But he could think on all of that later. For the moment, he smiled at Rian. “Then let’s hurry up and get you checked out. How about you tell me about Mr. Cottontail on the way?”
As the boy explained the history of his stuffed toy rabbit, Rhydian walked briskly toward the surgery. The others should already be there. Once he had Rian examined, he could check on Delia and the other children.
And while he still had a lot of work ahead of him with regards to cleaning up his clan and enforcing the rules properly, he now had another reason beyond his own past to fight for human acceptance within his clan. Rian’s parents weren’t the only ones who’d had to go into hiding in order to be with the person they loved. He knew a few of his own clan members who had done the same over the years.
It may have been the wrong time for change all those years ago, when he’d fought for his human lover, but he’d make sure now was the right one.
For as long as Rhydian remained leader, he’d ensure his clan’s policy on humans shifted. Going forward, he wanted his clan members to mate for love, regardless if their mate could change into a dragon or not.
Chapter Nine
Staring down at his sister’s unconscious form, Kai did his best to contain his desire to seek out those responsible and make them pay for harming a mere child.
His dragon chimed in. While I agree, the doctor needs our attention right now. It’s the best way to help Delia.
It took everything he had to focus on Dr. Perry’s words. “We don’t know if there will be any long-term effects from the drugs we found in her system. We’ve managed to flush out as much as we could. However, the good news is that all of her vital signs are normal now. She’ll pull through.”
Kai looked at the doctor. “How long until the results come back from the tests being run on the drugs?”
Dr. Perry answered, “Thanks to Trahern’s assistance on Stonefire, we should hopefully have them by tomorrow.”
Kai’s mother cleared her throat and touched the tender, pink skin that outlined Delia’s tattoo that had once been on her upper arm but was no longer there. “I don’t care if it’s the middle of the night, you call me the instant you know what’s going on, Maelon.”
“Of course, Lily,” Dr. Perry replied. “I’ll also make sure that a nurse brings you a cot and blankets since I know you’ll be staying here until your daughter wakes up.”
Kai’s mother bobbed her head and took Delia’s hand in hers.
At the sight of his mother and sister, the urge to punch the bastards responsible coursed through his body. Since the DDA now had the few humans Snowridge’s Protectors had captured at the farm—the three men from Arabella’s images plus a few others—in custody, seeing any of them was nigh impossible. All he could do was continue to assist Snowridge in piecing together the facts to find out what exactly had happened back on that farm.
In order to do that, he needed more information on what the doctor had discovered so far.
Looking at the doctor, Kai motioned with his head toward the hallway. Once they were both there and the door to Delia’s room was closed, Kai stated, “Tell me everything that you know, even if it’s only conjecture at this point.” When Maelon Perry hesitated, Kai added, “Rhydian already gave me the highest clearance regarding this matter. But I can’t do anything if people keep secrets from me.”
After checking that the hallway was empty, Maelon spoke in a low voice. “All of the children had the same drugs in their systems, according to preliminary tests. The kidnapped farmers’ children had higher toxicity levels, which means they’ve been exposed longer and I have no idea what effect that will have on them.”
If it was anything like the attacks on Stonefire, their inner dragons might go rogue.
His dragon spoke up. What about those too young to talk with their dragons yet?
Dragon-shifters usually started talking with their inner beasts around age six or seven. I don’t know. Let’s hope their dragons still emerge when they should.
Yes, otherwise that’ll be lonely for them.
Worse than that, dragon-shifters without inner dragons usually went insane .
Maelon’s voice interrupted Kai’s thoughts. “There is one positive so far, though. The only half-human and half dragon-shifter child had the same drugs in his system, but the boy appears unaffected.”
“Does that mean the drugs only affect pure-blooded dragon-shifters?”
“It’s too early to make a definitive statement, but it seems so. Or, at least, it works on dragon-shifters who only have a tiny percentage of human ancestry. Very few of us are genetically 100 percent dragon-shifter.”
Kai grunted. “Right, then maybe you should figure out at what point the drug becomes ineffective. That way we know who is at higher risk and then can decide who needs the most protection in future battles or attacks.”
Raising his brows, Maelon said, “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just imply I’m not doing my job. We’re already working on it.”
His dragon spoke up. Be nice to the doctor. He’s helping Jane.
Kai was about to apologize for his curt tone when one of the male nurses rushed up to them. “Kai, your mate’s finally awake.”