Page 43 of The Dragon Recruit
Even though vows were extremely important to dragon-shifters, it might not be enough. So Zoe also willed the truth to shine from her eyes.
Eventually, Rebecca turned away from her and said quietly, “If I find out that you’re bloody toying with me, Zoe, I don’t care if we’re related, I’ll make you pay. Maybe hand you over to the dragon hunters myself, once we get out of here.”
Did that mean it was someone besides the dragon hunters who had captured them?
Zoe wanted to push, to see if there was some sort of connection between the rogue dragon-shifters and the dragon hunters. However, Bethan’s voice beat her to it. “She might believe you, but I’m still skeptical. How did they die? Who is behind it all, if not your clan members? Where are we, even?”
As she’d been talking, Zoe had casually scanned the surrounding cells without being obvious. And everyone was female. And still in childbearing age.
Back at Lochguard, Cooper and the other Protectors had discussed why only males and older females had been in the mass grave. At least now she knew where the younger females had gone.
She wished she could reach out to her clan and see if they’d found out anything else. Her last update had been before she’d left Lochguard to meet with the DDA liaison in Inverness.
Inverness.She’d made it to the city, had gone to meet the DDA liaison, and then nothing. Had the liaison drugged her? Why?
Aware everyone was staring at her, she decided to work on getting her memories back later. “I can tell you we didn’t murder anyone until my dying breath, and you still wouldn’t believe me. So let me ask you something else—who looks after you in here? Anyone you knew from before?”
Silence.
Zoe resisted a sigh. “Aye, well, then I’m not going to share any more information if you won’t do the same. I’ll remember this later, when we get rescued.”
Bethan snorted. “Who would rescue us? They might come for you, maybe. But I doubt Rhydian would care if I lived or died, now that he’s mated to that human of his.”
Rhydian Griffiths was the leader of Clan Snowridge in Wales, and his mate was a human named Delaney. The Welsh leader had banished some clan members after they’d tried to hurt his female.
Zoe replied to the former Snowridge female, “What do you have against humans, I wonder?”
Bethan said, “Maybe everything is full of fairy stories about humans and dragons getting along in Scotland. However, the humans in Northern Wales have never wanted us there. And not even your celebrity human’s book helped change that mindset.”
No doubt she was referring to Melanie Hall-MacLeod’s book about dragon-shifters, one that had changed the minds of a lot of humans when it came to dragons and their fears.
Chelsea, the female dragon across the way, growled. “That book just gave them more ammunition to use against us. Bram has a human mate, too. One who worked for the DDA, the agency that has kept us as second-class citizens. I despise her, and he’d probably rather see me in that supposed mass grave you found than ever try to help me.”
Even though it would probably be fruitless, Zoe had to try. “Evie, Bram’s mate, has helped us many times over. And the current DDA Director has been working with us more and more, trying to influence politicians to grant us more freedom.”
Chelsea sneered. “Right, more freedom, but not true freedom. It should be us who rule over them. But no, the gutless leaders have continued to bend the knee toward the weak humans instead.”
A new female dragon in Chelsea’s cell spoke up, her accent making her from the south of England and probably from Clan Skyhunter. “Having a so-called strong leader who believes in dragon-shifter superiority isn’t the solution. Marcus King was that way, at least before I left. Eventually, he became corrupt and worked with the humans. But he wasn’t always that way, and instead took joy in punishing his own people.”
Zoe zeroed in on the Skyhunter female. “Why didn’t you go back, once Honoria and Asher took over?”
The pair were Skyhunter’s new leaders and had been working on healing their clan after Marcus’s reign.
The female hugged her arms around her body. “I don’t want to get into it.”
Chelsea shook her head. “Marcus King was greedy and not a true believer. I’d make a better leader, one who’d never give up trying to conquer the UK and then the rest of Europe.”
Zoe replied, “Right, because you’d win against their anti-aircraft and anti-dragon artillery? I was in the military, remember? Dragon-shifters wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe before World War I, but not after.”
Chelsea stood tall. “A great cause requires some sacrifice.”
“Aye, well, then let’s play along—what would you do once you supposedly conquered the UK, after all those casualties? You sound like a purist, which means you’d never let someone like me, of mixed human and dragon blood, to have any children. Will you put all the pureblood females into breeding camps and make them pump out bairns until they die of exhaustion or complications?”
A few more of the females moved to the bars of their cells, clearly paying attention now.
If she could push Chelsea a little more—and have her go too far—it might give them all a shared enemy. While a long shot, it might make them trust Zoe a wee bit more. Maybe enoughto answer simple questions about who took care of them and anyone who worked in this facility.
Chelsea glanced around, the area eerily silent, as everyone waited for her answer. She finally said, “I would never imprison anyone who shared my vision. But surely there must be others who wish to expand pure bloodlines. Even if we have to recruit other dragon-shifters from Europe or Africa, we can make it work.”
