Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

O n Dr. Sid's orders, Nathan would have to spend the night at the surgery for observation. Mainly because she wanted to ensure he rested as he ought.

His dad and stepmother had already come and gone. Luke, too.

However, he kept looking at the door, hoping Hayley would walk through.

His dragon spoke up. It hasn't been that long. She needs food and rest.

I know. But I didn't like the uncertain look in her eyes as she walked away earlier.

We'll wipe it away, whatever it takes.

Someone knocked on the door and he said, "Come in."

Hayley poked her head in. The sight of her glasses, slightly disheveled hair, and brown eyes sent a wave of possessiveness through him. It might take some convincing, but Hayley Beckett was his female and no one else's.

"Hi ya."

Hayley stepped inside, shut the door, and readjusted her glasses. "If you're too tired, I can come back later."

Doing his best to hide his discomfort, he motioned with his bandaged hand. "I was waiting for you."

"Oh." Her gaze moved to his hand, and she frowned. Within seconds, she was at his side. "How long will it take for you to heal? I thought dragon-shifters healed fairly quickly."

"We do. But it takes more than a few hours, love."

After a few beats of silence, her gaze finally met his again. She plucked at his bed covering before finally saying, "Why is this so awkward?"

He raised an eyebrow. "If I were at full health, I would have already pulled you close and nuzzled your neck, Hayley. As soon as I get the all clear from Dr. Sid, I have a lot of convincing to do. After all, you still haven't completely cleared me of being lazy."

She smiled, and his heart warmed. After gingerly sitting on the side of the mattress, the human placed a hand on his upper chest. Her light fingers against his bare skin sent a mixture of relief and heat throughout his body.

His dragon spoke up. Before she leaves this room, convince her she's ours.

I'll try my best, dragon. Now, hush.

His beast settled down, curled up, and waited to see what happened.

Hayley asked, "How's your dragon doing?"

"Impatient to get the hell out of here. It's better than being stuck underground, but he wants to feel the wind against his scales as he soars through the air."

Her eyes lit up. "I'd love to see that! I don't think I can sit on your back for that, though. Maybe someday you can take me up in one of those little baskets."

He placed his hand over hers on his chest. "I'm sure that can be arranged. As long as you aren't terrified of heights."

"Strangely, no. I loved it when I got to stand along the Cliffs of Dover and look out across the sea to France. Some of the locals said dragons used to fly alongside the cliffs, but aren't allowed to any longer, which is a pity."

"I've never been that far south, so I don't know much about the cliffs."

"Is it because of the restrictions on dragon-shifters?" He nodded, and she added, "Well, I'm going to add that to my list of things to work on—to see dragons flying near the Cliffs of Dover again." She nodded to herself. "I'm sure I remember a law or treaty I saw one time, about giving dragons the right to fly over the ocean. I just need to find it again."

The corner of his mouth ticked up. "You're brilliant, Hayley Beckett. I hope you know that."

Her cheeks flushed, and she cleared her throat. "All I can do is try, although there are no guarantees." She paused, then smiled at him. "And given what I heard a little while ago about your computer skills, you're pretty brilliant yourself."

Now he wondered what people were saying about him.

Regardless, he couldn't resist teasing his human and said, "Pity, I wish you thought I was brilliant for making you scream my name earlier."

"Nathan!"

He laughed and then groaned. Hayley caressed his brow and asked, "Are you okay? Should I fetch the doctor?"

"No, no, I'm okay. By morning, my ribs should be good as new. If it were really bad, Dr. Sid probably would've had me shift. We heal faster in our dragon forms than our human ones."

"And your hands too?"

"They'll be a lot better, but it may take two days before I start climbing any more ropes."

"Let's hope you don't have to. I'm full up on adventure for the time being."

He threaded his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his lips. After kissing it, he said, "The only adventure I ever want to have again is with you."

Her gaze softened. "Are you high on pain meds? Because I thought you said you couldn't be charming."

His dragon laughed, but Nathan ignored him and grunted. "I'm not on any pain medication."

She caressed his cheek, and his irritation faded. "I'm just glad you're okay. Once you're better, we're going to have a rather intense discussion about never keeping important things from me again. You should've told me you were hurt."

"I know, love. But I didn't want to see you suffer any longer down there."

She kissed his cheek. "Thank you, but you still should've talked with me."

His dragon spoke up. Don't upset her. She's thinking of the future and mentions us in it. Don't fuck it up.

I'm working on it, dragon.

After raising his free hand, he traced a finger over Hayley's cheek. She leaned into the touch and he said, "I promise to do so."

"Thank you."

As he stared into her eyes, he wished he could close the distance between them and kiss her.

But he couldn't. Not until she agreed to be his mate.

So he decided to focus on something else. Because he sensed she wasn't quite ready for that conversation yet. "You haven't told me how you're holding up, love."

"Fairly well, considering the circumstances. I got to chat and spend time with Melanie, Samira, Dawn, Sarah, and Percy, and it was lovely. I haven't had a lot of time to make friends over the last decade, and it made me realize that whilst I love my sister to pieces, I miss hanging out with others and merely talking about this and that."

"By this and that, do you mean me?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "The world doesn't revolve entirely around you."

"So, that means yes."

Hayley laughed, and the sound somehow made him feel better, which wasn't exactly scientific. But when it came to his human, science didn't always make sense.

His dragon laughed. Dragon magic.

Not you too.

Hey, I couldn't resist.

He was about to ask what else Hayley had talked about with the others when there was a knock, followed by Bram and Kai entering the room. Hayley stood, and Nathan nearly reached to bring her back.

But his clan leader spoke before he had a chance to do anything. "Sid tells me you'll be mostly mended by the morning. I can come back if you want, but I thought you two might have some questions for us."

