Chapter Three
Several hours later, Kai flapped his wings as he maneuvered through the mountains on the outskirts of Snowridge’s lands in Wales.
He glanced down at Jane, huddled in her blankets, and determined she was well enough. While his mate would occasionally stand up in the basket he gripped with his rear talons, she still wasn’t fond of flying and spent most of the trip with her eyes closed.
His beast spoke up. Look how far she’s come in less than a year. Give it time. Maybe one day we can even rig a harness on our back and she can truly feel the wind and experience the freedom of the skies.
So now we’re to be ridden like a horse?
His dragon huffed. Why do you like to ruin my beautiful dreams? Allowing anyone to ride on a dragon’s back is an honor and the highest sign of trust. Unless you’re saying you don’t trust Jane?
Don’t be stupid, of course I trust her. But she’s not fond of unstable heights. Have some compassion. Riding on our back will give her a fucking heart attack.
When his beast didn’t reply, Kai knew he’d won the point.
Slowing his wings, Kai mostly glided the remaining distance to Snowridge’s main landing area. Unlike Stonefire, which was spread out on mostly flat land, the majority of Clan Snowridge lived inside the mountains near Snowdonia National Park in Northern Wales. The main landing area was one of the few flat, outdoor spaces that had been carved out many years ago.
Since he’d brought Jane to Snowridge many times in the past, he easily guided both him and the basket to the landing area without hitting any of the jutting, sharp edges. Once he gently placed the basket on the ground, he moved a few feet away and landed.
Kai imagined his wings shrinking into his back, his talons turning into fingers, and his snout returning to a human nose.
Once he was in his human form, Jane rushed at him and handed him his clothes. Kai quickly dressed.
Just as he tugged on his jumper, his mother’s form appeared. Even though Lily Owens had the same blonde hair mixed with gray and a smile on her face as always, he could also see the strain of worry at the corner of her eyes and in her slightly hunched posture.
Jane rushed up to his mother and hugged her. “We’ll find her, Lily. I promise.”
His mother hugged back and released her. “I know.” She looked to Kai. “Rhydian is waiting to see you, Kai. Unless you need a quick rest beforehand?”
Under normal circumstances, Kai would tell his mother that he wasn’t a child. But until he found Delia, he would make an effort to be nicer. “I’m fine, Mum.”
“Good. Then Jane can come with me whilst you talk with Rhydian.”
Kai grunted. “No. Jane comes with me.”
“After all this time, you can spare her a few minutes, Kai Wilbur Sutherland,” Lily stated.
Jane spoke up. “It’s not that, Lily. I’d love to sit down with tea and biscuits and chat with you, but I’m here to help Kai find Delia. If I go with him now, then it’ll save us a lot of time later.”
Lily frowned at him. “Why didn’t you just say that? Sometimes, I wish you’d be a little more chatty.”
From the sides of his eyes, Kai noticed that Jane bit her lip to keep from smiling. He ignored his mate to focus on his mum. “So you’ve said many times before. However, Delia is our focus for the moment. Where’s Rhydian now?”
Lily motioned toward the entrance into the mountain. “In his office. Since you’ve never set foot there before, I’ll take you.”
In the next instant, Lily turned her head away and raised a hand to her face. Shit. He only hoped his strong, cheerful mum wasn’t crying.
Maybe she and Rhydian had played down the danger to Delia.
He glanced at Jane, and she motioned with her head at his mother.
His beast spoke up. She wants us to lend support. It won’t kill you to hug her.
I sometimes wonder how you were ever paired with me.
You’re just lucky.
Resisting a sigh, Kai went to his mother’s side and put an arm around her shoulders. He was a good six inches taller, so he kissed the top of her head. “I’ll find her, Mum. I vow it.”
Lily sniffed. “I know you will, Kai. But it’s hard not knowing if she’s all right or if her call was forced. I didn’t hear fear or nervousness, but it was a short message, and sometimes even the best mother can be fooled by a teenager.”
Jane jumped in. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Lily. I’m positive that Kai inherited his ability to detect liars and deceivers from you. Not even a determined teenage daughter should be able to fool you.” Jane took a step toward the mountain’s entrance. “Now, how about we see your clan leader? The sooner we have information, the faster we can find Delia.”
