Chapter Four
Three hours later, Kai flew in his dragon form ahead of Eira and Wren. Their destination was Delia’s last known location, a town called Dolgellau.
He and Jane had memorized as many facts as possible. But until they could see both the farms where the children had been taken from as well as where Delia had made her call the night before, the trail would remain cold.
His beast spoke up. I could fly faster if you’d let me.
We have Jane to consider.
He glanced down at his brave human, clutched in Kai’s back talons. She’d volunteered to travel that way, despite her fear of unstable heights.
His dragon answered, I still say a harness would’ve been easier.
And taken up too much bloody time. This way, I can ensure she doesn’t fall to her death. The shape of Cadair Idris, the mountain which loomed over the small town of Dolgellau, came into view. Kai added, Now, focus on gently putting Jane on her feet and shifting back. There’s not much time before the post office shuts and we need to talk to them.
Delia’s call had been traced to the town’s post office.
Thankfully his dragon closed the remaining distance in silence. Just outside the town, his beast found a wide open space to land. When they were only a few feet from the ground, he hovered in place to release Jane. His mate stumbled a second but quickly regained her balance. She moved away, signaling for Kai to land.
His feet touched the grass and Kai folded his golden wings against his back. Everything shrank back into his human form.
Jane came to his side with a forced smile. Uncaring that the Welsh dragon-shifters were landing just behind them, he caressed Jane’s cheek. “Are you all right, Janey?”
She shook her whole body. “That’s not something I’d do every day, that’s for certain. Still, I’m fine.” She lowered her voice, even though the only ones nearby were the two Welsh dragon-shifters, who possessed supersensitive hearing and could understand it anyway. “It’ll be easier for later, if we need to fly under the cover of darkness and sneak in somewhere.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “I don’t need darkness to sneak, as you put it.”
“Once all of this is sorted, I’m going to bring that up again.” She pressed his clothes against his chest. “Now, hurry and get dressed.”
Kai quickly put on his top and trousers. By the time he turned toward the other dragon-shifters, Eira and Wren were already waiting for him. Taking Jane’s hand, he closed the distance between him and the others.
Wren nodded at him. “So far, the humans are keeping their distance. But we should probably hide whilst Jane goes into town. The humans in this area are more used to dragons than other parts of North Wales because of us patrolling the nearby farms, but I wouldn’t exactly say they love us.”
Kai looked to Jane. “Remember your promise.”
“I know, if I see anything suspicious or suspect I’m being followed, then I’ll meet at the rendezvous point near the river. And I’m only to ring you if I’m positive no one can listen in.”
“Good. Then go before I change my mind,” Kai murmured.
Jane sighed, but turned and walked briskly toward the town. If she kept up the pace, it should take her ten minutes to get there.
His dragon spoke up. She’ll be fine. Let’s hurry to the river just in case she needs us. I’m not sure how the humans in this town will react if they find out Jane is mated to a dragon-shifter.
I suspect they know, considering most of the town can see this area.
Being carried by dragonwing is one thing, being mated is another.
Not wanting to listen to his beast drone on about possible dangers to Jane, Kai looked to his fellow Protectors. “Let’s split up and each take a different route to the river. While unlikely, we might find clues along the way.”
The Welsh dragons murmured their assent. Kai motioned toward the northwest. “I’ll go that way. Wren, you travel directly north and, Eira, take the northeast. Make sure you’re at the meeting point in an hour.”
As Kai started walking, he tried his best to focus on finding clues. If Jane could handle acting and fooling Tobias White—a dragon hunter and key member in the scandal surrounding the former Director of Dragon Affairs—she could certainly handle talking to a postal worker in rural Wales.
His beast spoke up. Knowing Janey, she won’t stop at the post office.
Thanks, dragon, for giving me something else to worry about.
Unlike you, I like to think of all possible outcomes. We must protect our mate.
Not wanting to argue with his dragon, Kai ignored him and studied his surroundings. It was a long shot that any dragon hunters had come this way, let alone left behind tracks or other clues, but Kai wasn’t about to dismiss it. After all, the hunters had caused more havoc on his clan than any other enemy in recent memory. Underestimating them was foolish.
~~~
As Jane walked down a street called Smithfield, she spotted the red and yellow sign that denoted all post offices in the UK.
She turned the corner of the gray stone building and walked inside the newsagents. Not unlike the town where her parents lived, the post office operated inside the small store. She walked past the aisles of food, crisps, and sweets until she came to the queue line for the post office counter. A woman in her fifties stood alone with a slightly bored expression on her face.
