Dragon's Luck: Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance (Shifter Agents Book 3)

by Lauren Esker

  "Before the past week, there were a lot of things I didn't think about." Marius traced patterns in the condensation on his glass.

  "What are you planning to do?" Jen asked. She dropped into the chair beside Lucky and put a hand over the armrest to hook her fingers into his.

  "You mean now, or long-term? Now, I fly home. The rest ..." Marius frowned. "I want to talk to Jen about the rest, actually, on a matter related to her job. If you don't mind giving us a few minutes of privacy."

  "Anything you have to say to me, Lucky can hear. Federal agent business or not."

  Lucky shook his head. "I don't mind. In fact, I'd rather not know. Knock yourselves out." He held out a hand to clasp Marius's. "It's been ..."

  "Interesting?" Marius suggested.

  Lucky grinned. "It was only supposed to be a three-hour tour."

  Marius looked politely baffled.

  "Gilligan's Island reference," Jen explained. She poked Lucky. "Nerd."

  "Someone had to," Lucky said, unrepentant. "Safe flight, Marius. Be careful out there."

  "You too."

  Lucky started to rise, but Jen shook her head. "We'll take a walk."

  The veranda abutted the beach, separated from it by a low tangle of some kind of sprawling green shrub Jen didn't know the name of. It was crisscrossed with narrow paths made by Tuva's kids and other locals. Jen picked her way through, with Marius behind her. Lucky waved from the veranda and picked up his book.

  Early afternoon sun beat down on the beach, the rising heat cooled by the breeze off the ocean. Jen was barefoot in a light sundress, but Marius's idea of dressing down for the tropics didn't seem to have extended to his feet. His dress shoes quickly bogged down in the sand.

  "Take your shoes off," Jen advised. "You'll regret it if you don't, especially if you're getting on a long flight after this."

  Marius sighed and crouched to untie his shoes. He'd healed up enough that he was no longer moving stiffly, she noticed; he even seemed to have free range of motion in his shoulder. The Dragon's Tears probably had a lot to do with that ... but maybe not all of it.

  You're part shifter. I'm sure of it.

  They walked down the beach past the little palm shacks of the poorer fishing families. Drying laundry snapped in the breeze, and chickens pecked and scratched in the shade. A lean, sand-colored dog barked at them; the teenager beside it didn't look up from a game she was playing on a bubblegum-pink cell phone, while fish sizzled in leaf wraps on the stones of an outdoor fireplace next to her.

  "I'm not sure what you have in mind," Jen said. "But you need to know I'm not authorized to speak on behalf of the SCB, let alone the U.S. government."

  "I know," Marius said. "But I trust you a lot more than I trust them. This agency you work for, the SCB—it handles crimes to do with shifters, you said?"

  "Yeah, but I don't have jurisdiction off American soil unless I'm working with another agency. Within U.S. borders, we handle anything that's a little too weird for the other agencies, which in practice is mostly shifter-related stuff." She found herself missing her usual jeans; she wanted something to do with her hands, if only to hook her thumbs through the belt loops. "This is about the Valeria, isn't it?"

  "Have you told your bosses about them yet?"

  Jen shook her head. "Mostly because I've only had short conversations with them on the phone, so far. And that's the kind of news I want to give my boss in person. But I'm going to."

  "Good," Marius said fervently. "Do. And when you do, there's something else you need to tell them. The Valeria is planning something big."

  Jen missed a step, and brushed sand off her calf. "How big is big?"

  "Big as in shifter genocide big, or that's the rumor. Before you ask, I don't know details, and I don't know when or where. I only know they're working on some kind of weapon they mean to deploy against your people."

  Icewater rushed through Jen's veins, despite the heat of the day. "That's pretty damn vague, Marius."

  "I know. I promise you, I will do my best to find out more, and get the information to you however I can."

  "You're planning to be our man on the inside," she said slowly.

  "What else can I do?" he asked. "I've been doing a lot of what you might call soul-searching over the last few days, Jen. Like the mafia, the Valeria isn't something you retire from. Once you're in, you're in. I can't keep helping them in good faith, not knowing what I know. But I can pass information to you and the SCB."

