“Could I have died from the shift?” Though her spine screamed in protestation, Layla gazed up at Dusk.
“No. But the Hotel Board of Owners would have killed you.” Dusk’s voice was an accusatory growl in the night – and he wasn’t accusing Layla. “A public first shift for a Dragon is unlawful on Hotel grounds. Other shapeshifter Lineages like werewolves can shift for the first time and be contained by our Guard. Sometimes they get banned from the Hotel, but only until they have their magic under control. Dragons can’t be contained when they have their first shift, Layla. The human mind is gone, replaced by the beast. As the largest and most powerful of the shape-shifting predators, we often do a lot of damage the first time we become our beast. Even if people don’t die, it’s Hotel policy to seize the person who shifted andeuthanizethem.”
“Euthanize?” Layla’s breath caught, grateful that Dusk had just saved her life. And probably a lot of lives if what he said was true about Dragons going ballistic the first time they changed.
Adrian had knelt next to Layla as Dusk spoke, his beautiful eyes obliterated. “Layla. I can’t apologize enough for what just happened. Dragons aren’t generally able to shift for years after their magic opens. I had no idea you’d be capable of it so soon—”
“Our Bind sparked it?” Layla asked, opening her eyes and peering at him.
Adrian nodded, his gaze devastated. “The Bind I placed upon you through the hamsa-cuff sparked it when I kissed you. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s what you get for playing with ancient magics you don’t understand, Adrian.” Dusk’s voice was murderous as he set a hand gently to Layla’s throat, his other hand sliding down her back beneath her gown. It wasn’t erotic, merely soothing as he poured his cleansing vibrations through the glass-ground pain in her spine. “You’re playing with Layla’s life, dickhead.”
“Easy, Dusk, come on. No one got hurt.” Adam’s voice was mild beside Adrian.
“Only because I was standingrightnext to Layla when fuckboy here kissed her. And we were inside the crystal cathedral.” Dusk growled back, his sapphire gaze piercing upon Adrian as rain cascaded down his face. He didn’t palm it away, keeping his hands on Layla.
“I already told you I’m sorry! What do you want from me, Dusk?!” Adrian raked a hand through his wet hair, rising with a searing wind as he squared off with Dusk in the driving rain. Dusk merely stared at him with a dark gaze, his hands not leaving Layla. Layla felt Adrian’s energy riot up ten notches until the willows whipped with his power in the rain. Adrian’s power hammered Dusk’s barrier, and Layla felt a strain in Dusk’s energies as he gave a low, thundering growl back. The bench shuddered, the ground around the bower heaved with an earthquake as Dusk’s ministrations through Layla paused – all that energy thrust now at Adrian.
“Adrian! Dusk! That’s enough!” Rikyava’s voice was a harsh bark as she stepped between the two men with her hands gripped into talons, a brimstone battle energy rising from her as her eyes burned a bloody crimson in the darkness and rain. Layla blinked to see that Rikyava actuallyhadmanifested talons – enormous black-tipped crimson talons like knives. She wore no rapier with her ballgown, but Layla felt how cruel those appendages were. A hot iron scent whipped through the bower as Rikyava flexed those hands – one at Dusk, the other at Adrian.
“Whoa, kids!” Adam’s energy suffused the bower with apple-sweet vapors, spreading out in an arc between Adrian’s viciousness and the last of Dusk’s barrier, blocking Dusk and Layla from Adrian’s fury and Rikyava’s. “Let’s give the magic a break and settle this like people, huh?”
With a growl, Adrian held up his hands in submission, though his gaze still simmered a vibrant gold in the night. His wind ceased to whip, and Layla felt Adam’s smooth energy pull back also. Dusk’s rumblings were the only power still heaving through the bower, and Rikyava gave Dusk an eyeball until his shuddering quake ceased. Though the Guardswoman remained ready in her sodden evening gown – her hands cruelly taloned – as the tense energy between the two brothers finally settled.
Exhaustion swamped Layla suddenly. As if all the tension in the air had sapped energy from every part of her, a deep urge to sleep devoured her. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in a warm little nest somewhere and let oblivion take her. Turning, she cuddled back into Dusk and he sat, wrapping her in his arms with his smooth lips at her temple. Cradling her in the rain, he resumed pouring his clear vibrations through her aching bones as she cuddled further into him, breathing deep of his clear scent.
Staring down at her, watching her cuddle into Dusk and practically fall asleep in the rain, the fight went out of Adrian. As if he could feel Layla’s exhaustion, he sank to one knee on the sodden flagstones, reaching out, his eyes bled from molten gold back to a deep Mediterranean aqua. His handsome face was so beautiful in the rain, his eyes so vibrant, that the sight of him made Layla’s heart hurt. Their fingers touched and though heat stirred in Layla, it wasn’t the same energy as before. As if Adrian was controlling his own passions with exquisite care or she was simply too exhausted, Layla barely felt her Dragon stir to his touch now.
“Layla, I’m so sorry.” Adrian cradled her hand, annihilation in his eyes.
“Where were you these past weeks?” Layla breathed, hating him and loving him at the same time. She hated that he had this effect upon her. But she loved his simmering energy caressing her like a breath of wind and fire in the rain.
“I had business that couldn’t wait.” He murmured, aching with tenderness in his aqua eyes. “If I could have stayed these past weeks, I would have. Please believe me…”
“Are you ever going to stick around, Adrian?” Layla spoke softly, angry tears stinging her eyes now. They shed down her cheeks as she blinked, too exhausted to hold them in. She didn’t care. As if all the spitfire had been ripped out of her, she just felt tired. Tired of loving Adrian Rhakvir and getting nothing in return.
Something dark opened up deep inside Layla with that thought, like a black pit. She closed her eyes, turning her face into Dusk’s warm shoulder.
“Layla, please…” Adrian reached out, caressing her cheek.
“Just…don’t. Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. Just go away.”
Layla kept her eyes closed so she wouldn’t see him, wouldn’t break to his beautiful devastation. Adrian did as she asked, pulling his warm touch from her skin and leaving her bereft. A hard breath rasped Layla’s throat as her Dragon screamed inside her – because they both knew Adrian was supposed to be theirs. Layla could feel their Bind like a golden rope, twining through the coils of her Dragon, looped around her limbs and neck; a pleasure that should have been blissful and made them whole.
But it hadn’t – because Adrian kept walking away from it.
A chill sensation swept Layla, leaving her cold in the rain as her heart darkened.
“We need to get her back to her room, she’s too chilly.”
Dusk was scooping Layla up in his arms. She didn’t resist, too tired and heartbroken. Cradled close to his strong body, Layla felt herself whisked back along the path through the sodden night, leaving the others behind. Turning her face into Dusk’s shoulder, she felt like it was only moments until she was back inside her apartment, though in some ways it felt like years.
Chills had set in, and Layla shivered as Dusk helped her undress from her sodden gown without a single quip of innuendo. Swaddling her in her royal blue silk robe, he tucked her into bed then slid in next to her, cradling her close to his body – soothing her with heat and kindness.
Layla was grateful Dusk was the only one with her tonight. She let her tears fall quietly as he lay with her, cradling her back into his body with a hand on her chest and one wrapped around her middle, pouring his soothing vibrations through her in the endless night.
CHAPTER 9 – PHOENIX