His mum murmured her assent and finally started walking.
As Lily guided them into one of the mountain passages and down a corridor carved into the rock, Kai did his best to support his mother. He’d been a horrible son for so many years, avoiding her in order to protect his heart from Maggie. The least he could do was find Delia and bring her back safely. It would go a long way toward making up for his neglect.
Although once he found his sister, Kai would hug her once and then give a rather long, stern lecture about common sense and using it.
His beast snorted. As if that will work. It didn’t work with us, either, at her age.
It doesn’t mean I won’t try. After all, I know what sort of trouble she could get into.
Rather than answer, his dragon merely shook his head.
His mother made one last turn and stopped in front of an old, wide door made of wood and metal. She knocked, and Kai did his best to pack away his dislike of the Snowridge leader. Their meetings had been few, but the male had never been friendly or warm like Bram. He also had a tendency to share the bare minimum.
In other words, Kai had his work cut out for him.
~~~
As Kai knocked on the old, wooden door, Jane mentally prepared herself for her first formal meeting with Rhydian Griffiths. Sure, she’d met him for a few seconds here and there, but he seemed not to care much for humans in general.
After all, Jane hadn’t been able to find any recent cases of human sacrifices on Snowridge or dragon-shifters finding their true mates in humans and bringing them back to the Welsh clan.
The only semi-related case she knew about was the half-human and half-dragon-shifter child of Gwendolen Price. The father of her child, Noah Tucker, had been human and Rafe’s best mate for a long time. Unfortunately, Noah had died saving a pregnant Gwen during their time in the British Army. The tragedy was probably why Rhydian had welcomed the half-human child into his clan.
Or, maybe Jane was being harsher than was fair. The meeting should allow her to form a more accurate idea of the dragonman. Being leader was never easy, and while she wished everyone had a sense of humor and understanding like Bram or even Finn Stewart on Lochguard, leaders had to act according to their clan’s needs.
The door opened and Jane focused on the man standing in the doorway. Rhydian was in his forties with jet-black hair and blue eyes. The set of three scars on one cheek gave him an edgy appearance. No matter how hard she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to wheedle out how he’d received them in the first place. Jane thought they were from him being slashed by dragon talons.
Rhydian nodded at Kai and then glanced at Jane. “Why is the human here? She’s allowed on my land, but I want to talk with you alone, Kai.”
Kai shook his head. “No. Jane’s here to help and has every right to hear what you’re going to say.”
Rhydian stared at Jane with his assessing eyes, but she merely raised an eyebrow. “If you know Kai at all, then you know I’m immune to such stares. Glares and growls as well, I might add.”
For a second, Snowridge’s leader remained silent, and Jane wondered if she’d overstepped a line. Then he nodded toward the inside of the room. “Then the pair of you come inside. Lily, you’ve heard this before, so maybe you should go back to Gareth.”
Gareth was Lily’s mate and Kai’s stepfather.
Lily touched Kai’s arm. “Come find me when you’re done.”
Once the dragonwoman was out of sight, Rhydian stepped aside. Jane and Kai entered the room.
As soon as Rhydian shut the door, he turned to face them. “I’ve spared your mother some of the details, Kai, but in the last few hours, some of my Protectors might have discovered where Delia went.”
“Where?” Kai demanded.
Not for the first time, Jane loved how Kai could focus on what’s important rather than dwell on details, such as the fact Rhydian had kept information from Lily.
The Welsh leader moved to his desk and sat on the edge. He picked up a file folder and held it out. “Everything we know is in here, but the short of it is some of the dragon-shifter children from the local farms have gone missing. I think Delia has been trying to find them.”
Kai took the folder but never broke his gaze with Rhydian. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
“Unlike on Stonefire, we can’t farm on our land since it almost entirely consists of mountains and rock. The Welsh humans long ago gave us farming rights to nearby arable land, and we don’t advertise it for obvious reasons. The farmers are careful to appear human whenever possible, to protect their identities. On top of that, Snowridge’s Protectors do daily sweeps to ensure everything is okay.”
