Chapter Twelve
A little over an hour later, Teagan smiled and answered questions from every clan member she passed on the way home. For good reason, everyone was concerned and full of questions about her announcement the other night.
So when her cottage’s glowing windows finally came into view, she let out a sigh of relief. A few more steps and she’d be inside her sanctuary.
Her dragon spoke up. And what about Aaron? He will be waiting, too.
Before Teagan could wonder what Aaron might do to her once she was naked again, the voice of Colm MacDermot boomed behind her. “Teagan, there you are. I was wondering if I’d catch you on your way home.”
So close and yet so far.
Pasting a smile on her face and standing up taller, she turned. “What did you need, Colm?”
“I was hoping we could discuss some of the historical documents I found about the leadership challenges.” He raised his arm holding a cloth bag. “I figured we could make it a working dinner date.”
Her dragon grunted. No. Aaron is making dinner and waiting for us to jump him.
This is more important.
Are you sure?
Look, I wanted a night of kinky sex too. But if it costs us the clan, then what?
Her beast sighed. I suppose.
Teagan motioned with her head toward the door. “I just need to let my visitor know the change of plans, and then we can work in one of the conference rooms inside the Protectors’ central command.”
“If your gran is here, we can do it tomorrow morning. I’m not about to put Orla Kelly out. She’ll make sure I never forget it, and I don’t need the trouble.”
“No, it’s not her. Just give me a second.”
Teagan put a hand on the door, but Colm’s voice prevented her from entering. “We could just work here to save time.”
She looked back at Colm’s green eyes but couldn’t read them. She didn’t think he had an ulterior motive of wanting to woo her, but with dragonmen, it was hard to tell. “It’s messy, and it’s safer for all if we use one of the conference rooms.”
He smiled. “I live alone. Believe me, my place is worse. If your place is worse than mine, I’ll owe you twenty euro.”
Teagan hesitated. She didn’t like bringing work into her home, at least work that involved others. Yet she needed Colm’s support and help. Turning him away might make him distant, especially since they’d known each other their whole lives and had always gotten along.
He winked. “It can’t be that bad.”
“All right. But I still need to let my guest know of the change. Come in.” She entered and waved toward the mostly clean sofa. “You can wait in there.”
Colm raised an eyebrow. “Who’s this guest of yours? And why the secretive nature?”
Aaron’s voice echoed down the hall. “Yes, why?”
Aaron appeared a foot away from her and she met his gaze. While to most he’d appear nonchalant, she noticed the tightness of his jaw.
Her dragon chuckled. Good. He’ll work harder to impress us later.
Teagan acted as if her beast hadn’t spoken. “Colm MacDermot, this is Aaron Caruso. Aaron, this is Colm. He’s helping me plan the leadership trials.”
Aaron studied Colm a second before saying, “We met earlier. It’s a good thing I made extra. Come on, let’s eat.”
Aaron turned before Teagan could say a word. Colm spoke, his voice full of amusement. “I thought he was a Protector.”
“He is. He’s just helping me out.”
Her dragon chimed in again. So, you’re not going to mention the bet? I wonder why.
It’s between Aaron and me. I don’t need Colm thinking Aaron is weak.
Look who’s defending who.
Teagan motioned a hand toward the kitchen. “Come. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
As she made her way into the kitchen, Teagan only hoped Aaron wouldn’t act possessive and try to undermine her authority. She hoped he understood that when others were inside the house, their agreement of being equals was on hold.
Her dragon huffed. He’s intelligent. Give him some credit.
I don’t have a brilliant track record with males.
Aaron is different. Wait and see.
Teagan hoped so. She might want some sex to relieve stress, but she wasn’t about to suffer alpha male bullshit to achieve it.
It was time to see if Aaron passed the test.
And why is that important? her dragon asked.
Ignoring her beast, Teagan entered the kitchen.
~~~
Aaron shouldn’t care that Teagan had brought someone home with her. After all, it was her house and not his. Not to mention he had zero claim on her.
Still, seeing the smiling, handsome man he’d spotted earlier in Killian’s office at Teagan’s heels had made him clench his fingers into a fist.
His dragon spoke up. You should just admit that you want her as much as I do.
You want a relationship. I just want sex.
Tell yourself that. We’ll see if you feel the same way once dinner is over.
Aaron busied himself with dishing out the shepherd’s pie he’d baked. He heard Teagan and Colm sit down at the table, but he focused on his task. The rhythmic motion of dishing out food, in tandem with measured breaths, helped to ease his irritation.
Once he could paste a smile on his face, he picked up two plates and turned toward Teagan and Colm. He walked over and laid their food down. “It’s nothing fancy since I didn’t have a lot of time today.”
Teagan smiled. “It’s better than a sandwich or reheated stew for supper.”
Since he’d laid cutlery on the plates, the two took their first bites. Aaron quickly retrieved his own supper and sat down. He accidentally brushed Teagan’s thigh with his own as he settled. Electricity raced up his skin and her gaze shot to his.
She must’ve felt it, too.
What was wrong with him? She wasn’t his true mate and merely brushing a thigh shouldn’t set him on edge.
