Hidden Dragons by Emma Holly Read Free Book Online Page A

friend’s back plus authority over the others suited Rick’s personality. To him, being number one was too much pressure. Being number two was perfect.
    Watching Adam fall in love and get married the previous year had required some adjusting. Luckily, Rick was over that. Adam’s wife Ari had become his friend as well, and her bringing a new baby into the pack made both him and his wolf feel good. When it came down to it, Rick was a simple soul. He wasn’t prone to brooding or bad moods. He loved his family, his pack, and his job—pretty much in that order. As long as they were safe, he could deal with a change or two.
    Weird though this case was on its surface, it seemed unlikely to threaten that.
    On the other hand, if they had stumbled over a fae conspiracy, best to keep the information within the family. The first thing Rick did after entering the squad room was walk straight to Adam’s office, yank out his bottom drawer, and activate the anti-eavesdropping charm Adam kept stored there. Per usual, Adam had been hanging in the squad room with his men. He followed Rick into the windowed office. Seeing his second making himself at home, he snorted humorously.
    “Should I shut the blinds for you?” he offered.
    “Sure,” Rick said, knowing his alpha was too secure to take offense. “At the least, we’ll want it dark to watch this footage.”
    He stuck a thumb drive into the port on Adam’s computer. By this time, the squad had squeezed around Adam’s desk to watch. Silence reigned while the faeries fought like Errol Flynn on steroids. Considering the combatants were more or less superhuman, it didn’t surprise that the clash ranged from the tracks to the platform and the steel-beamed ceiling. Both faeries had meant business, the action moving so fast that more than once Rick had to slow the playback. The video ended with the EMTs arrival.
    Tony whistled in regret for all of them. “Now I’m really sorry I didn’t get Sword Guy. That lady faerie was badass.”
    “Does her outfit look familiar?” Rick asked. “I swear I’ve seen it before.”
    “Maybe,” Adam said unsurely.
    Nate Rivera, their snazziest dresser and maybe their sharpest tack, snapped long fingers. “ Mini-Dragons to the Rescue! Evina’s kids are obsessed with that cartoon. That black costume is what the dragon keepers’ protectors wear.”
    Just last weekend, Nate had married a weretiger. She had two kids already, whom Nate was adopting.
    “The dragon keepers’ protectors?” Adam repeated.
    “There’s a Dragon Guild on the show. The keepers train the dragons, and the protectors safeguard them.” Nate sounded sheepish for knowing.
    “That’s right,” Tony said. “Ethan watches that all the time.”
    Ethan was Tony and Rick’s nephew. Like most kids, he loved dragons. Rick had seen snippets of the show himself every Sunday he babysat.
    “So . . . what then?” Adam said. “Our vic is a mini-dragon fanatic?”
    A tingle took hold of Rick’s shoulders. “Maybe she’s a member of the actual Dragon Guild.”
    “Dragons are extinct,” Adam said. “The big ones, anyway.”
    “They’re extinct here . We don’t know everything that goes on in Faerie.”
    “What I miss?” Carmine asked from the door. The final member of their squad was an uncle figure, a good-natured stocky older wolf who’d once been their only married detective. He’d been questioning a suspect in another case. Rick assumed he’d finished.
    “Scooch in,” Adam said. “And shut the door behind you.”
    Carmine’s bushy brows shot up at the extra security measures. He listened attentively while Rick went through his account again. The longer Rick talked, the more unsettled he was by his own story. The sword fight in the subway couldn’t be all there was to this. Resurrection’s mysterious fae founders must be up to something.
    “That’s what she said?” Carmine asked when he finished. “You have to protect some woman, and the destiny of the city