Dragon's Blood (Black Planet Book 1) by Belinda McBride

side. It just… rose up. It picked me up and threw me. I hit a wall.” Her skull had been slightly fractured from the blow, her arm broken. She’d lain there, stunned and hurt, listening to Lisa’s horrified screams. When she pulled herself upright, the thing had already ripped open Lisa’s throat, and was feeding…
    “I tried to run, to get away, but it caught me. We were on a dock. It… it forced my head backward into the water. I’d start to pass out, and then it would pull me up, force me to breathe.” Blood had stained that horrible face. Dank, wet hair straggled down. Its clothing was shredded and torn and filthy with Lisa’s blood. And other things.
    “I don’t remember, but they tell me it raped me. That’s why… surgery…”
    His breath left his chest. “Annie…”
    “Don’t. Don’t feel guilty, Aiden. You didn’t do it. I didn’t do it. I don’t remember it and I doubt I ever will. It is what it is.”
    Still, she heard his heart slam in his chest. Deliberately, he breathed deeply, clearly an effort to control his raw, violent emotions.
    “You’re ridiculously wise, Annie Tanaka.”
    “I guess that’s better than being ridiculously stupid.”
    “No, that would be me.”
    “No. No, you aren’t.”
    He shifted, resting his head on her breast, and she enjoyed the weight, and she twined her fingers into his curls.
    “Did you really mean it?” he asked.
    “Yes, I love you, Aiden. I don’t know what it means though.”
    “It means when this is over, we’ve got something to work on. A future.”
    “A future.” She stared up at the ceiling, seeing the slow spread of water stains, an unspoken promise that eventually, even Wharf would fall. “It’s been a long time since I thought about my future.”

Chapter Seven
    W hen she woke up , he was gone.
    The blue silk robe lay neatly over a chair. His smell lingered on her pillows. For a moment, she felt anger, and then let it go. This was new to both of them. He undoubtedly needed space.
    He’d drawn the blinds, blocking the light from the room. Annie pulled herself from bed, showered, and shuffled into the small kitchen to make tea. He’d left a note by the teapot, telling her he’d gone to hustle a fight.
    Two days and two nights, if the thing stayed on schedule.
    She hadn’t figured out a strategy to neutralize the killer. She was currently without her department sidearm, she’d surrendered it before going undercover. Weapons were stripped before entering a fight cage. She could carry her own when Aiden fought though.
    Annie carried her tea to an old trunk, opening the carved lid carefully. The pungent fragrance of old wood rushed up, flooding the room. Her swords and staff were stored in a weapons rack on the wall. She didn’t want those. She couldn’t hide them in a crowd.
    She shuffled through the contents, finding her old kung fu silks, brilliant red and light as air. She sorted through possessions of her grandfather’s. She lifted out his tiny bonsai pruning kit and smiled, setting it aside with a few other treasures.
    Guo Lee didn’t approve of hidden weapons. Actually, the only weapons he approved of were the staff and sword, but nonetheless, she had a pair of sturdy nunchaku and a pair of butterfly swords. He’d agreed to teach her the butterfly swords because they were traditionally a defensive weapon, unsharpened from hilt to mid-way up the blade. This set had been designed to fit the length of Annie’s forearm. Not an ideal weapon for taking on the creature they would be facing, but good in an emergency. She squatted, considering her weapons cache, and then methodically stowed her treasures away once again.
    Annie rose and stood in front of her weapons rack, looking for a long time before making her selection. She chose a shorter length, innocuous looking staff. Not so long that it would impair her movement, but with enough length to hold a monster at bay. There was another sword as well. This one hung on the wall.