Read Online Dragos Takes A Holiday [6.50] Elder Races by Thea Harrison - Free Book Online

When they got back within sight of the bright lights and busy dockyard, Dragos wrapped the concealment cloak around them again.
    Pia said, “I am horribly in love with you, you know.”
    He put his arm around her shoulders. “As I am with you. Horribly.”
    Her sigh made him smile. It was such a happy sound. He pulled her closer as they strolled toward the car.
     

Chapter Six
    Early the next morning, Pia dressed in Capri cargo pants, a lemon-yellow tank top and her slender silver sandals. Dragos dressed simply as well, in jeans and a gray T-shirt that stretched across the breadth of his chest and biceps.
    After a quick, cheerful breakfast, Pia slipped Liam into his baby carrier and strapped him to her torso. She and Dragos walked the path to the beach, where Dragos changed into his dragon form.
    Liam crowed with excitement and craned his neck to look at Dragos. Pia turned so he could study his father, and he flailed his arms.
    “This is one excited baby.” She jerked her head back with a laugh as one of his chubby fists clipped her on the chin.
    The dragon bent his immense head and nosed Liam, who shrieked happily and pounded the dragon’s snout. Pia laughed harder as she imagined what they might look like to a total stranger. If she had witnessed such a bizarre sight without knowing any of them, she would have been absolutely terrified for the baby and the woman holding him.
    The dragon’s huge gold eyes danced. He said to Pia, “Are you ready?”
    “You bet.”
    Dragos scooped Pia into one forepaw with extreme care and twisted to set her on his back. With the familiarity of long practice, she scooted up to the natural hollow where the base of the dragon’s neck met his shoulders. As soon as she settled into place, she patted his dusky bronze hide. “All set.”
    Her heart leaped as he crouched and launched over the water in a breathtaking surge of power. It never got old. Dragos’s lunges into the air used to scare her, since for flights like this, she rode him without a strap or harness of any kind, but her confidence and trust had grown over time. Even in his dragon form, he was blindingly fast. Once, she had started to slide from her perch, and he had twisted in midair to snatch her up in one paw before she fell.
    However, this flight didn’t go as planned. When they went airborne, Liam gave another happy shriek—and shapeshifted.
    Astonished, Pia stared down at him. Normally when he rode in the baby carrier, he was strapped snugly against the front of her body, but his dragon form was much longer and leaner than his human baby form, and now the carrier hung loose around his sleek body.
    He began to crawl onto her shoulders. She threw her arms tightly around him. He wriggled to get away from her, his head turned and jewel-bright eyes fixed on Dragos’s huge, flapping wings.
    “We’ve got a problem,” she called out.
    Immediately Dragos stopped his ascent, spread his wings wide and coasted. He tried to look around, but he couldn’t twist far enough to see what happened at the base of his neck. “What’s wrong?”
    “Liam changed again—he’s trying to get away from me. I don’t know if I can hold on to him!”
    She grabbed Liam by one foreleg and wrapped her fingers around the base of one wing as he freed it from the carrier. Liam flapped his wing and smacked her in the face. Pain flared as he hit her in the nose. Her eyes watered.
    Dragos said, “Let him go.”
    Pia blinked the tears from her eyes and looked around, her thoughts racing. They were already a couple of hundred yards out from shore. If she let Liam go and he tried to fly but couldn’t, Dragos would to have to lunge to catch him. If he did, she didn’t know if she could hold her seat, or if Dragos could catch them both if they fell.
    But it quickly became clear that they might both fall anyway. Liam’s strength in his dragon form was sobering. He wasn’t even fighting with her. She could tell he was excited, not distressed, but