At that, Adrian went silent. Watching her, something complex moved through his eyes. Moving to her, he wrapped his strong arms around her, setting his lips to her temple and stroking his long fingers over her back in smooth, languid patterns. Layla suddenly realized it was something Dusk might have done, and on the heels of that thought was that Adrian was acquiring Dusk’s grounding. If that was happening, then Dusk was probably acquiring Adrian’s tempestuousness, which would explain why he was breaking recently.
Relaxing her cheek onto Adrian’s shoulder, Layla sighed. He didn’t say anything, just held her, and it was everything Layla needed. It was strange, relaxing into Adrian in a way she would normally have done with Dusk, letting him smooth her worries with the simplicity of his touch. Yet as Layla breathed into it, feeling Adrian’s magics moving in warm, gentle patterns around her, she realized it was perfect.
Drawing back, she gazed up at him. He watched her with something tender yet strong in his eyes; determined. Reaching one hand up, he stroked her neck, and Layla lifted a hand to touch his fingers. His hand stilled beneath hers as his eyes lit with a golden fire.
“Is this risk worth it?” Layla asked, needing to know, needing his strength to bolster her. “You being here?”
“It is.” Adrian spoke softly as he gazed deep into her eyes. “I want to be here for you, Layla. I want to be herewithyou, not on the run. Not tending a hundred empires against a shadowy enemy. When I was on the run these past weeks, I found the further I got from you, the more my heart screamed. I don’t care if it’s a risk. I don’t care if Crimson Circle eyes and ears are all around. My place is here with you. And I didn’t know that until I traveled halfway around the world… and found that no place was home to me anymore. Except when I’m by your side.”
It was everything Layla had been wishing for these past months. Yet as she gazed up at him, she trembled, finding herself more afraid than ever as that black pit tried to open up inside her. “But if you’re far away from me, you’re safe from the Crimson Circle – and whatever other trouble I attract, like these White Chalice mystics.”
“If I’m far away from you,” Adrian countered softly, “I’m dead, Layla. Maybe not dead in the flesh, but dead inside. You are my mate. You are the woman I love. It’s not just the Bind; it’s my heart. I want to be your partner. I love you, Layla. It’s my place to be here, protecting you.”
“Adrian…” Layla gazed up at him, flooded with tenderness. Her heart swelled and the combined emotions of the day were suddenly too much. Tears pricked her eyes and Adrian saw it, or perhaps felt it. His gaze softened to an aching beauty, the same look he’d given her long ago when he’d stood outside her garden window in the deep summer midnight. As Layla gasped, feeling her heart break at the thought that something might happen to him, that tender beauty in Adrian’s eyes deepened.
“I can’t lose you, Layla.” He spoke as he twined his fingers through hers. “But if I keep running, I will lose you. More deeply than if the Crimson Circle wrenched you from my cold, dead hands.”
Layla knew it was true. If Adrian kept running, their Bind might live but their love would die. Lifting up, Layla set her lips to his, pouring out her heart. As she did, a tender wave of heat and light passed through her, spilling from her lips in through Adrian’s. He inhaled as they kissed, feeling it, breathing in her emotions and magic. With a tender growl, Adrian wound her close in his arms and Layla touched his beloved face with her fingertips as he delved deeper into their kiss; hotter. Her eyelashes fluttered as she felt their magics whirl in a rush of heat and energy. Her breath was fast and her heart faster as Adrian finally broke their kiss, lingering. As he gazed down, she saw his eyes blaze with every color, burning hot and fierce.
“You are my mate, Layla Price.” He growled, with basso tones in his voice as he nuzzled her nose. “I will not abandon you. Ever. I hate thinking about other men being with you. It rips me up to think I may never be your one and only. But I have to endure it, and I will. You are a woman unlike any I’ve ever met, and it demands for me to be a better man than I’ve ever been. I don’t run from a challenge, or from danger, and I won’t run from any of this. Our Bind is protection, for all of us. I won’t screw that up, not like I did before.”
“What about the Crimson Circle?” Layla asked, worry still moving in her despite everything. “And these arcane Storm Dragon mystics? Do you think they’re connected?”
“I don’t know.” Adrian drew a deep breath, the blaze in his eyes simmering. “My hunch is that these things are connected, but I’ll be damned if I can see it. But I’ve only been a Hotel Owner sixteen years, Layla, I don’t know anything about how the Crimson Circle work or who they may get to wash their dirty laundry – or even who they are. Some people Quindici suspects of being Circle have held ownership in the Hotel since its inception. They’ve seen empires rise and fall. I’m nothing compared to that.”
