“It’s amazing.” Layla spoke, turning to him. “It’s Siren bridal-wear like the previous dress, isn’t it?”
“This is a Siren bridalgown, Layla.” Reginald spoke softly. “Wearing this kind of formal bridal couture means far more than a reception cocktail dress. It means we have taken each other as mates, approved by our families and our community. This may cause waves tonight, since we have no official approval for our relationship. Though your acceptance of my pearls is all I need.”
“Won’t wearing it set off your fa— Léviathan, again?” Layla asked.
“Yes. Most likely. But I’ll take that risk.” Reginald’s tender gaze was entirely grey-gold tonight as he turned to her. Dressed in a white Victorian shirt with a high collar and white cravat, a pearl-embroidered waistcoat, and cream breeches, Reginald’s jacket with its long tails lay on the bed nearby. Made of the same fabric as Layla’s gown but in a stiffer weave, Layla realized Reginald had chosen to wear unaligned colors tonight to match her, rather than the North Sea Siren’s dark grey. His clip was in his long golden hair, pulled half-back to show his striking face and elegant jaw. Wisps of gold framed his austere cheekbones and Layla reached up, cradling his beautiful face in her hands.
“How are you feeling?” Layla asked him, watching him.
“Tense.” Reginald responded frankly. “I am about to show you off in bridal couture in front of my entire clan at a Beltane party I planned, with Hunter still lurking somewhere in the crowd, plus trying to keep Fury’s madness out of my veins the entire night. Not to mention face my father’s wrath for what I am about to do.”
“What are you about to do?” Layla asked, frowning.
“I’m about to leave my clan tonight.”
It was a shocking statement, and suddenly Layla understood why Reginald was not wearing the colors of his clan for Beltane. It smote Layla hard, and she was glad she didn’t have any makeup on yet as he took her hands gently down from his face, cradling them to his heart. Layla drew breath to ask him why he felt he needed to leave his clan, when Reginald smiled with wry tenderness and spoke first.
“Don’t argue with me, Layla. My decision is made.” Slipping one hand around her waist, Reginald cradled her hand to his chest. “After everything that happened with Fury this morning… Léviathan was unhinged when I told him about it all. I confronted him about Hunter also, and he confirmed everything – as he simultaneously berated Fury and I for our weakness to you. But strangely, Léviathan’s rage today made something click inside me. At last.”
“What do you mean?” Layla asked.
“I have finally seen what I turned a blind eye to all these months.” Reginald spoke calmly. “I love my siblings and this island… but my life is not here. Like Fury, I have been trying to be someone I’m not. I tried because I wanted my father’s approval. But now I know Léviathan’s not my father… and though a part of me has died to know I’m Hunter’s son, a part of me now lives. I can finally be the man I want to be. Tonight, I shall tell Léviathan I will no longer be his Clan Second, and that I return to the Paris Hotel in the morning. With you.”
“Some part of you is just too much of a renegade to remain here and sacrifice your freedom,” Layla understood as Reginald lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it. “More than Adrian; far more than Dusk – even more than Fury. In your way, you’re the most rebellious of us all…”
“In my way.” Reginald agreed, his grey-gold eyes ancient.
Just then, they heard the patter of the shower as Rhennic stepped out of the waterfall, and glancing to the bathroom, Layla saw Rhennic emerge naked from the water’s flow. Even though she stood with Reginald, the sight floored her, her lips falling open to see Rhennic’s incredible body slick with water as he briskly toweled off. Rhennic was every bit as fit as Dusk, every strong muscle outlined in perfect detail though he had no Dragon-scales to show them off. Taller than Dusk by a hand, Rhennic was at least six-four, his shoulders broad, everything lean and trim and massively robust.
Eventhat, as Layla couldn’t help but glance down at it, though he was still loose and calm.
