Page 9 of Red Fury

She clears her throat and hands me the pen. “If you could just sign on the marked lines…”

I flip through the NDA quickly, scanning the legal jargon without really reading it.

I found her.

And she’s not at all what I expected.

Firstly, she’s asheand not ahe. And then, she’s beautiful…that and dangerous. So fucking dangerous because she’s positioned perfectly to have access to every piece of information that crosses Harrison’s desk.

This is worse than I ever imagined.

Fuuuuuck!

I initial the applicable areas and then sign the document with a flourish and hand it back to her. “All set.”

“Perfect.” She files the papers away. “You’re scheduled to start tomorrow morning at seven. Welcome on board.” She looks down at the document. “Damien…is it?

“That’s right.” I stand, straightening my jacket. “And you are…?” My voice is hesitant.

“Claire Douglas.”

“I…”

Webb approaches, pocketing his phone. “All done?”

“Yep,” I say

Claire Douglas. Yeah, right, and I’m Santa-fucking-Claus. I wonder what her real name is.

More importantly, I wonder what the hell she’s doing here and what kind of information she’s been feeding back to Draig Island. The thought of a Draiger having that level of access to Homeland Security intel makes my dragon snarl.

Did she recognize me? Does she know I’m a shifter too?

It doesn’t matter, either way. I need more intel on her, and then I need to confront her. I’ll decide where to go from there. Only one thing is for certain: I can’t trust her. Not one bit.

4

Shadow

The lights of his apartment went dark hours ago. I get out of my vehicle, looking down the street. I’m two blocks away from Damien Marsh’s apartment building.

Damien Marsh.

Hah! Like hell that’s his real name. The lying bastard isn’t even human, let alone some ex-Army Ranger turned security specialist.

I can still smell the smoke on him from our encounter earlier today. Dragon smoke. The kind that clings to our skin no matter how much we try to mask it from one another. I’m very much in tune with my dragon. I could smell it, even though many of my kind wouldn’t be able to in their human form. He should have worn cologne or something.

Idiot!

At first, I thought the Council had sent backup. Another Draiger to assist with my mission. But a quick call on my burner to Councilor Reed this afternoon crushed that idea.

Which means only one thing. He’s a Red.

The enemy.

And Council orders were crystal clear. Question him. Find out what he knows and why he is here. Then neutralize the threat.

We know that the Reds are more controlled than we first thought, but him being here is a serious problem. A serious risk to human life and I can’t allow it.