The Unseen

by Thea Harrison

  “Tiago is going to barge through our front door at any moment,” she reminded him. “And we can’t just shut Skeeter in another room. Come on, it’ll be fine.”

  Taking him by the hand, she led him into their bedroom. He threaded his fingers through hers. “Just think, a couple of hours ago I was a happily married man.”

  “Ouch!” she said laughingly.

  “I wasn’t done.” He squeezed her hand. “I had just retired. Life was so simple.”

  She pulled away, dropped the baby monitor on the bed, and gathered up the throw they kept at the foot of their bed. Folding it, she told him, “Life is still simple. You are still happy, and your wife is both hot and wise.”

  “She is. I will grant you that,” he said, eyes gleaming.

  “Now there’s just a dog on your floor, so quit being a big baby and let’s go to bed.” She set the folded throw on the floor and stood back to admire her handiwork. It was probably a good thing that the throw would smell like them.

  Dragos snapped his fingers at Skeeter. “Go to bed.” Skeeter curled up on the throw and looked at Dragos soulfully. Dragos sighed and clenched his jaw. Then he said, “Good dog.”

  The dog sighed too and closed his eyes.

  Pia said with heartfelt sincerity to Dragos, “I have never loved you as much as I love you right now.”

  “Woman, you are a complete mystery to me,” he told her, even as he pulled her into his arms.

  “I know,” she said gently, laying one hand against his cheek.

  He glanced at the clock and then out the French windows where predawn had begun to light the horizon. “Maybe we have time for one round before Niall’s next feeding. What do you think?”

  “That sounds great to me.” As he lowered his head, Niall started to cry. Skeeter leaped upright and started barking.

  “What the actual fuck,” Dragos said. She had never seen him look so offended.

  Pia bent at the waist and laughed so hard tears sprang to her eyes. She choked out, “It’s not his fault. He didn’t know there was a baby.”

  “Stop,” Dragos ordered. Skeeter cut off in mid-bark but looked extremely alert. Dragos looked at Pia. “I’m not getting sex tonight, am I?”

  She laughed harder. “At this rate, I’m not sure we’re getting any sleep either.”

  When she turned to go to the nursery, Dragos caught her by the wrist. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get him.”

  “Thank you.” As she stripped down, she watched him stride out of the room. The dog sprang to follow.

  A few moments later, she heard Dragos murmuring over the baby monitor, “Quit making such a fuss, Stinkpot. You’ll get your titty juice in just a moment.”

  Titty juice? Clapping both hands over her mouth, she fought to remain quiet so she could hear what happened next.

  Rustling noises. He was changing the baby’s diaper.

  Excited barking.

  Thumps, curses, more barking. The scrabble of hooves and paws. The brittle sound of something breaking. Oops, that must have been the lamp beside Niall’s changing table.

  Then, “Oh for fuck’s sake, Niall—it’s just a dog. Cut it out. No, you can’t stab it! Change back, goddammit!”

  She lost her struggle for self-control in an explosive guffaw.

  Chapter Four

  Stinkpot was every bit as fast as his father. He had two big advantages. He was only twelve pounds, so he could turn on a dime, and his strategy was pure chaos. What he couldn’t do was outthink his father’s experienced wiliness. After a few minutes of scrambling, Dragos had the little shit scooped up and firmly tucked underneath his arm. The baby’s four hooves paddled the air as if he were still running.

  “Calm down,” he told the dog as he grabbed a fresh diaper. Obediently, Skeeter stopped barking and followed him back to the bedroom. There, Dragos found Pia red-faced with laughter. As soon as Stinkpot saw his mother, he started paddling faster as if that could get him to her more quickly.

  “Change back now, sweet baby,” she said as she gathered him up. As soon as he was in her arms, Niall abandoned his Wyr form and eagerly latched onto the nipple she offered. Within moments peace reigned in the room.

  Dragos shed his clothing and stretched out on the bed beside his mate and child. These were some of the times he treasured the most, the quiet of the room, the luminous love that Pia radiated, the delicate baby gradually falling asleep as he nursed at her breast.

