Hidden Dragons by Emma Holly Read Free Book Online Page B

depends on it?”
    “She might have been nuts,” Tony suggested, seemingly for the hell of it. He’d braced his back against Adam’s shelves of procedural manuals. He was relaxed now, easy among his pack. “Faeries live so long sometimes they go bonkers.”
    Barring death by violence or misadventure, faeries were immortal.
    “I’ve heard rumors that in their own realm, they occasionally get so tired of their lives they erase their memories. Actually self-induce complete amnesia.”
    This contribution came from Nate. Third in the pack hierarchy, he sat on the corner of Adam’s desk, one alligator-booted foot wagging where he’d pulled it across his knee. Some might consider his posture—and his position—presumptuous, but that was Nate for you. Rick had learned not to get his back up every time Nate got big for his britches.
    Adam reinforced who Rick was in the pecking order by addressing him directly. “Did the fae seem crazy to you?”
    “No.” Rick was careful not to deliver his opinion as if it were established fact. “A little dramatic, but not unhinged.” His hand was still in his pocket. He hesitated, then decided to pull out the object his fingers were curled around. “She gave me this before she died.”
    He opened his palm, looking at what he held for the first time himself. That was weird, he realized. Logically, he should have peeked by now.
    “Are those brass knuckles?” Carmine asked, leaning forward with the rest.
    They certainly looked like it. They had four finger holes, plus a bracing loop on the bottom to fit the palm. Short sharp spikes topped the circles, guaranteeing being punched by them would do damage. Incised runes marked the metal’s curves, suggesting more mystical defenses. Oddly, though the faerie’s hand had been slender, these rings were suitably sized for him.
    “I think they’re electrum,” Tony said, one finger stretched toward the silvery gold metal.
    Rick didn’t jerk his hand away, but he should have. The instant Tony’s fingertip connected, a spark the size of a walnut zapped out at him.
    “Ouch,” Tony said, electrocuted fingertip in his mouth. “You didn’t warn me that thing bites.”
    Rick looked at it. “I didn’t know it would.”
    Because he was Nate, Adam’s third tried to touch it with the same results.
    “The pureblood keyed it to you,” Adam concluded.
    “But why?” Rick was utterly flummoxed now. He was an ordinary wolf, not the sort a faerie would involve in anything important.
    “Because you’re ‘The One,’” Carmine teased, quote marks obvious from his tone. “You’re supposed to warn some chickie she’s in danger.”
    “I swear I have no idea what she meant.”
    “Don’t you?” Adam peered at him. “She claimed you already knew who the woman was.”
    “That doesn’t mean I do!”
    “Put them on,” Carmine suggested. “Maybe the pureblood keyed the answer into them.”
    “What if it isn’t safe?” Rick said, feeling uncomfortably hemmed in. “If the knuckles are enchanted, maybe one of the department psychics should vet them first.”
    Even as he made the suggestion, his fingers closed over the faerie’s gift. His brain was at war with his instincts. They didn’t want anyone touching this thing but him.
    Adam didn’t miss the unconscious gesture. He put all his alpha soothing into his voice. “Hang onto to them for now. You know there are no coincidences in Resurrection. We’ll follow what leads we’ve got, and maybe an answer will come to you.”
    Rick opened his mouth to repeat his denial. Before he could, a tiny tickle of something nudged the back of his awareness. It was like trying to remember the words to a song he’d caught himself humming. Rick almost saw a face. A scent came with it, a sensation of old longing. Muscles tightened in his chest. He realized his groin was heavy and hot, like he was about to throw wood.
    Sheesh , he thought, startled by the reaction. Rick was a normal guy. He got boners,