Dragon Bound (Elder Races, #1) by Thea Harrison 
Series: Elder Races #1
Published by Tantor Audio on May 1st 2011
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Sophie Eastlake
Length: 12 hrs 59 min
I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful-and passionate-of the Elder races.
Pia Giovanni is a human/wyr half breed. Her mother always told her she must keep hidden and keep silent about who she was. That she should stay in the human realm and never travel to the ‘other lands’. To never let the humans know she was different and never, ever let any of the elder races know she existed. She should have listened better to her mother.
Now her stupid ex-boyfriend with his giant gambling debts, in his desperation, told his handlers that he could get them anything they wanted and it appears what they want is something that belongs to Dragos Cuelebre. So he blackmails Pia into finding Drago’s hoard and stealing one of his possessions. But Drago is no ordinary human. He’s a king and a dangerous wyr-dragon who is as old as the earth itself.
Now the wyr-dragon is seriously pissed and he wants the thief who dared to steal from him. He uses his vast powers to locate Pia and through her dreams he attempts to find her greatest desire so he can use that to trap her. When her greatest desire leads to an incredible sexual fantasy, Drago wants to locate her for more than just punishment for stealing.
Pia thought she was safe, crossing into the elven domain where the wyr could not cross, especially not the wyr king, but she didn’t count on Drago’s determination to catch his thief. When the elves find out that he was crossed into their territory, they give him 12 hours to get out of town or they will declare war for his trespass.
But more dangerous forces are involved in the theft then a simple bookie, and now Drago and Pia are on the run from goblins, elves, and the Dark Fey King, who has been Drago’s nemesis for centuries.
Neither Drago nor Pia understand the unbelievable attraction for each other, but they are enjoying exploring it at every opportunity.
This series was highly recommended to me and I was recently offered a review copy of the upcoming Lord’s Fall, so I decided to give it a try and on a recent very long car trip I download an audiobook copy so that I could use my long drive wisely and catch up on this series.
I should be disappointed that this story had the standard H/H characters of the powerful alpha male, used to ordering everyone around and always getting what he wants, and of course, he is fascinated by the one person who doesn’t do what he wants or what he expects, and Pia who is constantly waffling between I trust him/I don’t trust him and I want him to take care of me/I want to be independent. So I am amazed that I found myself really enjoying the storytelling; the build toward what she stole from his hoard, who Pia really is and why her mother was hiding her, the romance between the main characters, as well as the whole cast of secondary characters.
This is the first of the series and the upcoming release is the fifth book. There appears to be a balance between the secondary characters getting their HEA and a continuing story of Pia and Drago. There are also four short stories in the series already.
I will definitely be downloading the audiobook for Book #2 for my trip home and will be getting back to you with a review of that and Book #5, Lord’s Fall.
Favorite Scene:
The dragon lay spread-eagled where they had bound him. He was chained twice, first with the magical black shackles. The second set was attached in four points to the floor. He stared at the ceiling, thoughts weaving in a serpentine path. Every few minutes he would pull at the floor chains. He ignored his bleeding ankles and wrists. He could feel a weakness growing in the chain on his left arm and concentrated on that.
His cell door opened. He turned his head, the serpentine path turning lethal.
A battered, filthy Pia backed into the room, and Dragos became sane.
He began to shake. He watched her listening at the cracked door for a few moments before she pulled the door shut. She turned around. When she caught sight of him, her shoulders sagged.
“Oh, for crying out loud.” She rolled her eyes. “Two sets of manacles? Now I suppose we need two sets of keys. This day keeps getting better and better.”
“Come here,” he said. He gave the chain anchoring his left arm an enormous wrench. The chain groaned but didn’t break. “Come here. Come here.”
She cocked her head, her weary gaze becoming very sober. She limped across the cell and collapsed to her knees beside him. “They beat you too,” she said. She touched his ribs with a light gentle hand.
His shaking increased. Talking to her before the Goblins took her had been easy. He had explained to her with his usual calm ruthlessness how he thought things might go. Overall she had seemed to take it well. He approached the confrontation as he always did, ready and focused to meet any upcoming challenge.
Then that first Goblin had driven his fist into her stomach, and he had gone bat-shit crazy. Every kick, every blow she suffered was like corrosive acid in his veins. He wanted to howl and rage. The dragon strained to rip their hearts from their chests while they watched.
He had clung to his self-control by the merest thread, by the realization of how much worse it could get for her if they got the reaction out of him they were searching for.
They hurt her. They hurt her, and that hurt him inside somewhere, in a place he had never been hurt before. He had sustained physical injury and pain many times before. It meant little to him. But this new hurt—he was in shock. He had never realized just how invincible he had been until it was ripped away from him.
