Before he could reply, his phone buzzed. Taking it out, he opened it. Once he saw the caller ID, he put it on speakerphone. “What did you find, Arabella?”
Finlay Stewart, the Scottish dragon clan leader and Arabella’s mate, growled. “Be nicer to Ara. After all, she did this despite having three wee bairns to look after.”
Kai was about to tell him to fuck off, but Arabella’s voice came over the line. “Ignore Finn. His amount of charm seems to correlate to how much sleep he has, and he hasn’t had much of late.”
“Not all of us are like you and can function well on three hours of sleep,” Finn murmured.
Arabella carried on as if she hadn’t heard her mate. “I did find the images, but they’re unclear and pixelated. I’m having Ian and Emma work on cleaning them up, but I’ll send the original ones for now.”
Kai didn’t know who Ian and Emma were, but didn’t think it was important enough to ask. “Are you running the images against any databases you can access?”
“Of course, but it takes time, Kai. Just look at the pictures and deduce what you can yourself. I just wanted to let you know more is coming, because otherwise, I know you’d call up and demand something.”
Jane spoke up. “I’ll try to keep him in line, Arabella. Thanks for your help.”
“Good luck,” Arabella answered and she hung up.
Kai checked his email and opened the images. He made sure Jane could see them, too.
They were blurry and didn’t show much apart from the varying heights of the three males. Even zooming in, he couldn’t tell what the tattoos were supposed to be.
Looking at Jane, he said, “I appreciate your work on getting these, but until we can get a clearer view, these are a dead end for now.”
Shrugging, Jane replied, “You never know. The photo may prove useful later, even without a clearer version. If you see three men of those heights, and tattoos in the same places, it’s highly likely they’re a match. There can’t be that many men who match that description around here, unless there’s a dragon hunter lookalike plot afoot.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The bastards aren’t going to take the ti
me to find body doubles.”
Jane winked. “That means you agree with me about the photo being useful.” Jane’s phone beeped, and she tapped it a few times before adding, “Wren found something at the farm with the first disappearance. Who knows, maybe that’ll lead us to Delia. We need to hurry to the area where you can shift.”
“Are you sure you’re all right to fly that way again?”
Steel flickered in her gaze. “Having my heart in my stomach will be worth it if we end up finding your sister.”
Not for the first time, Kai wondered how he deserved a mate like Jane.
His beast spoke up. As I’ve said before, she’s ours. Believe in her. Jane will grow old with us.
As much as Kai had doubted bringing Jane along, their investigation seemed to be doing him good. The more determined Jane was to find his sister, the more faith he had that she would always stay with him. After all, a female wasn’t going to go out of her way to face fears or put her life on the line for a male she planned to leave.
His dragon roared. Stop with those thoughts. We are Jane’s as much as she is ours. Hurry up and go to the area where we can shift so that we can keep working.
He kissed Jane gently. “Do you think you can match my pace or should I carry you? I’m going to run.”
She tilted her head. “I’ve been working out more, so I should be able to keep up. Let’s find out.”
As Jane turned and dashed toward the clearing, Kai ran after her. Nothing stirred a dragonman’s blood like a chase. Once his sister was safe, he would have to try it with Jane in a remote location so he could catch her and show his mate how much he loved her.
Not that he needed more motivation to find Delia. But any excuse to spend time with his mate was something he’d also fight for.
Chapter Five
While riding in a blasted basket was better than being carried via dragon talons, the instant one of Snowridge’s Protectors released Jane’s basket on solid ground, she jumped out and ran toward the edge of the landing area.
She thought she’d become more accustomed to flying, but it seemed she didn’t mind only when Kai carried her.
However, she wasn’t an idiot and about to throw a tantrum for not having her mate escort her back to Snowridge. Kai, Wren, and Eira had gone to further investigate the identical tire tracks they’d found at both of the farms. Snowridge’s tracker, a female Protector named Carys, had taken Jane’s place in the investigation. With Jane’s regular human hearing and senses, she would have been a burden and only slowed them down.