  "How dangerous will it be for you?"

  He gave a soft laugh. "If they find out I'm spying for our most ancient and hated enemy, execution is probably the best thing that could happen to me, as well as the less likely option."

  "For God's sake, then, don't get caught." She turned to face him, catching his hands in hers. "We can help you, if you want to get away. The SCB doesn't have a witness protection program as such, but we've helped set people up with new lives before. We can do that for you."

  "No." He gripped her hands back. "I'm not going to run. I've looked in the face of evil, Jen, and found that the evil was me. If I walk away now, I'll never be able to look at myself in the mirror again."

  "Drama queen," she said, smiling, but she couldn't hold onto it. "Just don't do anything stupid. Stupider than going undercover in an organization that will kill you if they catch you, I mean. Once I get back to the States, I'll get to work on arranging an information pipeline from you to us."

  He nodded.

  "And remember that if you need help, you can always call. Don't wait until you're actually in trouble before you pull out. You're no good to us dead, Marius. Or to yourself."

  "Matteo."

  "Sorry?"

  "Matteo. It's my given name ... before I was Marius. Matteo Taglieri."

  "Matteo," she agreed. "How can I contact you, Matteo? Or—no, perhaps you should contact me, since you can pick a time when it's safe for you to call. You can pretend I'm a girlfriend, a tropical-cruise hookup. Do you have something to write my number on?"

  "Just give it to me. I'm good at memorizing things, and I don't want to have it written down anywhere."

  She gave it to him; he repeated it back perfectly.

  "And now," he said, with an apologetic shrug, "I have a flight to catch."

  Jen surprised herself by tackling him in a hug. He jerked in startlement, and stood stiff as a post before hesitantly and awkwardly patting her back.

  "You're a good person, Matteo," she said into his shoulder. "The world needs decent people more than it needs martyrs. Don't be one."

  "Believe me, I have a vested interest in not dying."

  He extricated himself, and set off down the beach with his shoes dangling from his hand. When he looked back, Jen waved, and he lifted his free hand in a little wave in return.

  She watched until he vanished into the shoppers on the tourist concourse before turning to walk back up the beach to Lucky.

  ***

  After that, the next interruption was the one that finally managed to end their involuntary tropical vacation, when a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier docked in the bay behind the Memphis.

  There was no way the news wasn't going to spread through the town like wildfire, so Jen and Lucky were on the beach along with a crowd of curious locals and tourists when a Navy launch ground gently ashore in the shallow water.

  For Jen's last couple of check-ins with the SCB, she'd gotten one of the other agents instead of Jack. Agent Kemp had told her that Jack was out on an assignment. She hadn't thought much about it—of course he had other cases—but now she realized that she'd been a fool to assume he would have gone off to work on a long-term field case with Jen still in the wind. For that matter, he'd never actually mentioned, in specific terms, where Avery had gotten off to ...

  Jack whooped, standing up in the bow of the launch and waving. He jumped down, boots splashing through the shallow water, and waded ashore to catch Jen up and spin her around. Jack, a bear shifter, wasn't a small guy, and her feet
were nowhere near the ground. She lost her sun hat and was pretty sure half the people on the shore were getting a nice view up the light sundress she'd unwisely worn.

  "Personal space much?" she gasped. "Down, boy! Drop it!"

  "Drop you?" he asked, swinging her out over the water.

  "No! Help! Where's Avery? If you're here, I know he's here somewhere. Avery, help! Your best friend is mauling me!"

  After another spin, Jack dropped her back to the sand and held her out at arm's length, looking at her critically. "You're in girl clothes."

  "They're comfortable, and it's hot. Don't make me put you on the ground, Ross, because I will."

  Avery reached them just then, slogging awkwardly through the sand with his cane. "Jen, it's good to see you."

  She was torn between punching him or hugging him, but decided to go for the hugging option. "I can't believe you commandeered an aircraft carrier to come find me."

  "It was going our way anyway, and Jack had connections."