“But you’re on their radar as a threat now, Adrian,” Layla breathed, “otherwise they wouldn’t have resurrected some arcane Hotel law to try and get you murdered. How long until they start caring about me and Dusk, Reginald, the Madame, or Rikyava? From Imogene’s words, people in scary places are caring about me already, like that White Chalice High Priest.”
“That’s because people are beginning to recognize how powerful you are,” Adrian reached up, stroking her cheek as his eyes became fierce. “Progressing in battle-magics, learning to become a Courtesan in record time, trained by a Royal Siren. Magics that compel the strongest of any Lineage to do your bidding. It’s aLa Femme Nikitacombination.”
“I’m not afemme fatale, Adrian.”
“Not yet.” Adrian spoke as he kissed her gently. “But you might be.”
That stopped her, and Layla blinked at Adrian. He watched her, his aqua eyes fierce, and she realized he believed his words. He believed she was going to become some sort of super-spy with bedroom talents and status that could get her in places no other spy could possibly access. It was too much for Layla suddenly. A cold spear chilled her, her Dragon coiling up into that tight fangs-out position deep within her gut as the black void threatened.
But Layla couldn’t go there right now. Her friends were missing, and she couldn’t allow herself to be mind-blind tonight. Kissing Adrian’s lips one last time, she stepped back, taking a deep breath. Adrian lifted her hand, kissing her fingers, watching her with his stunning aqua eyes. Layla watched him back, feeling even more nervous than before.
“Are you ready?” He asked – about far more than just dinner.
“No.” Layla breathed, shaking her head. “I feel like I just want to run away.”
“I’m right here with you.” Adrian spoke gently as he lifted her hand to his arm, ready to escort her. “This situation isn’t more dangerous than twenty different scrapes I’ve been in before.”
“You’re lying.” Layla spoke, knowing the truth. “You have more to lose than you’ve ever had, Adrian. Maybe you can hide your fear from everyone else, but I feel it. You just don’t want to break, so you won’t even allow a glimmer of fear in your mind. But I feel your heart. You care. More now than you ever have before. And for the first time, your enemies have something they really will try to use against you. Your love.”
That sobered him. Adrian paused, then turned to face her. His energy was fierce, the set of his tall, lean frame ferocious in a way she’d only seen a few times. As he simmered with power, Layla watched his eyes flash with a dark passion. Suddenly, he released her hand from his arm. Before she knew what he was doing, he had slipped his talisman from his wrist, setting it to a gilded table beside Layla’s apartment doors.
Adrian’s power flared through the room like a seething fire. Layla gasped, inhaling scorched jasmine on the wind of heat that swirled up all around her. A blast of crimson-aqua flame surged out around them, and though it burned nothing, the entire room suddenly flared hotter. Roiling with power as if all the sands of the Sahara could catch fire, Adrian’s eyes blazed every color as a deep growl poured from his throat. Layla gasped, rocked by his passion so suddenly unleashed. As he lifted her hand, curling it around his arm again, she saw the ferociousness of Adrian’s Dragon in his face and eyes; in the power of his sculpted shoulders and lean height. Turning his head, Adrian laid the full force of those terrible eyes upon her as he spoke.
“Let the Crimson Circle see my love and the power it gives me. I’m done hiding. Their spies can tell them I was here – and thatI’m the hunter now. Anyone they try to use against us will be scorched by my winds. The hours of their sands have drawn short before the dawn of our Bind.”
Layla blinked at Adrian’s words, an echo of the language her nemesis Hunter had once used, the Royal Dragon Bind who had abducted her at Samhain. But this wasn’t her enemy speaking, this was her mate. And suddenly, Layla saw the power inside Adrian. He wasn’t the strongest Royal Dragon out there, he wasn’t the most wealthy. He wasn’t the largest in his Dragon-form, and he wasn’t the most diabolical.
But a torrent of ferocious passion roared through Adrian’s veins, and feeling it, Layla finally understood why everyone she’d met in the Twilight Realm considered Adrian a force to be reckoned with. He was a blaze, an inferno of passion and lance-sharp intent. Righteousness roared from his marrow, and in his moment of ferocious determination, Layla felt all his fears banished.
It bolstered her, flooding her as they stood together. Drawing a deep breath, Layla felt her energy lifted by his, rushing up into a tower of heat and light through their Bind. Suddenly, she was ready for whatever they might face in the coming days and weeks – good, bad, or terrible. She was ready for whomever might see them and for the consequences. She was ready to stand strong with him against their enemies, no matter where those enemies hid.
She was ready to be Adrian’s mate – and to show the world how powerful they could be.
