renna signaled again, the remaining dragon, a black one, came to land next to her. Brenna stood. "Sebastian, I need you to carry me and the female to the abandoned cottage near the lake. I want to remain in human form in case she wakes up en route, to try and explain what's going on."
Sebastian lightly jumped up and hovered a few feet from the ground. Brenna scooped up the small female and helped place her into Sebastian's left talons. He then gently wrapped his other set of talons around Brenna's middle.
As he ascended, she barely noticed the change in altitude or the wind. While chilly, she was more concerned with the mysterious female. Humans sometimes showed up at a dragon clan's gates, but the only question was whether the woman was friend or foe. After the recent betrayals back in Ireland, Brenna was wary of trusting anyone she didn't know.
In a matter of minutes, Sebastian had placed Brenna down next to the cottage. Once on the ground again, Brenna took the woman into her arms.
The cottage was surrounded by overgrown brush and broken furniture on purpose, to appear abandoned. But there was always a cot set up inside, as well as supplies hidden within a secret cache in the floor.
As soon as she had the female on the cot, Brenna turned toward the fireplace. Grateful to find wood and kindling to the side even though it was summer, Brenna quickly had a fire roaring.
Staring down at the human, she wondered where she'd come from. Unlike dragon lovers or the media, she was disheveled and dirty. Brenna guessed she'd been walking around the surroundings for quite some time.
She searched the human and found a thumb drive wrapped in several layers of plastic, as well as a purse. Her driver's license said her name was Ivy Passmore and that she lived in Brighton.
What Brenna didn't understand was if Ivy had a driver's license, why hadn't she driven to Stonefire. The only explanation was that the female hadn't wanted to be followed, but why?
So many questions and so few answers.
Her dragon spoke up. And I have another question: why is she here? Brighton is quite far from the Lake District. Even dismissing Skyhunter since the clan is unstable, Snowridge in Wales is closer.
Brighton was a city along the southern coast of England. I don't know, but she went to great lengths to protect this thumb drive. I bet it will tell us more.
Brenna heard a dragon return outside and shortly after, Dr. Gregor Innes walked into the cottage with a medical bag in his hand. Since he was fully clothed and drenched, he must've opted to be carried.
Kneeling next to the cot, he asked, "Has she woken up?"
"No. If I knew how she'd react, I would've stripped her and wrapped her in blankets. But given how humans are overly concerned with nudity and I didn't want her to go mental, the best I could do was start a fire."
Gregor did a quick examination and reached into his medical bag. "My initial diagnosis is that she's exhausted and dehydrated. I would say take her to a human hospital, but given her state and where you found her, I'd say she doesn't want to be found."
"I agree. Can you treat her here?"
"It's not the best situation, but until we can question her, I'm wary of bringing her inside the clan's gates. For all we know, it could be a dragon hunter or Knight trying to trick us."
She nodded. "I'll leave Zain and Sebastian here to watch over her whilst I report back to Kai. If she wakes up, Zain can interrogate her."
Gregor glanced at her. "Gently, I hope. She's weak and might be ill. I don't want him to make it worse."
"Zain knows what he's doing and has never pushed to the point of endangering someone's health." Brenna stepped closer and held up the thumb drive. "I'm most concerned with what's on this."
"Explain the situation to Cassidy and mention that I need fluids for a dehydrated patient. She'll know what to assemble and send to me. Just make sure she doesn't try to come here herself."
"Her pregnancy's not that far along, Gregor."
"I know, but she was a target once, and until we know who this lass is, I'm not risking my mate again."
Since every second she argued with Gregor was time she could be spending finding out the details of the thumb drive, she went to the door. "I'll talk with Kai, contact Sid, and be back as soon as possible."
After giving Zain and Sebastian her instructions, Brenna tucked the thumb drive into the weather resistant bag she carried in her dragon form and shifted. Within seconds she was in the sky and flying back to Stonefire.
Her dragon grunted. That human had better be friend and not foe. As it is, she's making us wait to see Killian.
Killian has plenty going on. His interview with the DDA inspector is tomorrow.
Still, he has to take a break to eat. We can cuddle a little. Maybe even finally have sex, which he keeps putting off for some reason.
If Brenna were in human form, she would've smiled. Someone's not only impatient, but getting attached.