Dragon Bound

SEVENTEEN

She looked intensely startled for a moment before her human form shimmered and disappeared. An exquisite creature glowing with a pearl luminescence took her place. She was the size of a small Shetland pony, but she was as far different from a pony as a greyhound was from a Saint Bernard. Her small body had willowy, racy lines. Long slender legs were tipped with dainty hooves. She had a graceful arched neck and a delicate equine head tipped with a sharp, sleek horn.

“Holy shit,” Dragos whispered. The possibility had crossed his mind from the various clues he’d been given but not with any real seriousness. In the whole of his life he had never laid eyes on a unicorn. He had heard for many centuries that the rare creatures had been hunted to extinction, but he had always been inclined to consider them just a myth.

A unicorn’s horn could dispel any poison. She could heal with her blood. She could only be captured by unfair means. No cage could hold her. Her life sacrificed could bestow immortality.

No wonder all her mother taught her was how to run and hide.

Her large, dark violet blue eyes were Pia’s. They were wide with alarm.

Predators. She was surrounded by predators. She reared and wheeled, looking for a way to escape.

The tall dark man started crooning to her. She stamped a foot and lowered her horn at him. “Shh, my darling, you’re safe. Be calm. You’re safe.”

He took a step toward her. She scrambled back, tripped over herself and looked down in confusion. She had so many legs. She looked behind her. And a tail.

The large predators at the edge of the clearing were creeping closer, their eyes wide. The man snarled at them and they froze, then changed into men too. She galloped in a circle and made a sound of distress.

Then the dark man whispered her Name. She skidded to a stop and stared at him. “Remember who you are.” He spoke the words softly but with Power.

Pia shook her head and snorted. She lifted up a foot and looked at a hoof.

Hey.

She had changed. She was Wyr.

Dragos went to his knees. Everything in him was in a suspended state of apprehension. After all they’d been through, after she had taken such a radical step and trusted him with her Name, she looked close to panic again at just being near him. It was her Wyr side. It had to be. The animal had taken too much control.

“Come on, darling,” he coaxed. He held his empty hands out from his sides. “There’s no reason for panic. You remember all of us. You like us. God, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She arched her neck and looked at him sidelong. Was that awareness in her eyes? Did she understand what he was saying?

“Give me a sign, sugar.” Gentle, gentle. Now he had the barest hint of what she experienced when she talked him back to himself. “Let me know you’re in there.”

She looked across the moonlit open field and then back at him. A run sounded pretty nice. But there he was with his face all lit up. He looked like it was his birthday, Christmas and New Year’s, all rolled into one.

She took a couple of steps toward him. They were eye to eye when he was on his knees. The breath shook out of him. She walked the rest of the way to him and laid her shining head against his shoulder.

He stroked her velvet nose. She lipped at his fingers. His eyes glittered with a damp sheen. He sat cross-legged and pulled her onto his lap. She curled her legs underneath her like a cat. He put his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head. They listened to the sound of the wind in the distant trees.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

She had trouble changing back and came close to panicking again. He had to guide her through the transition. He held her the whole time and talked to her until she was back in her human form again and kneeling on the ground in front of him.

“Why was it so hard to change back?” She gasped, clinging to his hands.

“It won’t always be,” he told her. “I’m told it’s like learning to walk or ride a bicycle. Once you’ve mastered the shift it will soon become second nature. You could shift and change back to yourself now that you’ve gone through it once, but I don’t recommend it right away. The first time, especially for a half-breed, can leave you wrung out.”

“Tell me about it.” Her tone was grumbling but her eyes were bright.

He helped her to her feet as the gryphons drew closer. All four men were staring at her in wonder. She looked at Graydon, who smiled at her.

“If you ain’t a sight for sore eyes,” he said. “I thought you were just going to end up being something small, fast and weird, like a marmoset or something.”

On impulse she went over to him and flung her arms around his neck. “Thank you for being such a good friend.”

The big man held very still and looked at Dragos over her shoulder. Dragos’s expression turned dark, but after a moment he gave the gryphon a short nod. Graydon patted her back, his gray eyes smiling. “My pleasure, cupcake.”

