Smoke and Fire: (3 page)

“You know what’s going on,” Thorn said as he sat back. “You saw it yourself in Glasgow. We willna have someone in our midst who is here to harm one of us.”

Kinsey set down her fork, her appetite gone at his words. She gawked at him in wonder and stupidity. “That’s a joke, right? You’re dragons. You can shift. Who can harm who?”

“Kinsey,” Lexi said and rested her hand atop hers. “What my husband is trying—badly—to say, is that though they’re immortal Dragon Kings who can shift, their hearts are as delicate as ours.”

“Now, sweetheart, I’m no’ sure I’d use
delicate,
” Thorn admonished.

Lexi raised a hand to quiet him without even looking his way. Kinsey watched in amusement as Thorn looked like a scolded toddler.

The silence in the kitchen extended. Kinsey felt like she was on trial of sorts. Which she had been since she first stepped foot onto Dreagan.

But this was different. This was focused on her feelings, feelings she herself hadn’t dared to look too deep into because she was afraid of what she might find.

The truth was, even when she wanted to hate Ryder after he’d left her, she couldn’t. She told herself she did in an effort to stop wondering about him. But it didn’t work.

“I see,” Thorn said in a low voice.

Kinsey jerked her gaze to him. “Excuse me?”

Thorn’s look wasn’t so fierce. “There’s no hate in your heart for Ryder. You care for him.”

“I
cared
for him. Past tense. He walked out on me.”

“And he told you why.”

Kinsey shrugged, annoyed that something so private was being discussed with strangers. “That’s supposed to make it all better? That makes it worse, because he could’ve come back. He didn’t.”

“He was there to protect you recently.”

At this, Kinsey had to laugh. “Me? He was there because Con ordered him to Glasgow. He was there to protect a city, much like you were in Edinburgh protecting it.”

“I wasna there to protect buildings. I was there to protect lives—human lives.”

Lexi sat back in her chair with a sigh. “Not even coffee is strong enough for this conversation.”

“I appreciate you trying to take some of the tension from the room,” Kinsey told her. “The fact is, this is my private life we’re discussing. Something I don’t even do with my sister.”

“Sister?” Thorn asked in surprise, his brow furrowed deeply.

Kinsey wasn’t sure what the problem was. “Yep. My sister.”

“How many other siblings do you have? Are your parents still alive? Where do they live?”

“Thorn,” Lexi chided. “One question at a time.”

Kinsey looked between the two. Thorn was visibly upset. “Ryder knows I have a sister. She’s much younger than I am. My father died when I was four. At eight Mum remarried and they had my sister. My mother and stepfather live in Hong Kong because of his job. My sister is finishing up her last year at university.”

“Shite,” Thorn said and pushed his chair back as he got to his feet.

Kinsey looked helplessly at Lexi.

“Your family is going to want to know where you are at some point,” Lexi explained. “They’re going to have questions about Dreagan.”

“Everyone has questions about Dreagan from what I hear,” Kinsey said.

Thorn paced the kitchen mumbling to himself. Kinsey tried to hear what he was saying, but she couldn’t pick up any words.

Lexi shifted in her chair. “There are only five women here who have family or close friends outside of Dreagan. Jane has a half-sister, Sammi, who happens to be mated to a King as well. Darcy has family on the Isle of Skye. Shara is a Fae, so she doesn’t have to keep secret who she’s married to. Then there’s me. My parents have passed away, but my friends who came with me to Scotland have been asking a lot of questions. Oh, I keep forgetting about Cassie, but she and her brother don’t talk. I guess that’s why I leave her out when I think about this.”

Now Kinsey understood. “You have to lie to your family?”

“Yes. They can’t know anything. I’ll be able to see them for the next five years or so, but after that they’ll begin to see I’m not aging as they are.”

“It’s not like I’ll be staying. As soon as my name is cleared and we catch who is behind sending me here, I’m gone.”

Thorn made some sound that wasn’t close to a word. It sent warning bells off in Kinsey’s head that it wouldn’t be anything close to that easy.

As if they would allow her to leave knowing what she knew. She’ll have been working side by side with Ryder seeing into a vast majority of their secrets and getting to know them.