  It filled him, those moments, in a way that nothing had ever filled him before, not war and killing, not even sex and mating. Peace poured into his cranky old soul.

  He stretched out on his side, facing them, and rested one hand on Pia’s flat abdomen. When, after a few minutes, Skeeter sneakily crept onto the foot of the bed and rested his head on Dragos’s ankle, he chose to let it go.

  What did it matter, after all? The dog’s life was nothing more than a fleeting moment, and he had already lived most of it. He should have what comfort he could for the short time he was here.

  Dragos didn’t quite sleep, but he rested and dozed as the sun came up. He knew the moment Tiago had stormed into the house, and one part of him took note of the intense rise and fall in Tiago and Niniane’s conversation. Eventually, two sets of quiet footsteps came up the stairs and traveled down the hall to one of the guest rooms.

  Beside him, Pia finished nursing Niall. She eased the baby onto his back on the mattress between them, and her breathing grew deep and regular. Dragos allowed himself another hour of rest. Then he eased off the bed, showered, and pulled on a pair of jeans.

  Skeeter waited and watched by the bathroom doorway. Dragos snapped his fingers at the dog and went downstairs. He fed Skeeter and let him out to do his business, made coffee, and texted the house staff to bring a large breakfast buffet, with a generous selection of fresh fruit, chocolate vegan muffins, a tofu scramble, and a large assortment of meat and eggs. Pia needed the vegan selections, and Tiago was very nearly the same size as Dragos, and his appetite was just as capacious.

  While he waited for the house staff to bring breakfast, he drank coffee and watched the news on the flatscreen that occupied one corner of the spacious kitchen. He had propped the back door open, and fresh air and sunshine spilled into the room. They had left the old throw on the floor, and Skeeter grabbed it with his teeth and dragged it over to Dragos’s feet, then dug it into a pile, turned around three times, and settled down on top of it.

  Tiago was first to enter the kitchen. A powerfully built man with dark brown skin, black hair, and harsh aquiline features reminiscent of American Indian ancestry, he had a typically impassive demeanor, but his Power cracked around him, filled with thunder and lightning. He was still dealing with some intense, tumultuous emotions.

  Thank the gods it wasn’t one of the women, because then Dragos would have to talk about their feelings. And Pia was the only woman whose feelings he was truly interested in.

  Tiago nodded to him on the way to the coffee. As he poured himself a mug, Dragos asked, “So, are you coming with us?”

  “For now,” Tiago replied. “I sent word back to Aubrey in Adriyel that we’re going to take an extended vacation. Aubrey will handle the rest. We are having the baby. Nothing else has been decided.”

  Dragos nodded. None of that surprised him.

  And that was it. He and Tiago had just carried on a lengthy conversation, for them. Tiago took a seat at the kitchen table. They watched the news and drank coffee.

  After ten minutes or so, Tiago said, “Aryal said you got a dog.”

  Dragos opened his mouth to say, no I didn’t, but oh, why bother? He shrugged in disgust.

  Soon the house staff arrived and set up the breakfast buffet in the dining room. While they worked, Pia appeared dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and carrying Niall on her chest in a baby carrier. Niall was still in his human form and sleeping. Pia’s tired expression brightened as she took in the expansive spread of food.

  “I prefer your cooking,” Dragos
told her. “But Aryal ate the entire casserole last night.”

  “Thank you for arranging this.” She kissed him, and then turned to greet Tiago.

  They elected not to wait for Niniane since, as Tiago said, she had worn herself out the night before. While they ate, Eva arrived and helped herself to food. Now that the time had come, Dragos asked Pia, “When do you want to leave?”

  She studied Tiago, who shrugged. “You shouldn’t wait for us. I want the faerie to sleep until she wakes up on her own. We can always follow when we are ready.”

