Free Dragon's Honor by Mina Carter Page A

what Baron had ordered, she was not going to hide in there. Fuck waiting around for Sm—Baron, or anyone to come and save her. Someone had made threats on her life and now they’d had the audacity to invade her home. That pissed her the hell off.
    She grabbed the poker and hefted the silver loaded gun in the other hand. Fucking paranormal douchebags who thought they could do whatever the hell they wanted. She’d show them.
    Edging out the door, she glanced down the hall. Most of the front door and surrounding wall was gone, replaced by a shadowy, seething mass.
    With a wordless yell, she fired blindly into it as she ran past toward the kitchen. A roar of pain followed her, making her wince and duck her head as her ears rang with the sound. Her heart pounded as her sprint ate up the distance between her and where she’d left Baron. Did he know about fairies and iron? Probably. He seemed to know more about whatever the hell was going on than she did.
    Reaching the kitchen, she stopped by the door. The room looked like something out of a horror movie. Blood splattered what had been pristine white counters and tiles, small bodies scattered around the room like macabre set dressings. She sucked a breath in, hoping beyond hope the next body she saw wasn’t Barons.
    The breath shuddered free in a sigh of relief when she spotted him over on the other side of the room. His lips were stretched in a wordless bellow as he held a redcap’s head down in the sink, while it struggled and lashed out with booted feet.
    “’ello, pretty.” A harsh whisper made her jump and back up as a wizened face peered around the door frame. An evil look shone in its dark eyes as it looked her up and down. A drop of something dark fell from its cap and down onto its cheek.
    “How about you and me have some fun?”
    Baron roared her name at the same moment the horrible little creature detached itself from the door and launched at her.
    Time slowed to a crawl. She had time to register a bead of sweat slither down her spine, in the hollow where it wasn’t absorbed by her night-gown and robe.
    He lifted his pike, light glittering along the lethal edge as it sped towards her neck. In the absence of any sort of instruction from her frozen brain, her body moved of its own accord. She side-stepped the pike’s descent and swung the poker like it was a baseball bat. But instead of aiming for his face, she recalled the words of one of her martial arts instructors and aimed for two inches behind the back of his head.
    The poker hit with a meaty thunk, the impact reverberating through the metal to her arms and something wet splattered her robe and the wall. The redcap’s body hit the floor like a broken toy. She swallowed hard, backing up.
    She’d killed him. Actually killed him. Bile rose in her throat and tears prickled the back of her eyes. She’d never killed anything before. Hell, she felt sick at the thought of killing anything. She’d cried for weeks as a kid when her pet rabbit had been sick and had to be put down.
    Her left foot slipped on something, sliding out from under her. Unable to keep her balance she went down hard, eyes still riveted on the dead redcap. His wide-open eyes followed her every movement mockingly. Her breath shortened, tension stealing her ability to move as the scream lodged in her throat tried to claw its way free.
    Before she could lose it completely, Baron was there. Pulling her into his arms, he smoothed her hair back from her face.
    “Shh, love. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. I promise.”

Chapter Seven
     
    Honor couldn’t stop shaking. Even tucked into Baron’s side, safe and protected against his heart, she still couldn’t stop the tremors from racking her body. All she could see when she closed her eyes was red blood splashed across white walls. Shivering, she huddled closer, leaning against him as he spoke to the groups who had arrived, as though she could absorb some of his strength, right through