Aiding the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons 7)

Teagan leaned forward. “And the money? Renny can barely operate his phone. There’s no bloody way he could’ve embezzled from our accounts.”

“No, he didn’t do it,” Whelan answered. “But the human female’s nephew works with computers. In short, he had the skills necessary and helped out. The nephew and the widow figured that donating money to the Belfast dragon hunters would only increase their chances of bringing us down. Thanks to the widow’s relationship with Renny, she learned about the time and

place of the trials, which she shared with the dragon hunters. Orin and Padraig had no idea about the funds. And, well, the rest is history.”

And to think the entire headache of the last week was because a family had held a grudge for over fifty years.

Her beast said, It shouldn’t surprise you. We’ll just have to be careful from now on about which humans are allowed to see any of our clan members.

To say the least. At this rate, we’re going to have to change a lot of things.

Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.

Aaron’s voice filled the room. “You said you spoke to them already, right? Where are they now?”

“Still in custody.” Whelan looked at Teagan. “What do you want to do with them?”

She sighed. “I don’t really have a choice but to turn them over to the DDA. Otherwise, the Belfast hunters will think it’s okay to attack us again. However, if the Irish government is aware of their meddling, they’ll reach out to both the British Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Hopefully it will put the Belfast hunters at the top of their watch lists.” Whelan bobbed his head and Teagan added, “But maybe leave out the part about Arabella MacLeod’s involvement and say one of our own techs hacked the bird drones. While it’s not illegal for our clans to work together, I don’t want to experience extra scrutiny if I don’t have to.”

“Of course,” Whelan said. “Unless you have any other questions, I’ll set things in motion.”

Teagan smiled at the older dragonman. “You’ve done a brilliant job, Whelan. Thank you. You can go.”

Once Teagan and Aaron were alone in her office again, Aaron laid his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. “I had no idea about anyone secretly seeing a human female.” He looked around the room. “I’m going to have to disrupt your system to get caught up. Otherwise, I’m going to be next to useless to you.”

She placed a hand over one of his. “For you, I might just consider tweaking my system. Anything to make it easier to have more help. If we aren’t careful, things will spin out of control in Ireland. Not only that, we could have another war with Northcastle, too, if I don’t smooth things between us soon. Especially if the hunters drive them out of Northern Ireland. Then Northcastle will be looking for new territory.”

“We won’t let it come to that, love. I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ll help you sort out the clan as quickly as possible.”

She was about to tell Aaron how she loved him, but her phone beeped with a message. It was a reminder about her appointment with Brenna.

Aaron leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Go. I’ll start working here.”

She met his gaze. As expected, she didn’t see anger or hurt, only understanding. “We’ll have our celebratory night of hot sex as soon as I can manage it. I promise.”

He winked. “It just gives me more time to plan what I want to do to you.”

She turned and drew his head down for a kiss. Once she released his lips, she murmured, “Good. Because I might even let you tie me up, if you prove yourself useful.”

He growled and she laughed.

Aaron pulled away and helped her to her feet. “Go, before the temptation to take you on the desk becomes too great.”

As much as Teagan wanted to try his suggestion, she forced herself to walk to the door. “Reach out to me when you need me. I’ll keep my meeting with Brenna as short as possible.”

With a wave, she exited the room. It was time to have what could be her final meeting with Brenna before the English female had to go back to Stonefire.

At the thought, sadness flooded her body. The female was more than useful; Teagan felt a kindred spirit with regards to goals and proving one’s self.

But Teagan pushed aside her own desires. There was nothing she could do but send the dragonwoman home.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Brenna paced the front room of Killian’s secured cottage. In an effort to save time in case Teagan wanted to question Killian, Brenna had requested Teagan to meet her at his place to discuss her future.

While she understood Teagan was the leader, she was still late, and Brenna just wanted to get this conversation over with.

Killian appeared in the doorway between the front room and the dining room. “All pacing does is irritate the hell out of me. Sit down and wait.”