~~~
As Kai knocked on the old, wooden door, Jane mentally prepared herself for her first formal meeting with Rhydian Griffiths. Sure, she’d met him for a few seconds here and there, but he seemed not to care much for humans in general.
After all, Jane hadn’t been able to find any recent cases of human sacrifices on Snowridge or dragon-shifters finding their true mates in humans and bringing them back to the Welsh clan.
The only semi-related case she knew about was the half-human and half-dragon-shifter child of Gwendolen Price. The father of her child, Noah Tucker, had been human and Rafe’s best mate for a long time. Unfortunately, Noah had died saving a pregnant Gwen during their time in the British Army. The tragedy was probably why Rhydian had welcomed the half-human child into his clan.
Or, maybe Jane was being harsher than was fair. The meeting should allow her to form a more accurate idea of the dragonman. Being leader was never easy, and while she wished everyone had a sense of humor and understanding like Bram or even Finn Stewart on Lochguard, leaders had to act according to their clan’s needs.
The door opened and Jane focused on the man standing in the doorway. Rhydian was in his forties with jet-black hair and blue eyes. The set of three scars on one cheek gave him an edgy appearance. No matter how hard she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to wheedle out how he’d received them in the first place. Jane thought they were from him being slashed by dragon talons.
Rhydian nodded at Kai and then glanced at Jane. “Why is the human here? She’s allowed on my land, but I want to talk with you alone, Kai.”
Kai shook his head. “No. Jane’s here to help and has every right to hear what you’re going to say.”
Rhydian stared at Jane with his assessing eyes, but she merely raised an eyebrow. “If you know Kai at all, then you know I’m immune to such stares. Glares and growls as well, I might add.”
For a second, Snowridge’s leader remained silent, and Jane wondered if she’d overstepped a line. Then he nodded toward the inside of the room. “Then the pair of you come inside. Lily, you’ve heard this before, so maybe you should go back to Gareth.”
Gareth was Lily’s mate and Kai’s stepfather.
Lily touched Kai’s arm. “Come find me when you’re done.”
Once the dragonwoman was out of sight, Rhydian stepped aside. Jane and Kai entered the room.
As soon as Rhydian shut the door, he turned to face them. “I’ve spared your mother some of the details, Kai, but in the last few hours, some of my Protectors might have discovered where Delia went.”
“Where?” Kai demanded.
Not for the first time, Jane loved how Kai could focus on what’s important rather than dwell on details, such as the fact Rhydian had kept information from Lily.
The Welsh leader moved to his desk and sat on the edge. He picked up a file folder and held it out. “Everything we know is in here, but the short of it is some of the dragon-shifter children from the local farms have gone missing. I think Delia has been trying to find them.”
Kai took the folder but never broke his gaze with Rhydian. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
“Unlike on Stonefire, we can’t farm on our land since it almost entirely consists of mountains and rock. The Welsh humans long ago gave us farming rights to nearby arable land, and we don’t advertise it for obvious reasons. The farmers are careful to appear human whenever possible, to protect their identities. On top of that, Snowridge’s Protectors do daily sweeps to ensure everything is okay.”
Jane jumped in, “But something must’ve gone wrong.”
“Correct, Ms. Hartley. Last week, one child went missing from one of the outermost farms. Then a few days later, a pair of siblings also disappeared on the opposite side of our farming area. At that point, I evacuated the farmers and brought them here until we could figure out who’s doing this. However, despite around the clock searches, no one has been able to find the missing children, nor do we know who is exactly responsible.”
Jane wanted to say it was either the dragon hunters or Dragon Knights, but she bit her tongue. After all, there could be a local enemy to Snowridge she had no idea about.
Kai jumped in. “Does the entire clan know about this?”
Rhydian shook his head. “No. My head Protector and I merely said that some of the farmers were staying with us for a short while to visit their families living here. All of the farmers were sworn to secrecy as to the true reason. However, since it’s summer, I’m sure the presence of the farmers is raising a few eyebrows. The high growing season isn’t the best time for a visit.”
Jane tilted her head. “Is that how Delia figured out wh
at was going on? Or is there something else that I’m missing?”
Rhydian moved his gaze to Jane and answered, “She left the same day the farmers first arrived, so it’s unlikely she put the clues together so quickly. Delia is clever but still a child with few resources, let alone contacts to divulge information. She must’ve overheard something at the Protectors’ central command. She’s been volunteering there, helping with administrative duties.”
Kai grunted. “I’ll comment on the lack of discretion amongst your Protectors later. What, exactly, did she overhear?”
Rhydian’s pupils flashed to slits for a second before returning to round. Instead of reminding Kai of his place, he waved toward the folder. “It’s all in there, but some of the Protectors think the children were taken by local dragon hunters. We don’t have a unified front here similar to the likes of Simon Bourne, but the DDA’s presence is sparse at best in the north of Wales, and our current theory is that someone took advantage of that fact.”
Simon Bourne was the head of the largest dragon hunter group in the UK and was currently based near Birmingham in England. He’d also caused Stonefire many a headache, and his hunters had even killed one of their Protectors in the past.