Chapter Eight
Five hours later, Kai sat next to Jane’s bed in the surgery, his mother at his side.
Jane was hooked up to various machines to monitor her vital signs as well as being connected to a drip for pain medication. The doctor was confident that she’d pull through, although a lot of physical therapy was in Jane’s near future to help her recover full or nearly full use of her shoulder.
If Maggie had struck a few inches further down, she could’ve pierced a lung and Jane might’ve died.
His heart tightened at that thought. Despite her tough attitude, his human was fragile.
Since Kai had been given a dose of the special moss formula to erase the effects of the drug in his system, his dragon was out inside his mind and spoke up. But she didn’t die. Jane is alive, Maggie is in custody, and Rhydian is trying his best to clean house.
Don’t try to make me feel better, dragon. I fucked up by trusting Snowridge far sooner than I should have.
Rubbish. We’ve been here many times and met many of Snowridge’s Protectors. We had no way of knowing that they always showed their best recruits to us and kept the unworthy hidden. Besides, Maggie fooled most of her clan with her skittish act. If they couldn’t tell what she was up to, then there was no way we could’ve noticed it.
His dragon was right, but Kai wasn’t going to stroke his ego just yet.
Kai had spent the last few hours focusing on Jane and reaching out to Bram, but now that he had a moment, he asked his dragon, Why didn’t you go into the mate-claim frenzy when Maggie kissed us?
His beast huffed. I don’t want her. You should know that, but you never listen to me when it concerns this topic. True mate pulls fade with time. Jane is our human and will always be our mate.
Raising Jane’s hand to his lips, he kissed her warm fingers. “We’ll get through this, Janey, I promise.”
His mother spoke up. “Of course you will. You chose Jane without any instinct involved and fought to keep her. I only hope that you’ll now stop doubting her and worrying that she’ll leave.”
He glanced at his mother. “How do you know I doubted anything?”
“You’ve always had a secret side, to doubt everything. You keep it hidden from the world, but I’m your mother. More than that, Jane told me. If all of this doesn’t prove she’s going to stay, then I don’t know what will. Cherish her, Kai, and happiness will follow.”
His dragon said, I agree. Cherish her, but don’t smother her.
Says the overprotective dragon.
His beast merely huffed.
Kai was about to reply to his mother when her mobile phone chirped. She quickly answered it. “Hello?”
Because of Kai’s hearing, he easily listened to the reply on the line. “Lily, this is Wren. We found Delia and she’s alive.”
“Alive?” Lily echoed.
“Yes, and before your fret, she’ll live. But it’s going to take some time to flush out all the drugs in her system.”
Kai growled, leaned toward his mother’s phone, and barked, “Instead of dangling bits of information, just tell us what’s going on.”
Lily clicked a button and the phone went to speaker. Wren’s voice filled the room. “I can’t say much over an unsecured line, but we’ll be back on Snowridge within the hour. Eira will fetch you and bring you to us. We can divulge all the details then.”
Since his mother sat still, Kai jumped in. “What about the missing children?”
“We have them, too. Again, I can’t say anything else until I’m back on clan lands.”
Lily cleared her throat. “Hurry, Wren. I need to see my baby girl.”
“Of course, Lily. We’ll return as quickly as possible.”
The line went dead. Kai laid a hand on his mother’s shoulder. “She’s alive, Mum. That’s all that matters.”
She nodded. “I know, but there’s more to the story and I’m afraid of what it is.”
He pulled his mother to his side and hugged her. “We’ll survive it together, Mum. Add in Jane and Gareth, who will also stand with us, and we’ll be able to tackle anything.”
His mum gave a choked laugh. “At least you’ve stopped pitying yourself. Jane would like that.”
He stared at his mate’s sleeping face. “Yes, she would. Although I think she’ll be pissed to wake up and miss all the commotion with Delia’s return.”
“As much as I hate to say it, Kai, it’s probably for the best that she’s restricted to this room for now. Rhydian is still trying to weed out the human-hating extremists within the clan.”
“Bastards.”
“I agree, but cursing won’t change anything.”
His dragon spoke up. I bloody well disagree. It’s much easier to release anger with swearing.
He ignored his beast to say, “Zain and Sebastian should be here from Stonefire at any minute. They’ll protect Jane with their lives. More than that, I’d trust both of them with the other half of my heart.”
Lily smiled. “I didn’t know you were romantic.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned today, it’s that Jane is my life. It’s not romantic, but a fact that if she died, I’d go crazy and possibly rogue.”
“Then we’ll just have to take good care of your Janey.”
Both man and beast agreed with that statement. As Kai and his mother fell into a comfortable silence, Kai memorized every line, freckle, and pore of Jane’s face. Doing so helped him to focus and calm his mind.
Because he had a feeling that more shit was going to hit the fan soon enough once Delia and the others arrived back on Snowridge.
~~~
Not for the first time, Rhydian Griffiths regretted succumbing to pressure from clan members to eschew anything human, if possible.
True, he had his own reasons for doing it. Namely, defending his human lover in his youth had earned him the scars on his face. Because of his past, he’d had to work extra hard to prove he had his clan’s best interests at heart rather than his own. Winning the leadership trial had never been enough.
His dragon growled. I still don’t understand the need to hide our feelings. Lili should’ve been ours. Instead, they locked us up and chased her out of Wales.
Liliwen Rosser had enticed Rhydian with her dark eyes and dark hair. Coupled with her laughter and zest for life, he had contemplated leaving the clan to claim her.
However, his mother and father had worked with his extended family to contain him, threaten the female, and drive them apart. Only his cousin Gareth had stood at his side.