  Pia nodded. “Then I think we should leave right away. There’s nothing else keeping us here. We’re packed, we’re ready. We just have to figure out how we’re going to transport the dog.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out,” Dragos replied. “He flipped out when he met Stinkpot in his Wyr form. God knows how he would handle the dragon. I’m going to make him go to sleep.”

  Tiago remarked laconically, “I can’t believe you got a dog.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” Dragos muttered underneath his breath. Pia’s eyes danced.

  After that, it was a simple matter of carrying their personal luggage outside. Most of their things had been sent ahead. They had five backpacks, one for each of them, and one for the dog’s food they had taken from Miss Creedy’s house. Pia would carry Niall in his baby carrier on her chest and wear her backpack. Eva would carry the sleeping dog strapped to her chest and wear her backpack. Both women would keep their hands free just in case. Dragos would carry the rest.

  They went outside, Dragos shapeshifted into the dragon, and they arranged themselves accordingly, the two women riding astride high on his back, where his neck met his shoulders. Dragos launched, feeling a lightness he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

  The first stop was at the guard station that had been built at the entry to the crossover passageway. Dragos had spared no expense on creating the borders to Rhyacia, and he shapeshifted back into his human form so he could conduct a quick inspection. Eva watched the baby and the dog, while Pia accompanied him.

  This station was their first line of defense against anyone who might potentially want to invade Rhyacia. Troops would be stationed here on permanent assignment, with several experienced magic users. There were barracks and customs offices, along with a state-of-the-art security system and weaponry. There was barbed wire atop a high wall, and they had ground-to-air missile capability.

  Eva was an experienced soldier and took it all in stride, but Pia hadn’t seen the crossover passageway since the station had been built. She stared at everything silently, her face pale.

  He waited.

  After a moment, she said, “I guess the other two crossover passageways have similar guard stations?”

  “Correct.” His voice was hard. “Nobody is getting onto my land without my say-so.”

  He would do all of this and more to keep Pia safe, but it wasn’t just about her anymore. Niall bore the same Wyr form that she did, and there were creatures in the world who would do anything and pay any amount of money, would go to war and bankrupt nations, just to get ahold of one of them.

  She stared off, her head turned away. He waited a few moments more.

  In a whisper, she asked, “Do you ever regret… any of this?”

  Rage like lightning whited out his mind. How could she ask him that? Because he was so angry, he moved with care when he took her shoulders and turned her to face him. The sadness in her expression kept him from shouting, and he remembered that, even though she was a more than competent fighter, unlike him she was a creature of peace at heart. So for her sake, he curbed his temper.

  “Never once,” he whispered through his teeth. “Never, on any day for the rest of my very long life, could I regret any of this. In fact, if it were possible, I would choose it all over again. If I could, it would be my extreme pleasure to hunt down and kill anyone who might even potentially think of doing harm to you and our son.” Her expression lightened, and when that happened, he found that his anger did too. He added, “And we’re having sex tonight, goddammit.”

  The last of her odd sadness broke apart as she laughed.

  And there it was, that moment, with happiness dancing in her aquamarine gaze and the air around her effervescent with her Power—that moment was what the dragon would do anything and kill anyone for.

  That moment was what he lived for.

  That one, and then the one after that, and the one after that, all grouped together in his mind like luminous pearls on a string. Each one came to him new, a perpetual gift of joyful surprise, and as rich as he was, and as many jewels as he’d acquired, those moments were the sum total of the dragon’s true treasure.

  There was another guard station on the Rhyacian side of the crossover passageway, and Dragos wanted to inspect that one as well.

  This time, when Pia accompanied him, she had questions. “Why is this station designed differently than the other one?”

  Instead of answering, he asked her a question. “What are the potential capabilities of any enemies who attack the Earth-side station?”

  “That’s easy. They are on Earth so they can attack with both technology and magic.” She frowned. “And even though they can come at the crossover passageway from several different directions, they have only a small entryway, because if you don’t hit a crossover passageway just right you don’t actually enter the passage.”

  “Correct. And what about here?”

  “This is the exact opposite. They can only come out of the exit of the passage, which is one narrowly defined area.”