Hayley didn't miss a beat. "More than a few. But will you answer them truthfully, or just give vague answers that don't really reveal anything?"

Bram's lips twitched. "Straight to the point, eh, lass?"

She readjusted her glasses. "Well, I spent days living out my worst nightmares, so, yes, I want to know why that place even exists."

Bram's expression softened. "I'm sorry it was that bad for you, Hayley. But the fireplace should've required pushing two buttons on opposite ends simultaneously to move. We checked it out a few weeks ago, and everything was fine."

Kai nodded. "I already have a team working on it, to ensure it won't happen again."

Hayley asked, "But that still doesn't explain why the bunker was stocked. Or why there were easy puzzles to solve in the control room and for the treasure room."

Bram gestured toward a chair in the room. "You might want to sit down, Hayley. This could take a while."

Instead of the chair, she sat back on the edge of his bed. Nathan instantly took her hand in his and could feel Kai and Bram's eyes on them.

But he didn't care.

Nathan spoke to Kai, "Tell us what's going on, Kai. I didn't even know about the bunker, and I know a lot of Stonefire's secrets."

Kai crossed his arms over his chest and grunted. "It's nothing against you personally, Nathan. But the fewer people who know about its existence, the easier it is to keep the information from leaking." Nathan opened his mouth to protest that he could be trusted, but Kai beat him to it. "We've discussed updating the technology in the bunker's command center and bringing you into the fold. However, it's been busy, what with the dragon clan gathering here recently and then rescuing those people from that cruel experimentation center, so the project was delayed."

Hayley said, "That's all well and good, but you still haven't told us what it's for or why you have it."

Nathan bit back a smile. Leave it to his human not to care about Bram and Kai's positions in her quest for the truth.

Bram chuckled. "I'm glad you're on our side, Hayley Beckett. And before you ask again, I'll answer." He glanced at Kai, and then back at Hayley and Nathan. "It's been there for ages, but was lost to the clan for a while, or so some records have said. We stumbled upon it not long after Melanie arrived on Stonefire. Neil Westhaven—he was someone who betrayed our clan, Hayley—had used it as a sort of secret meeting space. Given the chance, he probably would've used it to launch some sort of devastating attack, assassination, or any kind of nefarious plan in his quest for power and control."

Kai jumped in. "We sealed it off for a year or so, and made it harder to access since the teenage dragons love to sneak around down there. But once things settled a little, after Bram mated Evie and Neil was taken care of, Bram and I decided we should have it as a sort of emergency command center in case anyone tried to invade."

"You wanted to use that place to defend Stonefire with just regular weapons?" Nathan asked. "I couldn't find anything to launch a weapon or monitor the surface from the computers in the bunker."

"There is a way to access both the surface cameras and some stun gun-like contraptions, but it's another puzzle only a handful know about." Kai looked at Hayley. "I trust you aren't going to turn us into the DDA for that."

Because the weapons hadn't been reported, and hence were illegal.

She sat up a little taller. "Of course not. I've dealt with people trying to kill me before, and there's nothing wrong with taking precautions."

Nathan gently squeezed Hayley's hand, and she smiled at him.

Bram's voice interrupted the moment. "Who, now, has tried to kill you?"

Hayley looked sheepish. "Er, I can tell you about that later. I can't imagine they'd come here. Especially since it's been a few years."

Kai raised his eyebrows. "You should've disclosed that straight away. I can't protect you if I don't know about your enemies."

Hayley glanced down at their joined hands. "I know, and I'm sorry." She met Kai's gaze again. "But I truly think they've forgotten about me by this point. Regardless, I'll tell you everything in the morning, I promise."

Nathan was about to ask if he could have some time alone with Hayley when Bram jumped in. "Aye, and is there anything else you two would like to share? Because judging by how you and Nathan act, I suspect something's going on between you two."

He glanced at Hayley, and she nodded her permission. Nathan moved his gaze to Bram again. "She's my true mate, Bram. But she still hasn't decided what to do about it."

Bram smiled. "The decision is yours, lass. But if you choose to mate Nathan, Stonefire will welcome you. And not just because then we'd have an on-call solicitor."

He winked, and Hayley laughed. Only because Nathan knew Bram was happily mated did he not growl and glare at his clan leader.

Nathan stifled a yawn and did his best to look alert. However, leave it to Kai to notice something. His boss said, "We can talk more in the morning. Just one last thing—you can't share the details of where you've been for the last few days. You can say you got stuck in one of the known secret rooms, but that's it. I know it's a lot to ask you to lie. However, Bram and I suspect there is someone unhappy with the number of humans in Stonefire these days, and we're unsure of what they might do in the future, if they feel threatened further."

Since Nathan had been the one to find the chatter online, on a supposedly secret message board, Nathan already knew about the potential threat. Someone was saying no more humans should be allowed to move to Stonefire, and their reasoning was a distraction—that other clans needed human mates first. But the undertones hinted at resentment, more than anything.

He finally lost the battle and yawned. Hayley turned, caressed his forehead, and said, "We can finish this tomorrow. Nathan needs to sleep so he can heal."

He leaned into her touch. "I know better than to argue with you."

Bram chuckled. "That's our cue to leave. We'll check in with you again tomorrow, just in case you think of any more questions."

Hayley said, "Oh, I have more. Especially about the treasure hoard we found."

Bram frowned and Nathan explained, "The artifact storage area."

"Right. Just don't mention that yet to anyone, either."

Hayley bobbed her head. "I know. But I have some ideas we can discuss later."

After Kai and Bram said their goodbyes, Nathan struggled to keep his eyes open.

And soon he fell asleep, with Hayley caressing his face, and dreamed of when he could finally claim her as his mate.