The Dragon's Discovery (Lochguard Highland Dragons 6)

At the sight, excitement bubbled up inside her. Kiyana had never witnessed a child shift into a dragon before, and she hoped she'd get the chance soon. True, it was as the liaison for the women and not as someone who could watch uninterrupted from the sidelines, but it was still better than nothing.

They had just stepped inside the walled area when a familiar male voice filled her ears. "We're to stay along the back wall."

Turning around, she came face-to-face with Alistair Boyd. If she expected him to be dressed more than the night before, she was wrong. His chest was bare, the rain causing rivulets to run down his chiseled muscles.

Damn, he was fit.

Her gaze trailed lower, to his tight-fitting jeans. Before she could help herself, she blurted, "Those are going to be bloody difficult to get off later."

Alistair grunted, and she met his gaze again. Like the night before, his pupils changed to slits and back to round. She wondered if his dragon was talking about her or not.

Grunting again, he looked over her head and motioned toward the other eight women. "Come closer to me, so I can explain things as they progress."

The women hesitated. However, Julie moved first, and a second later, the others followed suit.

Julie stood right next to Alistair and leaned in, displaying her wet cleavage to his full view. "Is this okay?"

Somehow, Kiyana contained an eye roll. It seemed Julie was no longer afraid of at least one particular dragon-shifter.

However, Alistair's gaze didn't drift downward, but rather above the women's heads to the children. "Aye, but you may want to turn around so you can watch. Otherwise, I could do this lecture inside, where it's warm and dry."

As if on cue, the rain fell harder. Kiyana muttered, "You lot are cheery considering the weather here."

Alistair must've heard her because his eyes found hers. "When the sun's out, the light glimmering on the loch, combined with the sky reflecting on its gleaming surface, fills you with enough good humor to last months, or more."

She hadn't expected Alistair to be poetic. Maybe there was a hidden depth to him he kept tightly packed away from almost everyone else.

They stared at one another a few beats until the teacher up front clapped his hands and said, "All right, lads and lassie, it's time to review what goes into a shift."

The only girl in the class turned to look at them and then back at the teacher. "Do we have to do it with them there? It's weird having people watch. My dragon is shy and doesn't want to be watched."

The teacher smiled. "A shy dragon? Come, now, we know she's not. The humans are here to learn."

The little girl looked at Kiyana and the others again, before turning back around. "Then why are they at the back?"

The teacher shrugged. "So they don't get in the way."

One of the little boys spoke up. "But you always say we learn better if we sit up front. The humans should come up front."

The others murmured the same, and Kiyana smiled. Dragon-shifter children weren't all that different from human ones. Sure, they could shift into magnificent creatures while humans couldn't, but their curiosity and forthrightness were the same.

The teacher looked at Alistair, and Alistair surveyed the group of women. "Would you prefer being up front?"

Julie nodded. "I would. They're cute, and no matter what people say, I don't think they'll hurt us."

The little girl cried out, "It's humans who hurt us!"

Julie shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

"It's too, true! My mummy said so."

Kiyana sensed the back-and-forth could go on for a while. Even though it wasn't her place, she blurted, "How about we agree that everyone here won't hurt each other? That should be good enough."

All of the dragon-shifter children turned and stared at her with wide eyes.

Thankfully it was Alistair who stepped in. "That's a brilliant idea. Lasses, let's head toward the front. Maybe David, the teacher, can introduce you to the wee ones."

The women all walked briskly to the front, but Kiyana took her time. True, she was just as excited to watch the young dragons as any of the others, but she wanted to observe, if even for a short while, how the women interacted with the dragon children. Especially as the little girl didn't wait for her teacher's permission to walk up to Julie and start blurting out questions.