Faye rushed to Cat’s side just as a man in his thirties walked into the space. He was slightly taller than Faye with black hair that went to his chin and blue eyes. He wasn’t unattractive. But from his gait and countenance, he wasn’t a soldier. Faye’s dragon would definitely break him.
Too bad, her dragon murmured.
The male smiled at each of them in turn, but his gaze lingered a second on Cat. He nodded. “Cat MacAllister, welcome to Inverness.” He looked to Faye and then Grant. “Lochguard has been secretive about who they’re sending for their security. May I have your names?”
Faye itched to answer straightaway, but bit her tongue. Grant was their security team leader in public.
Grant replied, “What’s yours, first? And I need to see some identification.”
The human didn’t slump his shoulders or show any other signs of being intimidated. Faye gave the human credit. More than a few had cowered under Grant’s dominant tone in the past.
The male finally answered, “I’m Lachlan MacKintosh, the coordinator of this event.” He took out a badge and displayed it. “Here’s my ID.”
Grant studied the ID and nodded. “I’m Grant McFarland, in charge of surveillance and strategy. This is Faye MacKenzie. She’s Cat’s personal bodyguard.”
Lachlan nodded to each of them as he placed his ID into one of his pockets. “Good. With introductions out of the way, we should get going. Follow me.”
“Where are we going?” Faye asked.
Lachlan glanced at her. “It’s confidential. There are eyes and ears everywhere. This is a known landing area, which makes it a target. I’m not about to compromise Ms. MacAllister’s safety.”
She wanted to push further, but Cat placed a hand on her arm and smiled. “Since the DDA director has used quite a bit of her political capital to put together this event, let’s just follow him.” DDA director, Rosalind Abbott, had only recently taken command after a scandal and imprisonment of the former director. Cat leaned over to whisper, “I trust you to tell me if he’s leading us on or not.”
Faye grunted and looked to Lachlan. “After you.”
The corner of Lachlan’s mouth ticked up. “And to think, dragon-shifters don’t usually have a reputation for being polite.”
“We can be, but it’s hard to do when people are shouting or trying to kill you,” Grant answered.
“Fair enough,” Lachlan said. “We expect there to be some disturbances during the tour, although all of the locations have been carefully selected for a reason.”
“And let me guess, the details will have to wait?” Faye drawled.
Cat jumped in. “All of the cities I saw on the list sound lovely. I’m sure we’re all grateful for the chance to showcase our work.”
“You’ll meet the others at our destination. We have much more than just artists. I’m sure you understand our need to be secretive as to all of the details,” Lachlan said.
“Let’s just get to the place we’re going so we can stop with all of the vague comments,” Grant growled out.
Lachlan raised his brows but remained silent. The human picked up his pace, and they all followed suit.
~~~
Grant spent the rest of the walk observing the human named Lachlan.
At first, he’d worried about Faye flirting with the male. But as she questioned and talked to him, she didn’t seem to show any interest in him beyond a working relationship.
His dragon spoke up. You could stop worrying if you just pursued her openly. Then we could better focus on our mission.
Ignoring his beast, Grant kept his mind clear of all thoughts and studied their surroundings. Since it was early evening, the streets were full of people walking home from work or heading out to shop or dine.
Everyone from Lochguard wore long-sleeved shirts against the cooler than normal temperature of early summer, which hid their tattoos. Still, a few eyed the tall Lochguard trio and moved as far away from them as possible, probably because their height and build signaled that they were most likely dragon-shifters.
Most of the humans paid them little attention, although a few did smile in passing. Inverness had been one of the friendlier cities in the past. The isolation of the Highlands had worked to Lochguard’s advantage.
However, as the city continued to grow with each passing year, he wondered how much longer it would be safe, let alone welcoming to dragon-shifters. After all, there was a small Inverness dragon hunter gang. Luckily, they weren’t as organized as the one run by Simon Bourne. The gang formerly of Carlyle but currently near Birmingham was tied with the Dragon Knights as their greatest enemies. Bourne’s gang was more organized and had been growing in membership. Still, he would have to talk with Faye later and discuss their options in case they ran into the Inverness dragon hunter group. The last thing they needed was to draw unnecessary attention to their presence. The art show needed good press, not bad.
They soon arrived at a street that branched off into several side streets full of bed and breakfast establishments. After turning down a street and walking another minute, Lachlan entered the front garden gate of one called, “The Scottish Rose.”