“You dare to threaten me?” Dragos hauled the Light Fae male close to his hard, angry face. “My wife says that I can’t kill you for being an asshole. She has a much kinder heart than I do. If you or any of your men come anywhere near us, I will take you apart. Slowly.”
The Light Fae male’s face purpled. He clawed at Dragos’s hand and spat out a long string of words in the strange language Pia had noticed last night. She didn’t have to understand what he said to know he wasn’t apologizing.
Pia tried smiling at the waitstaff. They stared at her, frozen. She said, “We’ll pay for the damages, of course, and for everybody’s meal.”
Dragos threw the Light Fae male one-handed across the room. He slammed into the wall and slumped to the floor. Then Dragos stood. He was so quick, so inhumanly graceful for his massive size, that just the simple movement of rising to his feet made the skin at the back of Pia’s neck prickle.
It would set a very bad precedent if he had any clue how he affected her when he behaved so badly, so she tried to play it cool. “You’ve had your fun. Are you done now?”
Eyes still glowing with fury, he stretched his neck and nodded. He bent to pick up the plank and said to the bartender, “Send the bill to Cuelebre Enterprises.”
The bartender nodded.
The Light Fae male lifted his head. His expression underwent a drastic transformation. “Draco.”
Finally. Now that the other male had realized who Dragos was, maybe he would grow some sanity and leave them the hell alone.
Dragos reached Pia, his face like a thundercloud. She held the door open for him. Neither one of them said a word until they had walked back to the SUV. He unlocked the doors with the key fob and threw the plank into the backseat again while Pia climbed in the front.
Sirens sounded in the distance. They grew closer rapidly. For a moment neither Pia nor Dragos moved.
She didn’t even try to hold back on the sarcasm. “I think it went well, don’t you?”
Dragos angled his head and just looked at her. Then he started the engine and drove them back to the house.
When they stepped indoors, Pia tried to shake off the tension that had bunched the muscles between her shoulders. Liam had woken up from his nap and was playing on the floor. As he caught sight of them, he squealed in excitement and crawled toward them.
Dragos scooped him up and sat on one of the couches. Smiling at the baby’s happiness, she joined them.
It took the authorities forty-five minutes to find them. When the knock came at the door, Pia took Liam and grinned at Dragos. “We’re going to go play somewhere else for a while.”
His mouth twitched. Enough time had gone by to allow for his temper to lighten. “Have fun.”
Eva followed Pia and Liam outside, carrying wineglasses and a blanket to spread out on for the baby. They walked down to the beach.
Pia settled on one corner of the blanket. Seagulls hovered over silver-capped waves. The early-evening sun on the water was simply spectacular. She took a deep, satisfying breath of fresh air. “You know, a year ago, I would have stayed in the living room to talk to the police with him, and I would have been all twisted up and anxious about it. Then I realized this stuff doesn’t bother Dragos at all. And I mean, not in the slightest. So why should I get wound up if he doesn’t?”
“You shouldn’t.” Eva kicked one foot over the other and stretched out.
Liam pointed at the seagulls, crowed and flapped his arms. Pia and Eva laughed at his round eyes and excited expression.
Twenty minutes later Dragos strolled onto the beach. He told Eva, “Why don’t you and Hugh take the evening off?”
“You sure?” Eva climbed to her feet. “We haven’t really done anything since we got here.”
Dragos looked at Pia, who nodded. “I’m sure,” he replied. “Just stay close, and stay aware. Let us know if you notice anything that seems off.”
“Will do.” Eva grinned. “Have a good evening.”
“Thanks, you too,” Pia said. Dragos stretched out on the blanket beside her. She handed him her glass of wine while Liam crawled energetically over to climb on his legs. “What did the police have to say?”