Jane went to the woman. She had debated trying out her Welsh accent but had decided against it. This far north there were a lot of Welsh speakers, and Jane didn’t know much beyond a handful of words.
She took out her mobile and smiled at the older woman. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen this young woman recently?”
Jane showed a recent picture of Delia smiling at the camera—a sixteen-year-old girl with short, brown hair and green eyes.
The woman glanced at it and back to Jane. “Why are you asking about her?”
Not wanting to prompt the woman to ask too much about the specifics, she replied, “She’s my sister-in-law and she’s missing. I’m trying to help my husband find her.”
Looking down again, the worker frowned. “She seems familiar. A tall girl like her was here yesterday, although she had much lighter hair. She asked to use the phone and sounded like she was local. I don’t usually allow it, but her mobile had died and telephone boxes are hard to find anymore.”
If Delia had indeed listened to everything Jane had told her about past assignments, she wouldn’t rule out Delia wearing a wig or coloring her hair. “Did you overhear anything she said whilst using the phone?”
“No, I went toward the back to give her some privacy. I turned around for a moment, but when I looked over my shoulder, she was gone. You can ask the cashier if he saw anything. Gwilym worked yesterday, too.”
Jane could leave it there, but she wasn’t about to wonder what-if later. “Did my sister-in-law say anything else? Or did she only come to use the phone?”
“Nothing else that I can remember. Many people come this way in the summer for the walks, especially with Cadair Idris right there, so I barely pay attention to the unfamiliar folk during the tourist season. I only remember about the phone because so few people ask that anymore. Sorry, love.”
“No worries. Thanks so much for your help.”
Jane gave a half wave and turned around. While knowing that Delia might be in a partial disguise was useful, she hoped the cashier had more information. True, they had yet to visit the dragon-shifter farms for clues, but Jane was impatient. Delia was part of her family now and she was anxious to find her.
The young man at the cash register was in his early twenties, with dark hair and eyes. He looked up from his mobile and Jane asked, “Hello, did you speak to this girl yesterday?” She flashed Delia’s picture again. “She’s my sister-in-law, and I’m trying to find her.”
“Yeah, she was the tall, fit girl asking about those tattooed blokes.”
“Tattooed blokes?” she echoed.
He nodded. “She said they stole her bag and she was trying to track them down. I thought it odd and asked about the police, but they weren’t helping her, or something like that. The three men with the tattoos come in here every week or two for cigarettes and then usually around the corner to the off-license for booze.”
Jane had noticed the liquor shop on her way to the post office earlier. “Did you tell her anything else about them? Her brother’s worried about her, and if she went off to possibly catch the thieves by herself, I need to know as much as you can tell me before she gets into too much trouble.”
The man shrugged. “There wasn’t much more to tell. All three blokes were Welsh with tattoos on their forearms, but that’s about all I remember. Wait, none of them had facial hair, either. I told her it was best to wait for the police to catch them.”
Jane forced herself to smile warmly. “Thanks for your help. If you see her again, please call this number.” Jane handed over a card. The number was to one of the disposable phones she used for investigations and kept stashed in different locations. She wasn’t about to let anyone find her via her personal number.
As Jane exited the store and turned the corner, she debated going into the off-license and asking more questions.
But then she had an idea. The post office and newsagents had security cameras. She bet that even in Northern Wales they backed up security feed to an online storage service. Well, the post office should, at any rate. All she needed to do was contact Arabella MacLeod, a brilliant hacker who had helped Jane in the past. The dragonwoman lived in Scotland with her mate and children, but she had been born and raised on Stonefire. Everyone, including her and Kai, trusted Arabella.
Since images would do better than another description of Welsh blokes with tattoos, Jane made her way north toward the river. She had a feeling the men Delia had asked about were connected to the kidnappings, or at least Delia believed so. Why Delia hadn’t kept her distance and shared what she knew to Clan Snowridge, Jane had no idea.
If Delia were tracking down the men herself, it could end badly.
Picking up her pace, she nearly ran to the rendezvous point.
Kai would never blame Jane if anything happened to Delia, but Jane would blame herself. She’d pegged the teenager as being mature for her age and had told her too much about her past jobs. She needed to make it right, or she would end up causing more pain in Kai’s life.
Jane only hoped Delia hadn’t been captured yet. Considering what had happened to Arabella as a teenager, when she’d been abused and set on fire by dragon hunters, Jane’s imagination started to run wild.
~~~
Kai wove his way through the trees along the river as he paced and resisted looking at his phone again. “Arabella is taking a bloody long time to send me those images.”
