Chapter Five
What was the matter with him? He’d moved too forward, too fast.
And she’d turned him down.
She might not have taken him seriously. She had that look in her eyes. He set out to meander back the way he’d come. A song in his head, he whistled the tune. He would come about her way soon enough.
When Quintin came down the hall, Sigurd’s fingers paused from their involuntary twitch. He had a habit of strumming an invisible guitar to that tune he heard in his head. It would make a great chorus for Lure’s next big hit.
Thanks to all this business of dragon egg smugglers and rogue dragon keepers, he didn’t think their merry band would have the last gig to say goodbye to their fans. It would have been their finest encore, but alas, duties of protecting their secret and ensuring their bloodline continue became a priority.
“There you are.” Quintin held out a security badge toward him. “This will give you access to the entire facility, including the haven where the dragons’ eggs and young-lings are kept.”
“Is that right? You have fiú running about?”
“Not currently. A few eggs, but none due to hatch soon. You can use the haven as you wish for shifting. It stretches into the mountains and I can show you the outdoor enclosure we use for the young when they start to test their wings.” Quintin pulled his hands behind his back as he stood in front of Sigurd.
“I get the aviary is a cover up for raising dragons, yes?”
“Pretty much, but we no longer keep the young as long as we once did. Many of them are transported to new locations soon after they are able to hold their human form.”
Sigurd tapped the key card in his hand. “Transported? To families you mean?”
Quintin shrugged. “Most times. The lesser sought out breeds go to families and the others usually already arrive with contracts on them.”
Sigurd’s blood chilled. “Contracts? I didn’t take Dr. Kovak for one to get involved with dragon trafficking.”
“He doesn’t. Leaves a bad taste in his mouth if you know what I mean. However, in order to run this facility, the government doesn’t give him a choice.”
“And you’re telling me this… because….”
Quintin resumed walking past Sigurd and paused only to allow Sigurd to fall in step beside him. “I was left instructions by Dr. Kovak to give you full access and brief you on the facility history.”
“I see. Does that also include why his daughter didn’t know she was a full-blooded dragon until today?”
Quintin’s expression didn’t falter, as Sigurd suspected the man knew about Ashlyn’s true identity. Sigurd told him of Ashlyn’s reaction, he left out the bedding part, of course, but Quintin lifted his eyebrows, and angled his head. His eyes sharpened their focus in a canny sort of way. “Well, that’s an interesting sort of development, isn’t it then?”
“It upset her.”
“As does Dr. Kovak most days of the week. She needed to know. Now, more than ever. A gift from the man who cares and raises her as one of his own. It’ll protect her and send out a message, for sure.”
“A warning?”
Quintin grinned. “She’ll take it for one and get riled at his challenge.”
“Moldvan.” Sigurd tried to contain his growl as anger flared his dragon at the thought of her.
“She’ll be coming, mark my words. Best Dr. Kovak isn’t here. Although she knows better than to lay hands on him. I bet it bugs her having Emily out of reach. And this… this is just the next of it.”
“But if Ashlyn uses the dragon inside her—”
“She won’t.”
“And you’re sure?” Because he wasn’t so sure himself.
“She looks at Margaret as a savior of sorts. Saved her and brought her here after her parents died.” Quintin led him back through the corridor of the hatchery.
“And you know all this because?”
Quintin laughed. “You’re not the only one here protecting things.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ve been assigned here to ensure the security of my country’s investments of this project. Dr. Kovak is aware, and as such, I act as his assistant and I oversee the haven.”
Quintin unzipped his overhauls and started to pull his arms out of the sleeves. The other man had arms like tanks, built for battle, not pushing a pencil. Sigurd rubbed the scruff on his chin. He could get along with this fellow. Surely another to guard this place and hold off the forecasted trouble would come in handy. He’d have to send a message to Bogdan when he got to a place where his blasted cell had service here in the foot of the Harghita mountains.
As Quintin stepped out of his overhauls, it didn’t take Sigurd long to put two and two together. “The dragons. Contracts. It’s all a government conspiracy.”
Quintin gave him a hard stare, shook his head, and said, “The Dragon-kind are this country’s biggest asset. We protect what is ours.”
“And the others, like Ashlyn?”
“Adopted to the highest bidder or placed within the Keepers.”
This is what came of their punishment. It had turned on the dragons. Sure, humans paid the debt of protecting and ensuring their bloodline, but now the dragons, like the generations of the dragon riders, paid a price with their fiú.
Lost in thought, Quintin gave him an arm jab. “It’s been a long day. Most of us head to the pub after a day like this, are you coming?”
They walked around the building, making sure the lights turned off, the bird habitats locked and secured, and the alarms set.
He followed Quintin down the dirt path into the village. Surprised to find a community so close surrounding the hatchery. He smelled the moisture in the air from the mountains. It weighed heavy on his lungs.
As the sun slipped below the mountains, they passed quaint little shops and pubs and restaurants, a little hotel, flowers in pots and window boxes along houses. A bit of rubble met them on the way from a ruined abbey, and although the shops were closed, the pubs all remained open. A scattering of people strolled along the grooved paths they used for sidewalks. He blinked, his dragon’s eye turning his pupils to slits and, he tried to hide the involuntary reaction. It happened, only, when he passed another dragon.
“This place is more than what meets the eye, huh?” Quintin ribbed him. “Come, I hear the Three Cranes has a new brew on tap this eve.”
Some patrons hailed Quintin the minute he stepped in the door. He called out greetings, sent out a wave, and steered Sigurd in the direction of the lovely redhead sitting at the bar.
She didn’t bother to turn or look back at them.
People claimed stools in the hub of the bar or sat at tables already into a meal. Their voices hummed over the clink of glass mugs, and yeasty scents of beer pouring from the tap filled the muggy atmosphere. None of it he noticed.
Just her.
His brazen dragoness, and his dragon stirred inside with wanting her.