Jane jumped in, “But something must’ve gone wrong.”
“Correct, Ms. Hartley. Last week, one child went missing from one of the outermost farms. Then a few days later, a pair of siblings also disappeared on the opposite side of our farming area. At that point, I evacuated the farmers and brought them here until we could figure out who’s doing this. However, despite around the clock searches, no one has been able to find the missing children, nor do we know who is exactly responsible.”
Jane wanted to say it was either the dragon hunters or Dragon Knights, but she bit her tongue. After all, there could be a local enemy to Snowridge she had no idea about.
Kai jumped in. “Does the entire clan know about this?”
Rhydian shook his head. “No. My head Protector and I merely said that some of the farmers were staying with us for a short while to visit their families living here. All of the farmers were sworn to secrecy as to the true reason. However, since it’s summer, I’m sure the presence of the farmers is raising a few eyebrows. The high growing season isn’t the best time for a visit.”
Jane tilted her head. “Is that how Delia figured out what was going on? Or is there something else that I’m missing?”
Rhydian moved his gaze to Jane and answered, “She left the same day the farmers first arrived, so it’s unlikely she put the clues together so quickly. Delia is clever but still a child with few resources, let alone contacts to divulge information. She must’ve overheard something at the Protectors’ central command. She’s been volunteering there, helping with administrative duties.”
Kai grunted. “I’ll comment on the lack of discretion amongst your Protectors later. What, exactly, did she overhear?”
Rhydian’s pupils flashed to slits for a second before returning to round. Instead of reminding Kai of his place, he waved toward the folder. “It’s all in there, but some of the Protectors think the children were taken by local dragon hunters. We don’t have a unified front here similar to the likes of Simon Bourne, but the DDA’s presence is sparse at best in the north of Wales, and our current theory is that someone took advantage of that fact.”
Simon Bourne was the head of the largest dragon hunter group in the UK and was currently based near Birmingham in England. He’d also caused Stonefire many a headache, and his hunters had even killed one of their Protectors in the past.
Jane took a step forward. “So, let me get this straight. You think Delia went searching for dragon hunters. And not only that, but hunters who kidnapped children, to probably keep them captive and harvest their blood at maturity?”
Dragon’s blood could cure many illnesses, but it only became usable once a dragon was an adult.
“Yes,” Rhydian answered. “But before you start cursing at her stupidity, her note suggested investigating only and reporting on what she finds. She’s clever, and I believe she’ll keep out of harm’s way if possible.”
“You have more bloody faith than I do, Rhydian,” Kai growled out. “We’ve all been sixteen before, and being rational isn’t the most important of priorities at that stage.”
Raising an eyebrow, Rhydian replied, “Berating a teenager is a waste of time. I’ve invited you here to help at your mother’s request. My condition for that information is that you report anything you find. The last thing I need is Lily losing both of her children and a daughter-in-law in one blow.”
Jane jumped in before Kai’s temper flared. “Of course we’ll tell you everything. I think it’s best if Kai and I borrow a conference room and comb through these files. We want to make sure we know everything before searching the area.”
Rhydian nodded. “There’s one across the hall from my office that you can use.” He picked up a sticky note with a number written on it. “This is Wren’s number. He and Eira worked with some of your fellow Protectors in Scotland not that long ago and know a little bit about your clan. They’ve volunteered to help and be your clan liaisons.”
Jane bet they were also going to be her and Kai’s babysitters.
She took the small piece of paper. “Thank you. Hopefully we’ll find Delia and the missing children soon.”
“Report everything to me and we’ll get along fine.”
Jane turned Kai toward the door. “Thank you.”
They exited the room and tried the door opposite Rhydian’s office. Thankfully it opened. The instant it closed, Kai growled, “He doesn’t seem to have much faith in us.”
Jane raised her brows. “Then we need to work extra hard to prove how good we are.” She opened the folder and handed Kai half of the papers. “Work will help tame your temper.” She leaned over and kissed him briefly. “Delia is all that matters right now, love. Let’s get to work.”
For a second, Kai did nothing. Then he kissed her cheek and sat down. Jane followed suit. It was time to do what she did best and read between the lines to find a lead most would overlook.