“This morning, I decided to pay Dr. Sid a visit.” Bram opened his mouth but she beat him to it. “I know the DDA won’t accept any report I write about Stonefire, but I wanted to find out the truth. Not only for me, but for you as well.”
His dragon decided to speak up. She cares for the clan.
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Rather than think about that, he asked, “And what did you find out?”
“I brought a copy of Caitriona’s autopsy results with me and showed them to Dr. Sid. I knew high levels of dragon-shifter hormones in a human’s blood was bad, but I’m not a doctor.”
“Get to the point, lass.”
“Dr. Sid explained how the numbers were far too high. In order for any human to have that level of dragon-shifter hormone in her body, she’d have to be given shots or take medication. I guess much like humans have medications for things like thyroid hormone replacements, the dragon-shifters have something similar for the hormone that controls their ability to shift into a dragon.”
She looked to Nikki. “You fill him in on the rest.”
The young dragonwoman didn’t hesitate. “After Sid looked through the lists of dragon-shifters who needed the hormone, one name stuck out—Neil Westhaven.”
Neil had been the dragon-shifter assigned to the sacrifice, Caitriona. He’d made the poor lass’s life hell, primarily through verbal abuse, until Cait had turned into a depressed recluse. Only because Neil had hidden the female so well from others did Bram miss the human’s suffering.
Bram clenched a fist. “But that bastard was banished long before Cait gave birth.”
Evie stepped in. “That’s true, but Nikki and I did some talking, and we think we came up with an explanation.”
Bloody fantastic. The two of them working together would most definitely cause trouble for him in the future. “And that would be?”
“He must have someone here, still on the clan’s lands, working with him. Nikki thinks it could explain the increase of dragon hunter attacks too.”
Chapter Four
Evie held her breath while she waited for Bram’s response. He had no reason to trust her, but she hoped Nikki’s support would convince him to take the possibility seriously.
The tall, muscled dragonman looked from her to Nikki and back again before he said, “Do you have any proof to back up these claims?”
Nikki moved to talk, but Evie put out a hand to stop the dragonwoman. “No, but my gut says it’s the right thing. Just think about it. How else would the dragon hunters know each and every weak point on your perimeter?”
Bram looked to Nikki and the dragonwoman squared her shoulders. “I didn’t tell her anything that wasn’t clan-wide knowledge. Since she’s going to be your mate, I reckoned it was okay to tell her that sort of information.”
“Fine, okay. Putting that aside, Cait pretty much always stayed in her cottage, and when she wasn’t confined there, she came to me, Melanie, or Sid. None of us would ever have harmed the lass.”
Nikki piped in. “But whenat about her food? Cait didn’t cook and most of her meals were brought to her.”
Bram shook his head. “Old Mrs. Duncan is seventy-five years old and doesn’t have a traitorous bone in her body. She was loyal to my mother and she’s loyal to me too.”
She racked her brain trying to come up with something else when Nikki added, “Let me talk to Kai about this and see what we can find. He’s loyal to you as well and would never betray you.”
Evie barely resisted hugging her new friend. Nikki may be quite a bit younger than her, but the dragonwoman was worthy of her Protector-in-training status. She would have made a fine DDA inspector.
“Right,” Bram said, “talk to Kai and no one else. We’re also going to keep a close eye on Cait’s son, Murray. While unlikely given that the lad’s already five months old and Neil never tried to take him, the bastard might yet come to retrieve his son. Since the male of the current couple watching him is a Protector, Murray should be safe for now. As for the rest, once Kai has a plan, tell him to come here and discuss it with me.”
“Yes, sir.” Nikki looked to Evie. “I’ll see you at the great hall tonight.”
Evie had no idea what was happening tonight at the great hall, but she nodded. “Thanks for your help, Nikki.”
The woman grinned and was gone, leaving Evie alone with Bram.
She didn’t think she’d overstepped her boundaries, but given the dragonman’s assessing look, she wondered if she were in for another row.
He took a step toward her, and Evie was suddenly aware of the big, bulky coat she was wearing. In preparation for their possible heated argument, she shucked the jacket. Now she was ready to take the dragonman head on.