Chapter 1 #2
He grunted. “She shouldn’t be coming here at all. There’s too much we don’t know about her.”
His inner dragon—the second personality inside his head—spoke up. She’s lived and worked on Clan Stonefire for years. Every clan leader Euan has talked with only has good things to say about her. She’s not here to hurt anyone.
At one time, I would’ve said the same about the people on Lochguard having a good reputation and protecting its own.
That was a long time ago, with the old leader. Finn has done his best to prove he’s different and welcome us.
None of that makes up for what Mum, Dad, and Tor went through.
Torquil, whom everyone called Tor, was his much younger brother. At sixteen now, Tor had been a wee bairn when they’d fled from Lochguard into the unknown.
His dragon’s voice softened. Tor is much stronger than you think. Thanks to inventions by some dragon-shifter scientists in the UK and beyond, he’s fairly safe while flying away from the clan.
Fairly safe isn’t good enough.
His younger brother was hard of hearing.
Tor could hear loud sounds and some medium-range ones, but nothing below a certain decibel—which meant he couldn’t hear whispers, small noises that could signal an approaching enemy, or even most normal conversations.
The hearing aids helped, but Cam forever worried that the dragon hunters would find Tor and kidnap him.
His dragon spoke again. The dragon hunters have become a bigger problem recently, which is why Euan is talking more with Finn, as well as with Bram from Stonefire. However, Tor is clever and is learning more and more how to use the vibrating warning devices in his dragon form.
Before he could argue with his beast some more, a wee car pulled up to Seahaven’s main gate. “Finally.” He pressed a button and spoke into the microphone, which would relay to the outside speakers. “Who are you?”
“Dr. Emily Davies from Stonefire.”
Her soft, lilting Welsh accent took him aback. Oh, he’d known she was from Wales because of his background check, but he’d expected something more to the point and clipped, like a lot of dragon doctors used.
His beast snorted. She’s human.
Ignoring his dragon, he replied, “Enter and take the first left. Park in front of the first building, but stay in the car.”
He punched in the security code, and the gate swung inward. As she drove and parked in front of the building, he toggled between security cameras to follow her progress.
Dean sighed. “Aren’t you going to meet and greet her? She’s a guest, after all, aye?”
“My first duty is to protect Seahaven. If she can follow orders, then I’ll greet her.”
Running his hands through his hair, Dean replied, “You’re the boss. Although I’m not sure how Auntie Mary will react once she hears how you treated the female.”
Mary was Cam’s mother, and since most of the families on Seahaven were related, almost everyone was an auntie or uncle.
In reality, Dean was his second cousin. “At work, I’m your boss and you’re a Protector.
I’ve already had to give you a second chance after what happened with that Lochguard lad, Logan, aye?
Don’t make another mistake that makes me kick you out entirely. ”
As expected, Dean stayed quiet. The male had been fooling around with his brother, trying to impress a lass when he’d missed a threat and a Lochguard dragonman had been injured and nearly died in the process.
Dean had been sorry and trying to prove himself ever since. Well, mostly. Sometimes he needed a reminder.
His beast sighed. Right, well, forget about Dean and go greet the human female. She’s been waiting several minutes now.
The human following his orders was a good sign, and Cam hoped it meant she wouldn’t become a problem.
Impatient to get this over with, he headed out of the room to greet her.
Emily was used to taciturn dragon-shifter Protectors. After all, Stonefire’s head Protector, Kai Sutherland, wasn’t exactly Mr. Charming. However, Kai was fair and never intimidated someone when he could merely ask them to do something instead.
She sensed the Seahaven Protectors might be different.
Because as the minutes ticked by, the urge to get out of her car and find someone to show her to her accommodations was strong.
She’d had a long, emotionally exhausting day, and all she wanted to do was take a long bath, eat some chocolate, and get a good night’s sleep before jumping into her research.
She didn’t have time for power games.
Oh, she could play them if she had to. Being a woman in the sciences was hard enough, but it was especially rare for women to study any of the dragon-shifter-related ones.
