cake. In other words, I love you, Aaron Caruso, and I want you to stand by my side to not only be my mate, but to also help me lead the clan. Do you accept my mate claim?”
“I should ask you to keep listing my positive traits and convince me your love is genuine.” She growled, and he laughed. “All right, all right. Of course I accept your bloody claim, woman.”
He released one of her hands. Teagan picked up the plain silver arm cuff that would later be engraved with her name and slid it onto Aaron’s tattoo-free bicep. “Then this band symbolizes my claim. I will engrave it later, so don’t think of doing your own design in the meanwhile.”
He winked. “We’ll see how long it takes you to have it done. If it takes too long, I may need to put ‘Teagan’s brilliant lover’ in the old language.” She glared and he lightly brushed her cheek. “I look forward to what you come up with.”
At his touch, she visibly relaxed. She opened her mouth, but Aaron spoke again before she could. He’d delayed long enough. “Teagan O’Shea, you’re a bloody brilliant leader. You care about your people and literally put your life on the line to stand up for them. While I love your ability to lead, I also love your feisty humor and inner strength. Not to mention your cleverness and quick thinking. Oh, and of course, your sexy body.” She rolled her eyes and he added, “I love the whole package, and I’m honored to lead the clan at your side. Whatever you need of me, I will do as long as it doesn’t involve tying me naked to a pole in the middle of the night, out in the open for the clan to see in the morning.”
She smiled wider. “That option will always be on the table.”
“We’ll see about that.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “I love you, Teagan O’Shea. Will you accept my mate claim?”
“I suppose.”
His dragon roared. That’s not a good enough answer.
Then Teagan grinned and added, “Of course I do. Now, hurry up.”
Picking up the smaller, plain silver cuff, he slid it into place on her arm. His beast grunted. I want our name there.
In time.
Aaron pulled her up against his body and took her lips in a rough kiss. Not caring that her family was there, he took the kiss deeper. Teagan wrapped her arms around him and met him stroke for stroke. Only when she needed to come up for air did he pull away.
The sight of her kiss-bruised lips and shortness of breath instantly flashed a picture of her naked in their bed, awaiting his latest torture.
His beast spoke up again. We should hurry. I’m sure we can make her scream our name at least once before the next clan matter arises. She is recovered and strong enough. She could use the exercise.
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.