Dragos Takes a Holiday (Elder Races #6.5)(27)

“What do you want to do?” Pia asked. “You can dump out what’s in the suitcase, go back down and collect the rest of it now, if you want.”

He shook his head. “It’s not going anywhere. We can go back, and I’ll buy some containers to haul it all in.”

“Well, if you’re sure—” she began. The sat phone rang. She reached for it and clicked it on. “Hello?”

“It’s Eva.” Eva didn’t sound like herself, her voice harsh and ragged. “Liam’s gone.”

“What?” The words were perfectly audible, but they came out of nowhere, and they made no sense. Pia shook her head. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Liam is missing,” Eva said, enunciating carefully. “He’s missing, Pia. We put him down for a nap, and now he’s gone. The house was locked tight. Hugh stayed inside, and I walked the yard outside, but the window in his bedroom is wide open and he is f*cking gone—”

“Oh my God.” Pia’s world bottomed out. The sat phone fell from her nerveless fingers.

Dragos didn’t need to ask what had been said; he had already heard it. His bronze skin turned ashen, his eyes stark.

Eva was still talking. The words sounded far away and small coming from the phone. As Pia reached for the phone, Dragos crouched and sprang into the air, leaping so hard the boat rocked wildly and knocked her back against the side. He shapeshifted in midair and snatched her up in one claw. He tore through the sky, his huge body straining as they arrowed back to the islands.

Pia went numb. She couldn’t feel her feet, or her lips. “The phone!”

Dragos said tensely, “I’m talking to her. They found Liam’s scent outside and followed it. It disappeared down the road. The man from the bar—not Merrous, the other one—his scent was at the spot where Liam’s stopped.”

“Oh God, oh God.” This reality was outrageous, nightmarish beyond belief. She screamed, “Are you telling me those bastards have my baby?”

The dragon growled and flew harder.

A hollow, roaring silence filled her mind. Time stopped and started in fitful spurts.

They reached the island and slammed to earth. Dragos shapeshifted again, but only partially. He was gigantic, monstrous, his face and muscles contorted, his hands long with lethally sharp talons.

Occasionally Wyr went into a partial shapeshift in times of extremity. At other times, some could even shapeshift small changes like bringing out their talons, but Pia had only seen Dragos caught in the monstrous half-shift once, when they had mated last year. In spite of her shock over Liam and how much she loved him, she almost recoiled from the sight.

But he was her mate, and she had never needed a monster more than she did right now. He snatched her hand, and they raced up the path.

***

As they neared the house, the dragon let go of Pia’s hand and lunged ahead, his long legs eating up the distance. He slammed through the door so hard it tore off its hinges, and he bounded up the stairs to his son’s bedroom. It looked serene, with nothing displaced. He scented everything carefully. Nobody had been in Liam’s room except for him, Pia, Eva and Hugh.

The window was wide open, and Liam’s scent was on the sill. He looked outside. Pia had run around the house and was talking to Eva and Hugh. The bodyguards’ bodies were tense, their eyes heartsick.

He leaped down the stairs and tore out of the house to join the others. Eva pointed to a spot in the road. “Liam’s scent starts here.”

He reached the spot and looked back at the house. He could see Liam’s open window. He raced to follow Liam’s scent to the place where it stopped, and he caught the human’s scent and followed that to where it stopped.

After that there was nowhere else to go. Feeling a rare sense of impotence and terror, he stood with his taloned fists clenched. They had gotten into a car. By now they could be on a boat.

And while Liam could understand a great deal, his verbal skills had not caught up with his comprehension. Dragos might be able to reach him telepathically, but he couldn’t reply.

Dragos could telepathize with someone else, though.

Merrous, said the dragon in a calm, quiet voice.

After a moment, Merrous gave a telepathic chuckle. Well, this is uncomfortable and unexpected, but surprisingly useful. I was going to send you a burner phone, but this works even better. I have something of yours.

He said, Prove it.

What do you want, a picture or a body part? Merrous laughed.

He had quite a sense of humor for a dead man. The dragon flexed his talons, and nearby, Eva and Hugh blanched. His voice grew gentler. Do you want the Sebille? Because you will never have it without me.

Merrous’s laughter vanished. He said venomously, Yes, I want the Sebille, and I want everything that went down with it. I presume you want this rug rat back. We’ll do an exchange.

When? he asked. Where?

I’ll let you know when I work something out. Now, stop talking to me, or someone is liable to get hurt.

Rage filled his body like burning acid. Dragos looked at Pia and the other two. They had been watching his face closely. “I just talked to Merrous. He says he wants an exchange, and he’ll get back to me once he decides when and where.” He paused as a sliver of rational thought sliced through the lava running through his mind. “He sounds too confident.”