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Chapter Twenty-One

A s Zoe started regaining consciousness, she heard a hum of voices. Doing her best to remain still and not give herself away, the voices slowly became clearer until she could make them out.

A female said, “She’s the perfect candidate—strong, young, and healthy. Surely this time the mind-control device will stick and not kill her.”

A male voice replied, “She’s a better information source than anything else. I still say torture her and learn what we can about Lochguard and the other dragon clans.”

Another male voice jumped in. “But just think of the possibilities. Having the young dragon under our control already gave us him . Just imagine a full-grown beast doing our bidding. We could jumpstart the civil war sooner rather than later.”

The female voice spoke again. “Let’s finish the initial tests to better determine if her body will reject the implant or not. We only have two right now, and I don’t want to waste one because we rushed. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

The two male voices grew fainter until Zoe thought they were across a large room. This was her chance to survey her surroundings and make a plan.

Because she refused to be used as a guinea pig and possibly hurt her own clan members.

Cracking one eyelid open, she took a few seconds to adjust to the light. It was a large, open room full of small cages, beds, and various medical equipment and TV monitors.

She could just make out Chelsea unconscious in a bed, her body wrapped with some synthetic fabric, unmoving. The machines attached to her whirred and beeped at intervals. Another female, one she couldn’t quite make out from this angle, lay on her side inside a cage. And at the far end of the room, Zoe spotted a young dragon asleep in an even bigger cage.

Ignoring the clenching of her heart—she could only imagine what they’d done to that young dragon—she searched the last part of the room and nearly gasped. Because lying on a bed, chained to railings, was the tall form of Antony Holbrook. Covered in bandages, he looked pale, far paler than she’d ever seen.

Did that mean someone was trying to rescue them and was nearby?

The thought gave Zoe strength and helped her mind to focus. She needed to find a way to escape, or at least signal to everyone else where she was. Because given what she knew of Antony and how important he was, someone would come looking for him.

She quickly took stock of her own situation—she was handcuffed to railings but otherwise wearing her normal clothes, without any kind of special restraints.

No doubt, they’d miscalculated the dosage of whatever drug they’d given her. Zoe’s muscle mass was higher, given her job, than the other females. And it’d probably worn off sooner than it should have.

Which gave her a window, a narrow one, to overtake the two humans in this room, lock it down, and think of her next steps.

Ignoring how she wished she had her inner dragon, she counted the doors in the room—two. A smaller one the female had probably gone through, given the direction of her voice, and a larger one that could only be opened by some sort of computer or wireless remote.

If she could take out the males and block the smaller door, it should give her a little time. Aye, there might be something awful on the other side of the massive door. But she needed the chance to look at their computer system and try to signal her location. Thankfully, she’d taken some courses from Emma MacAllister—now Lamont—back when the female had offered it to the Protectors, so Zoe had a shot at disabling the security briefly.

The handcuffs weren’t special and bent with a little force. Bit by bit, she stretched out one and then the other, careful to play sleeping whenever the males glanced in her direction. She kept an ear out for their conversation—revolving around getting a turn to impregnate a female dragon to help the cause—until she finally removed the cuffs.

Ignoring the urge to rub her wrists, she waited. While she didn’t have long, she needed the two males to walk closer before she could knock them out cold.

Only then could she send a signal and hope someone was looking for them. Because not even the best Protector in the world could break out of this place on their own.

Hours later, Iris was finally cleared by Dr. Turner, albeit with strict instructions about what she could and couldn’t do.

Not that Iris would follow them, if Antony needed her.

And even though Kai and the others had been sending her updates, she wanted to see for herself that Antony’s tracking chip had blinked back on. It’d been shorting out, steadily moving south, until it settled in Glasgow. However, in the latest update, they still hadn’t pinpointed his exact location. Although where they could hide him and who knew what else in a city of over 600,000 people, she had no idea. Especially since the Greater Glasgow area was nearly two million people, which was a far cry from the remoteness of Birkwood Castle.

She entered the room at the end of the hall—they were in yet another safe location for Antony’s team—and walked in to see not only the tech she’d met in Inverness but also Arabella MacLeod, her clan leader’s mate and one of the best hackers in the country. Both sat in front of a group of monitors, with various programs running in the background.