Rhydian had only been twenty at the time, fresh out of the British Army. He’d challenged his uncles and lost badly.
The scars on his face reminded him every day of how changing the clan’s prejudices didn’t happen overnight.
His dragon chimed in. But it might be time, especially if we form an alliance with Stonefire. Many of their humans have helped us, even here in Wales.
We’ll see, dragon. For the moment, we need to focus on Delia, the children, and cleaning up the clan. Otherwise, Bram will never send someone to foster, let alone risk his clan to help us.
Then hurry up and do the job. I’m tired of being isolated and spending most of our time inside the mountains. A dragon should be free and soaring in the skies.
Rhydian resisted pointing out that Snowridge had existed for the last several hundred years inside the mountains.
He reached the landing area and spotted Eira, Wren, and several other Protectors in the sky. As they made their final approach, he noticed a few makeshift baskets clutched in Wren and Eira’s back talons.
It had to be Delia and the children.
Although as another trusted Protector, Delwyn, approached from the middle of the formation, Rhydian spotted another makeshift basket. Maybe there had been more children than just the few taken from his clan members.
Each dragon carefully laid down their package, be it baskets or crates of what he assumed to be chemicals confiscated from the farm near Dolgellau.
Since Maelon and his nurses had awoken and had been cleared for duty, they rushed toward the baskets. Rhydian followed closely on their heels.
The first one he approached contained Delia Owens. She was bound and wriggling, her pupils slitted.
It was hard to see his sweet, energetic second cousin so out of character.
Still, he allowed Maelon and his team to do their work and walked to the other two baskets. Inside one, he saw the missing children from the farms, unconscious. Rhydian motioned to one of the nurses. “Here, Olwenna. They need attention, too.”
Without missing a beat, the female nurse came and started checking vital signs.
As much as he wanted to stay and watch, Rhydian needed to take in the entire situation, so he approached the third basket. Inside was a boy who looked to be about five or six years old. Unlike the others, he was wide awake and clinging to a stuffed toy rabbit. Rhydian kept his voice gentle as he asked, “What’s your name, little one?”
The boy clutched his rabbit tighter. Careful not to show how the action tugged at his heart, he tried again. “My name’s Rhydian, and despite the scary scars on my face, I only want to help you find your parents. Will you tell me your name?”
The boy closed his eyes. “My parents are gone.”
He may not have a name, but the boy spoke with an Irish accent, which told Rhydian he was a long way from home.
“If you tell me what happened, I can try to find them.”
The boy shook his head vehemently. “They wouldn’t wake up. I tried and tried. The scary humans said they were dead. Mr. Cottontail is my only family now.”
Anger flared and only through years of practice did Rhydian manage to keep it from showing on his face. “You’re safe here, boy. I promise you that.” Rhydian put out a hand. “Will you give me your hand? I want the doctor to take a look at you.”
Opening his eyes, the boy replied, “Will you be there?”
“I will. What’s your name, little one?”
“Rian.”
“Well, Rian, if you come with me and let the doctor check you out, then I’m sure we can find you some sweets.”
“I’m not allowed to have sweets unless it’s a special day.”
He smiled. “We’ll make an exception.” He wiggled his fingers. “Give me your hand, Rian.”
The boy gingerly placed his hand in his. Rhydian helped the boy to his feet and gently lifted him out. With the child in his arms, he made his way toward Maelon.
His dragon spoke up. He must be a dragon-shifter since he’s unfazed by the ride here.
Yes, but what is an Irish lad doing in the hands of Welsh dragon hunters?
I have no idea. But we’ll ferret it out.
You aren’t suggesting we take care of him, I hope.
Why not? He needs protection and has warmed up to us. Moving him again might upset or traumatize him.
Before Rhydian could lay out all the reasons why he didn’t have time to look after a child, Rian said, “Your eyes flash like Daddy’s.”
Rhydian kept his tone light, so as to not frighten the boy. “And your mum’s too?”
“No. Mam said she couldn’t change into a dragon. Although I wished on my last birthday she could.” He looked down at his stuffed toy. “But she never will now.”
The boy’s eyes grew wet. Rhydian quickly said, “There are lots of dragons here. If you behave for the doctor, you can pet as many as you want.”
“Can I? I’ve only ever seen Daddy’s red dragon. But he told me stories of blue and green and gold ones. I want to be a gold dragon. Like a king.”
If the boy had only seen his father shift into a dragon, it probably meant the boy’s father had fallen for a human and had gone into hiding to be with her since Ireland rarely allowed humans to live with the dragon clans.
And with the recent turmoil in Ireland over the death of two clan leaders and the ensuing battles for power and control over those two clans, Rian’s parent had probably fled to Wales for safety until things calmed down back home.
But he could think on all of that later. For the moment, he smiled at Rian. “Then let’s hurry up and get you checked out. How about you tell me about Mr. Cottontail on the way?”
As the boy explained the history of his stuffed toy rabbit, Rhydian walked briskly toward the surgery. The others should already be there. Once he had Rian examined, he could check on Delia and the other children.
And while he still had a lot of work ahead of him with regards to cleaning up his clan and enforcing the rules properly, he now had another reason beyond his own past to fight for human acceptance within his clan. Rian’s parents weren’t the only ones who’d had to go into hiding in order to be with the person they loved. He knew a few of his own clan members who had done the same over the years.
It may have been the wrong time for change all those years ago, when he’d fought for his human lover, but he’d make sure now was the right one.
For as long as Rhydian remained leader, he’d ensure his clan’s policy on humans shifted. Going forward, he wanted his clan members to mate for love, regardless if their mate could change into a dragon or not.