Dragos Goes to Washington (Elder Races #8.5)(2)

Unsure of where he was going with that statement, she replied cautiously, “I know.”

Her husband sucked a tooth, the set of his mouth slanting as if he tasted something sour. His gold gaze cut sideways to her. “He’s not going to be a boy too much longer. Maybe we should let him have that dog he wanted.”

“Let him . . .” Her voice trailed away as she stared at him. “But you’ve always been so adamant against getting a dog.”

He lifted one massive shoulder, powerful muscles rippling underneath the smooth gray surface of his shirt. “Yeah, well, I’ve thought about it some more and changed my mind. It would have to be a puppy, from a breed that’s known for being calm, so we can train it not to panic whenever it’s around me, Liam, or any of the sentinels.”

Dragos truly did not understand the desire to have a pet. It was, he said, like how he couldn’t understand Liam’s love for the toy bunny he’d had since he was a baby.

Now, Liam had declared he was much too old for the bunny, although he still insisted on keeping it in his closet. If Liam wasn’t so adamant on keeping it close, Pia would have stolen it from him by now.

She loved that bunny, tattered ears and all. She loved remembering how Liam had chewed on those ears as he was teething.

“What about when Liam’s old enough to leave home?” she asked, giving back to Dragos his strongest argument. “That’s going to happen faster than we could have thought. What are we going do with the dog then?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. We can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Dragos tried so hard. Parenting was new to them both, especially parenting such a magically gifted child. But somehow it was different for Dragos. Pia was younger. In a lot of ways, she was more adaptable.

Dragos was . . . Well, to be honest, she wasn’t sure how old he was. She just knew he was very old.

But he worked hard at overcoming that obstacle. As frightening and ruthless as he could be, he was an amazing father.

Her gaze drifted back to the happy, fat little baby in the stroller, and her heart constricted again. A strange, unknown force built in her chest, until she couldn’t contain it any longer.

“I want another one.” The words burst out of her before she had time to consider them, spilling out of a deep well of need she had barely acknowledged in herself.

“You want another what?” Dragos asked.

This wasn’t the time to talk about such an emotionally charged subject. She tried to bite the words back, but they tumbled out anyway. “A baby. I want another baby.”

“You want . . .” He stopped and started again, speaking his words with care. “You want to talk about that here?”

The astonished look on his face was too much to take. The details of the sunny late afternoon blurred as tears filled her eyes. Quickly, before Dragos could see her expression, she whipped around to face forward.

“No, of course not.” Her voice shook. “I shouldn’t have said that. It just fell out of my mouth.”

He straightened from his slouching position.

If he touched her or showed any sign of gentleness, she could feel the tears would turn into a geyser, and she really didn’t want to burst into tears in public. She really didn’t.

What the hell, self?

Bolting upright, she slid away from him as she stuttered, “F-football practice is almost over—why don’t you wait here for Liam, and I’ll meet you both at the car?”

“Pia,” Dragos said, the gold of his eyes flaring to incandescence. Clearly he didn’t like that suggestion in the slightest.

Telepathically, she said, Dragos, it’s all right. I’m having an emotional moment. I didn’t expect it. It came out of nowhere, and I’m a little embarrassed by it. I’d like to take a few moments to compose myself. Please.

After a moment, he growled, We’re still going to talk about this.

Of course we will. Just not in public, okay? Backing farther away, she headed down the wide concrete steps.

As she walked away, she could feel his fierce energy boiling at her back. He hated it when she cried, and he would doubly hate the fact that she asked him to stay behind.

But he would do it, because she asked it of him. Because he loved her.

Aside from the small fact that he could be the most terrifying creature she’d ever laid eyes on, he was an excellent husband and mate as well as a father.

She reached the ground level. Just before she turned the corner, she looked back up at him.

No longer in a relaxed sprawl across the bleachers, he sat forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, his dark head angled toward her. He had put on his sunglasses, no doubt to hide the incandescence spilling from his gaze, and his jawline was tight. It made his hard, ruthless features look even fiercer.

Suddenly she noticed the incongruities in the scene.

It was a perfect suburban setting, on a perfect suburban day. Tame, emerald green fields rolled toward the town in the distance. The aged Adirondacks Mountains provided a picturesque backdrop.

The coach’s whistle sounded over shouts and calls from the children. They ran toward him and stood in the group looking up as he talked to them.

Pia had been wrong about nobody paying attention to them.

Nobody had been paying attention to her.

Everybody paid attention to Dragos. As she glanced around, she saw several other adults peek up at where he sat, some distance away from anyone else.