Arabella noticed her and motioned for her to come over. “I won’t bother with small talk. We’re about to pinpoint Antony’s location, now that his tracking chip has remained on for more than a few minutes at a time.”

“Where’s Finn? Is he here?”

“No, he’s back on Lochguard, watching the children and standing by in case he needs to contact the other clan leaders. Cooper, Faye, and Grant already have all the Protectors on standby.”

Iris blinked. “Really?”

Arabella glanced up at her. “Of course. Not only to help Zoe, but also to find and rescue Antony. Given what Kai said, he risked his life to save yours. So we’re not going to abandon him, if we can help it.” Her pupils flashed to slits and back, and she continued, “Besides, he means something to you as well.”

She blinked. “How do you…”

Arabella shrugged. “Being the clan leader’s mate, you learn to watch out for the clan. And that male has helped you show a little more of yourself.”

Had she been that transparent about her feelings?

Before she could reply, Robin from Skyhunter grunted. “I’m more concerned about Max’s threats to give our clan hell if we don’t save his brother.”

Arabella raised a dark eyebrow. “Max is your problem, not ours. No, Iris has done a lot for Lochguard and it’s time for us to help her in return.”

For a second, Iris merely stared. She’d never been close to Arabella, but now she wondered if maybe she should’ve made more of an effort.

Her dragon spoke up. We have time. I think maybe now you realize we shouldn’t isolate so much from the clan and focus solely on work, aye?

Before she could reply, a familiar female voice drifted from the doorway—it was Alice. “The DDA is willing to help, if it gets bad enough. Yes, the dragon hunters are a big pain in their backsides, but the thought of possessed dragons running around, snatching up people, scared the shit out of them.” She stopped next to Iris. “Are you okay?”

For a split second, her steady facade faded, and her eyes heated with tears. She still didn’t know if Antony was even alive.

But then Arabella spoke, and it helped her focus. “That can’t be right.”

Iris asked, “What?”

Arabella frowned at the screen. “According to this, Antony is in Glasgow Central Station.”

“The train station?”

Arabella nodded. “But surely not. If he’d escaped and made it there, someone would’ve called us by now.”

The unnamed tech next to her nodded. “Yes, Antony could contact our boss within seconds, from any phone. So he must be there unwillingly, somehow.”

Part of her wanted to ask who the bloody hell they worked for, but finding Antony was more important. “Then we need to go to Glasgow Central.”

Arabella glanced at her. “You’re in no state to be going anywhere.”

“My ribs are already healing. I can help.”

A voice boomed behind her—Kai Sutherland. “Iris, we’ll find him. I vow it.”

She turned toward the Stonefire head Protector. Truth radiated from his eyes. He added, “You’ve helped us before in the past, so let us do the same. Especially since you’ve helped protect Arabella over the years, and regardless of her mate, she’s still one of ours.”

Arabella was originally from Stonefire but had moved to Lochguard and eventually mated the clan leader. It’d helped to form the close bond between the two clans, arguably closer than between any other dragon clans in the UK, even if that was slowly changing.

Her dragon spoke up. We need to trust him. Kai is a good male, and he will find Antony and Zoe.

But it should be us.

Aye, maybe. But if it were another Protector, what would you tell them to do right now, if they were injured?

She mentally grumbled. Their injury could do more damage than good.

Aye. So let them find Antony. We need to give them the best chance at success.

Iris made a decision. “I’ll stay back, out of danger, but I need to at least go to Glasgow, Ara. Please.”

“As long as you let Kai and the others take the lead, I won’t try to stop you. But just remember, Antony will need you when you find him. So don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t.” She glanced around the room. “Let’s find out everything we can about Glasgow Central on the way.”

Kai nodded. “This place is only about forty minutes away from Glasgow, and before we leave, I’ll call in reinforcements. We’ll have to drive, to keep a low profile. But those from Stonefire can fly most of the way and shouldn’t be too far behind.”

As everyone volunteered for tasks, Iris waited for regret or doubt to rush in about not having a lead role this time.

But it never came.

Sharing responsibilities didn’t make her a failure. If anything, she now had multiple people capable of stepping in and getting the job done.

And so Iris formed a plan with everyone else, and was soon on the way to Glasgow, hoping they would get there before it was too late.