The Dragon’s Chance by Jessie Donovan

Chapter Two

Present Day

Jake Swift pulled his rental car up to the large, metal gates of Clan Lochguard and hoped he hadn't made a huge mistake coming here unannounced.

It had been about a year since he and Sylvia had shared that night together in Glasgow. The one he hadn't been able to stop thinking about.

And not just because of the sex—which had been fucking fantastic—but also because of the teasing during the baking competition all the way through to him holding her once they were exhausted, him falling asleep with the dragonwoman in his arms.

It may have only been one damned day, but he'd never felt so at ease around a woman before.

And yet she'd left before he'd woken up. There'd been no note, nothing.

He'd looked for her the other two days of the expo, but she hadn't been anywhere.

And just as he'd thought about driving up to Lochguard, he'd gotten the call about a kitchen fire at one of his restaurants.

So he'd hightailed it back to San Francisco and dealt with the emergency. He'd thought about flying back to Scotland after that, but then his older sister had received word that her son had been killed during an attack in Afghanistan.

Months had passed as he helped his family through the tragedy, being the shoulder his sister needed to lean on since she'd lost her husband a few years ago, until it'd been about a year since that night. He'd attended the yearly expo again, hoping to see her, but Sylvia hadn't been anywhere.

Maybe some would think him foolish, or desperate, or some other negative description to chase a woman who had left in the middle of the night.

However, Jake liked answers and knowing things for certain. He wasn't a man who liked what-ifs distracting him.

So he'd taken a gamble and driven up to the Highlands of Scotland.

Where he now sat in front of the huge metal gates, emblazoned with the clan’s name in twisted metal, wondering if Sylvia would want to see him.

He was a fairly confident guy, but she'd slipped away while he'd been asleep for a reason.

However, his gut didn't think it was because she was married, or anything like that. But there had been sadness and shadows in Sylvia's eyes at times, when she thought he hadn't been looking.

He wished he knew why. Maybe that was the reason she'd fled.

Again, stupid fucking what-ifs.

He'd change that today if it killed him. Even if she turned him away, he'd take it. Not without a little talking first, to find out the reason, but at least he'd know the truth and be able to figure out what came next.

The speaker next to the car came to life, garnering his attention as a Scottish male voice asked, "Who're you?"

"My name's Jake Swift. I'm here to see Sylvia MacAllister."

A brief silence, and then the voice asked, "Is she expecting you?"

He wondered about the three-second pause but pushed it aside. "No. But I do have permission to be here, though. I can show you my paperwork if you let me inside."

His cousin Ashley had pulled some strings for this visit. Even now, her voice rang inside his head: "Are you sure about this, Jake? I'm more than willing to pull in a favor for my dearest cousin, but she might not want to see you."

He'd told her he needed to at least try to talk with Sylvia. And bless his cousin, she'd dropped her questioning and had coordinated what she could, telling him to call her anytime if he needed help with either the UK Department of Dragon Affairs or for any kind of information about dragon-shifters in general.

Of course, if the damn Scottish dragons didn't let him inside, it would all be for naught.

The voice finally ordered, "Drive straight until the first building, turn into the car park on the left, and wait for someone to collect you."

The gate swung inward, and Jake's heart thumped as he followed the directions and parked the car.

As he waited, he resisted running a hand through his hair. Jake wasn't usually nervous about anything, and yet all his fantasies and what-if musings would be decided soon.

He only hoped he'd made the right choice. His gut was great at making business decisions, but not so much with women.

He was forty-three and had never been married. Hell, after his one failed engagement in his early twenties, he'd never again wanted to be married, preferring to throw everything he had into his restaurants.

Even so, Sylvia had been so much more than any of the women he'd dated in the past. One day with her had been more life-changing than most of his time with his ex-fiancée.

Let's hope you're not being a fucking idiot and merely thinking with your dick, Jake.

He'd had plenty of time to replay sex with Sylvia. And yes, the orgasms had easily been the best of his life.

But teasing her had been just as fun, as had them barking orders at each other as they'd made their three-tier cake. Not to mention he'd enjoyed playing with her dragon half as well.

Maybe he'd read into everything wrong, but regardless of what happened, he'd made the right choice in coming here. It was better to know for certain than to wonder about what could've happened forever.

A pair of people came out of the building in front of his car—a dragonman and woman, judging by their tattoos. The woman had wild, curly hair and an older baby propped on her hip. The man had brown hair and wore a serious expression. The dragonman motioned for Jake to come out of the car.

Grabbing his paperwork, he did and stood in front of them.

The dragonwoman murmured, "Aye, I thought it had to be him. Seeing him, there's no doubt."

Jake frowned. "Excuse me?"

The dragonman gave the woman a meaningful glance and then focused his intense gaze back on Jake. "I'm Grant, and this is Faye. We're in charge of security here. Now, follow us and we'll talk inside."

The baby—wearing a little sailor dress and cardigan—reached out a hand toward him and Jake smiled. "Hello, little one. Who're you?"

Grant grunted, but the woman spoke before he could. "This is our daughter, Isla. Say hi to the human, Isla."

She waved and the baby mimicked her.

Even though his nieces and nephew were all grown now, he remembered what they'd been like at the same age. He waved back. "Hi, Isla. I'm Jake. Nice to meet you."

Faye whispered, "He sounds funny because he's American. But we won't hold it against him."

Jake snorted, but the dragonman spoke up before he could reply. "Come on."

He waited for Faye to go first, and then Jake followed her, with the intense dragonman coming up behind him.

They passed a few people as they went into the main entrance and down the hall. Everyone stared at him with strange looks, which he didn't understand.

From the small research packet Ashley had given him, he knew there were other humans living on Lochguard. So he wasn't exactly an anomaly.