  “Also correct,” he said. “And if you know you can only have a few people coming through that narrow space at any given time, who would you put first?”

  Her gaze narrowed. “I would put the nastiest magic users I could find through first. Because technology won’t work on this end, so guns have no use here. And they have to be mobile, so they can’t use heavier war machines like trebuchets. They need to move as quickly as possible, with as much missile capability as they can throw.” She glanced sidelong at him. “Flaming arrows?”

  “Absolutely flaming arrows. And morningstar spells, and panic spells, and some of those bastards will try cloaking themselves to go undetected. So, on this side of the passage, we load up on magic users, and we keep the newcomers contained. When they come in—not that they are ever going to get this far—they have to learn the terrain fast, but we don’t want to give them any clues. My magic users can be stationed at several different levels behind these high concrete walls. They are protected, while they can throw spells and shoot arrows through the slits there, and there.” He pointed.

  “You’ve created a kill box,” she said, staring at the giant oval wall that surrounded the land of the passageway. There was only one set of metal reinforced doors. The only two ways out of the kill box were to go back through the passageway to Earth, or to take wing and fly.

  He paused. “First off, I’m rather impressed that you know the term kill box.”

  “I used to watch TV, you know,” she confided. “I looove Jack Ryan.”

  He laughed. “I know you do. Yes, this is a kill box. The chances of it ever being needed are probably one in a million, but if that one chance happens, we’ll be ready.”

  “Remind me to never piss you off.”

  He kissed her swiftly. “You could never piss me off that much. Do you want to see the rest of the station?”

  “Oh, no. I’ve had enough of looking at murder places now. I’ll be ready to go whenever you are. Just remember, that baby has been sleeping for a few hours, and he’s going to wake up at some point.”

  “I have a few questions for the station commander, but I’ll make it quick.” Her expression made him pause. “What is it?”

  “You know, anybody who would want to launch an attack against us is probably going to know how the odds will be stacked against them in this situation.” Her gaze was both clear-eyed and sober.

  He frowned. �
��What’s your point?”

  “If I were that person, I wouldn’t launch an overt assault that would be expensive and probably doomed to fail.” Her smile twisted. “I would want to send someone in secret, someone who could pass the checkpoints and get through customs, because they look innocent and normal, and they would appear to have legitimate business. Maybe someone who everybody thinks of as a friend.”

  A chill passed down his neck. “You mean an assassin.”

  She searched his gaze. “Am I wrong?”

  He shook his head. “That’s what I would do, so no, you’re not wrong. I’m just saddened—and again impressed—that you realized that.”

  “He’s my child too,” she whispered.

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to be in a more sheltered environment overall, but that doesn’t mean we’ll relax our vigilance. There are two levels of stations, and they are populated by the smartest, most capable people I could find. We will also continue to have guards in the city where we live, along with personal guards. And just as soon as Niall is big enough, we’re going to train that boy how to stab things really well.”

  A grim kind of hilarity entered her sharp gaze. “He’s going to love it.”

  “Yes, I think he will.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Give me two minutes, and then we’ll head for home.”

  “Okay.”

  He located Malan Wei, the station commander, soon enough. She was a tough, experienced soldier with a long record of exemplary service in the Wyr demesne. Her Wyr form was one of the nastiest Dragos had ever encountered, a giant, spider-like creature called a Jorogumo. She had a poisonous bite and could move like lightning.

  To a Wyr of Dragos’s strength and size, her poison was akin to a mosquito bite or bee sting, but for the gryphons it could cause temporary paralysis. For any creature smaller, it could even cause death. Malan could have easily been a contender for a sentinel position, except she didn’t want to interact so intensely with the civilian population. The position of station commander suited her to perfection.

  Malan greeted him cheerfully and provided him with the budget report he’d requested. She also gave him a packet of correspondence from the build site that had accumulated since the last package had been delivered to their house in New York. He shuffled through the letters. Nothing looked urgent, so after meeting with Malan for a few moments, he took his leave.