“Shh…” He soothed, massaging her. Sliding his fingers gently between her legs where it was already slick and lovely, he flowed his taloned touch over her, teasing her inner places but not quite sliding into her, not yet. “I want you to show me your power, Layla. I want you to unleash your Dragon’s passion upon me. All of it – the good, the bad, and the terrible.”
“I can’t!” Layla gasped, arching beneath his touch. “She’ll hurt you!”
“I am your Partner,” he crooned, sliding his fingers over her with his delicately taloned touch. “Nothing your drakaina can do will hurt me. I promise.”
Braced above her, Reginald gathered Layla close in one arm. Strong and slow, he curled her to his chest, lifting her up from the chaise so she dangled in his arms now. Bracing on his knees astride her, he slid one hand down, gathering her dress up her hips. Sliding the beaded silk up, it was suddenly gone from her body, Reginald turning to drape it over the edge of the chaise, though he kept an arm around Layla. She was bare in his grip now, except for her sheer thong and one high heel still buckled on her foot.
With his Head Courtier’s skill, Reginald kept her crushed close to his firm body as he slid his hand down, undoing the remaining shoe without looking, his grey-gold eyes still penetrating hers. Layla could barely breathe, so strong was his magic as he crushed her close. Her eyes were wide, something inside her frantic as her heart beat fast and her breath came in little sips, feeling her body and mind rolled by her Royal Siren’s uncompromising dominance. The sea rushed in her ears as she felt her Dragon struggle against it; she felt the fierce creature inside her lash out in a roil of heat with talons and fangs. She felt it attack, scratching and biting deep into Reginald’s white-gold ocean drake as if Layla had actually scratched his face and bit him.
Reginald shuddered. His lips fell open in a sigh of pleasure as he closed his eyes. His golden eyelashes fluttered as he absorbed her bite, and Layla felt darkwater coils wrap around her from his white-gold drake, squeezing her. Holding her magic in firm, iron coils, Reginald opened his eyes, and the look in them was pure excitement as he settled his lower body down atop her now, locking his hips tight to hers.
“Fight me, drakaina.” He breathed, his eyes burning with heat. “Fight me. And then fuck me.”
And then he pressed his lips to Layla’s – pouring his ocean-magic down her throat.
It was a torrent; it was a flood. It was a tidal wave, as Reginald’s magic poured in through Layla’s lips. She screamed with passion and pleasure, fighting it. Struggling under him, writhing with the feel of his power as her own magic flared. As if her Dragon was suddenly a fireball hot as the sun, she felt something surge up inside her, slamming into Reginald’s flow. It was pure heat, like a comet shooting down from the sky and striking the sea. Water blasted from Reginald’s body as he was thrust from her lips with a cry, a sound of agony and ecstasy all at once. Layla felt her heat pour down his throat like magma, coiling deep inside his body.
And she felt it lock around his magic – burning him for everything it was worth.
Reginald screamed as he arched, supporting himself by one hand on the chaise and one slapped flat to Layla’s chest as he roared, shuddering with pain and diabolical pleasure. His fingers gripped her, long white talons truly manifesting now as if he’d lost control over his drake and was suddenly shifting. Layla’s eyes opened wide as Reginald shuddered like an over-tuned harpstring, waves of opal-gold light careening through his body like a rip-tide.
But with a massive in-breath, Reginald mastered his pain and his Dragon. With one last shudder, he arched like some languid creature of the sea. As he opened his eyes, Layla saw a ring of clear gold burning around a grey-blue like a high-north dawn. Pinning his hips to hers, Reginald’s power roared out around Layla as his gaze scorched her. And then it all flooded into her.
Drowning her in his Siren’s ocean as he descended.
Layla broke to Reginald’s kiss. She shattered to his dark, tremendous passion, undone by it. Hands were moving, bodies writhing; lips were locked hard to lips as they kissed and tore at each other. She was moved by him and he by her, furious hot and cold waves of magic undulating them both in deep, shuddering flows. His trousers were gone somehow; her hands gripped his firm ass as he ate kisses into her neck, biting decadently and making her cry out. Her underwear was ripped away by his strong hands, and as he rose, pinning her wrists above her on the chaise in a cruel grip, his eyes burning with heat, Layla locked one ankle around his hips.
