Finding His Dragon(22)

Austin sat back, and Brycen stood. “Okay, thanks for the info, Austin. Is there anything you can tell us, Charlotte? Why would your brother want you to go to the Black Wing clan?”

“He’s trying to form an alliance. He thinks there’s a new dragon war coming and that they need to band together to try to survive it. When he first concocted his plan, he came to me, thinking that I’d agree and go. I said no. That’s when things got ugly. He tried to force my hand, and I refused. He didn’t give me a choice after that. When I attempted to leave, he had me locked up. Had Tulia not found me and set me free, I’d be in Adrian’s possession now.”

“Who is Tulia?” Brycen asked.

“She’s the one unmated female. She risked her life to set me free.”

“Is she safe within the clan? How about the mated women? Were they given a choice in their mates?” this came from Austin.

“The mated females are okay. Their mates will protect them. When my father was alive, these issues didn’t exist within the clan. I’m afraid they’ll go after Tulia next. She’s the only bargaining chip my brother has left. She wouldn’t survive a day in the Black Wing clan. I tried to get her to come with me, but she was too scared. She wouldn’t leave.”

Austin nodded, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“You know what she looks like?” Brycen asked him.

He nodded again. “Found pics online.”

“Leave now. They won’t be expecting anyone yet. Get her out of there,” Brycen ordered.

Knowing they would soon have a battle on their hands, Jace would have protested, but an unmated female needed protection. There were too few of them, and if they hurt her, or forced her to mate with a bastard like Adrian, he’d never forgive himself for denying her that protection.





TWELVE


Charlotte sat there, plucking at the blades of grass next to her leg, watching the sun sink closer to the mountain peaks as it prepared to set. It had been two days since Adrian and his goons had arrived in Glen Farley, but they had yet to come and face them. If it weren’t for the fact that one of the men had reported more dragons entering the village earlier that day, she might have thought they would leave her alone. Surely the Black Wing clan weren’t stupid enough to believe that they could out power the men of Dragon Blood.

As was the norm since the meeting, most of the men were out patrolling the property. Stella and Maddie were somewhere inside, and three of the men stood guard, one of them, undoubtedly watching her even as she sat there. Jace had left the estate a couple of hours earlier to scope out the enemy and check in with the locals. He’d explained to her that although there were a few jerks in town, the village mostly consisted of decent people, and they stood by them.

A small shiver erupted on her skin moments before Brycen came running into the clearing from the other side of the building. “Get inside, now,” he yelled at her.

Charlotte shot to her feet, her eyes automatically scanning the sky as she ran. There were no dragons in the sky, and she didn’t hear anything unusual, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Each of them knew what to do, and although it killed her to run and hide, she would follow the plan. Her job was to go inside and protect Maddie. She was to stay out of sight, no matter what and make sure Maddie was safe. The others would deal with whatever happened outside. Stella would only go out if necessary, so for the time being, she was standing guard with her in the great room. The whole house was on lockdown.

Stella paced the length of the room. Maddie sat there on the same bench she’d been sitting on when she’d woken on her first day at the estate, wringing her hands on her lap.

“Something’s not right,” Stella said as she paced to the window and peeked through the curtains. “I can feel it.”

“Can you see anything?” Maddie asked.

“Nothing. If dragons were out there, we’d hear them, and we would see them circling, but there’s nothing. I’m going to check it out.” Stella strode to the door, listening for sounds coming from the rest of the house before opening it up and then closing it behind her as she left.

Maddie’s little sob had Charlotte springing into action. She crossed over to her new friend and sat next to her, wrapping her arm around her. “Listen, as far as we know, it was a false alarm. The men are probably guarding the perimeter to be extra cautious, and that’s why they haven’t come in to give us the all clear.”

Maddie nodded and sniffled, but then tilted her chin up. “Our men will keep us safe. I know they will.” There was still a little tremor in her voice, but it was stronger than it had been.