MI5 was prowling the estate. Helicopters and planes continued to fly over the land. Cameras from news stations from around the world were at the entrance of Dreagan. The only reason the distillery wasn’t crawling with visitors was because it was closed for the winter.

Someone would pay dearly to learn a fraction of what she now knew.

Perhaps it was a good thing they knew she had family. It would make it more difficult for them to kill her.

As soon as the thought went through her mind she almost laughed. She knew for a fact Ryder could kill because she’d witnessed him doing it to the Dark in Glasgow. But her? He wouldn’t kill her, nor did she think he would allow anyone else to hurt her.

But there were dozens of other ways for them to ensure she never spoke a word of what she knew.

“It doesn’t matter that I have a family,” Kinsey said. “I’m not remaining here and neither are Ryder and I a couple anymore. Con can be happy in the knowledge that he won’t have another King mated.”

Thorn stopped pacing and stared at her for a long, silent minute. Then he walked to the table and sat next to his wife, lacing his fingers with hers.

It made Kinsey’s chest ache to see them so comfortable together. They reached for each other blindly, and the other was always there. She’d had that once—with Ryder.

And she missed it terribly.

Not just the intimacy, but the quiet times, the laughter, the sharing of everything. That kind of relationship was truly glorious.

“Are you telling me that you’d walk away from Ryder today and no’ look back?” Thorn asked.

Kinsey took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I had a past with Ryder. I thought it was something special. I bet my life on it actually. Then he left. For three years I didn’t see him until a few weeks ago when Glasgow was under attack.”

She pushed away her plate and laid one arm over the other on the table. “The idea of dragons and shifting is common for you because it’s your life, but let me assure you that the idea of Fae and dragons haunt my nightmares. I saw so much death and blood that night. Wars are supposed to be fought elsewhere or on the telly. They’re not supposed to happen right in front of me.”

“Ryder saved your life,” Lexi said.

“He did.” Kinsey rose to her feet. “I’ll owe him a debt that will never be able to be repaid. But whatever was between us is gone.”

Thorn raised a dark brow. “Are you sure of that?”

“Positive. I’ve had years to get over him.” Another lie in an effort to make herself believe something she was more confused about than ever.

Lexi got to her feet then. “What if Ryder still has feelings?”

“Then perhaps he should’ve acted on them instead of allowing years to pass.” Kinsey gave them a nod and strode out of the kitchen.

She wasn’t yet ready to go to the computer room, but no longer could she stand the questions Thorn posed to her.

It wasn’t until she reached the third floor that she realized she had breakfast with a Dragon King and hadn’t thought twice about it. She was even curt with him, not worrying about him shifting or attacking her.

That could be because she’d seen him and Lexi together beforehand. Regardless, it made her breathe easier.

If only she could relax when she was with Ryder.

*   *   *

Con turned the corner into the kitchen and watched Kinsey walk away.

“How much did you hear?” Lexi asked him.

“All of it. I was about to come in for food when I spotted Ryder on the stairs. I decided to wait.”

Thorn leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the doorway where Kinsey had departed. “I think she might still care for Ryder.”

“I know she does.” Con saw Lexi’s eyes widen while Thorn’s head swiveled to him.

It was Lexi who asked, “How do you know that?”

“Just watch the two of them together. It’s obvious.”

Thorn nodded slowly. “It’s true she went out of her way to stay away from him so they didna accidentally touch.”

“While Ryder remains near her,” Con said.

Lexi picked up Kinsey’s plate and brought it to the sink. “Are you going to try and keep them apart?”

It wasn’t in Con’s nature to share such things. He was going to refuse to answer, but changed his mind at the last minute. “Kinsey’s fear of Ryder’s true nature will no’ allow her to accept him.”

“She could get over her trepidation,” Lexi said, but Thorn was already shaking his head.

“I agree with Con,” Thorn said. “Kinsey wasna just in the middle of a war with the Dark Fae who she didna even know existed until recently, but she saw the man she cared for shift from a dragon. Her mind willna be able to acknowledge such things easily. I believe Kinsey when she said that whatever might’ve been between them is gone.”

Con saw the argument on Lexi’s lips, but she kept it to herself. This was another case of how different the Kings were from mortals.

