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.

EIGHTEEN

A Mephistophelian voice thundered in her head. It called her Name.

Use your Power, damn it. I can feel you’re there. Try hard, the imperious voice demanded. WAKE THE FUCK UP.

Everything whirled around her. It stank like oil and exhaust. She lay on something hard that vibrated, her cheek pressed against a rough carpet. She felt dizzy, sick. She breathed in shallow pants.

Someone was making a thin whining sound. Oh, it was her. Shut up, stupid.

She fought to do as the voice demanded and reached deep inside. Her training instructor would have said she reached for her chi, her energy flow, the seat of her breath.

For a terrible moment she was disoriented and rudderless in the dark. Then she connected. Power flowed up from the base of her spine and flooded her body. It didn’t dissipate all the effects of the drug, but it helped to clear her head some.

She was bound with her arms behind her, gagged and in the trunk of a car traveling at high speed. She drooped. Apparently it really did never rain but poured.

Answer me now, Dragos commanded.

Having a hell of a week, she managed to articulate. Her mental voice was thready and lacked control, but he heard her.

There’s my girl. The thunder was gone, replaced by desperate relief. Talk to me. Are you hurt?

No, some kind of drug. She struggled to find words that made sense. Tied up. In the trunk of a car. We’re traveling fast.

All right. Stay calm, said Dragos.

Bayne and Aryal. She tried to figure out how to articulate their names into a question.

We found them outside the clinic. They were drugged too. They’re okay; they’re shaking it off. Dragos sounded composed again. We finally got ahold of someone who can cast a tracking spell. I’ll be able to follow you in just a moment. How are you tied? Can you get loose?

Nausea lurked. She clenched down on it hard. She couldn’t afford to vomit with the gag in her mouth. She bent back in a bow so she could feel along her lower legs with hands that were prickling and starting to go numb.

They’re those plastic restraints. No locks. I can’t get them off.

All right, he said again. Don’t worry about it.

She had important things to tell him. What were they again? For how long would he be able to talk to her? Graydon had said something about his telepathic range being over a hundred miles. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious or how far away they were from each other.

She said. I have to tell you things in case we lose contact.

We’re not going to lose contact, he snapped. That’s it. I’ve got a tracking spell on your braid. I’m on my way.

She kept her breathing deep and regular. It seemed to help keep her stomach settled, although the exhaust fumes made her want to gag. She tried to think. Was that land magic she felt in the distance?

Will the tracking spell still work if we cross over to an Other land?

He said, I’m not going to let you get that far away.

He didn’t tell her the spell would work. She had a feeling that meant it wouldn’t.

She said, It’s two Dark Fae. They’re working with a witch from the Magic District.

His voice turned ominous. Describe her.

She’s dark-haired, a human, first name is Adela. She owns the shop Divinus. I can’t remember her last name. She struggled to think.

Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter, he said. Can you describe the Dark Fae to me?

She tried her best, but she had gotten just that brief look at them before falling unconscious. I’m sorry.

He turned gentle. None of that matters right now. Let’s just focus on getting you back.

Her sense of land magic grew stronger. Uh-oh. But I have to tell you. I’m pregnant.

His roar filled her head. WHAT!

She talked faster. I never had control over that so I had an IUD implant. When I realized what was going on this morning, I was so scared I was going to miscarry, all I could think was I had to get to the doctor fast and get the IUD removed. And I was so damn mad at you. I thought you’d done it on purpose.

Pia. My God.

I dreamed about him this morning. I think it was real. He was a white dragon, the most beautiful little boy you’ve ever seen. They went into a wide turn, picked up speed for a brief while, then slowed into another turn. She told him with enforced calm, We’re leaving a highway and slowing down. I can feel land magic close by.

Quickly, he said. He sounded more shaken than he ever had before. The car trunk has a lock. Try to push it up, and tell me what you see.

If her hands were free or bound in front of her she could just spring the catch of the trunk lock from the inside. She struggled to get her knees underneath her and push up on the trunk with her shoulder. The catch gave just as they rolled to a stop.

Why the hell not. She pushed the trunk open wider so that she could wriggle through and spilled onto pavement with a painful thud. She stared up at the front end of a Dodge Ram pickup coming straight for her. The truck slammed to a halt inches away from her face. The car she had been in pulled away from the stop and turned left.

“Hey!” a man yelled from the truck.

Shut up, you stupid man, shut up.

A truck door slammed.

She sat as a middle-aged man appeared. He knelt beside her, his face filled with shock and outrage.

“What the hell?” he said. “Oh sweet Jesus, lady, you’ve been kidnapped?”

Ya think?

Yards away, car brake lights showed. She yelled against her gag at the man.

“Just hold on, honey. You’re gonna be all right now.” The man worked to get her gag loose.

I slipped out at a stop, she said to Dragos. They noticed. They’re in a gray Lexus and they’re turning around. I’m seeing signs for . . . Highway 17 and . . . Averill Avenue or State Road 32. There’s a state park sign. I can’t see the name. It’s the same two guys, no witch.

I know where you are, he said in satisfaction. Well-done.

The man got the gag loose and pulled it over her head just as the Lexus pulled up. She screamed at the man, “Run!”

The two Fae stepped out, looking pissed. They had guns.

No, it’s not well-done. I made a bad mistake. Oh God, oh God, oh God.

Dragos was trying to talk to her, but she couldn’t shut up, couldn’t run, couldn’t do anything but stare in horror as the man stood and turned around. One Fae lifted his gun and shot him.

She sobbed, I think I just got somebody killed.

Then the other Fae lifted his gun and shot her. She looked down at the pain in her chest. Another dart stuck in her T-shirt.

Fade to black.

The dragon roared in anguish as he hurtled north with every ounce of his strength and speed. He was followed by all his sentinels but one who had been left behind to deal with the witch.

He was too far, too far, and now she was gone again.

His enemies had taken his mate. His child.

She had to be alive.

Anything else was unacceptable.

A burning cold Power yanked her awake. She coughed and rolled to her side. Her gag was gone and so were her ankle and wrist restraints. Her arms and legs crawled with prickling pain as her circulation returned.

She was lying on a floor. She touched the polished hardwood. Inside then.

“There’s our thief,” said a cultured male voice overhead. “Time to rise and shine.”

Inhuman. Fae. Didn’t she just know who that was. Too bad his head was still attached to his body. She had been hoping she would meet him the other way.

“I’m asleep, then I’m awake. Then I’m asleep and now I’m awake again,” she croaked. “Make up your mind already.”

The male laughed. “Well, you have not been boring, I’ll give you that, but haven’t you been one slippery bitch to get ahold of. And apparently for Cuelebre to hold on to.”

Yes, well, let’s not talk about that. She looked at the sleek black boots near her head. They belonged to legs that went up farther than she could focus just yet. “Can I have some water?”

“Sure, why not.”

He threw cold water in her face. She was too depleted to react much other than gasp. “Alrighty,” she said after a moment. “Can I have some water to drink now, please, Your Highness?”

He laughed again. “Not boring and not dumb. That’s so much better than your boyfriend, who both bored me and was dumb. To be honest, I don’t know what you saw in him.”

“Ex. Ex-boyfriend,” she said. “I swear to God, I’m never going to live that down.”

Finally it felt like her limbs would function. She pushed herself to a sitting position. She was in a very large room that had a medieval feel. There was a large stone fireplace and a nearby cluster of chairs, a long wooden table with benches, lit sconces that gave the scene a flickering illumination she found eerie, and a high-raftered ceiling.

There were also Fae guards at long metal-hatched windows. The two who had snatched her were stationed at large double doors.