Still, Layla’s only thought wasViking-Olympianas she blinked at her robust Royal Storm Dragon, now toweling off his gladiator-cut blond hair. Wiping his face and trim beard with the towel, Rhennic met her gaze as his irises deepened to a smoldering royal purple, flickering with storms. “Keep watching me like that, Layla Price, and we’re not going to make it to the party.”
“Okay.” Layla breathed, before she blinked back to sanity. But Reginald had stepped in behind her as she stared at Rhennic. Her Partner cradled her around the waist with a subtly intrigued smile as he felt Layla’s Bind to Rhennic pull like hot taffy. Unlike Layla’s connection to Fury, Reginald had no qualms about her Bind to Rhennic. In fact, she felt Reginald’s oceanic energy surge up suddenly.
Curling out between her and Rhennic – and hauling them closer together.
Tossing his towel to the floor with a subtly forceful movement, Rhennic pinned Layla with a deep gaze. Her body clenched as her drakaina roared, writhing as a flood of sweet bourbon-orange scent surged through the air around her. Lifting his chin, Rhennic scented it as he approached, his full lips curling up in an even darker, hotter smile. Reginald’s long hands corralled Layla into his lean, iron-hard body with a deadly pleasure as Rhennic approached. Layla could feel Reginald’s dark, utterly sexy smile as he turned his silken lips to her neck, kissing her gently. As he did, Rhennic’s eyes flashed with storms, and arriving right before Layla, he was so tall she had to crane her neck up to see him.
Close, Rhennic held his amazingly naked body away from Layla in a deep tease as he gazed down at her. Trying to stare up at him made Layla fall back into Reginald – as he gripped her even closer with subtle dominance, his lips gently kissing her neck. It was then that Layla felt it, as Reginald kissed her with dark passion and Rhennic stared her down with brutal, graceful force, encouraged by Reginald’s tides. Just as Adrian and Dusk shared something between them, so did Reginald and Rhennic, flowing between their bodies as they all stood together.
Shared with Fury also – as Fury’s silver-dark gaze suddenly flashed in Layla’s mind.
As Rhennic’s gaze slid over Layla’s shoulder, locking to Reginald’s, magic and heat roared between the two men suddenly. Layla could feel the intense passion her Royal Siren and Royal Storm Regent shared – a passion that was being augmented by Fury as he felt them all come together far away. Rhennic and Reginald had shared their bodies; shared carnal pleasure in a way Layla couldn’t even begin to fathom – but Fury understood. As lightning rolled in slow waves through Rhennic’s eyes, his gaze slipping back to Layla, she felt that blaze roll her. Her mind and body were taken by those dark flashes, like lightning over the sea. At the same time, Fury’s darkwater tides curled up around her, flashing with the same light in the deeps.
As Reginald’s decadent ocean surged through her also, from his kisses at her neck.
“What’s happening?” Layla could hardly breathe, her entire body shuddering with waves of blistering light as she felt all three men come together through the Bind. It was hot and cold all at once, and as her vision blistered to a luminous tint, Layla felt herself slip into a heightened, altered state.
“Synergy.” Rhennic breathed down at her, smiling subtly now in a way Reginald often did.
“You two. You’re sharing power through the Bind…” Layla breathed. “Sharing… eros.”
“Fury’s with us also.” As Reginald’s lips touched her neck again, she felt him breathe a wave of oceanic depth all through her, flickering with Rhennic’s storms and the silver-dark of Fury’s power. Crying out as euphoria rolled through her, Layla fought her body’s undulation in Reginald’s arms and lost. Her eyelashes flickering, it was a long moment that she drifted.
Feeling an endless horizon of golden waves, silver deeps, and flickering lightning-storms.
Returning to the moment, Layla realized Rhennic was very close now. Reginald had unbound her hair, letting her wet locks cascade down her bare shoulders. As Reginald’s fingers slid up, unwinding the towel around Layla’s torso, she shivered, but not from cold. As the towel slid away, leaving her naked in Reginald’s arms with the massively robust Rhennic before her, and Fury’s deep, sexual tides flowing all through her, Layla’s Dragon-heat raged.