Humans were tenacious in their need to hold onto hope. Whereas a Dragon King realized the futility and let it go.

Kinsey was a complication Dreagan didn’t need. The sooner she was gone, the better. It was why a handful of Kings were scattered throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland looking for Ulrik or anyone connected to him.

Con heard Ryder’s voice in his head, heard the anxiety. He raced up the stairs with Thorn right behind him. They rushed past Kinsey before she reached the computer room.

Dmitri and Henry were in the room as well. Con looked at each of them as Kinsey walked around them, a curious frown puckering her brow.

“This can’t be happening,” Henry said, his English accent thick. His plain brown hair was sticking up at odd angles. His clothes were rumpled, and he had a full beard from not shaving. Lines of strain bracketed his mouth. Dark circles were under his eyes, but it was the stunned and shaken look in his eyes that caught Con’s attention.

Even the normally cool Dmitri seemed dismayed by whatever was on the monitor.

“Ryder,” Con said.

Ryder lifted his eyes to Con and used his hand to swipe across the screen. The pictures went onto the wall behind Con.

Con turned to the pictures. The first one showed Henry with a much younger girl as he walked her to school. They were both smiling. They had the same nondescript brown hair and hazel eyes, the same plain features that allowed them to blend in anywhere.

Next to that picture was one of the girl several years older walking into The Silver Dragon.

“She told me she declined MI5’s offer,” Henry said.

Ryder’s chair squeaked as he leaned back. “Perhaps she did.”

“MI5 or Ulrik? Both are bad,” Henry said, his voice rising.

Con felt the weight of more troubles settle on his shoulders. After all Henry had done for Dreagan—was still doing for them—Con wasn’t going to sit back and not help. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he promised.

“I’ve hacked into MI5 files before,” Kinsey said. “I can do it again. We’ll be able to determine if she really is working for them.”

Henry tried to smile as he looked at her. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you. I tried using my clearance, but I didn’t find anything.”

Ryder nodded to Con as Dmitri vacated the chair and Kinsey sat. “While Kinsey is doing that, I’m doing a search in Ireland.”

“Oh,” Henry said to Ryder and rubbed his eyes. “I almost forgot. I was on my way to see Con when I got your text. There’s been massive movement of the Dark in Ireland.”

Dmitri shook his head, mumbling, “Bloody hell.”

“Come.” Con motioned to Henry. “Let’s leave Ryder and Kinsey to their work.”

As they left the computer room and Henry began to talk, Con felt the strain of everything teetering precariously. One wrong move and all they’d worked for and built could be destroyed.

He didn’t worry about dying. The Dragon Kings would live through anything the humans tried to kill them with. But his men had already lost so much. Their homes, their way of life, their families, and their dragons.

If this new world they’d lived in for millions of years was yanked from them, Con wasn’t sure what would happen. They could all turn on the mortals.

And Con wasn’t so certain he wouldn’t join them.

Chapter Fifteen

Kinsey waited until it was just her and Ryder before she pulled her chair forward and asked, “Who was that man with the English accent?”

“Henry North. He’s a friend who also happens to work for MI5.”

She was so shocked that she stopped typing and turned her head to Ryder. “What? Are you serious? You trust him?”

“He’s been our friend for many years, and he’s proven himself on many occasions when we’ve needed help. Aye, we trust him.” Ryder rubbed his temple, something he did when he was worried.

Kinsey looked back to the virtual keyboard. “It’ll take me a few minutes to hack in. Though I’m sure you could do it quicker.”

“You’re verra capable of hacking MI5.”

She couldn’t help but think he was just giving her work to do. Kinsey knew all too well that Ryder could have six projects going at once and not be deterred at all.

Still, she felt pride from his words. She timed herself, and did a little mental jig when she got into MI5’s computers in less than two minutes.

“Who am I looking for?” she asked.

“Esther North.” Ryder leaned over to look at her monitor as she keyed in the name.

Though Kinsey didn’t know Henry, she was hoping that his sister wasn’t part of MI5. But within seconds her picture popped up on the screen with red letters across it reading D
ECOMMISSIONED
.

“Dammit,” Ryder said and raked a hand through his hair.