Page 49 of The Dragon Recruit
Her dragon spoke up.Stop thinking and just tell him aye, we want him. We want to give him a chance.
She stepped closer, wrapped her arms around Antony’s neck and opened her mouth to do exactly that when someone knocked on the front door.
Antony cursed, and she tamped down her irritation as she asked, “Were you expecting someone?”
“No. And whoever the bloody hell it is better have a good reason for coming.” He quickly kissed her cheek, the touch fleeting, before charging toward the door. After checking through the peephole, he opened it to reveal a human male Iris didn’t recognize.
Antony did, though, and ushered him inside. Only once he’d shut the door did he ask, “What’s going on?”
He glanced at Iris, and Antony waved a hand toward her. “She can hear anything you have to say.”
The unknown male stated, “We found Jude.”
Iris reached the males just as Antony said, “Don’t make me ask for more.”
The human male nodded. “Right, well, he’s dead. He was found in one of the canals in Manchester. I managed to get the case turned over to us and confiscated all the evidence. However, there wasn’t much. The water destroyed most of it.”
Maybe Iris should let Antony handle this, but her instincts kicked in and she blurted, “What did you find?”
Antony discreetly brushed his pinky against hers and gave a nearly imperceptible nod. He approved.
It shouldn’t mean so much, and yet it did.
Her dragon sighed.I told you he’s different.
Iris focused on the other human’s reply as he said, “His neck was sliced. Not with a knife, but rather a dragon’s talon.”
Iris cursed as Antony said, “But I’d lay everything that it wasn’t done by an actual dragon-shifter. Regardless of Jude’sbetrayal, he was technically the DDA liaison and one of the last people a dragon would attack. The talon could be from a dead dragon, though.”
The male nodded. “I think so, too. The incision is large, meaning someone was in their full dragon form and not partially shifted. And there weren’t any reported dragon sightings in Manchester recently, either.”
Iris spoke up. “There’s a wee chance a dragon killed him and then moved him to the city via a car, but it would be a hell of a lot of work to do so.”
Antony nodded. “I agree. Stephen, did you bring the initial reports with you?”
The male took out a flash drive and handed it over. “It’s all on here, with the usual protections.”
Even though she wanted to ask what they were, she focused on the bigger picture. “Did a human find him?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But as far as I can tell, there aren’t any photos or video on the internet.”
“At least not yet,” Iris muttered.
Stephen shrugged. “It’s the world we live in now. People love true crime and gory photos.”
Antony waved a hand in dismissal. “I have a team who will scour and delete, as necessary. As for the body, I want Dr. Turner to work on the autopsy and see if she can find anything to help us. If even a tiny sliver of the talon is still in the skin, she should be able to extract DNA and go from there. I want you to work with her and do whatever she asks.”
The male sighed. “And I thought you liked me, Holbrook.”
Antony snorted. “Just try not to upset her again. I don’t need more messes to clean up.”
“I’ll do my best.”
After a few last comments, the male left. Antony leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, itseems as if we’ll be going to Birkwood Castle after all. Four hours of sleep and then we’ll pack up and leave.”
Iris studied him, wondering if “business as usual” was his way of brushing off earlier.
But then he walked over, kissed her cheek, and whispered, “We, sadly, don’t have enough time for that. But think of it this way—I now have time to think about how to drive you wild and make you scream even louder.”
