At that moment, Alistair looked directly into her eyes. His mother glanced between them, and her expression turned curious.
Not wanting his mother to attempt matchmaking—Alistair was an attractive, intelligent man, but she wasn't going to ruin her career, no matter how much someone tried to pair her off—Kiyana took a step back and scanned the crowd. Finding one of the other humans, she said, "Excuse me, but I need to check on the others. I trust you'll keep an eye on Julie for me?"
"Aye, we will," Meg stated.
And with that, Kiyana turned and walked a little faster than normal to one of the other human women. She needed to put as much distance between her and Meg Boyd as she could.
Starting tomorrow, Kiyana would be more careful and focus on her job inside the clan. While learning more about the dragon-shifters was tied for her top priority, she needed to avoid being alone with single dragonmen if she could manage it.
Alistair Boyd would be at the top of her list of who to steer clear of. She couldn't avoid him completely since he was the liaison, but she would keep those meetings short and to the point. No more sharing bits and pieces of herself, for one.
And she most definitely wouldn't stare into his eyes and wonder what he was thinking.
Chapter Two
The next morning, Alistair paced at the front of the empty classroom and tried not to look at the clock again.
His dragon spoke up. Why are you nervous? You teach every weekday, and then some. This isn't any different.
But it is different, aye? Knowing Mum, she'll pop in and invite the humans to dinner.
She didn't even get that far last night with the ginger-haired female. She might be playing it safer with us, afraid she'll never get another daughter-in-law and by extension, another chance of finally getting a granddaughter.
His brothers had all had boys, which wasn't unusual since the dragon-shifter population skewed male. She's set on matchmaking again. I can tell from how happy she was last night.
Again, we don't have to mate any of them. Even if it's just sex, it's better than nothing.
So accommodating you are.
I try.
The door at the back of the room opened. Seeing Faye MacKenzie's curly brown hair, he relaxed. She was one of Lochguard's co-head Protectors. Not only that, she was happily mated and pregnant. In other words, he was safe. His mother wouldn't rock that boat, and not just because Faye was the daughter of her frenemy, either.
"Can I help you, Faye?"
She entered and walked to the front of the room. "Er, there's been an incident."
Both man and dragon became alert. "What happened?"
"Oh, it's nothing too serious. No one died, or anything. But it seems one of the human females hooked up with a male dragon-shifter last night and left this morning."
"Aye, well, you said they didn't have to mate anyone."
Fay shook her head. "No, but judging from those who talked with her last night at the gathering, I don't think she came to Lochguard for a mere one-night stand. However, this morning she went to Finn, asked to go home, and he could do nothing but let her go."
While he didn't think any of the males on Lochguard would hurt the humans, he asked, "She wasn't abused, was she?"
"Och, no, not that we can tell—she denied it, as did the dragonman she slept with. However, the human female was anxious to leave. I don't know if it's because the male's inner dragon came out to play and scared her—Finn's still trying to get the details—or if it was something else. Still, in case of the former, Finn has a favor to ask of you."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Alistair raised an eyebrow. "A favor, aye? And yet, he couldn't bother to ask me himself."
Faye stood tall and placed her hands on her hips. "Finn can't do everything, and you know that. Besides, Grant and I have just as much say in running the clan under certain circumstances as Finn does."
Grant was Faye's mate and the other co-head Protector. "I know that, aye? But Finn is supposed to be in charge of the humans, which is why I mentioned it."
She harrumphed. "If that's your way of apologizing, then I accept. It'll make things easier."
He resisted a sigh. Faye was an intelligent, strong female who could hold her own. But every once in a while, her temper flared, and Alistair didn't want to deal with it. That was her mate's problem, not his. "So what is it you want, lass? Try as I might, I can't read minds."