Dragos Takes A Holiday [6.50] Elder Races (12 page)

She clenched her fists. This search was an excruciating gamble, but the alternative was to do nothing and wait, and that was unthinkable.

Eva sat behind her. “Pia, I don’t know what to say,” she said, her voice low and shaken. “I am so desperately sorry this happened. We did everything we usually do. Hugh swore he checked the room when he put Liam down for a nap, even though nobody had been in there since you got him up this morning. I swear to you, the house was locked up tight.”

Locked.

Pia’s head came up. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Dragos asked sharply.

“I was just wondering yesterday what talents or attributes he might have gotten from me.” She pressed her fists against her temples. “No lock can hold him. He did it himself. He climbed out the window, and he must have flown to the road.”

Dragos turned so sharply, both women rocked in their seats. In a burst of power, he drove away from the boats they had been circling and hammered through the air. “I see him.”

Pia’s heart leaped. Maybe there was a way out of this nightmare after all. “You
see
him—where?”

“He’s perched at the top of a mast, half a mile ahead.” A strange mélange of emotions threaded Dragos’s voice.

She shaded her eyes, squinting against the bright light. His predator’s eyes were much sharper than hers. She couldn’t see him.

“A quarter mile away now,” said Dragos. “Dead ahead.”

Then she caught sight of him. He was a small, white figure and from this distance looked very much like a large seagull, flapping his wings every once in a while as the boat rocked. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Oh, thank you, God.”

Thank you, thank you.

“Quiet now,” Dragos ordered. “We don’t have him yet.”

He slowed as he approached the boat, spread his wings and coasted. As they passed overhead like a mammoth ghost, he reached out with one forepaw and scooped Liam up with unerring accuracy. Pia caught a whiff of cigarette smoke as they passed.

Dragos put on a burst of speed. “Got him!”

The unbearable tension broke. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

“Hold on,” Dragos murmured gently. She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her, or to Liam. “We’re almost there.”

He flew straight to shore and landed on a nearby promontory. Pia fell off his back before he came to a full stop, and she landed jarringly on her hands and knees. She ignored the pain and shoved to her feet, turning to face Dragos as he opened up his paw.

Liam exploded out in a flurry of white wings. He arrowed straight toward her and slammed into her chest. She sprawled on the ground with the breath knocked out of her. She didn’t care. She didn’t need to breathe. She clenched him to her.

Hard, strong arms lifted her up, and Dragos held them both tight against his chest, his head bent over them. Liam lifted his snout and licked his father’s face with frantic enthusiasm.

The moment was too painful to be a happy one, too full of the terror of the last few hours, and she embraced it with her whole heart. She stroked Liam’s head, soothing him, and he voluntarily shapeshifted back into his human form and clutched her shirt with both hands.

After a few moments, Dragos lifted his head. His haggard face was damp. “I have a promise to keep.”

“Go,” she said. “Do it.”

He turned a murderous expression toward the boat, stood and walked away. Eva joined her as he shapeshifted into the dragon again and took off. The women watched the sun gleam off his powerful form.

Eva gripped her shoulder. “He isn’t cloaking himself. He wants them to see him coming.”

They were too far away to hear any shouts or cries, but the sound of gunshots cracked across the water. Even though she knew that bullets couldn’t penetrate the dragon’s thick, tough hide, Pia twitched at every one.

Dragos reached the boat, slammed into the mast, took hold of it in both forepaws and snapped it in two. Small, faraway figures leaped into the water as he tore the boat to shreds with a savagery that took Pia’s breath. As the pieces sank under foaming waves, he rose to hover in the air and turn his attention to the men who swam away.

“Nobody threatens my family and lives.” The dragon’s deep voice rolled over the waves like thunder. “Nobody.”

He plummeted down.

Pia turned her attention to Liam’s wide-eyed, round little face. “Don’t look, my love,” she said gently. She put a hand over his eyes and turned away from the sight.

***

Liam was clingy when they got back to the house. Pia didn’t blame him. She felt clingy too. He whined and indicated he was hungry. Dragos pulled a roast chicken from the fridge and set it on the kitchen floor so he could eat. She and Dragos sat on the floor beside him, while Eva and Hugh stood in the doorway and watched.

He gorged until his belly was visibly distended. Then he climbed into Pia’s lap. She pored over every inch of his slender, white body to make sure he hadn’t been injured in any way, and she pressed careful fingers against his rib cage and legs. He didn’t evidence any sign of pain or discomfort. Instead he stretched under her touch, sighing with pleasure, and fell deeply, instantly asleep.

“The young are incredibly resilient,” Dragos murmured. He put a hand lightly on top of Liam’s head.

“For which I’m very grateful,” Pia said. “I wonder if he’s too young to remember what happened.”

His gold gaze flashed up to hers. “I hope he remembers everything. I hope it scared him. He’s got dangerous abilities, and he going to grow up in a world full of enemies. He has to learn discipline early and to not go off by himself.”

“That sounds so hard,” she whispered.

“It
is
hard, but I have faith in him,” Dragos said. “He may be small, but he’s already proven that he has a big soul. He can handle it. And in the meantime, we’ll put bars on his bedroom windows.”

“I want them installed before we get home.” She rubbed dry, tired eyes. The thought of him possibly getting loose outside the penthouse, so high off the ground, made her feel physically ill.

“They will be. I’ll make the call in a few minutes.”

“My lord.” Hugh spoke hesitantly.

Both Pia and Dragos turned to the other man who knelt in front of him. Hugh’s plain, bony face bore an anguished expression. As he opened his mouth to speak, Dragos told him in a weary voice, “Just don’t. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Eva’s fault.”