Reginald crashed into her with all the force of the ocean as she arched under his exquisite body – sundered by his power. He fucked her. Deep and merciless, there was nothing smooth or tender about it, not like sex between her and Dusk or Adrian. Reginald was a wild thing, power blazing in his gold-grey eyes as he held her down, fucking her hard upon the chaise as she locked her leg around his hip, bucking and flowing beneath him. Throwing her head back, Layla cried out with orgiastic pleasure as he tore into her harder, lowering his body and locking his lips upon hers, devouring her mouth as he poured magic down her throat.
It was fast and hard, and Reginald was so thick inside her, decadently deep as he pounded to the very end of her over and over again. It was pain but also so much pleasure; everything slick in that fast, devouring pounding as if his phallus had made its own decadent lubrication to aid his maelstrom. Layla screamed as he cried out, breaking from their kiss as her magic poured into him in a torrential flow. She felt her Dragon swallow him. She felt her drakaina weave all that power and sex into the thick, golden cord of their Bind. As Reginald lost control completely, fucking her like a beast and being met by her own body lifting up to devour his every thrust, he screamed.
Spasming into her as he came – coring his power deep inside her.
Layla came with him. Spilling upward, she shuddered to the depths of her being, screaming his name as her power took that golden cord between them and bound their bodies deep with it. She was his and he was hers, Reginald gasping on his braced hands and staring down at her with wild eyes, bright blue and gold and grey like a sea at dawn. Layla screamed as she climaxed again, her hips thrusting up hard onto him. With a cry, Reginald came a second time also, collapsing to his elbows, barely stopping himself from crushing her as he came crashing down.
Writhing together, they flowed – and Layla felt them both come a third time as the power rocked them in deep waves upon the chaise. It wasn’t her power now or his. It was both; a shared heat and cold, light and darkness that swept Layla away. It took her as she writhed beneath him, as she seized his face and kissed him and he kissed her back, bracing so he could fuck her more, again, so deep. He was still hard despite everything, and as he undulated with their shared power, she felt him sliding in that sea of his own make now, his warm ocean spilling out of her as they moved together.
Slower, deeper.
Quieter.
At last, he fell still. Cradling her, fallen upon her but careful to not crush her, Reginald’s arms were locked around her shoulders, his breath hot at her neck as he hung his head and heaved. His lips were silk upon her skin as he gasped, his heart pounding where their chests pressed together. Layla was no better, her entire body shuddering with ecstasy, one leg still locked around Reginald’s hips as if she couldn’t bear to let him go. He laughed. A bright, amazing sound, his laugh was melodious like a symphony on the sea.
And then he collapsed beside Layla, rolling to his back as he coughed. “My god!”
Layla grinned, staring up at the ceiling of the underwater dome, watching creatures of the deep writhe past in the midnight hour. She glanced over at Reginald, still grinning, and he rolled his head to look at her, chuckling. He was luminous. Usually so stiff and severe yet now so golden and flushed with joy, the sight of him flooded Layla’s heart. She was up before she knew it, rolling to her side to cuddle him, moulding her nakedness over his lean perfection and lifting her lips to kiss him. He kissed her back, slow and languid. By the time they parted, both were breathless as he stared down at her and she gazed up at him, cuddled close to his perfect body upon the chaise.
“I give in.” Reginald smiled, pure joy lighting his eyes as he gazed at her. “I give in, Layla Price. You have mastered me, to the depths of my oceans…”
“Good.” Layla breathed as she lifted her lips, kissing him again and making their moment last. Finally, she sighed down, relaxing her head to his chest and snuggling into him. Winding his arms around her and tucking her close to his body, Reginald stroked her hair, still gazing down at her as if he didn’t want to miss a moment of it.
As Layla felt a deep love pour between them – luminous beneath the darkness of the sea.
CHAPTER 11 – PEARLS
Layla hadn’t known she slept until she blinked awake. Warm and snug, the air around her was mild with a hint of sea-brine as she lay upon the coral chaise, snuggled under a white silk blanket as soft as the chaise’s spongy padding. Layla had a moment of disorientation as she watched morning light filter down from the underwater vaults above, illuminating her like she was buried under the waves. Coming fully awake, she realized she was still in the swimming hall beneath the harbor. A sound of water stirred the air; someone swimming in the pool with long, flowing strokes, no haste to their movement.
Just swimming for the languid enjoyment of it in the post-dawn hour.
