Page 31 of The Dragon Recruit
Percy Smith, now Wells, was a former prisoner that had been assaulted and isolated, raised without knowing how to be a dragon-shifter. She’d eventually mated Bronx Wells and now had a child.
But Antony hurting a random dragon-shifter wasn’t even the worst part of his tale. He steeled himself for Iris to rail at him.
However, Iris didn’t shout or scold but instead crossed her arms over her chest and replied, “Aye, well, I won’t tell him. I understand having to do things you don’t like for the greater good. But getting back to your story—you passed their test and became a dragon hunter. How does this tie into your fiancée being killed?”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I’m getting to that. I had to meet with my contact from Wicked Security every week. He wanted to retire and was training his replacement, who was a dragon-shifter I’d always disliked. The replacement bragged about everything, and being young, I kept trying to prove I was better than him.
“So later, when his mentor had to take a call and we were alone, he taunted me about not getting any information yet. And because it was taking so long, my fiancée had to be lonely and maybe he should try to steal her away from me since dragon-shifters took better care of their women. And even though his mentor returned, and the dragonman remained silent for the rest of the meeting, his challenge lingered. So I started taking risks and ignoring precautions—I wanted to find out where they drained the dragons of their blood. And just when I thought I’d figured it all out, I was caught.”
Taking a second, Antony kept the memories locked away. He’d been tortured a few times in his life, and yet, he still had nightmares whenever he tried to sort through the memories.
And with everything going on, he couldn’t afford to have any.
Iris asked, “They hurt you, didn’t they?”
His gaze shot to hers. “Yes.”
She nodded. “I was captured by a group of young dragon hunters briefly, once. I escaped, but not before they drugged me with something to keep me from shifting and then proceeded to beat the crap out of me.”
Anger shot through him. “Who?”
“Over the years, I’ve captured most of them and turned them over to the DDA. One of them, though, works closely with Simon Bourne now. So if you want to help me take care of him, we need to take down the dragon hunters entirely.”
“Give me his name now.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You sound like a growly dragonman, aye?”
“The dragon hunters have hurt too many people over the years. They deserve to be taken down, and some of them need to be punished.”
“Is that something else your little group does, then? You fly under the radar and don’t obey the law?”
“We do. Mostly. There are some gray areas, but even those have limits.”
She studied him a second before saying, “You want me to ask about the limits and forget about your first mission. But that won’t work, aye?”
“Caught that, did you, my dear? Well done. It usually works with the other members of my team.”
“Antony, stop stalling and tell me the rest. You said you would.”
“I did, didn’t I?” He sighed. “Well, back to me being tortured. I survived without saying a word. However, I mentioned Lisa’s name in my sleep one night and it was enough. They dumped me outside our place, and I went inside. Where I found her…”
Seeing her lifeless body on the ground, naked, with her throat slit, was something he’d never forget.
Iris laid a hand on his arm, bringing him back to the present. “It’s okay. You don’t have to go into the details.”
He shook his head. “No, I should. Just so you fully understand what you’re getting into with me.”
“Then tell me.”
After taking a deep breath, Antony kept his eyes on the road and said, “They’d raped her and then slit her throat. After that, they wrote a message on the wall in her blood:She’s dead because of you. You’re next.”
Dead because of you.For months, the words had haunted him. Only through the strict training and routine of Wicked Security had he pulled out of the dark, dark place he’d been in.
An image of Lisa, smiling at him and kissing him hello when he returned from work, flashed into his mind. Such a sweet soul had been snuffed out too early. A bright future, full of love, extinguished because he’d been a selfish bastard.
His old guilt crashed down over him, and Antony struggled to pull over to the side of the road. Once the engine was off, he leaned his head against the headrest, closed his eyes, and did his best to pull himself together. He was close, so close, to the beginning of the end of the dragon hunters. And he bloody well wouldn’t let them win, all these years later.
Defeating them was the only way to avenge his first love.