“Not much.” He handed the glass back to her, stripped off his T-shirt and stretched out with his arms behind his head. “The Light Fae’s name is Rageon Merrous, and he’s been on their radar for some time. He started showing up on the islands around forty years ago. He’s been linked to the disappearance of a few people and implicated in accidents involving others, but they haven’t actually caught him in a crime, nor have they been able to bring charges against him for anything specific. He was gone from the bar by the time they got there. They’re going to send a police car to patrol this neighborhood while we’re here.”
The sight of his bare chest never failed to bring down the level of her concentration. His physique was simply tremendous. A sprinkle of black hair arrowed down the heavy, powerful muscles in his chest. She laid a hand on the ridged muscles of his warm abdomen and looked out to sea so that she could gain some coherency of mind again. He placed one hand over hers and laced their fingers together.
She asked, “Why does he think the Sebille is his?”
He moved under her hand in a shrug. “Who knows? Maybe he’s a family member of one of the ship’s crew. Maybe he feels he’s entitled to it because he’s been looking for the wreck for so long. Treasure hunters are an obsessive lot, and they can get pretty crazy, especially if they’ve sunk any kind of capital into a serious search.”
“If he’s a family member, does he have a point? I mean, would he have a claim on anything in the wreck?”
“There’s a difference in maritime law regarding salvage versus treasure hunting. Salvage involves recovering property where owners have the right to compensation or return of their property. Treasure hunting is a separate matter, because usually there’s no owner to make a claim on the property.” He shrugged again. “That gets more tangled in Elder law, since so many of us are so long-lived. In this case, though, it’s fairly simple. The one with any potentially legitimate claim is Tatiana as the sponsor of the original expedition. The bottom line is, Merrous doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
She contemplated that for a few moments. “What about Tatiana?”
“If she’s interested in whatever is on that wreck, she can file a petition with the Elder tribunal.” He yawned. “But it’s just as likely she won’t care enough to pay the legal costs.”
She had to smile to herself. Of course he knew so much about treasure rights in maritime law. “So that’s it.”
“Pretty much.” He closed his eyes. “Unless you let me kill him.”
“Oh, no,” she said strongly, twisting at the waist to scowl at him. “You cannot put that on me. You know as well as I do, you can’t kill somebody just because they’re an asshole. We’ve heard some hearsay and a lot of suspicion, but we don’t know if Merrous has actually done anything wrong. If he becomes a real problem, then one way or another we’ll take care of him. Until then, all of this is just male posturing and hot air.”
His smile was lazy and relaxed. “Fair enough.”
Liam had managed to climb on top of Dragos’s legs. Now he crawled up his father’s torso, his small face determined. As Liam kneed Dragos in the crotch, Dragos jackknifed onto his side, laughing, and they dropped the subject for the evening.
After a while Pia went up to the house to collect snacks and another bottle of wine for dinner, and they stayed out on the beach to watch the sunset. She nursed the baby, who fell asleep on her. She, in turn, curled against Dragos’s chest, while he put his arms around her. When she tilted her head back to smile at him, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her with a slow, leisurely thoroughness that never failed to heat her blood.
Happy, she thought. I’m too happy.
She banished that traitorous thought firmly and eventually fell asleep.
She woke sometime later to movement. Dragos had wrapped
her and the baby in the blanket and carried them up the path to the house. She yawned and mumbled, “Stuff on the beach.”
“We’ll get it in the morning,” he said quietly.
He carried them through the shadowed, empty house and laid them gently on the bed. Then he gathered up Liam’s small, sleeping form to carry him to his crib in the other bedroom. Pia yawned again so widely her jaw popped and pushed off the bed to go to the bathroom, wash up and brush her teeth. On the way back to bed, she peeled off her clothes and let them drop to the floor. Those could be picked up in the morning too.
A few minutes later, Dragos joined her. She rolled toward him as he slid under the covers. He was naked too, and she sighed as she came up against his long, muscled body. The comfort of nestling skin to skin with him was indescribable. She needed it as much as she needed air, or food. She rubbed her face against the warm skin of his chest while he ran his hands down the curves of her body and caressed her breasts. He let out a quiet hiss when she stroked his large, hard erection and the tight, full sac underneath.
