Page 12 of Winter at Stonefire

Before his dragon could reply, Finn cleared his throat, garnering his attention. The Scottish leader said, "If Jane or Kai can't be reached, Evie Marshall and Ivy Passmore are working to help her."

He grunted. "You want the former Dragon Knight female in charge of this?"

While the group known as the Dragon Knights had been disbanded, they'd caused pain, trouble, and death for dragon-shifters for years.

Bram joined their group, with Rhydian at his side. Bram said, "Aye, I do trust her. Ivy's been trying to make up for hurting our kind for a long time now."

Adrian wished it was that easy for him. While the instances of dragons being hunted and captured were declining in England and Scotland, it wasn't the same case in Northern Ireland. Between the chaos in the three clans in the Republic of Ireland and the struggle for the Irish and UK Department of Dragon Affairs to work together, dragon hunters were flourishing on the Isle of Ireland. But especially near Belfast, which wasn't far from Adrian's clan.

In fact, he was worried about bringing anyone new onto Northcastle until he managed to get the dragon hunter problem under control.

Honoria Wakeham, the other Skyhunter leader, joined their group with Teagan O'Shea, the Glenlough leader and probably the dragon-shifter in the group he knew the best. Honoria said, "Surely there's a way we can iron this out, Adrian. You can do like Snowridge and start small."

He glanced at Teagan, who understood his concerns without him saying a word. She gestured with her head for them to go outside. "Let's chat for a moment, aye?" She looked at the rest of the clan leaders. "We won't be long."

Rhydian grunted. "Five minutes and then we'll find you. We need to get this sorted so I can check on my mate and children."

Teagan smiled. "Of course." She pushed against Adrian's back. "Come on."

They exited the hall and went into a side room. As soon as the door closed, Teagan turned on him and crossed her arms over her chest. Raising one dark eyebrow, she asked, "Why don't you just ask them for help? That's the whole point of these meetings, Adrian. I vowed I wouldn't share your clan troubles without your permission—as long as it doesn't hurt my clan—but trying to tackle it on your own won't help anyone."

He grunted. "I only took over the leadership this year, and I need to show I can handle it. Besides, you're the female who hid her true identity for years, out of fear that other clans would attack since you're female. So I'm not sure you have a leg to stand on."

Teagan narrowed her eyes. "Don't alienate your best ally, Adrian. You might be a good Protector and know how to talk to your clan members, but you're shite when it comes to relying on others. Eventually, that will bring you down, if you're not careful."

His dragon spoke up.Why are you making her angry?

Ignoring his beast, he replied, "How about this compromise—I'll agree to take one or two children at first, and then attempt to tackle my dragon hunter problem by myself. If after six months I can't contain them, I'll reach out to everyone and ask for their help."

Teagan shook her head. "I still don't like it. It's not like the old days, aye? We aren't feuding and trying to take each other down."

"Perhaps. But seeing as a few Irish clan leaders were out to kill you not too long ago, I think you'd want to be cautious."

She stared at him and finally sighed. "They say the Conroys are stubborn bastards, and you're just proving the point."

And they held grudges. Not that he'd add that detail.

Adrian said, "I know Lochguard and Stonefire have an extremely close relationship, but despite Northcastle's former leader mating your mother, we aren't quite to that place, Teagan. I'm trying, but it'll take time. Some of my clan members are still upset about your brother avoiding and rejecting Georgiana Todd."

Teagan sighed. "That again? Killian and Georgiana would've made each other miserable."

"Perhaps. But there are still some dragon-shifters who believe we should only be with our true mates or no one at all."

"A load of rubbish, if I'd ever heard it."

Considering Teagan had mated Aaron Caruso, who wasn't her true mate, he understood her sentiment.

"Maybe. But just like it's taking time for many to accept human males mating female dragon-shifters, it's the same inside Northcastle about mating someone not your true mate. Just give me six months to work on this stuff, and then we'll talk again about it."

Teagan eyed him a beat, her pupils flashing to slits and back, and then said, "Fine. But only as long as the problem doesn't start to spiral out of control. Because if it starts to affect more than just Northcastle, I won't hold back, aye?"

She put out her hand to shake, and Adrian took it. "Of course."

Teagan released his hand. "Well, then let's tell them you'll foster a few orphans. The sooner we can get the wee ones homes with their kind, the better. I shudder to think of them being raised as mostly human and being told to contain their dragons as much as possible."

Percy had shared her story with all the clan leaders, to let them know exactly what had been happening to some of the orphaned dragon-shifter children. Not long after their dragons appeared, they'd often been silenced and taught to act more as if they were human.

The female's story had been sobering, to say the least.

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