  Jack was a former soldier and mercenary, and he seemed to know people everywhere. Also, he was a lying liar that lied. She punched him in the arm, not gently.

  "Whatever happened to 'check in daily, Jen, and we won't come pull you out'?"

  "I never said we wouldn't; I just said we'd crank up the worry-o-meter if you didn't check in."

  "If an aircraft carrier is your idea of not worrying, I'd hate to see what would've happened if you went all out. How the hell did you find me?"

  Jack snorted. "We're professional investigators, remember? Do this for a living? Ring any bells?"

  Lucky came up behind her just then, more hesitant than she was used to seeing him. "Got your hat," he murmured, brushing the sand off and handing it to her.

  She'd been willing to let him fade into the crowd if he wanted to, and tried to calm the little swoop and dip in her stomach as he took up a position by her elbow. The men's attention oriented on him with laserlike focus. Jen made waving introduction motions with both hands. "Lucky, these are the assholes I work with. Assholes, this is Lucky."

  Jack held out a hand. "Jack Ross. You know, I knew a guy called Lucky once."

  "Was he?" Lucky asked, shaking his hand.

  "Hell no. We cleaned him out at poker every night. That's why we called him that."

  "You and I should have a go," Lucky said cheerfully. "You can find out if I'm a better player than your other Lucky or not."

  Jen thought about warning Jack, then decided not to. Some people had to find things out the hard way.

  ***

  They had an early dinner, or possibly a late lunch, at a beachfront restaurant with a few of Jack's buddies from the aircraft carrier. The conversation steered clear of shifter-related topics until the Navy guys had gone off to see what else the island had to offer for their brief shore leave, leaving the four shifters on their own.

  Jen wasn't precisely drunk, but she'd had enough drinks to be relaxed and lazy. She oozed onto Lucky's shoulder, half in and half out of his lap.

  "So this is new," Jack remarked, holding up a finger to the bartender for another beer. "We take our eyes off you for five minutes, Cho, and you go and find yourself a boyfriend."

  "I thought that's what always happened on cruises." Jen squeezed Lucky's leg. "Love Boat and all that, right?" She had to lift Lucky's arm to give him a hint, but he finally caught a clue and put his arm around her. He'd been very subdued throughout the meal, letting the others do most of the talking.

  "That thing out there is not the Love Boat," Avery said. "It's the biggest eyesore I've seen off the Vegas Strip."

  "Avery! When were you in Vegas? How much did you lose? Spill!"

  "Jack dragged me there," Avery muttered. "In our wild, younger, single days."

  "Your wild single days which are all of six months behind you." She reached across the table to poke his arm. "I'm surprised you didn't drag Nicole along for a tropical vacation."

  "A tropical vacation on an aircraft carrier? Yeah, that'd go over well."

  "Which brings us to the serious part of the conversation," Jack said, leaning forward with his fresh beer dripping condensation over the side of his hand. "We're here to take you back, Jen, and Stiers is going to want a good explanation for why you went out of touch for the better part of a week and turned up with nothing, or so I gather, to show for it except a sunburn and a new boyfriend. No offense," he added, tipping his beer to Lucky.

  "None taken," Lucky said.

  "I wouldn't say nothing," Jen protested. "I'm pretty sure I've put a big dent in the Dragon's Tears trade, at least on the U.S. side of the border."

  Jack looked interested. "Really? You tracked it back to the source?"

  "In a ... manner of speaking," she hedged. Oh God, this report was going to be a bugger to write. And the SCB's coverup department, if they ever found out the pertinent details, would nail her hide to the wall for simply walking away and leaving organized crime to handle the fallout from a group of shifters being revealed to an entire cruise ship full of people. In all honesty, she figured Lucia would probably do a more effective job than the SCB ever could—especially given Lucia's very personal investment in the outcome—but she didn't expect them to believe that.

  Lucky squeezed her shoulder and kissed her on the ear. Then he gently untangled himself and stood up. "Jen, I appreciate what you're willing to do for me. But you don't have to. Finish your drinks and settle up your bill, boys. I'm going to show you something you haven't seen before."