She gave herself over to languid instinct and slid down the sheets while he rolled onto his back and stroked her hair. By now they knew how this dance would go, but instead of familiarity breeding boredom, it fueled the excitement.
She knew what would happen when she put her mouth on him. She knew what he tasted like, and she craved it. She craved him. It was an incomparably sweet ache that leavened every part of her day. She lived her life in a state of constant questioning.
Where will he be next? When will I see him again? In the living room? In the kitchen? Will we have time to shower together in the morning?
How can I bear to be apart from him for an entire day?
Sometimes they didn’t manage it, and they came together in a heated rush at lunchtime. Then they created a fire that burned so beautifully.
That was how she felt then, as she opened her mouth and took him in. She sucked on the broad head of his penis, swirling her tongue around the small slit at the tip. He swore, a low, rapid stream of unintelligible words, while his body turned rigid.
It hurts, it hurts, she wanted to tell him. But she had lost the capacity for telepathy. A tear slipped down her cheek from the ache of it. She opened her throat and took him all in. He pumped into her mouth, hips flexing. She could not get close enough, could not take him in deeply enough.
When he grasped her head in both hands and pulled her away, she made a needy sound and tried to pull him back to her. He refused, hauled her bodily up the bed and came between her knees. Then she understood what he wanted, and she welcomed him greedily.
“I can’t ever get enough of you,” he whispered against her mouth as he positioned the tip of his cock at her opening.
“Me neither. Hurry.” She gripped the back of his neck.
He pierced her, drew back and pierced her again, and that was the thing she needed, as they came together in the most intimate dance of all. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts, flexing inside in the way she knew would bring him the most pleasure.
He gasped, shook his head and quickened the rhythm. Then he leaned on one arm and slid a hand between them. She was so ready, she climaxed as soon as he touched her. A high, thin whine came out of her, and she shook all over as the exquisite ripples conquered her body.
He thrust harder and quicker, once, twice, and then he arched his back as his own climax came. She held her breath so that she could feel everything as the hard, thick length of him pulsed inside of her.
There. There. Such sweet, beautiful fire.
Chapter Nine
In the morning, Liam enjoyed a long, lovely cuddle in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Then he grew excited because Mommy and Daddy started getting ready to go somewhere. Often that meant he got to go somewhere too, and he liked exploring this new, sunny place.
They said things to each other like, “Do you have our sat phone?” And: “They’re bringing the boat to the pier on the beach.”
He would have preferred to fly, but a boat sounded promising. In fact everything sounded promising, but then Mommy started saying things like, “You get to have fun with Aunt Eva and Uncle Hugh this morning.”
He tried to ignore her, because sometimes she changed her mind, but soon it became clear that Mommy and Daddy were leaving, while he had to stay. When they kissed him and left, he turned exceedingly cranky. But it was hard to stay mad for long, because Aunt Eva and Uncle Hugh were fun.
He was determined to stay awake until Mommy and Daddy got home, but despite his best efforts his eyes grew heavy. Hugh carried him to the bedroom and tucked him in the crib. He watched with sleepy interest while Hugh checked the room. Hugh tugged at the handle of the closed window as he looked outside, then he pulled the curtains shut and left.
Liam yawned, fell asleep and woke some time later.
Fresh air sounded nice—fresh air and wind, and flying.
Daddy had said No, but that had happened quite a while ago. Surely by now No had turned into a Yes.
In fact, he was all but certain of it.
He was a very helpful peanut. Mommy and Daddy were busy on a boat, so he would take himself out to practice flying.
He shapeshifted, crawled out of the crib and climbed the curtains to the closed window. He tugged at the handle.
Over his head, the latch clicked and the window slid open.
Pleased, he climbed onto the sill. Each day his balance got better. He looked out happily at the hot, sunny day. Aunt Eva walked by underneath. He watched her curiously, then she went around the corner of the house, and he forgot about her.
