She lightly hit his chest. "There you go flattering me again. You're getting quite good at it."
He itched to kiss her, but he somehow resisted as more eyes watched them. "It's merely the truth, and you know how much I like that."
She laughed, squeezed his hand, and pushed him toward the door. "Go on, or they might start thinking Lachlan MacKintosh is a lazy, tardy, unreliable employee, and we can't have that." She lowered her voice for his ears only. "Impress them, love. So they'll let you keep your job."
He hated how the DDA kept stringing him along as to whether he could still work with them or not. He sighed. "You're right."
She put a hand to her ear. "What was that? Say it again?"
He growled and fought the urge to lightly smack her bum. "You're right. Now, I'm off." He murmured into her ear, "I love you."
She murmured back, "I love you too."
He reluctantly let go of her hand and exited the main art space. As he headed toward the Protector building, he focused on the facts and rehearsed speeches he'd give to the first round of visitors. He needed everything to go perfectly. Not just for him or for the sake of good public relations.
No, the whole event was about showing how dragon-shifters were just like humans in so many ways, emphasizing how they were more alike than different. And he desperately wanted that to become more mainstream so one day his child would face a better future.
Entering the Protector building, he went to greet the guests and geared himself up to be more charming than he'd ever been in his life.
Cat and the other artists somehow managed to breathe and not cause some sort of major paint-spilling catastrophe as the first group of humans and dragon-shifters were shown around the warehouse art space.
Her relief at how well things were going was only amplified as she met Lachlan's gaze across the room as he motioned for the others to exit.
His look told her everyone was pleased so far.
Her dragon yawned. Of course they were. We're all brilliant.
I know that, but it's a wee bit different than having friends around, aye? They were scrutinizing everything, even asking to look into drawers and things.
Which seems ridiculous to me. How can paintbrushes or even pencils be interesting?
Just because you don't have any interest doesn't mean others won't. Remember, this is mostly funded via the DDA and some company donations.
More human stuff I don't care about.
She snorted and noticed one of the human artists named Christopher walking toward her. The male had a shaved head, dark skin, and was one of the quieter ones in the group. Still, Cat was determined to win him over before he eventually left with everyone else.
She smiled at him. "Hiya, Christopher. Do you need something?"
He stopped right in front of her, a slight frown between his eyebrows. "It may be nothing, but I noticed one of the tour members hanging back a bit in the hallway when I was returning from the toilet. I was about to ask him if he needed help when he said no and walked away. However, it was in the opposite direction of the tour flow."
Her dragon was fully alert. We need to tell Faye and Grant.
She nodded and asked, "Can you come with me, to tell the Protectors everything you can remember about the male?"
He shrugged. "I suppose."
"Brilliant." She motioned toward the exit. "Let's not waste any time."
They made their way toward the wee room being used for security surveillance. After a quick exchange, she left Christopher and headed back toward the main art space.
She didn't want to be paranoid, but she kept her eyes and ears open for the slightest sound. She may not be a Protector or have worked with the army, but every dragon-shifter learned to make the most of the supersensitive hearing and reflexes as a child.
However, she reached the main art space without incident. She made it halfway into the room before she was bombarded with the smell of some kind of pouring medium, overpowering the vanilla oil she used to try and mask other scents.
The smell was worse than any paint, so much stronger, and her stomach churned with the remnants of her breakfast.
She dashed out of the room and ran for the toilet. Cat reached it just in time to lose her stomach into the porcelain bowl.
Once she finished, flushed, and rinsed out her mouth, she went about washing her hands. She'd just about finished when she heard some knocking and swearing coming from the other side of the wall, where there was another isolated toilet room.
Under normal circumstances, she'd go see if they needed help.
But with someone possibly roaming the halls, she wasn't going to be stupid and check it out herself.
No, she'd tell the Protectors and let them handle it.
Cat slowly left the room and managed to walk about ten feet down the hall before something exploded behind her, sending her flying forward until she landed and the world went black.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lachlan had just handed off the tour group to two Protectors who would lead them back to the main entrance when the building shook as a rumbling roar filled the air.
A beat later, he could instantly smell smoke in the air, meaning fire, and his stomach dropped as he thought of one thing—he had to find Cat.
Lachlan ran down the hallway toward the main art space but was caught from behind by someone. He turned to see Grant. Not caring about anything but finding Cat, he growled, "Let me the fuck go, Grant."
"No. It's not safe."
He still struggled. "Cat, is she okay? I need to see her." Pain flashed in Grant's eyes, and his heart stopped beating. "No, no, no. She can't be dead."
The dragonman shook his head. "I don't know. We're still searching."
Meaning she might still be alive.
No, she had to be alive.
Lachlan struggled harder against Grant's arms, needing to find the one person who meant everything to him.
He'd nearly broken free of Grant's grip when another set of arms held him back. He barely noted it was Kai Sutherland—the Protector from Stonefire—as the dragonman said, "If you want to help her, stay here so we don't have to bloody waste resources going after you."
Part of his brain knew Kai was right. And yet, the need to see Cat, to hold her, to kiss her, and tell her how he loved her, still fought with his rational side, and he couldn't seem to stop trying to get free.
When yet another dragon-shifter appeared and looked about ready to hold him as well, Lachlan finally stopped struggling; he'd never win against the three of them.
His eyes prickled with tears—and not from the thicker smoke in the air, either—but he fought them off as he cleared his throat and demanded, "What's being done to find her and the others?"
Kai answered, "The trained fire rescue team is evacuating everyone they can and keeping us informed via walkie-talkies. You need to leave. Now. We don't know if the building is going to collapse yet, and I'd rather focus on finding the other survivors instead of standing here, restraining your arse."
Survivors. The word implied some hadn't made it.
With his whole heart, all he wanted to do was run and find Cat. To make sure she was one of the survivors.