The Dragon Warrior (Lochguard Highland Dragons 4)

His dragon chimed in. She’ll be fine.

Faye turned her dragon head around and met his eyes. She huffed at him, and he had to lean forward to keep from falling over.

That was his cue to shift.

Embracing his beast, Grant grew into his green dragon form. Being male, he stood about a foot taller than Faye and Cat. Since he knew the height difference irritated Faye, he stood taller.

She narrowed her eyes, and he shrugged before crouching down and jumping into the air. As he beat his wings and ascended into the sky, he simply enjoyed the rush of wind against his hide. With a little practice, he could treat Faye as he had for years by teasing and challenging her. Only when he was nice to her did his instinct start to take over and make him want to do things to her he couldn’t. Things he couldn’t do until he sorted out the traitors.

His dragon spoke up again. But what about when we’re lying in the room next door to hers? I know what I’ll be thinking about.

You should be thinking of the traitors.

Why can’t we do both? Let Faye handle Cat’s security detail and we can look for the traitors. That will show Faye we believe in her.

Maybe. I want to ensure there aren’t any Dragon Knights or hunters in the area first.

She’ll think you’re coddling her.

Then so be it. After the drone attacks down on Stonefire, an enemy could be lurking anywhere.

Several of Stonefire’s clan members, including its head doctor, had been targeted by small drones that had ended up drugging them. Actually, according to reports, one of the victims had been from Ireland. At any rate, Lochguard’s head doctor, Innes, had gone down to help Stonefire and had ended up mating the Stonefire doctor who had been attacked.

His dragon added, But Stonefire found a remedy to the strange drug the drone carried and we have a vial just in case. It’s not a big concern.

Do you really want to risk the drug changing and possibly killing her?

Then talk to her about it. Faye was once our equal. That’s all she wants, to be an equal again. Besides, she can help keep an eye out for any threats. She can’t do that if she doesn’t know what threats to look out for.

Since when did you become so rational?

Ever since you became the opposite.

Grant mentally snorted. Then we’ll try it your way and try to treat her as an equal, oh wise one. But if Faye’s temper gets the better of her, we’ll do it my way.

Fair enough. And now that you’ve listened to me about this, I’ll have to pester you about kissing Faye, too.

No, dragon. Kissing the lass will have to wait, no matter how much she tempts us.

At last you’ve admitted that you’re fighting the pull, too. That gives me ideas on how to speed up the process.

We can’t endanger the mission.

We don’t have to.

As his dragon fell silent, Grant studied the slightly erratic beat of Faye’s wings. Simply flying had to be painful, but through sheer stubbornness, she had regained enough stamina to fly long distances. He still remembered the look of triumph in her eyes when she had stayed aloft for more than a few seconds. Of all the people in the clan, she’d trusted him and allowed him to help her.

He at least owed her a chance to prove herself.

If she could handle it, then maybe he would ask for her help with his uncle and the others. The sooner he rooted out the traitors, the sooner he could try to woo the lass. After all, Faye would never betray him.

Picking up his pace, Grant caught up to the two females again and edged out a little ahead. Since he’d made up his mind, Grant was anxious to reach Inverness. He needed to talk with Faye. Even if it meant tying her to a chair so she would hear him out, he would do it.

Chapter Five

As the river and buildings of Inverness came into view, Faye struggled to keep up with Grant’s pace.

She’d tested herself and knew she could fly for hours at a leisurely pace before the pain was too great. However, Grant was flying as if they were being chased by an enemy.