The Dragon Warrior (Lochguard Highland Dragons 4)

He wanted to dismiss his dragon’s thoughts as silly, but couldn’t. I think we should check out the other Protectors. Faye may be strong, but if several of them gang up against her, she won’t stand a chance. As much as I’d like to believe Snowridge and Northcastle are allies, I don’t have enough information to make that determination.

I would say that it’s unlikely they would attack her, especially if Stonefire is there, but I won’t discourage you because I want to see Faye. Although I would be careful not to anger her again.

That will be harder than it sounds.

You like interesting. Faye is a puzzle that we need to solve. I still say we should kiss her.

He ignored his dragon or they would argue about kissing and fucking the entire way to the restaurant.

Since Inverness Castle was situated just above the river walk, Grant jogged down until he wove around the humans going about their business. Restaurants and shops lined the walkway next to the river. If he weren’t anxious to find Faye, he’d take a moment to enjoy the lights reflecting off the water.

He went into the first curry place he found, which was up one flight of stairs, on the first floor. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he scanned the room. A hostess walked up to him. “May I help you?”

Grant looked at the human and did his best to keep his face free of his anxiety about finding Faye. “Is your establishment welcoming to dragon-shifters?”

“Aye. Most restaurants in Inverness are. After all, you helped protect the city many years ago during the War.”

He nodded, not wanting to get into World War II dragon-shifter battles and victories. “Then I’m looking for a group of dragon-shifters that might be dining here. In particular, I’m looking for a female with curly, brown hair past her shoulders and a tendency to raise her voice.”

The woman smiled. “Aye, she’s here. We had to move the whole dragon-shifter party to a private room because she was singing a bit loud for the other patrons.”

He frowned and spoke to his dragon. Since when does Faye sing in public?

There is much we need to learn about her. Hurry up and find her. I want to see her in action.

He focused back on the human. “Could you show me where they are? They should be expecting me.”

“Right this way.”

They walked past the other tables. He spotted Cat and the other participants toward the back with the DDA male and a few other humans who had to be the DDA’s security team. Cat raised a hand at him in greeting and he returned the gesture.

The hostess guided them down a hall to a closed door. While it wasn’t that far from Cat’s table, he didn’t like the distance. He was going to extract Faye from the rest of the group and they could dine at a smaller table in the main dining area.

His beast spoke up again. I like that plan. We’ll have Faye to ourselves.

More importantly, we can do our jobs.

Before his dragon could speak, the hostess opened the door and Faye’s singing voice greeted his ears.

However, he barely noticed that she was singing off key. All he saw was her arms wrapped around a male to either side of her. One of them was the Northern Irish bastard Conroy and the other male was unknown to him.

He was tempted to take her hand and pull her into the hallway. But his dragon chimed in. I want to listen and watch. She looks so happy.

Faye smiled as she sang and joy shone in her eyes. In this room, she wasn’t Faye MacKenzie, the former head Protector with a bum wing. No, she was merely Faye, the carefree lass having a good time without the usual censure from her family.

He answered his dragon, Fine. But once she’s done with this song, I’m taking her out of here.

With a growl, Grant stood at the edge of the room and waited for her to finish the song.

~~~

Faye hadn’t socialized outside the clan since the accident that had damaged her wing. Without her protective brothers, cousin, or mother around, Faye had been able to do as she pleased. So on a whim, she suggested playing a tune on her mobile and doing their own ad hoc karaoke.

She wasn’t sure if it was because the others wanted to have a good time or if they simply wanted to embarrass her, but the lads from Northcastle had joined right in.

And since they had been moved to a private room, all three of them were belting out the latest pop tune as loud as they could manage. The two males from Stonefire were more concerned about their food, but the male and female from Wales would occasionally mumble the chorus.

With Adrian and his clan mate, Kaine Ferris, on either side of her, Faye swayed in time to the music. For a brief moment in time, she wasn’t a dragonwoman struggling to find her new place in the clan. No, she was just Faye MacKenzie, female Protector and young woman out on the town to have a good time. Maybe next time, she could have a little fun with Cat. They might even be able to set up a weekly date to meet and escape their families for a little while. After all, Faye had learned every which way to sneak out of Lochguard by following her older brothers as a teenager.