“It’s been five minutes, Kai,” Jane stated.
He looked up at his mate. Despite her attempt at a calm face, worry danced in her eyes. “This is the only lead we have so far.”
“Well, I could ask more people in town about the tattooed blokes, if it comes to it. Maybe someone noticed their car or which direction they drove off to. Not to mention Eira and Wren are at the farms now, looking for more clues.”
His beast spoke up. Don’t take it out on Jane. She had the idea to ask Arabella in the first place.
I know, but since no one found anything else useful and the Snowridge Protectors still haven’t found her, I’m starting to worry.
Jane touched his arm. “If it were a clan member and not Delia, you’d be calmer. I know it’s difficult, but everyone needs Protector Kai right now. Do you think he can make an appearance?”
“Can’t I be both?”
She smiled at his growly tone. “What would everyone else think of Stonefire’s head Protector sulking?”
“I’m not sulking. I’m worried and impatient. There’s a difference.”
Jane placed a hand on his chest. “If you say so.”
His beast laughed. You are acting like a child.
Don’t start. Besides, it’s only Jane. She loves all of us.
Good thing, too. Without her in our lives, you’d probably have knocked a few heads together already and caused a ruckus.
Before he could reply, his phone buzzed. Taking it out, he opened it. Once he saw the caller ID, he put it on speakerphone. “What did you find, Arabella?”
Finlay Stewart, the Scottish dragon clan leader and Arabella’s mate, growled. “Be nicer to Ara. After all, she did this despite having three wee bairns to look after.”
Kai was about to tell him to fuck off, but Arabella’s voice came over the line. “Ignore Finn. His amount of charm seems to correlate to how much sleep he has, and he hasn’t had much of late.”
“Not all of us are like you and can function well on three hours of sleep,” Finn murmured.
Arabella carried on as if she hadn’t heard her mate. “I did find the images, but they’re unclear and pixelated. I’m having Ian and Emma work on cleaning them up, but I’ll send the original ones for now.”
Kai didn’t know who Ian and Emma were, but didn’t think it was important enough to ask. “Are you running the images against any databases you can access?”
“Of course, but it takes time, Kai. Just look at the pictures and deduce what you can yourself. I just wanted to let you know more is coming, because otherwise, I know you’d call up and demand something.”
Jane spoke up. “I’ll try to keep him in line, Arabella. Thanks for your help.”
“Good luck,” Arabella answered and she hung up.
Kai checked his email and opened the images. He made sure Jane could see them, too.
They were blurry and didn’t show much apart from the varying heights of the three males. Even zooming in, he couldn’t tell what the tattoos were supposed to be.
Looking at Jane, he said, “I appreciate your work on getting these, but until we can get a clearer view, these are a dead end for now.”
Shrugging, Jane replied, “You never know. The photo may prove useful later, even without a clearer version. If you see three men of those heights, and tattoos in the same places, it’s highly likely they’re a match. There can’t be that many men who match that description around here, unless there’s a dragon hunter lookalike plot afoot.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The bastards aren’t going to take the time to find body doubles.”
Jane winked. “That means you agree with me about the photo being useful.” Jane’s phone beeped, and she tapped it a few times before adding, “Wren found something at the farm with the first disappearance. Who knows, maybe that’ll lead us to Delia. We need to hurry to the area where you can shift.”
“Are you sure you’re all right to fly that way again?”
Steel flickered in her gaze. “Having my heart in my stomach will be worth it if we end up finding your sister.”
Not for the first time, Kai wondered how he deserved a mate like Jane.
His beast spoke up. As I’ve said before, she’s ours. Believe in her. Jane will grow old with us.
As much as Kai had doubted bringing Jane along, their investigation seemed to be doing him good. The more determined Jane was to find his sister, the more faith he had that she would always stay with him. After all, a female wasn’t going to go out of her way to face fears or put her life on the line for a male she planned to leave.
His dragon roared. Stop with those thoughts. We are Jane’s as much as she is ours. Hurry up and go to the area where we can shift so that we can keep working.
He kissed Jane gently. “Do you think you can match my pace or should I carry you? I’m going to run.”
She tilted her head. “I’ve been working out more, so I should be able to keep up. Let’s find out.”
As Jane turned and dashed toward the clearing, Kai ran after her. Nothing stirred a dragonman’s blood like a chase. Once his sister was safe, he would have to try it with Jane in a remote location so he could catch her and show his mate how much he loved her.
Not that he needed more motivation to find Delia. But any excuse to spend time with his mate was something he’d also fight for.