She wondered how the bloody hell anyone had constructed a lab in the forest without anyone noticing. Lochguard might need to include forest sweeps in human form to their daily rotations.
Exiting the tent, she made a beeline for Brodie and the others. The three humans were tied up, so she took Brodie aside and whispered, “I want you to stay here and see what you can find out from them. In the meantime, I’m going to fetch someone who can make sense of what’s in that tent.”
Brodie kept his voice low as he replied, “Aye. I still have my mobile, so keep me in the loop. We’re going to need Dr. MacFie as well. Shay is hurt.”
“Have the other member of your team call her. I’m going to have my hands full trying to round up what scientists I can find. I may even need to reach out to Stonefire.”
Stonefire had recently acquired a male dragon-shifter named Dr. Trahern Lewis, who was a genius with biochemistry. His human friend, Dr. Emily Davies, also lived on Stonefire and was just as brilliant.
She glanced at the prisoners and asked Brodie, “Did they attack first?”
“Aye. I asked what they were doing and they jumped us. One tried to use a stun gun, but it was a projectile type and he missed. I figured asking questions could wait. Even the DDA should approve of self-defense.”
“The DDA can be unpredictable, but I would’ve done the same.” She gestured toward the tent. “What’s in there will probably ensure the three humans are locked up for quite a long time.” She handed him her gas mask. “Try to stay out of there, but if you absolutely must go inside, wear this. For all we know, there could be something deadly to only dragon-shifters in there. After all, the Knights were using a specific poison in the drones that attacked Stonefire.”
Brodie took the mask. “I may be able to get a little information about what’s inside from the smallest bloke. He was giving orders and appears to be the leader.”
Faye moved her gaze to the short, skinny human with thinning hair. He remained unconscious.
“Just don’t wake him early. I want to try to have as many people as possible here to help in case the human leader activated some sort of panic device.” Brodie lingered a second and so Faye asked, “What? Is there something else?”
Brodie smiled. “It’s just nice to be taking orders from you again, lass. If McFarland knows what’s good for him, he won’t try to keep you away any longer.”
Not wanting to get into the specifics of what had already transpired between her and Grant, Faye merely said, “Aye, let’s hope so. If you find anything, contact Cooper back at central command. He’ll be able to pass the word along to the rest of us.”
As one of the human males stirred, Faye took that as her cue to head back to the clearing and shift. However, thanks to her alarm, there were already a few Protectors and one nurse standing there. Faye motioned behind her. “Shay needs some medical attention. Brodie has the intruders restrained, but will need help transporting them. You can ask Brodie for the rest of the details.”
As her fellow clan mates started moving in the direction of Brodie and the others, Faye imagined her arms and legs stretching, her nose elongating into a snout, and wings sprouting from her back. Once she was in her blue dragon form, she crouched and jumped into the air.
She’d barely had a chance to flap her wings a few beats above the trees before something boomed across the loch. A second later, a giant plume of smoke rose into the air.
Refusing to think Grant and his team had encountered an attack or worse, she made a beeline for the smoke to find out what happened.
Chapter Eighteen
Cat MacAllister tapped a pencil against her thigh. She always carried a small sketchbook with her in case inspiration struck, but even though she had a new idea, she’d given up trying to get it down. Three attempts and she still couldn’t get the lines right.
Her dragon spoke up. Why are you nervous? You are brilliant. The others will see it too.
The quality of my work isn’t the issue. How this event goes tonight affects all dragon-shifters in the UK. That’s a huge weight on my shoulders.
Everyone here is nice. The human Max is a little odd, but not in a bad way. Everything will be fine. Try penciling out your latest idea again. We have time.
Glancin
g at the time on her mobile, Cat noted that she had ten minutes before anyone would be allowed inside. She stretched her arms above her head and circled them wide to loosen up her shoulders. Just as she put pencil to paper, Lachlan MacKintosh’s voice filled her ears. “I hope you don’t plan on sketching the whole evening. Part of our success will be judged upon how you and the other dragon-shifters interact with the public.”
She met Lachlan’s gaze. “You like to plan events, aye?”
“Yes.”
Emboldened by her actions the day before, when he’d reacted to her candor, Cat asked, “Do your ideas always come on a predetermined schedule? Because if you say yes, then you’re lying.”
“True, I can’t control all of my ideas. But for a night like tonight, I would find a way to put them aside. You have an inner dragon. Let her remember what to draw later.”
Her dragon sighed. He really has no idea how this works.
I don’t think most humans do. Let’s find out what he knows.