Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

Dragon Bound is the first novel in the Elder Races series. In this world, the Elder Races (Wyrkind, Elves, Light Fae, Dark Fae) have been out in the open since Elizabeth I. Each type of Elder Race has a hierarchy and their territory is divided by demesne (i.e. a Wyrkind demesne in New York and an Elven court demesne in South Carolina). The shapeshifter Wyrkind can shapeshift between whatever they are (dragon, lion, etc.) into humans. Our main characters are the half-human, half-Wyr Pia Alessandra Giovanni and the all-Wyr Dragos Cuelebre.

The novel starts out of the gate with conflict: Pia's ex-boyfriend has blackmailed her into using an artifact to break in to a dragon lair and steal anything to validate the ex-boyfriend's boasting that he could get it done. Before she delivers the stolen property, she procures a binding spell that she has the ex-boyfriend cast on himself so he cannot talk about her. Who is the dragon she stole from? The oldest and most powerful dragon, Dragos Cuelebre, who also happens to be the leader of the New York Wyr demesne.

During the action we learn that Pia has kept to herself her whole life and has hidden caches of money and identities hidden around so she can take off at a moment's notice (this made me think of Agents of Shield and other secret agent story lines). So her entanglement with Dragos as they become "bound" takes us on a familiar path where Pia won't have to run anymore and instead enjoy the benefits of being protected by a dragon.

I liked this book and I'm sure the rest of the books are going to be good as well. It wasn't clear, at least to me, until later in the book that Wyr was a shapeshifter and not just a dragon that can take human form. Also, like with A Shift in the Water, the main plot is actually the developing relationship between Dragos and Pia (explaining how Wyr mating works) rather than what I expected which was the conflict rising between the King of the Dark Elves and Dragos. This change of focus has taken me a while to get used to. That being said, I think this book, and I imagine the other 6 books and 7 novellas, are worth a read.

Visit Thea Harrison's website for more information about the author and how to purchase her books.