Dragon Undercover (Dark Scales Division Book 1) Read online

  Dragon Undercover

  Dark Scales Division, Book One

  Lia Davis

  Kerry Adrienne

  After Glows Publishing

  Dragon Undercover

  * * *

  © Copyright 2018 Kerry Adrienne and Lia Davis

  Published by Davis Raynes Publishing

  PO Box 224

  Middleburg, Fl. 32068

  * * *

  Cover by: Glowing Moon Designs

  Formatting by: Glowing Moon Designs

  * * *

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  About Kerry Adrienne

  About Lia Davis

  Dragon Undercover

  * * *

  Dragon shifter and team lead for DSD—Dark Scales Division—Owen Ashton has never lost a case. When his sister’s murderer turns serial killer, he is determined to take the rogue dragon down, for good. His team tracks the murderer to a small town in Minnesota and Owen goes undercover to finally end Huff’s reign of terror. The last thing Owen expected was to discover his mate vacationing in the lake house next to his.

  * * *

  Nadia Hasting, along with her sister Sage, take the first vacation in years since their parents’ deaths. Visiting the lake house their family rented every year when they were children is exactly what they need for downtime before Sage heads to college. The hot neighbor is a bonus, but Nadia isn’t sure she’s ready to date. But the pull toward the sexy stranger proves too strong to ignore.

  * * *

  When Sage goes missing, Nadia turns to Owen to rescue her sister from a mad man. But will Owen’s dragon scare her away from the one man that can save them all?

  1

  The cold metal chains bit into Owen’s wrists and ankles. He jerked and twisted, trying to get free, but they were clamped down too tight. Fury and fear battled inside him. His sister needed him now. She wouldn’t survive the torture much longer, and she was barely twenty, too young to die.

  It was his job to protect her.

  He roared. His dragon repeated the sound in his head, pacing and gnashing its teeth as it trekked across the landscape of his thoughts. The beast wanted out. Wanted to rip the head off the SOB with the knife to his sister’s throat. The bastard planned to carve her up in front of Owen.

  Come on, damn it! No matter how much he tried, his dragon couldn’t break through the bindings the murdering asshole had placed on him. There had to be a way for his human form to get loose so his dragon could surface.

  We’re stronger than this. Jo needs us!

  He yanked his right arm, then his left. He drew back a step and then charged forward, putting his entire weight into freeing the restraints. The dragon within charged at the same time, letting out a fierce growl that turned into a roar right before the bindings snapped apart and the beast emerged.

  The chains fell to the ground with a crash that echoed through the darkness. Large black wings extended as the rest of Owen’s body went through the quick transformation. Within moments, he had four clawed feet, black scales with a single silver scale on his back, and bat-like wings tucked in at his shoulders. His eyes narrowed to fiery slits as anger tore through his veins.

  The basement of the farmhouse was barely big enough for his dragon to stand. Owen didn’t give a fuck. He would save his sister and burst through the wall.

  After he killed the bastard who had tortured her.

  The asshole, who went by the name Roger—which Owen knew was an alias for Liam—backed away from Jo. Fear made the male’s eyes grow round. Instead of changing into his dragon and fighting, the coward ran. No.

  He teleported.

  In a flash, he was gone.

  Owen roared again. The sound shook the walls, and fragments of loosened paint and dirt fluttered through the air like paper confetti.

  Jo’s fragile body slammed to the floor, and Owen’s heart stilled for several beats. The tangy scent of her blood flooded the air.

  He nudged her with his snout. No response. She couldn’t die. She was all he had left. His only family.

  NO!

  * * *

  The piercing groan of an air horn startled him awake, and Owen shot upright in bed, the covers tangled around him. It took a few moments before the dream faded from his thoughts. The darkness, the farmhouse, Jo.

  Where am I? He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the vision away.

  The lakehouse. Another mission.

  He was hunting down the bastard who killed Jo and a few others since. All the victims were young women who looked like his sister.

  The damn air horn went off again, bringing his attention to his phone. A low growl rumbled from his chest. His teammates at Dark Scales Division, DSD, thought they were funny. The ring leader of pranks was Courtney—the lone female on the team. She’d likely been the one to set the air horn sound to startle him.

  He’d prank her back, and she’d wish she’d never tried to match wits with him. He snorted.

  After placing his feet on the cool wooden floor, he answered the offensive phone and snarled in response.

  “Good morning, sunshine! I see you made it. How late did you get in?” Courtney’s chipper voice sounded on the other end of the line.

