Page 90 of Charming the Dragon
A large group of Protectors waited there, some in their human forms and some in their dragon forms. Kai waved Nikki and Rafe over, and once they arrived, Kai said to everyone, “We think we know where Hayley is—being held at Fairfields. Whilst we’re going there for her, there could be others. Sid and Gregor will wait nearby, just in case someone needs our help. Especially since there may be other pregnant females being held—several carrying dragon-shifter children went missing in the last six months—so take care not to scare them. Our priority is their rescue, but anyone else there we can take alive would be good too, to interrogate. Me, Nikki, and Rafe each have a wing ofdragons at our command, and Lochguard is waiting on standby, in case we need their help. Let’s try to do this as quickly and quietly as possible. Be ready for your leader’s command to fly. We’ll depart within the next thirty minutes.”
Affirmations—both from humans and dragons—filled the air. Once done, Kai turned toward Nathan. “You’re with me.” He looked at Nikki and Rafe. “We follow the newest plan for a hunter rescue. Understood?”
The pair nodded. After rescuing Percy Smith and the others from an illegal research facility, the Protectors had been devising new rescue strategies.
Kai looked at Nathan again. “Come on. I’ll give your instructions once we’re with the others.”
Nikki said, “We’ll get Hayley, no matter what, Nathan. I vow it.”
“Me as well,” Rafe stated.
He nodded. “Thanks, Nikki, Rafe.”
In the days since Hayley’s kidnapping, Nathan had accepted that no one could’ve stayed conscious with the amount of sedative shot into Rafe’s system. It’d nearly been too much, and the fact Rafe had recovered and was willing to risk his life again—especially only being human—made Nathan respect him.
Nathan followed Kai to his wing of dragons. The rest of Kai’s team were already in their dragon forms, so as soon as Nathan was with them, he found an empty spot, stripped, and imagined his nose elongating into a snout, wings growing from his back, and his form stretched until he stood in his dragon form.
Both man and beast awaited orders, impatient to fly and find their female.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hayley finished tying the scrap of fabric so it’d show outside the boarded-up windows. She didn’t dare leave it there permanently. But after the morning patrol of the grounds, she put it up every day until the evening, when the guards would change and walk in front of her window again.
In the grand scheme of things, the bit of fabric wasn’t much. However, it kept her from feeling restless, and she hoped Nathan and Stonefire would come, see it, and know where she was.
Especially since earlier in the morning, she’d managed to quickly take one of the men’s phones and send a text and delete it. He’d returned less than a minute after she hit Send, and probably would be more careful in the future. Which meant that she might not get another chance.
Please, Nathan. Understand my message.
Oh, she hadn’t given up finding a way to escape safely. However, that could take months, and she didn’t want to be on alert that long. She’d figured out quickly that they always drugged her tea—the bastards—so she had to pretend to drink it and get groggy or risk them giving her a shot.
If she didn’t appear groggy when they looked through the peephole at random times, then the shot came in the evening. So she had about five hours before she had to take her scrap of fabric down. Five more hours to think of how else she could try to escape and not merely sit here and wait to see if her message worked.
For a woman used to making things happen, being locked in a room and repeatedly drugged was beyond difficult. If not for her baby, she might try to escape without a fully formed plan.
But she couldn’t risk her and Nathan’s child. No doubt the dragon hunters knew that about her and used it to their advantage.
At least she still hadn’t heard of her fellow prisoner’s baby being born yet. She really hoped Stonefire would come before that happened.
As Hayley inspected the room for the hundredth time, looking for anything else she might be able to use, she heard muffled shouting coming from outside her window. After racing to it, she peeked through the cracks. But from this angle, she couldn’t see anything.
Then a dragon flew by, and another, until she lost count of the number in the sky.
Nathan had understood her message!
Hayley wanted to stay and watch, but she rushed to the chair the men had finally given her. It was made of wood and the only thing she could use as a weapon, if needed.
So she picked it up and waited, in case one of the guards tried to take her away. Because with her clan so close, she wasn’t about to let them do that. She’d fight if she had to.
Nathan carefully landedon the roof of the formerly grand house, uncertain if it was in good shape or not. But after he counted to five, and it still held, he decided to take his chances.
So before anyone could shoot him with a gun or tranquilizer, he quickly shifted back to his human form and crouched down. Once he moved away, Diana Edgewood landed and quickly stood in her human form as well. Diana was to take point, and she motioned for Nathan to follow. Infiltrating the house naked wasn’t ideal, but they didn’t have time to waste.
Diana pried the wood slats off the nearest window and slowly peered inside. She murmured low enough that a human wouldn’t hear her, but a dragon-shifter still could. “There’s a woman sitting on a bed, staring into space. And she’s heavily pregnant. Let me try to talk to her before you slip inside.”
He didn’t want to stay out on the roof, and yet, given what he knew of Percy’s former prison, a male’s presence might upset her.
After he nodded, Diana crawled through the window and approached the woman, who smelled of human. She barely glanced at Diana before asking, “What now?”
