Darcy shrugged and said around her bite of food, “Perhaps they didn’t know it was Dreagan.”
“They knew. Elena, who you have no’ met yet, was with her boss. Sloan insisted that Elena go caving with her and brought her directly to Dreagan. Sloan died in the middle of their caving. She went down a hole looking for something and the line broke. She fell to her death, leaving Elena in the mountain alone.”
“Obviously Elena didn’t die,” Darcy pointed out.
Warrick shifted to get comfortable in the chair. “Guy and Banan found her. They got her out alive, fortunately. There is a magic barrier around Dreagan to prevent people from stumbling onto our land like that, which is why we were so concerned about their presence. The only place that magic is absent is around the distillery.”
Darcy put together another cracker, cheese, and meat. “What happened to Elena?”
“They questioned her involvement.”
“Sounds familiar,” Darcy mumbled.
Warrick hid his grin. “Guy believed in her though. Elena came up with a plan to return to London and PureGems to discover who had sent Sloan. Three Dragon Kings went with her.”
“And?” Darcy urged when he paused.
“Elena learned that PureGems was working to find anything they could on us. Attention pointed to the CEO. We needed to get close to him, so the Kings began following Jane, who was his secretary. Banan was tasked with uncovering what he could on Jane.”
“I’m seeing a pattern here.”
Warrick ignored her comment. “Jane overheard a conversation the CEO had with Ulrik. It put Jane’s life in danger since Dreagan was mentioned. She was kidnapped to lure us out. Since she was Banan’s mate, he and Rhys had to shift into dragons to rescue her. She heard Ulrik, but she never saw him.”
“Heard him?” Darcy asked. “What’s that mean?”
“Ulrik uses a different voice. He drops the brogue and has a cultured British accent. He kept just out of sight so Jane couldna see him.”
Darcy finished off another cracker and began to make another. “Jane became Banan’s mate, just as Elena became Guy’s?”
Warrick held her gaze for a moment before he nodded. “That’s right. After that incident, things got quiet for a wee bit. Or so we thought. We had no idea there was a faction within MI5 that was working with Ulrik and the Dark. They put together a two-person team to infiltrate Dreagan. They chose a cave of a dragon who had been sleeping for over twelve centuries.
“Denae was sent in with a partner, who was supposed to wound her once they were in the cave. Their plan was that they would then see a dragon come after her, apparently to eat her.”
Darcy’s eyes got big. “Go on.”
“Denae didna go down without a fight. She killed her partner, though she was gravely wounded. Kellan woke during Denae’s fight, and he carried Denae out of the mountain to be healed.”
“Oh, let me guess,” Darcy said with sarcasm. “As well as interrogated.”
“Questioned,” Warrick corrected.
“Hair splitting.”
He shrugged. “Regardless, Denae finally agreed to help us. While trying to get her out of the country with another identity, MI5 and the Dark attacked. Eventually, the Dark took both her and Kellan prisoner looking for a weapon. It was Rhi who facilitated in getting the both of them out of the Dark prison.”
“And Ulrik was responsible for the MI5 focusing on Dreagan as well as the attack on Denae and Kellan?”
“Aye.”
“And the weapon?”
Warrick glanced away as he considered his words. “He told the Dark about the weapon. That’s the only way they would know. It was a secret Con held all these years. The rest of the Kings only recently learned of it ourselves.”
“That weapon could be a game changer, I’m guessing.”
Warrick sighed. “Aye. Ulrik didna give up. We suspect he is either a part of, or runs the Mob. They targeted Jane’s half-sister, Sammi. They blew up her pub and shot her.”
“How do you know that was Ulrik?”
“The bullet Tristan pulled out of Sammi’s shoulder had a dragon etched in it.”
Darcy released a breath. “Oh.”
“The Dark then stepped in and took Sammi prisoner, hoping it would be enough that Tristan would tell them where the weapon was. During that time, Ulrik tried to convince Tristan to join him. Luckily, Tristan was able to get Sammi out.”
“That’s quite a list.”
“I’m no’ done,” Warrick said. “Bordering Dreagan is a fifty acre piece of land that has belonged to the Campbells for generations. They made a pact with us to watch over the border between their land and ours.”
“Why?” Darcy asked as she dusted off her hands and opened the soda. “Why would you get that close to humans who might spill your secret?”
Warrick hated talking about this part. “There is a spot on their land that is an invisible doorway onto ours. We can no’ detect anyone who walks through the doorway. However, it can only be seen by moonlight.”
“What genius put the doorway there?”
“We did. It’s the spot where we killed Ulrik’s woman.”