She studied him a second. "I think you're lying."
How the fuck did she know that? Wes was extremely good at hiding his true thoughts. It was almost a requirement to be clan leader. After all, letting your emotions dance all over your face would only reveal weaknesses to be exploited. "Do you really want to waste time bringing Dr. Carter in to repeat the same information, just because you wanted to display your power over me?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I think we should call the doctor. Not because I'm running a power play, but because you're lying, and I want to know why. You may not see Victoria as anything more than a baby machine, but she's my charge and duty. I'm the one tasked with protecting her, and I won't let her down."
Her dedication and loyalty only made him want to rush over to her, pull Ashley against his body, and kiss the living shit out of the human.
She was like his waking dream made real.
No. He wanted to growl in frustration at the impossible, but resisted. He didn't have any other choice. "Look, Ashley, I have something to take care of inside my clan, something that doesn't involve you. If you want to pull your ADDA superiority training out and make this into a contest of wills, I'll win in the end. You know it. So just believe me when I say Victoria is safe"—for the moment—"and she'll meet you again in a few days. So leave and go take care of whatever other babysitting duties you have."
She leaned forward, and it took everything he had not to stare at her plumped up breasts.
Fuck, what she did to him. His clan was about to devolve into crisis if he didn't act fast, and here he was, wondering what her naked breasts looked like.
After staring at him a few beats, she uncrossed her arms and sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But have Victoria call me as soon as possible. If I don't hear from her by the end of the day, I'll file a complaint and come back. And next time, I won't leave, either, until I see her." The human turned toward the door but stopped to add, "You're hiding something, Wes. And I'll find out what it is eventually. Remember that."
He was hiding more than one thing, but he remained silent and didn't change his expression.
Ashley finally exited the room, and as soon as the door clicked closed, Wes ran his fingers through his hair and let his dragon out of the cage.
His beast growled. The more she stands up to us, the more I want her.
I know, dragon. Me too.
But they could never have her.
After straightening up and taking a few deep breaths, he moved to the monitor at his desk and watched the security feed until Ashley drove out of the tunnel and off PineRock's lands.
The temptation gone, he dashed out of his office, shouting a few things to his assistant, and headed toward Victoria's cabin.
It was time to get the shitstorm under control and put his clan to rights.
Before becoming clan leader, he'd been an investigator of sorts, working with humans to locate missing persons or solve mysteries in the more remote locations that could only really be accessed via helicopter or dragonwing. If he hadn't gone for the clan leadership, he probably would've earned his way into the joint human-dragon police unit for the greater Tahoe area by now, one of only a handful of such cooperations in the entire country.
It may have been a few years since he'd used them, but Wes hoped his skills were still sharp enough. If he didn't solve who had possibly tried to kill the human, and soon, he'd have no choice but to send Victoria to either ADDA or one of the other dragon clans for protection.
And given how happy the female had made Jose, he didn't want to do that. And not just because sending her away could make his dragon go insane, either.
So he picked up his pace and ran, the exercise helping his brain to focus.
After all, the crime was an attack on his leadership, too. And while the humans liked their laws and various warnings via paperwork, dragons needed more. He'd just have to figure out what the hell to do to reach both the human and dragon halves of his clan members.
Chapter Twelve
After Dr. Carter had cleared Victoria's health, three Protector escorts took both her and Jose to his parents' house. No doubt it would've been easier to keep them inside the security building, but there weren't any long-term living quarters inside it. As Victoria and Jose had left, Cris muttered about changing that as soon as she could.
Once they'd finally seen her and Jose inside the Santos's house, the Protectors went to various posts around the perimeter to stand guard.
It se
emed Victoria would be stuck inside the house until further notice.
While it was petty to resent it, she'd had so little freedom already. Now she might have even less.
Only Jose maneuvering her to his lap, murmuring how he loved her, kept her from becoming completely worried and a little depressed about their situation. It wasn't every day someone tried to kill you, after all.
Since Jose's parents were both still at work, and Gaby was in South Lake Tahoe getting ready for her own lottery, it was just the two of them.