She knew in her gut that Alistair would come to see her if he could. But all of the hush-hush whisperings of what he was doing and the uncertainty of how long it'd take for him to finish was getting to her.
And while yes, helping his clan was important, she didn't want him to harm his dragon in the process.
Which was why after she'd finished working with the other human women for the day, she stood in front of the door that belonged to Fergus MacKenzie and his human mate, Gina's place.
Arabella had let slip how Fergus had contained his mate-claim frenzy for months before finally letting it out. And all without any sort of drugs.
Kiyana wanted to know how, and if someone else could do it. Because another thing she'd learned was that the longer Alistair drugged his dragon silent, the greater the chance his inner beast would either turn rogue or maybe not return at all.
She knocked and soon after, a red-haired woman carrying a baby on her hip answered. She instantly smiled. "You're Kiyana. What do I owe the pleasure?"
The human's American accent was charming, and in a way, made her smile. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I have some questions about Fergus."
"Fergus isn't here right now. You're still welcome to come in, but I might not be able to help."
"No, it's you I wanted to talk to."
Gina didn't hesitate to step aside and allow Kiyana to enter. Once the door closed, Gina gently bounced her baby and spoke again. "What's on your mind?"
The best way to get through the conversation was to treat it as a professional one. After all, the more she learned about inner dragons and mate-claim frenzies, the better she could prepare the other humans. "It's about how Fergus resisted the mate-claim frenzy for so long."
Gina tilted her head. "I heard about you and Alistair. To be honest, I thought you'd be deep in the throes of the frenzy by now. It's exhausting, but also amazing at the same time."
She'd heard something similar from Arabella, but it helped to add more people to the list of those who enjoyed the frenzy. Kiyana wasn't scared, exactly, but she liked to be prepared. "He's doing something secretive at the moment, for the clan."
Gina bit her lip. Kiyana would bet everything she had the human knew about what.
But she hadn't come to interrogate Gina about Alistair's assignment. So she said, "And I know you can't talk about it. However, the drugs keeping Alistair's dragon silent should be wearing off soon, and I'm worried if he keeps taking the dragon sleeping drugs, then it'll do lasting damage."
Gina shook her head. "I wouldn't worry. Layla is careful about those things, especially since Lochguard's former doctor—Innes—mated a dragon-shifter on Stonefire who lost her dragon for twenty years before it came back again."
She blinked. "Wait, what? Her dragon came back after twenty years?"
Gina nodded toward the living room. "Let's sit so I can bounce my little chunky monkey on my knee as we talk."
Gina then tickled her son's neck, and Kiyana couldn't help but smile. She followed her to the living room and sat down in a chair opposite the sofa. Unable to wait for Gina to continue, she prodded, "How do dragons leave and come back?"
Sitting down, Gina answered, "Oh, in Sid's case—she's the Stonefire dragon-shifter I mentioned—it's complicated. Something about an overdose when Sid was younger. But that's why Layla's extra careful and keeps strict records of how much she administers and when."
"Still…"
After bouncing her son a minute, Gina studied Kiyana's eyes. "For someone who hasn't known Alistair long, you're awfully concerned about his inner dragon. Not to mention you haven't had much time to bond before learning you're his true mate, either."
Kiyana tapped her fingers against her legs. "I'm not like most other humans. I know a lot about dragon-shifters and have spent over a decade trying to learn more. And from what I've learne
d of Alistair, I like him. Quite a bit. It's that simple."
Gina bobbed her head. "Good. He's quiet, but nice. I've always felt sorry for how his mother went on and on about trying to find him someone."
"Meg's not so bad, once you get to know her. I think a lot of people dismiss her before they should."
Gina searched her gaze. "Okay, you definitely need to explain that statement."
Kiyana was debating how much she could tell Gina when a tall, ginger-haired dragonman burst into the room. While she wasn't good enough yet to tell the MacKenzie twins apart, she assumed it was Fergus since it was his house.
Fergus's blue eyes instantly found hers and her stomach churned at the anger there.
He ordered, "Come. We need to get you somewhere safe."