Dragon's Honor by Mina Carter Page A

Sherlock. Any other pearls of wisdom to impart?”
    A growl rose in the back of Baron’s throat. Brushing off the fact that she had been leaving, right now that fact wasn’t important, he focused on the facts in front of him. Honor was gone, her car left running and open, which meant one thing. She’d been taken.
    “Shit, shit, and shit .” Pulling the cell from his pocket, he hit the last number on the log and held it to his ear. “Iliona, Honor’s been taken.”
    Wincing, he waited for the outburst from the other end of the line. Iliona had a set of lungs on her when she was pissed, not that he didn’t deserve it for losing their primary…and his mate. But the little human didn’t yell at him. Instead her voice was no-nonsense and business-like.
    “Crap, not good. Any idea who took her?”
    Duke was the one who answered, his preternatural hearing picking up the conversation as easily as though he’d had his ear to the cell as well. “Nothing in the car. No blood, which means she’s alive.”
    Baron relayed the info as they both walked around the car, looking for anything that could help. He took a deep breath and rolled it over his tongue as he would an expensive wine.
    “No scent of redcaps…they wouldn’t have left her unharmed though. Or trolls…” And there would have been damage to the car if either species had taken her. Trolls had a habit of ripping things like doors off, and redcaps were just pike-happy destructive little bastards. Catching the tail end of a scent, he stopped, turning his head this way and that to pin it down. His gaze collided with Duke’s.
    “Dragon.”
    “What do you mean, dragon?”
    Anger welled up inside him, Iliona’s question ignored as his gaze collided with Duke’s. The recognition there was easy to read.
    “Shadow dragon, the one Duke trailed,” Baron ground out, his own dragon fighting to be free of the confining human form. Claws raked the inside of his skin, scales trying to push through the thin layer that separated the beast from freedom. “Get people down to the Croft building. Now .”
    The phone dropped to the asphalt, shattering on contact as Baron let his change sweep over him. The dragon roared with triumph, the sound deepening and expanding as his throat went from human to dragon in the space of a heartbeat. Scales ripped through his skin, the clothing he wore gone in a heartbeat. He’d never questioned where it went during his change, he was just grateful that he didn’t end up naked on the other end like some of the other shifters.
    His fingers and toes lengthened to claws, scoring the drive beneath him, as he spread his wings. With another roar of rage and frustration, he launched himself into the air, heavy wing beats taking him up into the darkness where he felt the most comfortable. It was still night, but morning was coming hard on its heels even as he climbed into the blackness. He was aware of Duke beside him, but retribution and anger burnt away everything but the need to find Honor.
    Before Lambert Sellers did God knew what to her.

Chapter Nine
     
    “Urgggh?”
    As opening lines went, Honor was the first to admit it wasn’t great. The last hour had been the worst of her life. From finding out Baron had been playing a game with her, to being grabbed by a dragon of all things right out of her own car, everything had taken a turn for the surreal. Cracking an eyelid, she risked a look around herself. When whirling, rushing darkness and the tiny lights of buildings below didn’t meet her gaze, she risked opening the other.
    She lay on concrete. The light breeze brought the smells and sounds of the city, telling her she was outside and the communications mast to her left told her that she was at the Croft building. That in itself wasn’t so bad. She worked here, the place was supposed to be safe. The chanting behind her however, informed her that she was up shit creek without a paddle.
    She’d seen enough of Lucy’s para-cops shows to