Dragos put a hand on her arm and drew her away. He told her, “We should head back now.”

He and the gryphons changed. She paid close attention to the ease and skill with which they shifted form. She wanted to try it again on her own, but that was going to have to wait until she had some rest. She felt like every nerve was exposed and hyperaware. At the same time, her eyelids expressed their own opinions by closing on her whether she liked it or not.

She fell asleep on the flight back. She didn’t even wake up when Dragos changed, which he did with extreme control and dexterity. He held both front feet underneath her as the shift began. As he compacted, his forelegs shifted to human arms underneath her knees and shoulders, until he was standing as a man on the roof of the Tower, holding her sleeping form close to his chest.

The gryphons had already changed. They gathered around, staring at her along with Dragos. She was still shining.

Rune stood hipshot, his thumbs hooked into the belt holes of his jeans. He said in a quiet voice, “You realize, don’t you, that if this gets out she’s going to be hunted for the rest of her life.”

“She’s already aware of that, and so am I.” Dragos’s face was grim. “So it doesn’t get out. Nobody hears about it. Understand?”

“What about Aryal, Grym and Tiago?”

“Not even the other sentinels, not right now. This stays between us.” He looked down at her sleeping face resting against his shoulder. “She’s had a hell of a week for a lot of reasons. I want to give her a break and let her just be for a while. Then she can decide who gets to know and who doesn’t.”

She came half awake as Dragos eased her clothes off and tucked her into bed, only to roll over and bury her face in a pillow, one leg bent. He stripped, slid under the covers beside her and molded his body to hers, hooking his leg under hers, one arm tucked around her. She laced her fingers with his. He buried his face in her hair.

She slept hard and then dreamed of running. She woke with a start when she realized she was running on four legs, and the memory of what had happened sent a glow of happiness through her. The morning sun had brightened the room.

She looked at Dragos, who lay on his side facing her, one heavy arm draped around her. The hard lines of his face were quiet in sleep. The bedcovers had slipped to their waists, and the muscles of his chest and arms were relaxed. His eyelashes were twin curls of black against his bronze, lean cheeks, his inky hair tousled. His morning erection pressed against her hip.

He would never be a soft man. The capacity for violence lived and breathed under his skin. But he had shown her moments of extraordinary gentleness, and she suspected seeing him so relaxed in unguarded sleep was a rare gift of trust.

I love you, she almost said. But he had already confessed he didn’t know what love was. Her hands fisted.

Maybe he never would. Maybe this was as close as she could ever get if she accepted him as a mate. If she had to choose between being alone with him and being alone without him, she would far rather have what she could of him. She would have to learn to adapt to whatever relationship he was capable of having. It would have to be enough.

She curled her fingers around his thick penis and pressed her lips to his. He made a sound deep in his chest and kissed her back as he pushed his hips at her caressing hand. Then he nudged her legs apart, rolled on top of her and eased his erection inside. They both sighed when he was full in.

“That’s it,” he murmured. He nuzzled her ear. “That’s right.”

“Right where you belong,” she whispered. She hooked a leg around him and rubbed his broad back.

He rocked in her, flexing his big body over her, in her. It was so good, so good. He brought her slow and easy to a climax that was so rich it brought tears to her eyes. He was kissing her, hands framing her face, when he came.

She felt him begin to pulse inside as he leaned on his elbows and hunched over her, gasping, and his face was so transformed, so beautiful, she had to whisper it. “You’re mine.”

He opened his eyes and looked deep into hers, still shuddering.

“I’m yours,” he said.

They both fell asleep again with him inside her, basking in the morning sun. Sometime later she stirred and murmured a protest as he withdrew and lifted his weight off of her.

“I have things I need to do,” he said in a soft voice. “You stay in bed and rest.”

She gave him a sleepy pout. He kissed her forehead. She curled into his warm spot, hugged his pillow and dozed.

Such a funny little white dragon. His head was too big for his body. He focused on her, pure, determined love in his beautiful eyes as he wobbled toward her. He couldn’t get his hind legs coordinated with his front. He tumbled to the floor.

She couldn’t laugh. It would hurt his feelings. She clasped her hands tight together to avoid helping him. She said, Hey sweet baby.

Mommy, he said, crawling fast toward her. Mommy.

She lunged up in bed, heart knocking like a crazy thing. What the—

The bed spun. Nausea surged, this time uncontrollable. She jumped out of bed. She couldn’t get to the toilet in time but at least made it to the bathroom sink before she vomited until she couldn’t vomit anymore. Several times when she thought she was done, her stomach would lurch again until tears ran down her face and she was dry heaving in painful spasms.

Oh no. Oh no, no. This couldn’t be happening, not on top of everything else.

One of the advantages to being Wyr, for either male or female, was the ability for natural contraception. She had never been quite sure how it worked. It had something to do with fixing in one’s mind a barrier to pregnancy, and somehow that was connected to the ability for shape shifting. It was all part of control over one’s body.

Being half human, she had never had the ability, so she had to rely on human contraceptive techniques. She’d had a copper IUD implant for over a year now. It should be good for up to twelve years.

Except now Dragos was in her life, pouring everything into her, flooding her with his Power and semen over and over again.

Claiming her any way he could.

Reeling from shock, she barely remembered to check if the transparent strings from the IUD were still in place. They were. But—she stretched her newly expanded senses down into her body. There. A tiny new life spark nestled deep inside.

Betrayal filleted her. That bastard.

She showered and dressed. T-shirt, knee-length khaki cargo shorts, running shoes. Thirty-five dollars borrowed from Rune, left over from buying the shoes. She walked out of the room.

This time it was Bayne and Aryal who lounged in the hall. Pia drew up short at the sight of the tall, powerful, leather-clad woman with tangled black hair, a strange gaunt beauty and stormy gray, judgment-filled eyes.

Bayne greeted her with a wide smile. Aryal did not. The harpy gave her a level look, her angular face cold.

“Where’s Con?” Pia asked.

“He had other business to take care of,” Bayne told her. “Aryal’s filling in for the afternoon.”

“Got a problem with that?” Aryal asked, one eyebrow angling up insolently.

Pia’s mouth pinched. What the fuck ever. She was just grateful she didn’t have to look Graydon in the face. She ignored the harpy’s question and jerked her thumb at the open doorway. “Go on in and see what’s on TV. Could you make some coffee, please? Better make it a pot if you want some. I’m going to grab some breakfast. Be right back.”

“You got it,” Bayne said with a cheerful smile.

Act casual. Go down the hall. Past the kitchen and dining room.

She glanced over her shoulder as she rounded the corner. Bayne and Aryal had disappeared into the suite. She ran for the elevator and the stairwell that opened into the huge living room area. The elevator was key-operated at the penthouse level, a problem she couldn’t solve since she couldn’t pry the doors open. The stairwell door was locked.

No problem there. It would be the work of a moment to push open that door and ease through.

She flattened her shaking hands on the door panel and leaned on it, breathing hard as the feeling of being trapped in a cage came back stronger than ever. The urge to run was overwhelming. She fought to get past panic, pain and betrayal to think things through with some semblance of rationality.

Even if she tried she might not make it out of the Tower. There were a hell of a lot of stairs down to the street level. She might have five minutes to get out of the building, ten at most if she locked the bathroom door and the sentinels thought she was taking her own sweet time doing female things in the bathroom.

And what would she face if she did manage to get out? The danger from Urien and his forces hadn’t gone away just because she was having a bad day and needed to get the hell out of here.

Be smart for once. Don’t add another thing to your stupid list.

Nausea surged again. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists and fought her body for control.

Behind her, Bayne said, “Pia? Is everything all right?”

She took a deep breath, braced her shoulders and turned. She said, “Dragos said I could go anywhere. I need to go out.”

God knew what the expression on her face revealed. It could not have been good, for the gryphon regarded her with a sober face and concerned eyes, quite unlike his earlier cheer. “Can you tell me what you need?” he asked. “I would be more than happy to get you anything you want—”

Her self-control slipped its leash. She went into a meltdown. She whirled and kicked the door, which resonated with a hollow, metallic boom. The sound was kinda like a bomb going off in your face. It was kinda like finding out you’re pregnant when you shouldn’t be. Yeah, kinda like that.

“I need to go out,” she shouted. She pushed against the closed door with her fists. “I am not all right.” Kick. “I need to not talk about it. I need for Dragos to leave me the hell alone.” Kick. “I need for you to stop asking me questions and just take me where I need to go. Will you fucking do that for me or not?”

Suddenly Aryal was there. Both sentinels moved to stand on either side of her, their faces turning still and watchful. They moved like soldiers, athletic bodies light on their feet. Bayne’s easygoing demeanor had vaporized. He blanketed her in protective male energy and put a gentle hand on her back. “Of course we will,” he said. “We will take you anywhere you need to go.”

“Bayne,” Aryal said.

“Standing orders,” he said to her. The harpy’s lip curled but she said nothing.

Pia’s breath shook out of her. She turned blindly to the elevator. Bayne guided her inside. He kept a steadying hand on her shoulder while Aryal shifted to stand between her and the elevator doors. She wrapped her arms around her middle, staring blindly at a point between Aryal’s shoulders as the penthouse elevator plummeted eighty stories to the ground floor.

The doors opened and they strode out. Aryal remained on point while Bayne moved so close beside her his shoulder brushed hers while his sharp gaze roamed over the large, crowded ground floor. Then they pushed out the revolving doors into sunshine and a busy New York street.

She paused, one hand pressed to her abdomen. She could hardly believe it. They had actually kept to their word and taken her outside the Tower.

Silently Bayne urged her forward, toward a black Porsche SUV that had appeared as if by magic and idled at the curb. Aryal glanced around with a sharp gaze, tangled hair blowing across her angular face as she slid into the driver’s seat. Bayne opened the rear door for Pia. She climbed in, twisted around and barred him from sliding into the seat along with her. For a brief moment his gaze met hers, and the kindness and concern in his eyes pierced through her internal upheaval. Then he stepped back, closed her door and moved to the front passenger’s seat.

“Okay, Pia,” said Bayne. Aryal’s frigid gaze met hers in the rearview mirror. “Where to?”

“Brooklyn.” As Bayne’s hand went out to hover over the car’s GPS system, she said, “I’ll give you directions as you need them.”

The two sentinels exchanged a glance. “All right,” Aryal said.

The Porsche pulled into traffic.

Pia huddled in her seat and stared out the window as they passed the Fifty-ninth Street subway station. Dragos said in her head, Pia, what are you doing?

She closed her eyes. It had been too much to hope that the sentinels would keep quiet about their outing. What she wouldn’t give for a little privacy right now.

Don’t talk to me, she said to Dragos.

You left the Tower. His mental voice was so quiet and controlled it sent a chill down her spine. You promised you wouldn’t.

She snarled, I said don’t talk to me, you son of a bitch.

A heartbeat, and then, his calm quite stripped away, he demanded, What’s happened?

Shut up. Get out of my head.

Pia, goddammit. When she didn’t answer he roared, WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO NOW?

His telepathic shout reverberated in her skull. She clapped a hand to her forehead. Don’t yell at me like that. I can’t think! Give me a minute.

Her body felt numb, her seat belt the only thing anchoring her in place as Aryal suddenly cut across traffic. How could Dragos even ask her that? How could he not realize that she would know, now that she had made the full change to Wyr?

I’m sorry for shouting at you. He turned coaxing. Bayne and Aryal won’t say anything, just that you’re upset and they’re taking you where you need to go. Gray’s worried about you. We can talk about anything that’s wrong, can’t we? Pia, please. You’re killing me here.

Whatever else anyone might say about him, he had a wily wisdom that could slip inside a person like a stiletto. She wiped her eyes and tried to process. You don’t know . . . anything . . . about what’s going on?

I swear I don’t. His response was strong and immediate. Whatever has happened, we can fix it.

Could they? How?

Tell me where you’re going, he said. We’ll do it together.

Dragos, just give me the afternoon. She held on to a door handle as the Porsche hit an open stretch and gathered speed. I need to calm down and think, and I need to find out some things before I can talk to you.

Silence pulsed. Then, quiet and silken, he said, I could use your Name to call you back.

She sniffled as she stared out the window. She said, Threats aren’t a good idea right now, big guy.

Seconds trickled by. Then he told her, You have the afternoon. After that I’m coming to get you.

You’re giving me a whole afternoon of my own time? Gee, thanks. Big of you, said the part of her that was sarcastic with hurt. She managed to bite it back and stay silent.

Then he was silent too and she was alone.

Without him.

Rune and Graydon stood in Dragos’s office, their hands on their hips as they wore identical scowls.

“At least she’s protected,” Graydon said. “She’s got Aryal and Bayne with her.” He did not look reassured by his own words.

Rune asked, “Did she say where she needed to go or what was wrong?”

“No.” Dragos prowled the perimeters of the room. It was too small, closed in. “She just said she needed time. I told her I’d give her the afternoon.”

Rune said, “You’re really going to give her the whole afternoon?”

“Fuck, no. I lied.”

He threw open the French doors with such violence the glass shattered. The sharp May wind whipped through the room. The fresh air lessened his sense of confinement, but he still vibrated with the need for action.

“The witch isn’t answering her phone,” he said. “Find someone to put a tracking spell on this and do it fast.” He held up a fist. It was the one with her pale braided hair on his wrist.

“On it,” Gray said. He dove out the window and changed in midair.

Dragos and Rune regarded each other. Bayne and the harpy were excellent warriors. They were a couple of his finest.

But an afternoon could be a very long time in New York with the Fae King at large and intent on mischief.

An afternoon like that could be a very long time indeed.

Pia gave Aryal directions when necessary, but other than that the trip to Brooklyn remained mercifully silent. Soon they arrived at the large Brooklyn Wyr health clinic she had used for the last couple years. The clinic was housed in an unadorned square, concrete-block building in a neighborhood filled with pawn and barber shops, liquor and rent-to-own stores and businesses offering paycheck loans. A fugitive dereliction hovered around the edges of the streets, a sense of something sharp and desperate that huddled in shadowed places waiting to show its teeth after nightfall, but the clinic itself was open during the daytime, and it had a professional, caring staff and a high number of half-breed patients, so it was perennially busy.

Aryal pulled the Porsche to the curb and switched off the engine. Both she and Bayne snapped open their seat belts as they scanned the street.

Pia’s stomach clenched again. “Stay here,” she said.

“Sorry, Pia,” Bayne said. The gryphon moved fast. He was out of the car and standing guard before she could get her car door open. Aryal slid around the front of the Porsche and joined him.

She strangled the impulse to yell at them as she climbed out. She looked from one sentinel to the other. Aryal’s expression was stony, Bayne’s eyes carefully blank. She wondered what they thought of their destination, what kind of telepathic conversation might be going on behind those killer faces.

“Here’s the thing,” she said. She pointed at the building. “Nobody in there knew we were coming. You guys are not going to go in and scare the shit out of anybody who happens to be inside, so just guard the entrances and stay the hell outside.”

Bayne pursed his lips as he considered her. She narrowed her eyes and said, “I could have left without you. I really wanted to, Bayne. Don’t make me regret trying to play by your rules.”

Aryal said suddenly to him, “Take the back exit.”

Bayne scowled. “Fine,” he said. He spun on one booted heel and stalked away.

Pia didn’t wait to hear more. She took off for the front doors. She had almost reached them when Aryal grabbed her by the shirt and shoved her against the side of the building.

“What the hell!” she sputtered. Shock ignited into outrage. Her fists came up to knock the sentinel’s hands away.

With almost contemptuous effortlessness, Aryal held her pinned in place with a forearm across her throat.

“Shut up,” snapped Aryal. “I’m not hurting you. You and I are going to have a talk.”

“Let go!” Pia dug in her heels and tried to yank the harpy’s arm away from her throat. Aryal caught her wrist. Slender steel fingers bit into her flesh.

Aryal gave the street a quick scan with blade-sharp eyes. “You have caused more trouble in the last couple of weeks than a street gang of Wyr-rats running amuck,” the harpy said. “I want to know what the fuck you’re up to now.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is my business if it puts Dragos in danger again.”

Pia tried to shove the knuckles of her free hand into the harpy’s midsection, but Aryal avoided her with a neat twist of her hips. “I’m not hurting anybody. All you need to know is Dragos promised me the afternoon.”

“And you believed him.” Aryal barked a short laugh. “Good one, genius girl.”

Had he lied? That hurt. She turned a look of dismay onto the harpy and felt like a fool. Her eyes burned. She gritted, “Take your hands off me.”

Aryal released her so quickly she almost stumbled, standing too close between her and the street, crowding her. The harpy wore a leather jacket that gaped open as she put her hands on her hips. Pia caught a glimpse of the sentinel’s shoulder holster.

“You know, I could get over that cheerleader ponytail of yours,” Aryal said, giving her a smile that could cut glass. “It would take me a while, but I could. I could get over the gryphons losing their goddamn minds for whatever reason and fawning all over you. What I can’t get over is this: you broke the law. You endangered the life of the Wyr lord, and by doing that, you endangered all of us, and you haven’t been punished for it. So I’ve got to admit, that one pisses me off.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Pia snapped, even as her gut clenched. She rubbed at her burning eyes. She had felt trapped at the time, but could she have done anything differently to avoid what had happened? She felt off balance and stupid and completely at sea.

“What have I got no idea about—that you may or may not be Dragos’s mate?” said Aryal. “Well, cupcake, that’s the intractable problem and why I can’t just kill you.”

Pia’s hands fisted. She said between her teeth, “No, you can’t, can you?” She shot her fist out with such speed she got past the harpy’s guard. She slammed it into Aryal’s shoulder so hard that the sentinel staggered back. “You don’t have to like or approve of me. You don’t have to agree with Dragos’s decisions. You have to do what you’re told. Did he tell you to bring me back to the Tower?”

Aryal glared at her and remained silent.

“No, I thought not. So you have to back the fuck off. You don’t get to question or intimidate me and demand answers like I’m some kind of grunt under your command because I’m not and I never will be.” She strode forward until she was toe to toe with the sentinel, her body combat tense. “And Graydon’s the one who gets to call me cupcake—you don’t. You haven’t earned it. Now I’m going to do what I came here to do. You’re going to do your job or Dragos is going to want to know why you didn’t.”

Surprise flared in Aryal’s stormy gaze, followed by a thoughtful expression.

Pia didn’t wait to see any more. She turned away and pushed through the front doors of the clinic.

Half a dozen people sat around the waiting room. A few were watching All My Children on a TV set high on a wall. She went to the receptionist window. A nurse she recognized gave her a perfunctory smile. “Afternoon. What can I do for you?”

“My name is Pia Giovanni. I need to see a doctor or a nurse practitioner,” Pia said, keeping her voice quiet so other people couldn’t hear. Her face and neck muscles ached with tension. She twisted her hands together. “Dr. Medina knows me. I’m sorry. I don’t have an appointment. I—” Her eyes glittered. “I’m afraid it might be an emergency.”

“Oh, honey,” said the nurse with quick compassion. She handed Pia a Kleenex and motioned her through the doors and into an alcove with a sink, a chair and a weighing scale. “All right, what’s going on? Are you sure you should be here and not in the ER?”

“I don’t know. There’s been so much happening.” She swallowed. “I’m a half-breed Wyr so I have an IUD. You know, the one with copper, not the one with hormones, because of not being quite human. And I’m in this new relationship with a full Wyr, and I managed to change last night—”

“Congratulations!” offered the nurse with a wide smile. RACHEL, her name tag said.

“Thanks.” She tried to smile as she remembered how happy she had been. “But all of a sudden I’ve gotten sick the last couple days. It was really bad this morning, and I’m pretty sure that somehow I got pregnant. I can feel it now that I’ve changed. And the IUD’s still in place.” She focused on the nurse, her expression intense. “I’m in shock. I can’t think straight, but I do already know one thing. I do not want to lose this baby.”

The nurse put her hand on Pia’s abdomen, her gaze going inward. Pia stood still. She felt the tingle of magic as the nurse scanned her. “Oh wow, you’re right, you are pregnant,” said the nurse, her eyes lighting up. “What a sweet little strong spark.”

“Did changing last night hurt it?” she asked.

“No! Oh no, shifting is the most natural thing in the world. Your nausea does sound a little different, though. And with the IUD, you did the right thing by coming in. We’ll get you in to see a nurse practitioner or doctor. Just go ahead and take a seat right there, and I’ll pull your records. In fact, I’m going to see if I can catch . . .”

Muttering to herself, the nurse rushed off. Pia slumped in the chair and put her head in her hands. Thank God Dragos had stopped roaring in her head, because otherwise she thought she might spin into the air and fly into pieces. She thought his silence was ominous, but she didn’t care as long as she could hear herself think for just a little damn while.

She felt shaky and on the edge of nausea again. She put her hand on her abdomen. Stay in there, peanut.

Luck continued to flow her way, as Dr. Medina was getting ready to go on vacation and had just seen the last of the patients she’d had scheduled for the day. Pia was acquainted with Dr. Medina and comforted by the familiarity. She was a brisk, gray-haired canine Wyr with a no-nonsense attitude and a sense of humor Pia found calming.

After a quick examination and a pulse of Power, the doctor removed the IUD and grinned at her. “Good news. You, my dear, are in excellent shape and it isn’t ectopic, which is one of the major risks when pregnancy occurs with an IUD. That baby is exactly where he’s supposed to be, all snuggled in right and tight in your uterus and not in a fallopian tube or anywhere else. I’m glad you came in so soon though. Women who put this off for too long run a high risk of miscarriage or other serious complications. Now tell me about this nausea you’ve been experiencing.”

Pia sagged with relief. She described the last few days. “I’ve not ever been tempted to put meat in my mouth,” she said with a shudder. “But it’s smelled so good. And that’s so wrong.”

The doctor regarded her over half-glasses. “Are you by any chance with a predator?”

“Yes?” She didn’t mean that as a question. Did she?

“Well, that’s your problem.” The doctor sat back and smiled at her. “Predator/herbivore mixes are much more unusual than homogenous matches, although they do happen, of course, since we Wyr are much more than just our animal natures. I’m not going to lie to you. You’re in for a bumpy ride for the duration, and it may seem at times like your instincts have gone haywire.”

“Will it be a high-risk pregnancy?” Her hand went to her abdomen again.

“I wouldn’t say that. There’s no reason to go there right now. Think protein and calcium. If you can’t force yourself to be omnivorous for the duration of the pregnancy, you’ll need to stock up on protein drinks. Soy is fine. Whey is better. Along with the prenatal vitamins, I’ll prescribe an anti-nausea charm that should help. It won’t block pain, mind you. Pain is too important a messenger. But it should help you keep your food down. Keep it with you everywhere but in the shower. It loses its efficacy if it gets wet too often.”

“Thank you so much, especially for seeing me before you left on vacation,” she replied with heartfelt feeling. The doctor scribbled on a prescription pad and handed her a slip. She said, “One last question, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, go ahead, as long as it won’t take too long. I’ve got a flight to Cancún this evening and a mate who won’t be happy with me if I miss it.”

She hesitated, not sure how to word things, and plucked at the edge of her examination gown. “The pregnancy is a real shock. I mean, I had the IUD, so I thought it should have prevented things, right? It hasn’t even come up as a topic of conversation with my . . . partner. I was starting to feel nauseated before I changed this morning, so I must have already been pregnant. So it had to have been the father who . . . changed things?”

The doctor’s eyes were shrewd and kind. “No single birth control is a hundred percent foolproof, for either Wyr or human. Yes, all things being equal, the IUD is a very effective method of birth control, for the most part. And yes, Wyr can control their reproduction cycle. For the most part. But I’ve also known Wyr to lose control during the first days of the mating frenzy. Only the two of you can say whether or not he’s just your lover or your mate. If I were you, though, I’d think about going easy on your partner on this one, if he’s your mate. Does that help?”

Her throat worked. She had to swallow hard before she could reply. “Yes. It helps a lot. Dr Medina, thank you so much.”

“My pleasure. I love the babies. Should have been an obstetrician.” The doctor closed her file and stood but paused before stepping out. She regarded Pia curiously. “By the way, you never did tell me what you shifted into?”

Caught off guard, she stammered, “Oh, a . . . a marmoset.”

“Odd,” the doctor murmured, giving her a quizzical look. “I wouldn’t have classified marmosets as herbivores. And your mate?”

“He’s . . . not one.”

The doctor narrowed her eyes on Pia. “You will tell me, won’t you, if it becomes medically relevant?”

“Yes, of course,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I promise.”

The doctor pointed at her. “Take your vitamins. See you next month.”

She changed into her clothes, giddy with both relief and hunger. She could eat a horse if it weren’t somehow cannibalistic. She bent and tied her shoelaces.

Pregnant. Mate. I’m going to have a dragon baby.

Nope, that didn’t get all the way inside. Let’s say it again.

I’m going to have a dragon baby.

She straightened as black stars danced in front of her eyes. Maybe she really was going to spin into the air and fly into pieces anyway, with or without Dragos’s help. She had so many things going on inside, random thoughts and feelings were popping like fireworks at the Fourth of July.

Panic at possibly losing the pregnancy had receded, to be replaced by panic at being pregnant. She was relieved not only that the pregnancy was viable but, even more, that all the evidence said Dragos hadn’t intentionally trapped her with it. It looked like she owed him a big apology.

But of all times for it to happen! She had only just, literally hours ago, decided to stay with Dragos. Then there was the war with Urien, which had only just begun. And who knew how Dragos was going to react when he heard the news. He might spin into the air and fly into pieces too.

She pressed her hand over her abdomen. Oh, peanut, I always had the sneaky hope I might have a child someday, but I have to tell you, this timing sucks.

She ran into an unexpected snag as she started to leave. The nurse checking her out asked, “Still the same insurance and co-pay?”

Same insurance. From Elfie’s. And her with thirty-three dollars in her pocket and no checkbook. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Offering a mental apology to all concerned with a promise to pay the bill for real, she lied, “Yes, thanks.”

She forked over the twenty-five-dollar co-pay, waved away the offer of a receipt and tried to not look shifty about any of it while she continued her internal dialogue with the peanut. What if he hates the idea of the pregnancy? What if he doesn’t want you? He has to want you, that’s all there is to it. Anyway, I want you. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with you. Just one more thing I’ll have to figure out, along with how to live with the rest of the crazy-ass changes going on in my life.

Business concluded, she made her way through the lobby toward the clinic door where she paused. She didn’t think she had the Power to reach Dragos telepathically, but she decided to give it a try anyway. Dragos?

His response was immediate and, thank God, calm. Yes.

I’m done. I’m headed home, she told him. I’ve got some news and I owe you a big apology.

We can talk about whatever it is later, he said. Where are you? I’ll come get you.

You don’t know? She thought for sure Bayne or Aryal would have told him by now. She pushed through the glass door, squinting in the bright sunlight. Where was the harpy? She shaded her eyes as she looked around. See, I went to my doctor’s—

She stepped on something and shifted her foot as she looked down. She had stepped on—was that a dart?

Sudden pain pricked her neck. She brushed at the pain and saw another dart fall to the sidewalk. Numbness spread through her body at unbelievable speed. The world went sideways and the sidewalk slammed into her.

Bayne. Aryal. She tried to call for them, but her mouth wasn’t working.

Somebody was shouting in another part of her head, but she couldn’t connect with it or understand what they were saying.

Three people walked into view and stared down at her. Two were Dark Fae males with long tilted eyes, high cheekbones, pointed ears and dark hair.

One was a Hispanic woman, with a queenlike beauty and eyes that connected to hers with a snap of Power. The witch Adela, from the Cauldron.

“Oh, it’s you. Again.” Adela’s mouth pursed and she sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

You stupid bitch, she tried to say. I’m so going to kick your ass.

If Dragos doesn’t get to you first . . .

Everything floated away.