  Minutes later, they walked through gathering tropical dusk, past the commercial part of the town where bars spilled music and light and drunk tourists into the night. Lucky held Jen's hand. Jack and Avery were talking quietly behind them.

  "You don't have to do this," Jen murmured.

  "Just tell me one thing," he answered softly. "You trust those two, don't you?"

  "With my life," she said without hesitation.

  "And, even if I don't know them, I trust that. The SCB, as a whole, is a different story. I guess we'll all have to figure out how much your bosses are willing to believe ... or not believe. But I'm willing to try this your way, if you're willing to take it at my speed, and let me decide how much to share, or not share."

  "I will. Just so we're on the same page, are you keeping the luck thing under wraps?"

  "For now," he said. "Let's test the waters with the dragon first."

  "Fair enough."

  Leaving the town behind, they followed a goat-wide path through dense vegetation to the water's edge. It was hard to find places near the town that were even slightly private, without trespassing on the resorts' private beaches. But Tuva and her kids had pointed Lucky and Jen to a headland where remnants of harder volcanic extrusions broke up the beach into smaller clefts and niches, shielding swimming shifters from curious eyes. Well-trampled sand indicated that the place was a popular hangout of local kids, probably for that reason, but it wasn't hard to find a sheltered spot beneath the overhanging rocks.

  Lucky shed his clothes on the rocky strand, damp with ocean spray. The moon glimmered across the water as he waded in.

  "Skinny dipping?" Avery asked. He sat on a boulder with his cane leaning against his leg. He'd handled the scramble across the slippery rocks better than Jen was afraid he might, but he was clearly hurting a little now.

  "Just gonna show you something," Lucky said. "Jen says she trusts you, so I'm going to trust you too. I want you to know I'm not in the habit of doing that. But where it goes from here ... well, I guess that's up to you."

  He raised his arms.

  "Show-off," Jen called.

  Lucky's teeth flashed in a bright, white grin. "Hey, if I can't get a little theatrical, what's the point?"

  His body lengthened, and wings curved around his sides, spreading to fill the night. Jen was amused and unsurprised to see that he'd chosen a large and impressive size, nothing at all like her first introduction to his shifted form.

  Ankle-deep in the shallow water at t
he edge of the Pacific, the dragon looked down at them, green and gold and black, his horns framed against the moon. And Jen grinned, drinking in the stunned looks on Jack and Avery's faces.

  "Guys, do I have one hell of a debrief for you."

  Epilogue: Seattle

  Seattle welcomed Jen back to its bosom with four solid days of rain and temperatures dipping near freezing. She thought about turning around and getting right back on the plane, but she had a feeling that if she tried, Jack and Avery would drag her bodily to Seattle soil. There was only so long she could manage to duck the inevitable debriefing.

  During her first few days back in the U.S., Jen spent a lot of time in Division Chief Stiers' office with the door shut, going over the Valeria situation. She was even pulled into a long teleconference with Curtis Easton, the SCB's director in DC, who she had never spoken to before. It seemed that she'd earned herself a little unwanted notoriety by coming back with not just one but two pieces of brand-new intel for the SCB. Avery pointed out she might get a promotion out of it. ("Right, because that sounds like a lot of fun for everyone. I'd last three days at a desk job before I murdered someone, Hollen; are you high.")

  When she'd last seen Lucky on the island, he had let her know that, as far as he was concerned, the decision of who to tell about the dragons was up to her; he wasn't going to try to stop her. She had given some thought on the flight to keeping it a secret even from Stiers and Easton. Avery and Jack would have backed her up on it, she knew, though they wouldn't have been happy about it. But in the end she gave her boss, and her boss's boss, an expurgated but generally accurate version of events on the Memphis, emphasizing that the Dragon's Tears trade had been stopped (in the U.S. only, but that was part of the expurgated portion). She expected that, given other circumstances, they would have grilled her more thoroughly about the gaps in her report, but the news of the Valeria was a sufficient distraction that she managed to skim through the hazier areas without too much difficulty.