Finn shook his head. "I won't risk it, lass. From what we can tell, his dragon wants to harm you as he claims you, and I won't allow it."
She swallowed, doing her best not to let her split-second fear show on her face. "What do you mean he wants to harm me? Tell me the specifics."
Finn scowled. "Then I won't sugar-coat it, Kiyana. Alistair was shouting he'd never allow his dragon to cut you as he fucked you. And that is definitely not the Alistair Boyd I grew up with. Until we can find some sort of remedy—someone already tried what we thought was the universal cure by shooting him with a dart and it failed—you have to remain here."
Kiyana would sort through her feelings later. If she let fear or sadness creep into her mind, she'd never be able to focus. And she needed to keep relatively calm and collected. Otherwise, she'd never have her Alistair back. "But he may never return to normal. The other dragon clans don't share easily, and Alistair could die before they do."
Curiosity flared in Finn's eyes. "How do you know that?"
She replied, "Alistair mentioned it a bit, and I've been researching the topic. If we have any chance of saving him, you need to talk to Honoria Wakeham as soon as possible."
Lochguard's leader blinked. "Honoria? As in one of Skyhunter's recently appointed co-leaders? Why?"
She waved a hand. "All that matters is that Honoria found a way to reach out and communicate with other clans in the western half of America. Even if it's just a matter of asking those clans for a solution, it's a start and better than us sitting here and ho-humming about how Alistair is doomed."
Fergus studied her. "You're not acting the way I thought you would, lass."
Kiyana sat up taller. "I don't care about that. We need Honoria's help, as well as Stonefire's and any other dragon clan you can talk to." She looked at Layla. "I'm assuming you have a sample of this substance and are, or have, already analyzed it?" The doctor bobbed her head. "Good. Then we can share what we know."
No one spoke for a few beats, and it finally dawned on Kiyana that maybe she'd crossed a line. She was still a guest on Lochguard's lands, for one. And two, she was a human from the DDA, and dragons didn't always like being ordered about by DDA employees.
She was about to state her case about only wanting to help Alistair when Finn spoke once more. "I'll reach out to Skyhunter. Layla, get everything ready to share with any clans willing to help us. And Fergus, you stay with Kiyana and find out what else she knows, or suggestions that may help." He finally found her gaze again. "Once all of this is over, you and I will have a rather long chat, lass."
Kiyana didn't slump her shoulders; instead, she merely nodded. She may know a lot about dragon-shifters, but she didn't know all of Lochguard's laws or rules. If she was violating some of them, she'd face the consequences later.
However, she couldn't just abandon Alistair. Especially since if he'd found a solution to his project, about how clans could better talk with one another, he might already be in recovery.
Alistair may not be able to reach out to other clans and make suggestions to Finn, but Kiyana could.
This time, she wouldn't allow someone else to die because of a lack of cooperation between clans. Even if she had to pull every string she had inside the DDA, she'd do it. Alistair deserved to live after the tragedy he'd gone through, and Kiyana was determined to ensure he came out the other side in one piece.
Chapter Nine
Alistair was losing the battle with his dragon.
Even now, his dragon roared inside his head, shouting, I want our true mate. She should be branded, fucked, and impregnated. She is ours, no one else's. And I will find her and make sure she knows she belongs to us and only us.
He'd long given up trying to reason with his beast and simply crouched on the floor of a cave, hoping the chains he'd grabbed on his way off the clan held.
Normal ones wouldn't, but they were strong and would hold unless a dragon-shifter was willing to shift and shatter bones in the process.
Although given the way his beast demanded to fuck and brand Kiyana with their name burned into her arm, his dragon might be willing to risk breaking bones to get to her.
I want her, now. She is ours. Stop denying us what is ours. Men have touched her before, and she must forget. Forget all about them. She will only know us, our name, and nothing else.
Images of Kiyana being strapped to a table and a hot poker to her arm made Alistair's stomach flip.
Rationally, he knew it wasn't his dragon's true nature. The bloody drugs had messed with his beast, to the point nothing short of some sort of cure would help.
He
had faith in Finn finding one, but if it came to the choice between keeping Kiyana safe or taking his own life to protect her, he would take his own life.
Fuck, his life had turned shitty all of a sudden. And all because one of his staff hadn't double-checked the seal and filter of the special case he'd been using to study the Dragon Knights' device.
His dragon roared and managed to shift their fingers into talons. Alistair forced his beast back into a mental prison, unsure of how much longer he could keep it up. It hadn't even been a day, and he was past exhaustion into some state he didn't even know how to describe.
If Finn and his clan didn't find a solution soon, Alistair would have to sacrifice himself to save everyone else, especially Kiyana. He refused to go rogue.