The Dragon's Discovery (Lochguard Highland Dragons 6)

"What are you talking about?" Kiyana demanded.

Fergus shook his head. "There's no time. Something's wrong with Alistair, and Finn's afraid for your safety."

Her heart raced. "Alistair wouldn't hurt me. I'm his true mate, remember?"

"Aye, that may be so, but something is off. And until we know what, you need to be kept in hiding."

Gina stood and held her son close. "You're scaring her, Fergus."

He glanced to his mate. "Aye, and rightly so." Fergus looked back at her and gestured toward the door. "Come, lass. I won't ask again. If you're not up and walking in the next five seconds, I'll carry you out of here if I have to."

Her skin turned cold. There was true panic in Fergus's voice.

Making her body work, she stood, and Fergus gently gripped her upper arm. "This way." He threw over his shoulder, "You stay here, Gina, with the bairn. Everyone's to stay inside until Finn, Faye, or Grant give the all clear."

Gina bobbed her head, but that was all she managed before Fergus was half dragging Kiyana out of his house and down a path. The entire time, he scanned the area, both on the ground and in the sky.

Her heart raced, and she did her best to keep panic from her voice. "Why are you looking at the sky? Alistair shouldn't be able to shift right now."

Fergus met her gaze. "He just might."

The secretiveness drove her crazy. While she didn't slow down her pace, she did growl out, "Just tell me what's going on. By not saying anything, you're making it worse."

"All I can say right now is that we're not exactly sure of Alistair's location."

Her heart skipped a beat. "I thought he was doing research?"

"Aye, he was. But something went wrong. Now, come on. The sooner we get you to the underground bunker of the Protector's building, the sooner you can learn what happened." He pierced her with a fierce gaze, and she nodded. He added, "Can you run for a wee while, lass?"

Despite the sudden frog in her throat, she managed, "I think so."

"Good. Then let's go."

As Kiyana ran, a dragon-shifter pulling her along, worry crept over her. Something had obviously gone very, very wrong to make the reputably level-headed MacKenzie twin so cautious and frantic.

Stop it, Kiyana. Don't worry until you have all the facts. Maybe you can help. Right, maybe she could help somehow. And if there was a way for her to assist Alistair, she would do her bloody best to help. The stories always had the men swooping in to rescue the women, but she wasn't the sort to sit back and let others take all the responsibility. Alistair may not be her mate-slash-husband yet, but he would be. And so if she needed to save him, she'd do whatever it took.

~~~

Twenty minutes later, Kiyana sat in a room, drumming her fingers on the table, when the door finally opened. Finn, Fergus, and the clan's head doctor, Layla, walked in. Kiyana stood and rushed to Finn. "What's going on? Is Alistair okay? I can't help unless I know the details."

A sad smile crept over Finn's face. "I'm not sure you can help, lass, but I'll tell you what we know. Sit, please."

Finn's demeanor made her wary. She'd seen both the charming and strong leader versions of him, but never the sad, gentle one.

Kiyana sat and raised her brows in question. Finn sighed and said, "Alistair was working on a secret project for us, one concerning a tiny device. Despite every precaution being taken, he was somehow exposed to a chemical compound found inside the blasted thing. His dragon woke instantly, and from what we can tell, he ran from his research lab clawing his head and shouting something about not letting his dragon win."

She froze. "Where is he now?"

Fergus jumped in. "That's the bugger of it all, we don't know. He must've tossed his phone and isn't carrying a tracking device. However, there's another piece of information one of the clan members overheard from Alistair, as he ran away. And that was him saying he wouldn't let his dragon force you, and he would fight his beast to the death rather than allow him to harm you."

She shook her head. "I don't understand. Alistair wouldn't hurt me."

Layla grimaced. "Usually, aye, he wouldn't. But the chemical compound is something the doctors on Stonefire have been studying for a wee while. The effects seem to vary from dragon-shifter to dragon-shifter. And in Alistair's case, it's probably made his dragon violent and unpredictable."

First his dragon being drugged silent, and now his beast going berserk? Alistair had suffered enough with the death of his former girlfriend and didn't need more pain.

There had to be a way to help him, there just had to. "But that's just because of the frenzy, right? If I join him and participate, then he might return to normal."