In fact, Emily had been the only female in the majority of her higher-level science classes.
Most human male scientists believed women couldn’t study dragon-shifters without falling in love or lusting after one, and the ridicule and bullying kept far too many women away.
She’d thought it rubbish until a few of her fellow male classmates disliked her being at the top of every class. Their pride pricked, one night after drinking, they chased and tried to hurt her. Thankfully, Trahern had quite literally come to her rescue, and she’d been unable not to fall for him.
Before she could admonish herself for thinking about him yet again, the front door of the small, two-story building opened. A tall, muscled dragon-shifter with ginger hair and a stony expression walked toward her car.
Maybe she should’ve opened her car door and greeted him. But the devil inside her decided to wait for him to come knocking. After all, he’d said to stay in her car, and so she’d follow his order to the letter.
He stopped in front of her car, crossed his arms, and stared at her. He was handsome, like most dragonmen were, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Great, yet another dragonman who didn’t show his emotions freely and would keep her guessing. However, unlike with Trahern, she suspected this guy put on an act to intimidate others.
Eventually he walked over to her car and rapped on the window. She rolled it down and smiled. “Hello. I was waiting for my next order.”
He rolled his eyes and stepped back. “I’ll keep that in mind for the future. Come out, and I’ll show you to your temporary room.”
She stayed in the car. “I’m Emily, by the way. And you are?”
“Cam.”
When it was clear he wasn’t going to elaborate, she resisted a sigh. She was too tired to match wits and think of a clever comeback. So she opened the door, stood, and stretched her arms over her head.
She swore his pupils flashed to slits and back a few times, but ignored it. For all she knew, he was complaining to his beast about her behavior.
She really should try to make a better impression.
After grabbing her bag and suitcase, she smiled again. “I’m ready to go. Oh, and if there’s somewhere I can grab a bite to eat on the way, that would be brilliant because I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
Before he could reply, a female Scottish accent reached her ears. “So our new guest has arrived! I was afraid I was too late.”
The dragonman sighed, but Emily ignored him and turned to face the older woman. She had fading red hair lightened with gray, and warm brown eyes. Her pupils never flashed, which probably meant she was human.
The woman stopped in front of her and beamed. “I’m Mary Alexander, and I see you’ve met my eldest son. Even if my hearing isn’t as good as my mate’s or Cam’s, I still heard that you were hungry. You should come and eat with us. After that long drive, you deserve a nice, home-cooked meal.”
She thought she heard a muttered, “Mum,” but she ignored Cam and answered Mary, “I don’t want to cause you any trouble, Mrs. Alexander.”
“Don’t be silly! I always cook enough for ten people, and then Cam and Tor—he’s my younger son—have to eat the leftovers.
Besides, it’ll be nice to have another human to chat with.
You can call me Mary, aye?” She lowered her voice, but more for dramatic effect than a true whisper, and added, “As much as I love all my dragonmen, sometimes us humans just need to vent.”
Cam groaned, and Emily bit back a smile before replying, “I’ve only just arrived, so I don’t have anything to vent about. Yet.”
Mary’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Knowing my son, that’s not entirely true.
He has a huge heart and would do anything for his family, but he’s not the nicest lad to strangers.
And I know, Cam, that’s your job. But Emily here is our guest, and you should tone down your intimidating looks a wee bit. ”
Cam muttered something Emily couldn’t hear, but it seemed to placate Mary, who motioned toward Emily’s suitcase and said, “Carry that for us, Cam. Now, come on, Emily. Tell me about yourself as we walk. The cottage isn’t far, but I’m not one for awkward silences, and the more you share, the more we can welcome you here. ”
And as they walked, Emily did her best to ignore Cam’s looming presence behind them and focus on the nice woman at her side. It reminded her a little of how she and her mam had been years ago, before Emily had decided to study dragon-shifter biology.
Pushing aside the stab of sadness and regret, she took in the beauty of the sea in the distance and breathed in the salty air, determined to make the most out of her time at Seahaven. It was high time for her to start looking toward the future.