“If anything, it was our fault,” Pia said. “Liam’s evolving so fast, we haven’t seen in time all the implications of what that might mean. We have to start thinking faster and planning better.”

Hugh didn’t appear convinced, but at least he fell silent.

“Open up a bottle of wine,” Dragos told him. “We’ve all earned a drink.”

The other man’s expression lightened somewhat, and he rose to his feet.

Dragos turned to Pia. He asked telepathically,
How are you doing?

I’m tired
. She looked down at Liam and stroked his back.
And so grateful. And you?

The same.
He paused.
Do you want to go home?

Her head came up.
Hell, no. We are, by God, going to have our vacation. We had a really bad, bad day, but it’s over with now. They were dumb jerks, and I will not let them be that important. Unless, of course, you want to go home.

He smiled.
Hell, no.

She suddenly remembered and said out loud, “There’s a motorboat floating around with a fortune in treasure on it.”

“And more sitting on the ocean floor,” Dragos added.

Hugh handed them each a glass of wine. Pia clinked her glass against Dragos. “You’ve got your work cut out for you tomorrow.”

Epilogue

Liam slept for a very long time. When he woke up, he was cuddled in bed with Mommy under warm, soft covers. As he lifted his head, she said, “Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?”

He nodded and looked at the empty space in the bed.

“Daddy has gone to find the boat we lost, and to collect some treasure. You and I are going to spend the day on the beach. Does that sound good to you?”

He nodded again.

She dressed in shorts and a tank top and took him to the kitchen. He shapeshifted into his dragon form and she fed him a delicious breakfast of tender, sautéed pork tenderloin, which he gobbled up. He watched with interest as she ate her breakfast of cantaloupe and blueberries, until she noticed his attention and offered him bites of fruit. He gobbled that up too.

She looked delighted. “You’re not a carnivore. You’re omnivorous.”

After breakfast they went to the beach. The sun felt deliciously warm. Liam stayed in his dragon form, ignored his other toys, wrapped his forelegs around bunny and fell asleep. He napped and woke, and napped some more, while Mommy read and occasionally frowned at him. Once she asked, “Are you okay, Peanut?”

He nodded and yawned. He was just tired.

Later in the day, Liam rolled to his feet as a motorboat chugged up to the nearby pier. Daddy stood at the wheel, looking satisfied. Mommy scooped Liam up and walked down the pier. Daddy lifted them both into boat, and Liam stared with interest at the soggy suitcase and two metallic containers.

Daddy kissed Mommy. When it was Liam’s turn, he lifted his head for his kiss.

“Did you get it all?” Mommy asked.

Daddy nodded. He threw open the suitcase and the containers.

A bolt of pure love hit Liam.

“Wow!” Mommy said. “We’ve sure got a lot of treasure.”

“Wait a minute.” Daddy sounded amused. “What do you mean ‘we’? I thought this was my treasure.”

“Technically, I don’t think that’s possible anymore.” Mommy sounded smug. “We’re mated, married, and as I just realized the other day, we have no prenup.”

“You just realized that the other day, did you?” Daddy laughed.

Liam couldn’t stand it any longer. He wriggled to get out of Mommy’s arms. As she bent to let him go, he scrambled over to the suitcase as fast as he could and dove into the gold coins. Picking up one coin after the other, he stared at them in complete fascination. Feeling giddy, he rolled around him.

These were the best toys ever.

Now both Mommy and Daddy were laughing as they watched him.

Daddy said, “I’m not sure either you or I own that treasure anymore.”

Liam clutched as many coins as he could in both paws and hugged them to his chest as he gave his parents his best, sunniest smile.

About the Author

Thea Harrison resides in Colorado. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.

She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction. She’s back with her paranormal Elder Races series. You can check out her website at:
www.theaharrison.com
,
and also follow her on Twitter
@TheaHarrison
and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/TheaHarrison
. You can sign up for Thea’s newsletter at
http://theaharrison.com/contact-requests/
.

Look for these titles from Thea Harrison

THE ELDER RACES SERIES

Published by Berkley

Dragon Bound

Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their Dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful–and passionate—of the Elder Races.

As the most feared and respected of the wyrkind, Dragos Cuelebre cannot believe someone had the audacity to steal from him, much less succeed. And when he catches the thief, Dragos spares her life, claiming her as his own to further explore the desire they’ve ignited in one another.

Storm’s Heart

Serpent’s Kiss

Oracle’s Moon

Lord’s Fall

Kinked

ELDER RACES NOVELLAS

Published by Samhain Publishing

True Colors

Meeting your soulmate? Great. Preventing your possible murder? Even better.

Alice Clark, a Wyr and schoolteacher, has had two friends murdered in as many days, and she’s just found the body of a third. She arrives at the scene only minutes before Gideon Riehl, a wolf Wyr and current detective in the Wyr Division of Violent Crime—and, as Alice oh-so-inconveniently recognizes at first sight, her mate.

But the sudden connection Riehl and Alice feel is complicated when the murders are linked to a serial killer who last struck seven years ago, killing seven people in seven days. They have just one night before the killer strikes again.

And every sign points to Alice as the next victim.

Natural Evil

Devil’s Gate

Hunter’s Season

AMANDA CARPENTER ROMANCES

Published by Samhain Publishing

A Deeper Dimension

The Wall

A Damaged Trust

The Great Escape

Flashback

OTHER WORKS BY THEA HARRISON

Dragos Takes a Holiday

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven