Dragon Bound (Elder Races, #1)

by Thea Harrison

Dragos scowled. “Get a personal shopper for Pia. Make sure a longer robe is on the list.”

She gave Dragos a wary scowl. “Are you sucking up?” “Of course.” He bent to give her a swift kiss.

“I’ll go into the bathroom,” she said. “No,” Dragos said. “You are to be comfortable here.”

“You just can’t dictate things like that happening, big guy.” “I can dictate anything I want,”

“The Elven High Lord can go fuck himself. You can quote me.”

You didn’t piss on any trees when I wasn’t looking, did you?” The thundercloud that had darkened his face broke apart. He laughed. “I would have if I’d thought of it.”

Dragos stepped forward and pulled her behind him. The gesture was unmistakably possessive.

He twisted to glare at her. She leaned sideways to look around him and she promised the Elves, “I’ll talk to him.”

“You are not going to visit with the Elves!” “Did I say I was going to visit the Elves?”

“I was being polite! You might look that word up sometime in a dictionary!”

“The Elves know more about you than I do,” he snarled in her ear as he passed by. “Unacceptable.

He pulled her against him, curving around her, and put his head down next to hers. “Shh,” he said, still sounding angry. “Stop now. Calm down.”

His body clenched. He said, “Pia, please don’t pull away from me.” He sounded strained.

“I am cursed with a terminal case of curiosity,”

possessive. I have a terrible temper, and I know I can be a cruel son of a bitch.”

“I used to eat people, ...

“From that point on I swore I would never eat something that could talk.”

All of that is a long, roundabout way of saying I’m sorry. I don’t always get the emotional nuances of a situation and I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I want you to trust me more than you trusted that dumbass boyfriend of yours.”

“I want you to tell me what and who you are, not just because I want to know but because you want to tell me.”

“Why?” she whispered. “Because you’re mine,” he snapped.

You know, I don’t want to fight with you.” Like any efficient predator, he scented weakness and acted on it. “Then don’t,” he said.

He gave her a coaxing smile. “Just give me everything I want.”

“I don’t know what love means,” he said. “But you belong somewhere. You belong here

She flung herself at him and hugged him again. He laughed and gripped her by the hips to hold her in one place.

I hate him, he killed my family, and we’re going to cut off his head, and then I have to be Queen, but before that happens let’s do lunch, okay?”

Dragos? Oh my God, he’s so gone on you!”

Dragos, gone on her? Really gone on her? Not just having a sexual fling? Not just having a possessive fit?

She pointed at her own face. “Do I look like I care right now? I have a million and one things to do before I go, so don’t give me any grief.”

“Looking rather shell-shocked there, lover,” Dragos said to Pia with a lazy smile. He strolled across the room to kiss her.

“When she’s in her manic phase, she’s a little like trying crack for the first time,”

“Why are they talking about her in the third person while she’s standing right here in the room?” she said in a resentful mutter.

“Fuck you,” Dragos told him. “I’m not the boss of her.”

Dragos’s brief struggle with something had not just been her imagination. He had reined in his own impulses and opinions to allow her at least some freedom of choice.

Was he trying to pay for her, like she was some kind of whore?

Dragos was a man and a dragon, which meant he had communication issues.

Dragos wasn’t treating her like a whore. He was trying to give her a treat.

I’ll thank you to remember my name is not ‘Tricks goddammit’ or ‘God damn you, Tricks.’

“But you’re so damn cute when you’re mad. Look at you. The tips of your ears turned pink.”

Dragos caught sight of her and he smiled.

He pulled her hand away from her mouth and kissed her swiftly. “You won’t make me that mad again.”

She patted Dragos’s arm and murmured, “As long as you believe that, big guy.”

“Your arrival was a welcome bonus.”

Grinning, Dragos said to the faerie, “Goddamn, ma’am.”

Pia coughed. He looked at her. She muttered behind her hand, “Big roar, last week?” His fingers slid under the hem of her shirt, and he pinched her.

“He’s a junkyard dog. He shouldn’t be allowed in the house. Would you please send him back to South America?”

“You know this room. You know there’s only one way in or out. And you know she’s with me. Deal with it.” Tricks slammed the door in their faces.

“I mean, yes, they would take them for me. Without question. But they would take them for you too, just because Dragos wants you safe.”

“What is your name again?” The faerie snickered. “It’s gotta be on this chart. I’m sure I wrote it down somewhere.”

“I don’t think I should say yes to anything you ask me while we’re in the same room together and I’m drunk, that’s all,” Pia said.