Roughly a year ago, Ivy Passmore had called out for help in the forest near Stonefire. She'd been unconscious by the time Zain had found her. But searching her body had revealed a gold mine—a trove of information about the Dragon Knights, stored on a tiny thumb drive wrapped in plastic. On it had been their formulas, the location of most of their hideouts—both online and physical—as well as some of their recruiting operations and tactics.
But quite a few of the files were strongly encrypted. Not even Stonefire's best IT specialists had been able to break them, to the point that a fair bit of the information was still a mystery.
And to someone like Zain, who liked to act more than sit around and be patient, it was bloody torture waiting for Ivy to recover. The crucial bit of intel they needed to finally eradicate one of Stonefire's main enemies was nearly within their reach; he could feel it.
His dragon grunted. Be patient. She can't reveal anything if she's dead.
Zain replied to his beast, I'm more than aware of her value. It's why she's still alive. But every day that passes is another that could end with a dead or injured dragon-shifter somewhere. Are you okay with that?
His beast huffed. Of course not, you idiot. But we're not mind readers. Help her recover her strength, or else we'll get nowhere. If she falls back into another coma, then where will we be?
Zain didn't know all the medical details, but Stonefire's main doctors—Sid and Gregor—along with their researchers, Trehan and a human named Emily Davies, had all agreed that the antidote they'd devised to counter the poison and wake Ivy up might not last forever. Only time, testing, and observation would let them know if the change was permanent.
He curled the fingers of
one hand into a fist and resisted punching something. If you think her frail state is going to make me pity her, or become sympathetic, then you're delusional. The Dragon Knights have fucking harmed many of our friends and clan members. They're no better than the dragon hunters, who killed our friend Charlie.
Charlie Wells had been one of Stonefire's Protectors. She'd been killed a couple of years ago when the dragon hunters had drained her blood to sell on the black market. Since dragon's blood had healing properties for humans, it was incredibly lucrative for criminals.
His dragon growled. If you continue to let your hatred cloud your judgment, Kai will assign someone else to interrogate her, maybe even himself.
Kai Sutherland was head Protector of Stonefire, in charge of all clan security, and Zain's boss.
As he debated whether to reply or ignore his dragon—they'd had many arguments about the human female over the last year—Dr. Sid finally walked into the room, with her mate and fellow doctor, Gregor, right behind her.
Zain raised his brows. "Well?"
Sid mirrored his actions. "Your alpha tone isn't helping your case, Zain."
His dragon snorted, but Zain ignored him. Dragon-shifter doctors were a brand of their own, and he knew Sid didn't take anyone's attitude or shit. "Apologies. What did you find out?"
Sid shrugged. "She's awake and remembers most of who she is. Although I can't tell if she's lying about not knowing why she's here, let alone whether she knows she's on Stonefire or not. A combination of waiting and questioning should determine if she's acting or truly has partial amnesia. Although I will say that anything is possible given how that drug knocked her unconscious for nearly a year."
Fucking brilliant. If the human had even partial amnesia, that would make his job that much more difficult. "And how's her health? I need to know when I can talk to her again."
Sid glanced at Gregor, and the mated pair shared a look, one that didn't bode well for him.
Dr. Sid finally answered, "She's incredibly weak, Zain. I can't allow you to question her for some time. She needs to get stronger and then build up muscle strength again. As it is, she barely stayed awake for fifteen minutes before falling back asleep."
Gregor grunted and added in his Scottish accent, "Cassidy's right. There's no point in you hovering around the human, aye? We'll let you know when she's strong enough to face you."
Zain resisted a curse. "Are you banning me from her room? Because even if I can't interrogate her, she could mumble something in her sleep that could help the clan."
Gregor sighed. "So you're going to stay by her side for nearly every minute now? That'll just put you in the way, lad. And if nothing else, it'll make her recovery take longer since she'll be nervous around any dragon-shifter and may not sleep as well as she needs to."
Sid made a noise in agreement. "One of the nurses will be available to the human at all times, and there are also security cameras throughout the building. While we don't usually place cameras in the patient rooms, she's a special case, and I'll allow one. But only if I can turn it off whenever she's naked, or I think she needs some privacy."
He wanted to spit out that dragon-shifters didn't view nudity the same way as humans—you couldn't be modest when you had to be naked to shift into a dragon.
However, he didn't want to piss off Dr. Sid, either. Arguments were the surest way to do that, as he'd learned long ago. So he kept his tone as neutral as he could manage as he said, "If you let me visit her once a day when she's conscious, I promise I won't do anything to endanger her recovery. But even just one question a day could greatly help Nathan and Lucien with the cryptic, unsolved data."
For a beat, neither doctor said anything. Then Gregor finally spoke to his mate, "One question couldn't hurt, Cassidy. Especially if the camera is recording and we can watch to make sure he behaves."
Zain clenched his jaw. He wasn't a new Protector, fresh out of his British Army training like Dacian. He fucking knew how to behave and didn't need to be observed.
His dragon spoke up. Gregor tries to provoke you all the time on purpose. Stop rising to the bait.
Stupid Scottish dragons and their ways.