  He fought the urge to snap at her. No one should be so perky in the morning. Hell, Courtney was perky all the time. It was unnatural. “After midnight. Spent the rest of the night setting up surveillance around the woods and the house and getting my shit unpacked.” Owen raked his fingers through his short black hair.

  “Did I call too early?”

  “No,” he spoke through clenched teeth. “Just taking me a minute to wake up.”

  The dream nagged at him like it always did. He’d need to go for a run. Maybe let his dragon out to soar through the warm air over the lake. Clear his mind.

  The death of his sister had killed a part of his humanity. The longer the murderer was loose, the crazier his dragon became. The beast wanted revenge—and he would get it, one way or another.

  They would get it. Owen and his dragon would tear the killer to pieces. As soon as they found him.

  Pulling the cell from his ear, he set it on speakerphone and walked to the living room of the two-bedroom, modest lake house located on Coon Lake in Minnesota. The area was quiet and somewhat secluded. “I see why East Bethel is a good place for the bastard to lay low.”

  “Yeah. It’s rural enough to hide, yet close enough to Minneapolis.” Courtney’s tone was clipped. “But it wasn’t
secluded enough. We’re pretty sure he’s there.”

  She had been Jo’s best friend and wanted the killer dead almost as much as Owen did. He knew her always chipper personality was to bury her pain from losing Jo, and to make the whole team think everything was okay. We all have our ways of coping.

  “We’ll catch him.” Owen snarled. “I hope you’re right and he’s here. I need him to be here.”

  “I know you do.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Usually, the Council would track a rogue dragon down and eliminate it without hesitation at the first signs of insanity. The Council called on DSD to eradicate threats and take care of things swiftly. Why Liam Huff wasn’t dead after killing the first victim was beyond Owen’s comprehension. What made it worse was Huff had crossed over to serial-killer status, and his latest victims were mortal.

  The piece of shit threatened to expose the dragons to the human world. That couldn’t happen. DSD needed to take him down as quickly as possible, before they had an even bigger issue on their hands.

  “Be sure you catch him. You know how to reach us for backup.” Courtney paused. “There is a small general store about a mile from you. I only stocked the house with the essentials, so you’ll have to pick up anything else you need. Huff’s file was delivered this morning. Usual protocol.”

  “Thanks. I’ll check on it. I don’t plan to be here long.”

  She continued, her voice trembling with repressed anger. “You know the incantation for breaking the protection spell, right?”

  “Of course, I do. I’m ready. Don’t doubt it.”

  “Good. We’ll have limited communication until Huff is dead. You make that happen. We’ll be on standby. Later.”

  Owen grinned as she cut the connection. The female knew him too well. Owen didn’t bring his rogues in alive. Ever.

  Huff would be no exception.

  Glancing around the room, he focused and searched for a ripple or some other kind of magical signature hanging in the air, just in case he’d been compromised. When he didn’t find anything, he moved to his laptop on the desk in front of the living room window overlooking the neighbor’s dock.

  The view was spectacular. The lake spread out like a large pool, its surface clear and glassy. Trees lined the shore, and a lone log floated about ten yards from the water’s edge. He understood why people came here to vacation.

  The area was damn peaceful. The perfect hiding place for a killer.

  He pulled his gaze from the lake back to his laptop. A few clicks later, he had the video feed of the front and back doors open. Courtney had found a house with installed security cameras, as he’d requested. He couldn’t take chances with Liam around.

  He scanned the footage. At about three in the morning, he saw his DSD team member, Snow, place an evidence box on the back porch, then set the palm-sized onyx on top of it. A moment later, the box disappeared from sight.

  Before Snow left, he stared into the camera, smirked, and gave a salute.

  Smartass.

  It was the cocky bastard’s way of saying the team was there, waiting for Owen’s command. He sighed. There might not be enough of Liam left for the others to take their shots.

  He closed out the security apps and then the laptop before heading to the back door. When he stepped out in the pleasantly warm summer air, he caught female voices. They were distant but near enough to be at the house next to him.

  His drew his brows together as he turned the corner of the small porch and spoke the one word that released the spell Snow had cast. “JoAnna.”

  Each team member had their own incantation that was worked into each magickal act they performed. Only the six of them knew the words. But words could be figured out, so for spells like the one the onyx stone held, they created security that only responded to the timbre and pacing of each of their voices.

  The rectangular evidence box appeared, wavering in the sunlight. It was full. Owen had read each page. Several times.

  Still, he would comb through all the files again. And maybe many more times until he figured out the hidden pattern. It was there, he knew, and come hell or high water, he was going to crack it. Liam Huff was smart enough and crazy enough to leave a puzzle for Owen to piece together in his sick game of cat and mouse—or dragon and dragon. The sick bastard loved tormenting people and especially enjoyed taunting the DSD dragons tailing him.

