“Three?!” Arron’s grin was scandalized as he put his bonbon down. “What – I mean,how?”
“It’s my Dragon-magic. It’s sort of… pushed me into relationships with all of them.” Gazing at her best friend, Layla suddenly knew it was time to spill all the details she’d been holding back since August. “Actually, it’s all pretty difficult.”
“Tell Arron.” He smiled kindly, reaching out to take her hand. “What’s wrong, hun-bun? You have three men on the line, yet I sense that’s a problem.”
“It is.” Layla nodded, opening her heart to her best friend. “I was raised to value monogamy, but my Dragon can’t get enough of anyone with power. She reaches out, tasting people and seeing if she can Bind them. I’ve got more control over it, because I bound someone at Thanksgiving who can control my Dragon’s appetites. But I still feel it trying to reel in new mates. And now, I’m becoming a Hotel Courtesan tonight, and—”
“Um,excuseme?!” Arron’s eyes went enormous as he blinked, staring at her like she’d grown six heads. “Back up, chica. What do you mean,bind?And becoming a Courtesan? Isn’t that the whole reason you were skeptical of the Hotel in the first place?”
“Yes and yes.” Taking a deep breath, Layla gathered herself. “You know I’m a Dragon. But the kind of Dragon I am is called a Royal Dragon Bind. My magic has the ability to create a connection with someone else powerful, abind. It’s like this cord that unites their magic with mine and lets me feel their emotions and memories. But it’s more than that. It’s like—”
“Love.” Arron’s gaze was deep as he watched her. “When you bind these men, you love them, don’t you? All of them.”
“I do.” Layla breathed, twisting deep inside. “And not only that… my magic wants me to take more lovers, or it gets pissed, explosive. It’s part of why—”
“Why you’ve decided to become a Courtesan.” Arron’s gaze was intense.
“I debut tonight at the Yule Ball.” She nodded, feeling sick. “Tonight someone will win my debut auction and I have to sleep with them. Other Assignations will be my choice. But this first one… I haven’t told any of this to Celia or Charlie. Or Luke.”
“Fucksticks. Luke is going to birth a porcupine when he hears about it.” Arron spoke as he smoothed his hand over hers. His grey eyes were deep, holding all the emotion Layla was too afraid to face. On the verge of tears, she gave a sick laugh that made her heart hammer. Blinking, she reached up, wiping a tear away. Arron wiped the next one as it came sliding down, then wrapped his long arms around her. “Hey, hey now…”
“What am I doing, Arron?” Layla hitched a breath, not ready to break down just yet.
“You’re doing what you’re supposed to, Layla.” Arron spoke gently as he held her, warm and good. “Wherever you walk, men’s eyes follow. Luke used to complain about it, that you were so magnetic he had to beat other men away with a stick. So what if you earnmillionsfor sleeping with hot guys who don’t care if you keep them? That’s what a Hotel Courtesan earns, right?”
“Yeah. And the position carries tremendous status in the Twilight Realm.” Layla sighed, her heart still heavy even though Arron’s words made sense. “But I don’t care about the money, Arron. I care about the fact that my Dragon is intrigued thinking about sleeping with random men. My Dragon is roaring for the mystery, the challenge – the whole messy business of having multiple partners, and strangers.”
“It’s not wrong, hun-bun.” Reaching out, Arron tucked one of Layla’s curls behind her ear, his gaze kind as he impressed his point. “None of it is wrong, as long as you’re up-front about it. You’ve changed from who you were as a human, and you have to let your ideas about a happy life change with it. Nobody’s saying you have to be some 1950’s housewife, Layla. Lord knows I gave up on that ages ago when I found out I was gay. And that I like dick so much it’s hard to settle on just one partner. Are other Dragons monogamous?”
“Not generally.” Layla sighed, realizing the crux of the problem as Arron pointed it out. Having sex for money bothered her, but what was really tough was that she would always be a slave to her Dragon’s urges, never human again. “But Dragons also tend to settle with a primary mate later in life. The problem is, even though I feel like Adrian’s my primary, he’s never around. Dusk is always here for me, and Reginald… well, Reginald is Head Courtier of the Paris Hotel, and a Royal Siren. Everything you’ve heard about Sirens is true.”
“So what you’re saying is,” Arron gave a sly grin, “Oops, I tripped and fucked three of the hottest men ever.And now I get to fuck more of them and make some ridiculous cash.”
“Arron!” Layla laughed, slapping his chest. “I haven’t actually had sex with Adrian yet, and Dragon males are intensely competitive. They’re trying to not fight over me, but Dusk and Adrian are adopted family. And Reginald and Adrian have some feud I don’t know about, constantly giving each other the deep cold shoulder.”
“Juggling three powerful men with big egos is going to be tough.” Arron became thoughtful as he settled to his stomach on the duvet, propping his head on his hands. “But Dusk is at least willing to play ball.”
“Yeah, but he’s jealous.” Layla heaved another sigh, settling back on the duvet also. “Just today, he wanted to know if he was lower on the totem pole than the other two.”
“Wanting to know if thehelpful providerroutine is going to get him benched from your bed when the other two are at full hotness.”
“Something like that.” Suddenly, Layla realized it was exactly like that – Dusk was afraid whenever Adrian or Reginald returned, he would get sidelined. She frowned, and was about to ask Arron what he’d observed about Dusk when Celia and Charlie suddenly pushed in through Arron’s apartment doors with twin breathless laughs.
“Guys!” Charlie exclaimed, his baby-blue eyes alight. “Holy shit! I just walked downstairs and saw people getting erotic massages by these giant bird-women with like, sixteen breasts!”
“And I saw a naked mud-fight with over a hundred people!” Celia laughed as she pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up her button nose. “Ihaveto get in on that! What are you two doing in here, being slouches when we should be out exploring?”
“We’re talking over Layla’s immensely complicated love life.” Arron grinned as he pushed up from the bed. “Chica here takes priority. And we all need to start getting ready for this dinner.”
“Dusk is probably planning something spectacular, even though he said it was casual.” Layla commented, pushing up from the bed. “As for the Yule Ball tonight, you’ll want to wear whatever Dusk put in your closets. Opulence doesn’t even begin to describe the Hotel’s masquerades, and you’ll want to fit in.”
“You mean wear thosegorgeousballgowns? And that jewelry? I mean, are those real diamonds?” Celia spoke with big eyes, adjusting one of her artsy enameled pink earrings.
“Oh, yeah.” Charlie chimed in as he pulled a key fob from his jeans pocket. “What’s this? It was left on my breakfast table with a note that said,Have fun. – Dusk.”
“It’s probably a sports car or a motorcycle.” Layla grinned, enjoying that her friends were getting a taste of Hotel life. “Something you can play with here and Dusk will ship back with you at the end of your stay.”
“Holy crap!” Charlie looked at the keys in his hand with a shit-eating grin. “Goddamn, Layla! Your boyfriend is the best!”
