Page 38 of The Dragon Recruit
“Aye, the mission.”
Her dragon huffed.We can do both.
Not now, dragon. But maybe later.
Hmm. At least you’re coming around, aye?
Realizing that she was standing and saying nothing, she pointed to her eyes. “Whilst I understand the benefit of wearing these special contacts in the city or in large groups of humans, they probably make me look like a dolt when I don’t reply right away.”
“Dolt, huh?” She narrowed her eyes, and he chuckled. “Fine, fine. I’m not one to criticize, given how I usually talk like a posh twit. Mostly on purpose, since it unnerves people.”
She joined him at the door. “You seem to be rather good at unnerving people in general, aye?”
“It’s a skill, I assure you.” He pressed a button, and the door slid open. “Now, come on. We’ll stop by the small cafe on the way to your quarters so you can have something to eat. You were sleeping on the road, and I didn’t want to wake you.”
Her stomach rumbled at that exact moment, the traitor. “Aye, that sounds good.” She noticed the assistant was gone. “Where did he go?”
“Eddie’s shift ended soon after we went into my office.” He offered his arm, like in the days of old.
Iris hesitantly threaded hers through his, instantly recognizing how firm his muscles were. She squeezed his arm with hers. “Definitely fit.”
Had she really just said that out loud?
Her dragon merely laughed inside her head.
Antony gently tugged, and they started walking. “This way, before you make me change my mind about needing sleep.”
And as he pointed out the various rooms along the way, she mentally sighed in relief. His charm was dangerous, and it wouldn’t take much more for her to forget her purpose here and proceed to strip him, ride him, and see if he really lived up to his words.
Her dragon spoke up.Aye, we’ll do that soon enough. First the enemies, then we claim our male.
Iris should argue that he wasn’t theirs. But she was tired, ignored her beast, and did her best not to think about what life would be like in the future if Antony Holbrook was indeed hers to claim.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Iris eyed the car and sighed. “I hate these things.”
Antony raised an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, it’s illegal for me to hitch a basket to you and fly through the air. If you’d even allow it. So this is all we have.”
She slid into the car, and once he did too, she replied, “I wouldn’t mind carrying you, and I even know how to keep you from falling out since we train with rock-filled baskets. Because in emergencies, aye, we’re allowed to carry humans in the air.”
“I highly doubt your dislike of cars would count as an emergency. Plus, we couldn’t remain inconspicuous, given where we’re going, and we need to be.”
He turned on the engine and backed up as she said, “It’s going to take forever to reach Inverness with a car, though.”
Antony had barely told her the basics of their assignment today—they needed to investigate a lead in Inverness, Scotland—before herding them out the door and to the car.
Her dragon spoke up.At least heissharing information, aye?
I know, I know. Now, hush.
Once Antony drove out of the facility and back to the single-track road, she asked, “If it was so important to drive here in the dark, why are we now driving in the daylight?”
Antony pressed a button on the dashboard before replying, “There. My latest gadget should keep prying ears from hearing anything said in here. To answer your question, I’m more careful about leaving the research facility in London than leaving this place in the Peak District. It’s fairly common knowledge, if you know where to look, that Wicked Security is set up here. As such, we’re prepared for any and all attacks. However, the research facility in London is harder to protect, since it’s not as isolated. The less back-and-forth traffic we show, the better.”
She suspected there was more he wasn’t telling her. However, Iris knew her special clearance hadn’t come through yet, so she didn’t push and focused on what she could ask. “Aye, well, then back to Inverness. You promised that once we were on the road, you’d tell me more about what we need to do there.”
He nodded. “We’re going to visit my former protégé, Jude Nickerson. At one point, I’d picked him to replace me when I retired. However, after he had a run-in with a fringe group of former Dragon Knights and broke his back, he couldn’t move like he used to, not even after he was fully recovered from surgery. In fact, he had to be retired from the field altogether.”