Besides, if he pulled her to his lap and kissed her in front of the other male, Teagan might never forgive him. The clan watched her like a hawk and she couldn’t afford gossip right now.
He held her eyes for a few seconds more before he looked to Colm. The dragonman studied Aaron but spoke up with a smile. “So, Caruso, how did you end up cooking for our fine leader?”
Teagan opened her mouth, but Aaron beat him to it. “My own clan leader told me to do whatever was necessary to help. Teagan asked, and I agreed. It also means free food for me since Teagan buys the groceries.”
“And males do love their food,” Teagan muttered.
Colm grinned. “That we do.” He asked Aaron, “So are you helping with the planning, too? I heard you were assigned to guard the judges but didn’t know if you’d be doing anything else.”
Aaron looked to Teagan for permission. She swallowed and answered, “Aaron is helping in other ways. But we should start going over what you found in the records now so that we’re not here all night.” Colm hesitated, and Teagan added, “Caruso can be trusted.”
Her words stoked his ego and his dragon said, She’s as eager as us to get this bloke out of here.
Or she could just be thinking of her clan and doing her job.
I like my reason better.
Colm’s voice prevented Aaron from replying. “Well, let’s start with the differences. Whilst most trials today focus on stamina, strength, and getting out of tough situations, the ones of old were more like quests.”
“What do you mean by ‘quests’?” Aaron asked.
Colm took a folder out of the cloth bag at his feet and opened it on the table. He took out a document, scanned it, and then read from it. “The finding of the golden dragon egg proved my most strenuous task to date. I nearly drowned finding one of the clues and singed my hair trying to heat another clue hot enough to make it glow with the final destination.”
Teagan interrupted Colm. “He or she didn’t actually find it, did they? I think the clan would know if they had the mythical necklace stored somewhere.”
Aaron frowned. “I must’ve missed that day at school. What, exactly, is this mythical dragon egg?”
Teagan answered, “Only the treasured necklace from the supposed first dragon-shifter to ever set foot in Britain.”
“But we’re in Ireland,” Aaron drawled.
“As much as I hate to admit it, Irish dragon-shifters and British ones are descended from the same first settlers,” Teagan stated.
Colm spoke up. “The legend goes that the first female dragon-shifter who set foot in what is modern England produced three dozen dragon eggs all whilst wearing the legendary necklace. In a way, it represents the beginning of all of our clans.”
Aaron sighed. “But it’s all rubbish. Dragons don’t lay eggs, for one. And even if we did, a female still requires a male to help spawn the babies.”
Teagan rolled her eyes. “Leave it to you to take the miracle of childbirth and lower it down to ‘spawning.’”
Aaron smiled. “Technically, it would be dropping eggs.”
Teagan forced her gaze to Colm. “Ignore him. Tell me about this leader and the overview of the quest.”
“I bet it involved knights, swords, and sorcery,” Aaron drawled.
Teagan shot him a look, her eyes full of warning, and he focused on his food. It was easy to forget he and Teagan weren’t alone.
His beast snorted. Be glad, or she wouldn’t be so polite. You’re being a tad irritating.
She’s the one talking about bloody myths and dragon eggs.
Just listen to what the other male has to say. We can’t help Teagan if we don’t know what she might be planning.
Agreeing with his dragon, Aaron took a bite of pie and motioned for Colm to continue.
Colm tapped the paper in front of him. “Her name was Orlaith.”
All Aaron heard was “Orla.” But he didn’t think they’d be talking about Teagan’s grandmother.
“As in the first unifier of Ireland and my gran’s namesake?” Teagan asked breathlessly.
“Aye,” Colm said. “Which is all the more reason to use her ideas against your challengers. The other leaders may have forgotten that one of the bravest leaders in Irish dragon-shifter history was female, but they’ll soon remember.”
Aaron couldn’t help but say, “I know a fair bit of Irish history, but I’ve never heard of Orlaith.”
Teagan shrugged. “She’s a bit of a poorly kept secret. Most of the texts that mentioned her were burned a few hundred years ago, when males were trying to eradicate any knowledge of female leaders. Glenlough didn’t agree, and whoever was in charge must’ve preserved the records.”
Aaron waved toward Colm’s documents. “So what’s involved in this quest-like challenge?”
“Quite a bit. But I think if we modify the rules and a group of us plan a new quest, it may work.” Colm looked to Teagan. “Let’s go over the old version and then you can either give your approval or not. However, you can’t be part of the planning, Teagan. In this, you need to remain oblivious.”
She bobbed her head. “I know. But I’m anxious to hear about this old quest first.”
As Colm went over the full account, Aaron tried his best to keep his expression neutral. Some of the challenges, such as standing in the middle of a circle of burning logs to warm up a metal object to see a certain inscription, was bloody dangerous.
His dragon grunted. Teagan is clever. She won’t have a problem.
I agree, but what do you think will happen if one of the other leaders gets himself killed in the process?
It won’t be our problem.
I’m not so sure, dragon.
His beast fell silent and Aaron focused on Colm’s words. If Teagan agreed to an old-fashioned quest and series of puzzles to solve, then Aaron might need to adjust his tactics for her training sessions. Beating the crap out of someone wouldn’t be enough. No, he would need to think of ways to stretch her mind, too.