“Have you slept with him?” Adrian’s gaze blistered as he stared into her eyes, sensing her feelings through their Bind. Layla saw the gold in his eyes flash; molten, brutal.
“No, Reginald hasn’t even touched me, Adrian, not really.” Layla spoke, feeling like they were at the crux of it now. Though her words weren’t entirely true; Reginald had touched her with his magics quite deeply tonight – twice.
“What I felt today at the Owner’s party was a lot more than touching.” Adrian’s energy blistered around Layla, a burning sand funnel in the night, full of wrath. And then his gaze slipped to Dusk. “And now you’re with him. When will it be me, Layla? When will it be my turn to be with you?”
Suddenly, Layla saw the problem: there just wasn’t enough of her to go around. Not for casual time, and certainly not for lovemaking. Even though Dragons were generally polyamorous, her Binds with Adrian and Dusk drove deeper than that; deeper than any kind of normal relationship. Layla had proven that tonight with the intensity of her lovemaking to Dusk, and watching Adrian now, seeing him so frustrated and furious from his chosen celibacy since their Bind, everything suddenly made sense.
With a slow inhalation, Layla gathered herself as everything became clear. Her Dragon went quiet, calm and collected instead of pissed off at Adrian. Moving forward, she took up Adrian’s hands, kissing his fingers gently. She felt a shudder pass through him, his lips parting as he gave a soft sigh. They’d shared something powerful earlier today in the Pavilion, and Layla had been a selfish asshat to only be thinking about her own problems right now. Adrian was hurting; he was thrumming with power and passion for her, unconsummated for months longer than Dusk.
Layla realized his determination to be celibate for her took an iron fist – and a deeply dedicated heart.
“I’m available until dawn,” she murmured, gazing up into Adrian’s beautiful aqua-gold eyes. “Reginald gave me a reprieve for the night. And dawn is still a few hours away yet.”
Adrian’s breath stopped. Something so desirous flashed through his beautiful eyes that Layla felt it like a punch to the gut. It shuddered her whole body to feel the depth of his need. As if they were connected by a burning cord that he had suddenly flared with a disastrous recoil, she felt like her heart was being ripped out to see him suffering that much.
Reaching up, Adrian caressed her curls back from her face, his hand so hot it scorched. His touch triggered Layla’s Dragon and a spiced wind surged from her, coiling around him with talons and muscled barbs. Adrian exhaled, falling into her, their bodies touching hip to chest. A lower-than-human growl rippled from his throat as his magic suddenly raced around her, his hands gripping hot at her waist. Vibrant, Adrian’s power simmered the air with etheric crimson and aqua flames that licked along Layla’s skin like burning tongues as he gripped her. It was painful yet terribly pleasant, and she shuddered, flooded with heat as her pulse pounded and her head whirled. As her knees buckled from the power of Adrian’s pleasure, Dusk stepped in fast behind her, catching her in his arms.
But even though Dusk poured his soothing vibrations through her, he couldn’t quell Layla and Adrian’s disastrous passion. Layla surged like a mad thing in Dusk’s arms, her mind and body awash in sensations that were far from human, and entirely ecstatic. A tirade of memories ripped through her; of desert sands and arroyos, and palaces of colorful zellij tile. Deep inside, she felt her Dragon roil, rising in a wave to Adrian’s vast call.
The call to have his Bound mate.
Dusk held her fast, making a soothing vibration at her ear as Adrian continued to grip her hard with fingers like talons, growling his not-human sound and calling her beast. But Dusk’s ministrations weren’t enough to counteract Adrian’s desperate hold over her, and Layla gasped in Dusk’s arms, struggling to be let go. She wanted to fuck Adrian’s brains out right then and there. She wanted to shift into her Dragon and rip Adrian apart as they fucked like animals in the night.
But as if Dusk sensed what she really needed, he held her fast, grounding her as Adrian flooded her with carnal heat and need. Holding her back from changing into her Dragon. Holding her back as Layla felt fire on the wind; as scorched cinnamon and jasmine devoured her.
It wasn’t enough. She needed more – more of both of them. Layla writhed in Dusk’s arms, gasping as she wound a hand up behind Dusk’s neck and one up around Adrian’s, pulling them both close. Her body struggled with pleasure between them as Dusk poured his calming vibration through her bones while Adrian flooded her with passion and fire. Turning her face into Dusk, she buried her nose in his neck, keening with pleasure and need as Adrian pulled her close by the waist, his lips finding her collarbones.
Kissing her, biting her; Adrian flooded his passionate growl and burning heat into her as he pressed his lean body and his hard arousal against her. She could feel him through her yoga pants, so exquisitely hot and firm that she bucked and cried out. Stroking her wet curls, Dusk set his lips to her temple, his grounding vibrations barely enough to keep her from shifting. Crushed close to Dusk’s strong, warm chest, she was trapped between the delicious bodies of her two bound men.
Trapped – and flooded with both their pleasures.
“I need you.” Adrian was breathless as he pressed his forehead to her neck, undone.
“I barely have control over my magic, Adrian,” Layla gasped back, writhing between her men’s bodies, so hot and needful. “What if I shift into my Dragon?”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“I can ground her.” Dusk’s voice was soft behind her shoulder. “If you want to take her, Adrian… I can ground her. Layla’s still got some of Reginald’s control pouring through her tonight, and I can augment it. I can ground her with my power long enough that we can all get what we need tonight… If you’re willing.”
Adrian paused. Layla felt his magics roil in frustration, in need. But Layla felt Dusk’s energy then, reaching out to Adrian through her body like a cool river – flowing into Adrian’s chest to ground his tempestuous fire as much as it grounded Layla’s.
Suddenly, she felt Adrian’s enormous need pull back a bit. Adrian drew a deep breath and Layla felt a sudden calculating thoughtfulness come clear in him. As if he was truly considering Dusk’s offer, Adrian’s raging lust paused, and Layla felt him thinking with the side of him that ruled his clan and the Paris Hotel with renegade efficiency. In that moment, Layla suddenly understood why she and Dusk and Adrian were bound in a trio – because they needed each other.
Dusk was the balm to she and Adrian’s scorch; he was the earth and water to their fire and wind.
Adrian kissed Layla’s neck as he exhaled. She felt him close his eyes, his long eyelashes brushing her skin. And then he murmured, “In the blackest of your moments, wait with no fear.”
A deep shudder passed through him on the heels of his Rumi quote, and then Layla felt him become decisive like a war-general.Power surged through him, hauling back his eros strongly enough that he was able to pull back from her and pin Layla with his eyes, then Dusk.
“My rooms. Now.” Adrian growled deeply. “And fuck Reginald’s ultimatum of dawn. This will take as long as it’s going to take. Are you both with me?”
“Adrian.” Dusk nodded behind Layla – though she could feel how much he was grinning.
“Yes.” Layla breathed, wanting nothing more than what Adrian was proposing.
“Let’s go then, before I lose control. Because the heavens will shatter if I do.” And then Adrian was turning, striding off into the darkness with a terribly alluring glance for the both of them to follow.