Faye opened a door and walked into the room. Jake followed. Inside was a table surrounded by some chairs, as well as a long mirror along one wall. He suspected it was some sort of observation one.

Grant motioned for him to sit. Once they all did, Jake pushed his paperwork toward them. "You can see I'm allowed to visit, if that's your concern. All I want to do is talk with Sylvia MacAllister."

As Grant scanned the documents, Faye asked, "Why?"

He was honest but gave the bare minimum. "We met at the restaurant expo last year and hit it off. She left before I could get her information, and I didn't see her there this year. So I thought to come up here and say hello."

Grant gave Jake back his papers. "Aye, you have the credentials. However, I'll be leaving it to Sylvia as to whether she wants to see you or not." He stood. "Wait here."

Since Jake wasn't entirely sure if Sylvia would want to see her one-night stand again, he hadn't expected anything less.

Grant looked at Faye and raised his brows, but she shook her head. "I'm going to stay here."

"Faye…"

"Give me some credit, Grant. I just want to chat with him."

The pair had some sort of wordless conversation until Grant sighed. "Fine. I'll be back shortly with an answer, and I'll have some tea sent in."

"With lots of biscuits, too," Faye added.

With a nod, Grant left Jake alone with Faye and her daughter.

As she absently bounced her daughter in her lap, Faye said, "So how about you tell me about you and your family?"

And so he answered a series of strange questions as he waited.

* * *

Sylvia finished changingher three-month-old daughter, Sophie's, nappy and hoisted her up against her shoulder. "There, now, you're all clean, lassie. Maybe you'll take a nap for your dear mummy, aye?"

Sophie squirmed a little and drooled on Sylvia's shoulder.

As she lightly patted her daughter's back and swayed gently, she mentally crossed her fingers her bairn would sleep. The last few nights had been a constant battle, with Sophie crying more often than not and Sylvia barely keeping her eyes open.

Her inner dragon spoke. The doctor said she's fine. She's just a restless one.

Aye, and more stubborn than any of my other children, which is saying something.

Her dragon paused and then added, It could be because of her father. Of course we don't know since you haven't bothered to look for him.

She resisted sighing. We've been over this, dragon. I don't know where to find him. And the expo organizers said they wouldn’t pass a message to another attendee for us, either. Besides, Sophie needs all our attention, aye? She's what matters.

Sylvia loved all six of her children, but Sophie was her second chance in more ways than one.

Not only had her pregnancy somehow helped cure her illness—Dr. Layla McFarland thought it might have something to do with Sophie's human half since tests revealed human hormones improved results—but Sylvia had struggled to take care of her other five children when her mate had been murdered. Her eldest daughter, Cat, had stepped in to help with the family until Sylvia had been able to drag herself out of her deep depression.

This time around, she was going to devote everything to her daughter. She'd be the mum she always should've been.

Her beast said gently, You did the best you could. Losing Arthur devastated us both.

It did, but it still doesn't excuse my actions. Wee Jamie had only been ten at the time.

Jamie was her youngest son. He's twenty-two now and turned out fine.

Sophie squirmed and started crying again.

Ignoring her dragon, she sat down and tried feeding her daughter.

When that didn't work, she tried rocking her and singing her favorite lullaby.

And yet Sophie still cried.

"What's wrong, Sophie Rose? Your mum could use a wee clue."

Sylvia debated asking one of her grown children to help for a short while. Maybe then she could take some paracetamol for her pounding headache and try eating something quickly to give her more strength.

However, someone knocked on the front door before she could make a decision.

Doing her best to soothe her daughter—who continued to cry—she opened the front door to find Grant McFarland—one of Lochguard's head Protectors—standing there. "Grant? Why're you here? Is something wrong?"

Sophie wailed louder, and it took everything Sylvia had to not cry herself out of frustration.

She was frazzled and most definitely not fit for company, but she tried to smile at Grant.

Grant put out his arms. "Let me take the wee lass."

Under normal circumstances, she'd ask if he was sure. But between her lack of sleep, her pounding headache, and frayed nerves, she easily surrendered her daughter.

Grant took Sophie and murmured as he tickled her cheek. Miraculously, Sophie stopped crying.

Trying not to feel like a failure, she took a deep breath and asked, "What's going on, Grant?"

He met her gaze and said, "Jake Swift is here on Lochguard, asking for you."

She stopped breathing a second. "What?"

"He's waiting in the Protector building, asking for you. But I said it was up to you whether you'd see him or not." Grant looked pointedly at Sophie and back to Sylvia. "He's the father, aye?"

She saw no point in lying to Grant and nodded.

He continued, "The decision is yours, Sylvia. Tell me what you want and I'll make it happen."

Memories of Jake's smiling face, his ginger hair, his hands wandering over her body all crashed over her.

Part of her screamed to go see him straight away. And yet the other part said no, she needed to protect Sophie. He'd come intending to find only Sylvia, not a daughter he didn't know existed.

Although not telling him seemed wrong. Regardless of what Jake decided, Sophie would stay on Lochguard. She was half-dragon-shifter, and since the gene to shift into a dragon was always dominant, it meant she had to live with a dragon clan.

Sophie was also young enough that she'd never need to know if her father rejected her.

Although Sylvia would know, which was nearly as bad. Just the thought of having to explain the truth to her daughter when she was older and asked about her dad made her stomach churn.

Even though Sylvia planned to let her daughter constantly know how much she loved her, it may not be enough in the end.

As the room started to spin, she leaned against the doorframe. The lack of sleep and food—when had she last eaten?—was starting to affect her.

Somehow she tamed the dizziness and blurted, "I'll see him."

Grant nodded and held out Sophie. Sylvia reached out to take her, but another wave of dizziness came over her, and she crashed to the floor as the world went black.