The Dragon Guardian (Lochguard Highland Dragons 2)

Fergus tried not to focus on Holly’s ‘lack of resources’ comment. Instead, he kissed the back of Gina’s hand and willed his strength to flow into his female.

Gina smiled at him. “Promise to stay with me.”

He nodded. “Wild dogs couldn’t drag me away.”

She gave a half-laugh. “I still say I need to test that theory.”

Fergus opened his mouth to reply, but a contraction washed over his mate. Gina gripped his hand as she growled. Leave it to his stubborn lass to not yell out at the pain.

When it passed and Gina’s body relaxed, Fergus chanced a glance at Holly. To strangers, her face was calm and collected. However, Fergus spotted the tightness at the corner of her eyes, which signaled Holly's worry.

He debated how to broach the subject without scaring Gina. However, his lass spoke up first. “What aren’t you telling me, Holly? I can sense something is bothering you.”

Fergus forced his gaze to his brother’s mate as she answered, “The delivery could be tricky if your dragon-shifter hormone levels spike or your blood pressure gets too high. The hard part will be monitoring them here instead of at the surgery.”

Lorna chimed in from behind Fergus. “Is there nothing here we can use? I know the bunker wasn’t quite finished, but surely there are supplies stashed somewhere.”

Holly bobbed her head. “Fraser mentioned how they started stocking supplies last week. If we’re lucky, they started with the medical supplies first.” Holly looked to Lorna. “Can you find out what we have here? Fraser should know where they’re located. There should be a box or two labeled ‘maternity kit.’ If so, bring it.”

“Aye, I’ll find out,” Lorna replied before exiting the room.

After a beat of silence, Gina’s voice filled the room and Fergus focused back on his mate. “Fergus, tell me one of your stories about you and Fraser getting into trouble. I could do with a distraction.”

Not hesitating, he gently squeezed Gina’s hand. “Aye, that I can do. Have I told you about how I helped Fraser create a Nessie sighting?”

She smiled. “No. Tell me everything.”

As he regaled the tale from his late teens, Fergus secretly wished with his whole heart that his mate would survive the birth despite the less than perfect conditions. With Dr. Innes unconscious and Layla looking over the rest of Lochguard, Gina might not have a doctor on hand to help if things went wrong. Holly was a bloody good midwife, but she might not be able to save Gina on her own.

Tightening his grip on his mate’s hands, he pushed aside his worry. His stubborn

lass and son would pull through this. They had to.

~~~

Dr. Cassidy Jackson clenched her fingers as the DDA helicopter sped toward Lochguard’s land.

She hated flying.

Some might consider it odd for a dragon-shifter, but Sid’s dragon had gone silent during her adolescent years. Flying only reminded her of what she’d never be able to do on her own. On top of that, she was at the mercy of a giant machine.

Both reasons made her heart pound and palms sweat.

Yet as they approached Lochguard’s landing area, the smoke billowing up into the sky chased away her past and fears. The Scottish clan needed her help and she was going to give it to them. While she’d never met Dr. Gregor Innes in person, his reputation was well-known as a good doctor dedicated to his clan. It was Sid’s duty to help out while he recovered; she might one day need the same favor.

The helicopter hovered for about a minute before retreating to a smaller landing area further inside the clan’s boundaries. The second it touched down, Sid let out a breath. When it came time to return to Stonefire, Sid was going home by car.

The side door opened. Unbuckling her restraints, Sid grabbed her medical bag and jumped down. She moved quickly away from the twirling blades toward a female dragon-shifter with black hair, brown eyes, and an olive complexion. The female had put in a brief call to Sid earlier. She was Layla MacFie, Lochguard’s junior doctor.

The doctor motioned toward a makeshift surgery tent not far away. “This way. I need you to man the tent and look after Gregor.”

Sid easily switched to work mode. “How many are injured?”

“About fifty. The only saving grace is there were only two fatalities.”

The two females approached the largest of two tents and Layla led the way. She continued, “The other tent has the ones injured in dragon form. There aren’t as many since most were hit while in human form. If you can handle this tent, I’ll handle the dragons.”

Sid had a feeling Layla was sparing her feelings with the division of tasks. But as she saw the bleeding and groaning people inside the tent, she forgot about everything but tending to the hurt. “Just introduce me to the nurses and they can show me the ropes.”