Chapter Three
Faye didn’t know if she wanted to cry or to punch someone.
Of all people, she never expected Grant to dismiss her abilities. He’d been the one to help her with physical therapy after she’d been shot out of the sky by the strange electrical blast gun. She might never have learned how to fly again if not for him dragging her arse out of her mother’s cottage and to the training area day after day to build up her muscles once more.
Grant was also the one who had invited her to his secret project, where they’d learned how to toss plastic containers of ground up mandrake root and periwinkle to force the dragon enemies to shift back into their human forms. She’d even been team leader for that project and had executed the right maneuvers without a problem during the most recent attack on Lochguard.
His change in attitude didn’t make sense.
Her beast spoke up. It’s because he sees us as a potential mate and not a colleague.
That shouldn’t make a difference. If he wants me, he should want all of me and not try to change me.
So you admit to wanting him?
I thought so, but now I’m not so sure.
Give him time.
Why? I’m not going to wait around and pine for him. If he won’t include me on plans to find and deal with the traitors, I’ll do it on my own.
Before her dragon could respond, she spotted Catherine “Cat” MacAllister, the oldest of the five MacAllister siblings. Faye raised a hand in greeting and tried to change course, but Cat moved into her path and said, “Where are you hurrying off to?”
She and Cat had been close as children, but once Faye had decided to be a Protector at thirteen and Cat had set her heart on being an artist, they had drifted apart. However, as she looked at her once-friend’s blue eyes and short, dark hair, Faye realized Cat had no ties to her family or the Protectors. She could say what she wanted and it probably wouldn’t get back to them, so she blurted out, “Away from everything.”
Cat raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you run away from your problems?”
“I’m not running away,” she growled. “I’m off to solve them.”
“You have the wild-eyed look my grandpa gets before he does something idiotic to his neighbor, such as drop a boulder on a shed or paint one of his cows orange. Maybe you need a breather to clear your head. That’s what I try to convince my grandpa to do.”
“Since your grandpa is Archie MacAllister and he’s forever with Finn airing some grievance, I don’t think your method works very well.”
Archie and his neighbor Cal had been feuding for nearly their whole lives. Unfortunately, their antics took up a lot of Finn’s time as clan leader.
Cat smiled. “It does work sometimes. Although I must admit I’ve wanted to tie my grandfather to a chair on more than one occasion.”
The corner of Faye’s mouth ticked up. “I think the whole clan has thought of tying him and Cal up at some point or another.”
Chuckling, Cat motioned toward the main shopping and dining area of the clan. “I don’t think I’ll succeed in tying you up, but won’t you have lunch with me? We can have a small cup of soup and then fill up on my mum’s cake. She always keeps the best pieces for me and my siblings.”
Cat’s mother, Sylvia, ran the clan’s restaurant. “I don’t know, Cat. I have something important to do.”
“Are you a Protector again?”
“No.”
“Do you have a new job? I haven’t heard anything around the clan.”
She frowned. “I might, although I may have just gotten myself sacked.”
“Right, then you’re free for the time being. Come on. Consider it as a repayment for placing gum in my hair when I was asleep and having to chop it off the next morning. It was a devastating experience for a ten-year-old.”
She pointed a finger. “Hey, you started it by daring your brother Connor to kiss me.”
Cat shrugged. “I’m sure you did something before that to provoke me. You were always the instigator.”
Faye opened her mouth, but then laughed. “I probably did start it, come to think of it.”