Page 42 of The Dragon Recruit
Slowly, she tried to stand, but her body was heavy, and she could barely lift her head.
Rebecca said, “No, don’t try to get up. You’ll be weak for a wee while yet.”
Doing her best to sit up and lean against the wall, she tried reaching out to her dragon.
Silence.
Fuck.She only hoped it wasn’t permanent.
Focus, Zoe. Rely on your training and don’t give anything away.She studied her cousin’s shorter form. Her skin was a lighter brown than she remembered, and her reddish-brown hair was shorn close to her head. She’d also lost some weight.
Deciding now would be a good time to get information—she needed to keep focused on anything but the fact she was now a prisoner and work would do that—she asked, “How long have you been here?”
Rebecca shrugged. “I don’t know. There aren’t any windows, and no one tells us anything.”
The other female dragon-shifter in the room spoke up. “It’s been over a week, at least judging by my leg hair.”
Her accent was Welsh. She was older than Zoe, with dark hair that had a sprinkling of gray and blue eyes. She tried to recall the name, but couldn’t. So she asked, “Who are you?”
The Welsh female raised a dark eyebrow. “A bit demanding, aren’t you?”
Zoe didn’t blink an eye at the female’s tone. “I don’t know how much my cousin shared whilst I was unconscious, but I’m a Protector.”
And I’m the best chance we have at escaping, she left unsaid. For all Zoe knew, the place was bugged.
The Welsh female tilted her head. “That just means you’re happy we’re stuck in here so you can interrogate us, right? Since we’re the enemy?”
Another female voice from the cell across the way said in a Northern English accent, “At least listen to what she has to say, Bethan. She might have ideas to help us.”
Bethan glared at the other female. “Thanks for sharing my name. Let me return the favor, Chelsea.”
Chelsea rolled her eyes. “She might already know our names. I’m sure they keep a list of us all.”
Zoe decided a wee bit of honesty might help her get more information. “I know all of your faces, but not your names. My cousin, aye, I know her. And anyone from Lochguard, like Rosie in the cell with you over there. But not the rest.”
Chelsea studied her a second before replying, “My mate was a Protector. I listened and learned a few things.” She glanced down the row of cells. “But I don’t know where they put him.”
Bloody hell, they didn’t know.
Zoe debated telling them. But false hope was cruel, even to clan traitors, and it might give her more of an in with these females. “I don’t know for certain who, but half of the rogue dragon-shifters are dead. We found them in a mass grave near your settlement.”
Rebecca asked, “How do we know you’re telling the truth and not just playing on our sympathies?”
She met her cousin’s gaze. “Believe me, or don’t, aye? But I’ve seen some of the autopsy pictures, as well as video footage of the mass grave. Someone killed most of the male dragon-shifters living in Cairngorms, and it wasn’t me or any of the main clans who did it.” She nearly reached out to her cousin, but held back. “Your father was one of the dead, Rebecca. I’m so sorry.”
Her cousin shook her head vehemently. “No, you’re lying. Dad was one of the strongest. He can’t be dead. He just can’t.”
The main reason Rebecca had left Lochguard was to follow her parents. She was barely twenty, still young, and Rebeccahadn’t held the same hatred for humans as her mother and especially her father.
Still, Zoe didn’t know if Rebecca had been brainwashed or conditioned to hate humans even more since the last time they’d talked. Which meant she couldn’t let her guard down. “Despite everything, I wish I were. I remember Christmases with our families together, when we were kids. I never wanted my uncle to be murdered, no matter our differences.”
Rebecca paced the room, clenching and unclenching her fingers. “I don’t believe you. For all we know, the regular clans are behind this, all of this, and they put you in here to get us on your side. To tug at our connection and somehow make me forget that your mother is human.”
And there it was—the reason Zoe never understood how her uncle, who was her father’s brother, could’ve grown to hate humans so much. He’d seemed fine around Zoe’s mother while she was still alive. It was only long after her death that he hadn’t been.
She leaned more heavily against the wall, hating how weak and tired she was. However, during her Protector training, she’d learned how to push on a wee bit longer, when necessary. And she needed to know more. Much more.
So she did her best to keep her voice strong as she said, “Aye, my mother was human, and I loved her. That is something I can never change. But I would never kill anyone because they felt uncomfortable around her, or around me. Bloody hell, if I did that anytime I go into a village, when they stare at me as if I’m some sort of unicorn because of my skin color, I would’ve been a serial killer by now.” She leaned forward a little. “I vow that Lochguard, or any of the UK clans, had nothing to do with what happened to you or the males in the mass grave.”
