Page 23 of The Dragon Recruit
Five Protectors sat along one side of a long table, with an empty seat at the end, most likely saved for her. A human female Iris recognized—Alice Darby, although she’d dyed her hair a less noticeable brown now—sat at the foot of the table. The side opposite the Protectors had a mixture of humans and dragons she’d never met.
And, of course, Antony sat at the head of the table.
She addressed the male. “Why didn’t you tell me everyone was already here and waiting for me?”
Antony replied, “I needed Dr. Turner’s final blood results before I could summon you. And you’re completely cleared now, Iris. So sit down and let’s get started.”
She bit her tongue, not wanting to seem petty in front of her fellow Protectors, and nodded at Kai from Stonefire as she took the empty seat. She’d worked with him many times over the years and trusted him the most in the room.
She wondered if the other head Protectors would accept her or not. Female Protectors were becoming more common, but some males still had old-fashioned ideas.
However, before she could greet anyone, Antony spoke again. “We may not all trust each other yet, but if this mission is to be a success, then we need to share information and not be afraid to ask for help. I won’t have egos getting in the way—you’re all equal for this assignment. And if you can’t accept that, then leave now.”
Everyone glanced around, but no one left.
Not that Iris could blame them. For a human, Antony knew how to thread his voice with dominance like a dragon clan leader. Her dragon rumbled, but thankfully stayed quiet, no doubt wanting to make some innuendo about him in bed.
After a few more beats, Antony continued. “Right, then let’s get this meeting started. First up is our DDA liaison, Alice Darby.”
The human female snorted. “Liaison is a bit of a stretch. But yes, I’m to formally report back to the DDA Director even though I’m not your typical DDA employee. Antony recruited me because, after making some foolish mistakes as a teenager, I managed to hide from several DDA-like agencies for ten years. And during that time, I learned about the black markets and groups who wanted to kill dragon-shifters, hoping I could find a way to destroy them.”
Alice was referring to the illegal sale of dragon’s blood, which had extraordinary healing abilities. However, it usually only ended up on the black market if someone had drained a dragon of blood, killing them.
Kaine Ferris from Northcastle frowned. “We’ve been trying to stop the sale of dragon’s blood on the black markets for years. Any information could’ve helped, so why haven’t you shared this before?”
“I have, with Antony and his team. I was ordered to keep it quiet from anyone else.”
Iris’s gaze shot to the human male’s, but he didn’t so much as blink before saying, “There will be a lot of surprises in the coming days, so you’d better get used to it. As you recall, the rogue dragon-shifters have been a problem for years now. And since there are sympathetic clan members in every dragon clan, we had to be extra careful and not risk this information getting out.”
Iris asked, “Who is the ‘we’ you’re talking about?”
Antony shook his head. “For now, let’s just focus on the mission and then maybe you can learn more about who I work for.”
Just as Kaine was about to ask something else, one of Antony’s team members jumped in, his accent Northern Irish. “You have secrets too, Ferris, so don’t play all high-and-mighty.” Kaine’s gaze shot to the unknown dragonman, and he continued, “But just like I won’t reveal how there are quite a few humans living on Northcastle without permission, you won’t share any of the information discussed here.”
Kaine didn’t even attempt to look sheepish. “You’re from Northern Ireland and a dragon-shifter, and yet I have no fucking idea who you are.”
“I’m Joseph Doyle, at your service. And all I’ll say is my father was human, and my parents were shunned. So I grew up on the lam.”
Until recently, few human males had been allowed to mate and live with female dragon-shifters. If a female dragon had fallen in love or found her true mate in a human, her only choices had been to leave her clan or reject them to stay with her people.
Since Scotland had a splinter clan, Seahaven, full of human and dragon mated pairs who’d been kicked off Lochguard in the past—in the time before Finn Stewart—Iris asked, “Is there asmaller clan in Northern Ireland, then, where your parents and others went to live?”
Joseph replied, “Maybe I’ll answer that in time.”
She was about to ask another question when Antony spoke up. “You all will have time later to get to know each other, especially with your assigned partners for this assignment. Steering us back on track, let me share your pairings now. Iris will be with me. Kaine, you’ll be working with Joseph. Kai, you’ll be with Trina. Wren, you’re with Christopher. Killian, you’ll be with Kerry. And Robin, you’ll be with Gavin. The dragon-dragon pairings will need to be more careful. Because, sadly, I don’t have more humans to work with right now.”
Trina spoke up. “Three died a few months ago and they haven’t been replaced yet.”
Iris studied the human female with black hair, dark brown eyes, and light tan skin. “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I? Weren’t you an informant first and then showed up later during a mission?”
“Yes, I helped with Jake Swift.”
The human male had been kidnapped, and as he’d fallen in love with a female dragon on Lochguard, they’d rescued him. But even so, there was something familiar about her she couldn’t place, almost like she reminded Iris of someone.
Antony’s voice garnered her attention. “I’ll go over your individual assignments in private. But first, Iris is going to tell us everything she can about experiencing the dangerous gas and living to tell the tale.”
All eyes turned toward her, but she didn’t blink. She’d taught flight maneuvers to Protectors and teenagers for years and didn’t mind public speaking. “Well, here’s what I noticed…”