  But no way would Owen allow the asshole to get away again.

  After carrying the box inside, placing it in his bedroom, and locking it away under a spell again, he changed into his joggers, white tank top, and runners.

  Fresh air and sunshine would clear the fog, and he’d be able to focus. He couldn’t have picked a better area to go for a run. The sunlight angled off the lake into the trees, creating spokes of light across the driveway. He took in a deep breath and set off running.

  When he reached the end of the driveway, a giggle drew his attention to the house to his right. The females he had heard a little while ago were unloading a red four-door sedan. He paused and watched them. They both had blonde hair, one darker than the other—maybe with a hint of red. Her scent wafted to him on the breeze and he flinched.

  The urge to go to them and introduce himself was strong. His dragon wanted to get closer, but Owen couldn’t be distracted.

  The female with the lighter hair pulled a suitcase out of the trunk and dropped it. She giggled again. The other—older one, now that he focused on them—pursed her lips. “You packed way too much. We’re only here for a week.”

  “I had to make sure I had everything I’d need.”

  “Did you have to pack all your shoes?” The older female crossed her arms.

  The younger one laughed. “Of course! You never know when you might need spiked heels or sparkling flats.”

  His dragon begged. Why? Without listening to his own advice about needing to go for a run, he cut across the yard to theirs. When he stepped onto the driveway, the females stilled and stared. The older one moved forward as if to protect the younger one.

  Good.

  Owen stopped a few feet from them, his heart thudding even though he’d not even begun his trek. “I’m staying in the house next door. I was about to go for a run and heard you, so I thought I’d introduce myself since we’ll be neighbors for a while.”

  Wow, did that sound as lame to them as it did to him? He’d been so focused on the case he’d let his people skills get rusty. Hopefully, the women didn’t think he was a creeper.

  Now that he was closer, he saw the older female’s hair was a beautiful strawberry blonde, cropped at her shoulders and sparkling in the sunshine. Her eyes were the palest green he’d ever seen. His gaze lingered on her a bit longer than he intended.

  She forced a smile and held out her hand. “Welcome to Coon Lake.” A nervous laugh escaped. “I’m Nadia, and this is my sister, Sage.”

  He acknowledged each of them, noting Sage fit Huff’s victim profile—blonde, young, and blue-eyed. In fact, she looked a lot like Jo. A pang formed in his chest. His dragon growled, and he stifled it so the females wouldn’t notice. The back of his throat burned.

  Yeah, he needed to go on that run.

  Shaking Nadia’s hand, he smiled and stared into her eyes. “I’m Owen.”

  “Are you here alone?”

  He nodded once, then shook out of the trance he’d fallen into. She was beautiful and smelled like heaven. A blast of heat hit him like an inferno, and a single word popped in his head that brought him the rest the way out of whatever the hell had come over him.

  Mate.

  No…

  He’d just found his mate in the middle of hunting down a serial killer.

  Fuck.

  Hell yes, he had. His dragon strained against its human confines. Mate!

  Owen swallowed hard. He had to get control of himself before he scared the females away. “I’m…here on vacation. My family is a little nuts, and sometimes, I need time to myself. So I decided t
o come here and relax.” He kicked at the ground. He hated lying, but it was a necessary part of the job. He couldn’t reveal his true intentions. More people would be put at risk, and that wasn’t going to happen on his watch.

  “I totally understand. Well, used to.” She frowned and turned away from him to pick up Sage’s suitcase.

  Owen stepped up and took it from her. “Allow me.”

  She hesitated for several moments, then nodded. “Thank you.”

  He followed them to the house, which was slightly bigger than his. He’d have to come back while they slept to place cameras around the perimeter. If Huff was hiding out at the lake, he’d go straight for Sage.

  “Are you two on vacation?” Stupid question. He groaned.

  Nadia let out a soft laugh. “Yes. Sage heads off to college soon, so we decided to come down and spend a week together. Sister time.”

  “Sounds like a fun and relaxing idea.”

  “We thought so.” Sage eyed him with a grin. “Looks like we made the right decision.”

  Nadia scowled at Sage, and Sage’s grin widened.

  His dragon paced and begged to be set free to claim Nadia. Owen had to get out of her spell, away from her, before his dragon forced himself out.

  Mate!

  He edged back. “I’ll see you around then. I’m going to get my run in.”

  His heart hammered while the dragon snapped its teeth, not liking they were walking away from their mate.

  Sage called to him. “Come back for dinner tomorrow night? We’ll cook.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and noted how Nadia’s cheeks colored.