A flicker of movement caught his eye, and his head snapped around. A bright green lizard wandered down the road on the other side of the hedge.
Hm, hungry now. That lizard looked tasty.
He spread his wings and leaped into the air. Flapping as hard as he could, he half-flew, half-coasted to the other side of the hedge and landed in a tumble on the gravel shoulder beside the road. It startled the lizard into running alongside a row of parked cars.
Instinct kicked in. Liam rolled onto his feet and ran after the lizard. When he flapped his wings again, he rose into the air and flew several yards. Excited, he ran some more, jumped and flew several more yards. They ran down the road like that until, in a final lunge, he managed to grab the lizard’s tail.
The lizard struggled as he dragged it toward him. To his immense surprise, it pulled away from its tail and ran away again. Confused, he looked down at the tail he still held in one forepaw. Then he ate it. Um, delicious.
Now he really wanted the rest of that lizard. Where had it gone? He walked, looking around and peering under cars, but the lizard was nowhere in sight.
A car door opened a few feet away, and a man stepped out to walk toward him. He was a human with a long, dark ponytail, and he stank like cigarette smoke.
“Well, well, well,” said the man in a friendly voice. He shrugged out of a jean jacket and held it in front of him as he drew closer. “What have we got here? Why, you look just like a baby dragon.”
Liam sat back on his haunches and smiled at him.
The man recoiled. “Christos!”
The man threw the jacket at Liam. Darkness descended as it settled over his head. He struggled to get free of the heavy material, but the man scooped him up in his arms and held on tight. Then they were bouncing—the man was running.
Liam growled. He didn’t like this game.
“Shut up.” The man no longer sounded friendly.
A car door opened. The world shifted and swayed, and the man held him on his lap. The car door shut again. They were in a car. It accelerated.
“What have you got wrapped in your jacket?” It was another man’s voice.
“It looks like a small dragon,” said his captor. “I think it’s his kid.”
***
Pia and Dragos decided to take the boat out for a couple of hours, so they didn’t bother to pack any food, just plenty of drinking water.
While Pia watched the changing landscape, Dragos piloted the boat skillfully between all the other traffic on the water. It didn’t take them long to leave land behind altogether.
The boat was a much slower method of transportation than Dragos in flight, but he knew where he was going so he could take them directly to the spot.
When they reached the area, Dragos killed the motor, and Pia turned in a circle, marveling in the sight of water all around her without any sight of land. He told her, “The anchor won’t do any good out here. You’re going to drift, but don’t worry about it. You won’t go far.”
“Okay.” She grinned at him. “Go on, don’t worry about me.”
He nodded. “See you soon.”
They had brought one of their emptied suitcases along. He tossed it into the water, leaped overboard and swam far enough away so that he could shapeshift without capsizing the boat. Then the dragon appeared and gave her a huge wink as it hooked the handle of the suitcase in one talon. With a great splash, he dove.
How long would it take him to find the wreck? She had no way to know, so she relaxed in one of the seats and watched the waves.
The endless vista of sparkling ocean was remarkably hypnotic, and the sight had lulled her half asleep when she heard a great splash. She jerked upright and swiveled around to see the dragon swimming toward her with the suitcase clutched in one paw.
As he drew near, he shimmered into a change and became the man. The boat rocked as he grabbed the short ladder toward the rear on the port side. He held on, gasping. She hovered nearby. “Can I help?”
He shook his head. “It’s really heavy. Watch out.”
She stepped back, and he climbed up the ladder with the suitcase dangling from one hand. He heaved it into the boat, and it landed with spray of cold water and a solid thud. Then he knelt beside the case, unzipped it and flipped the lid back.
Gold winked at them. There were also blackened objects that Pia couldn’t identify, possibly tarnished silver items. There were coins, and a small chest, and something that looked mechanical and felt magical.
Dragos Takes A Holiday_A Novella of the Elder Races_Elder Races Series Page 8
