Or how devastating it might be.
But at last, Adam took a deep inhalation, letting it sigh out. His summer orchard scent eased until it was only Adrian’s whirling cinnamon and jasmine flavor in the air and all the curls of flame had ceased. Layla felt Dusk’s invisible barrier fall as the tension in the pavilion did. Turning towards Layla, the fury in Adam’s eyes bled out to apology.
“Ms. Price. Please forgive our magical demonstration. As per his words, my Clan First permits me to answer your questions over dinner. I humbly request permission to reschedule our previously arranged dinner for tonight. I will answer any and all questions you can think to ask, and even ones you don’t know to ask, about our clan. Do you accept?”
Layla’s gaze flicked to Adrian, knowing now that he’d be pissed if she had dinner with Adam. To make it worse, Adam had clearly twisted the situation so that his Clan First had given him sarcastic permission to take Layla to dinner – though it was still technically permission. As Layla looked to Adrian, he looked away, gazing off to the woods with a bite of tension in his jaw, reclaiming his drink and sipping it.
Fury rose in Layla suddenly. A hot, bright fury that Adrian was acting like an asshole. She couldn’t control the surge of wrath that washed through her, and Dusk did not reach over to touch her and contain it. Like a flash of heat-lightning, Layla’s orange spice wind whipped the pavilion, surging out from her in a rolling tirade. It wasn’t nice. It was brutal and it came with no eroticism, only a sensation like daggers seething out from her skin and hurling at Adrian.
Adam’s nostrils flared and he jerked his head back with wide eyes as that hot wind seared by him. But Adrian got the brunt of it, flinching in his rattan chair as if he’d just been stabbed in the gut. He turned molten eyes upon Layla, and the look was pure fury. That wasn’t Adrian’s look, not the man she was bound to. It was the look of a Clan First – that someone so new to the clan had dared attack their leader.
But Layla didn’t care. She gave that blisteringly cold look right back, her orange-spice wind whipping out at him again. Adrian made a quick gesture with his drink, as if casting aside her energy and Layla felt her instinctive attack turned away harmlessly over the greensward – but there was more where that had come from.
And if Adrian wanted to be a dick and see it, he would.
“Adam Rhakvir.” Layla turned back to Adam, not missing the smug smile that curled Dusk’s lips beside her. “I would be honored to accept your invitation for dinner.”
“Wonderful. I look forward to it, Ms. Price.”
Adam’s jade-violet eyes glowed with dark humor. Adrian gave a low growl but Layla didn’t look over. She knew he couldn’t go back on his offer, even made in deep sarcasm as it had been. She saw Adam knew it, too. As their eyes locked, Layla felt a curl of orchard-wind ease out from him, caressing her cheek. Her lips fell open, surprised at his touch as her Dragon raised its head, rippling with eagerness. But Adam said nothing, only gave her a salute with his drink. No one else reacted to what had just happened between them – not even Adrian or Dusk.
Layla wondered if anyone else had felt it.
Or if Adam had such precise control of his magic as to direct a caress to her and her alone.
CHAPTER 13 – HUNT
“Well!” In a flourish of elegance, Rachida Rhakvir stood, setting down her martini on a side-table and smoothing the long folds of her spring green caftan. All eyes moved to her as a brisk wind rippled the pavilion. “Now that we are all properly entertained, and the issue of Layla getting to know her clan has been solved, I suggest we set off on our ride. The weather gathers, children, and as much as I would like to dally, I think we’d better get moving if we are to have any fun this morning. Soukos! My riding crop.”
The handsome Greek valet who had served Layla her drink rushed to Rachida’s side, escorting her toward the pavilion egress as he handed Rachida a black leather riding crop. The rest of the clan rose as the wind whirled again, setting aside drinks or downing them as they set out after their matriarch. As everyone departed, Adrian made a move toward Layla’s side, his eyes pinning her – but Adam stepped in suddenly as they moved down the stone stairs.
“So. Fun first day in the family?” Adam grinned as he walked.
“If it’s as dysfunctional as it seems, we’re going to get along splendidly.” Layla sassed with a scowl. “If Adrian can ever shake the shit out of his boots, that is.” She gave a pointed glance past Dusk to where Adrian now walked with the dark-eyed Battle-Lord. Adrian glanced over, his brows knitting in a frown, though Layla didn’t think he’d heard her.
“Well, shit can only be cleared out of one’s boots two ways.” Adam laughed brightly. “One: by stopping what you’re doing to see how much shit you’ve put in there, then wiping all that out. Or two: by not shitting in your boots in the first place. I’d tell you the course of action Adrian favors if I knew it.”
“I felt your magic back there.” Layla glanced at Adam, seeing now how much he loved to play games. “Some might think you’re strong enough to be Clan First.”
“Alas,” he gave her a sly grin, “Adrian’s a stronger Royal than I am. I’m a Royal Dragon Chimeric, not a Royal Dragon with visage-shifting abilities like Adrian.”
“What’s a Royal Dragon Chimeric?”
Adam chuckled, though something in his eyes held pain; the second time Layla had seen it. “Adrian will be able to take the appearance of any humanoid or creature once his magic fully matures. Me, I can only take the shape of animals. Royal Dragon Chimerics are what you see carved all over the Hotel; shape-shifted into mixed creatures like Sphinxes, Gryphons, and so on. My talent manifested when my parents died, but becoming a dog is not the only creature I can do now. I’ve mastered all sorts of farm animals – pigs, turkeys, mice, gophers…”
Layla laughed, enjoying Adam’s cheeky wit. She suddenly felt like punching him in the shoulder, so she did. Adam grinned, raising his eyebrows at the punch though he kept walking. “Anyway, my power’s not a match to Adrian’s. Never was.”
“Seems like you were doing well enough back there,” Layla lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Adrian’s temper needs a little spanking now and then,” Adam chuckled. “As his cousin, I’ve been his sounding-board for years. He gets hot about something; I get inquisitive. I smooth out the problems Adrian’s too proud to address directly. We need someone direct in the clan. And we need someone dominant. I’m no dominant – that’s Adrian’s job. But I am direct.”
Though his words were demure, Layla felt another secret curl of power caress her neck as he spoke. Adam glanced at her with a rakish smile, but again, no one around Layla responded. Clearly he had exquisite control of his magics, and something about his cheeky ways reminded her of someone else she knew.
“You remind me of Dusk.”
“Do I?” Adam grinned wide, glancing back to where Adrian and Dusk walked. Heads together as they approached the stables, Dusk and Adrian spoke low about something with serious faces. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Dusk and Adrian and I were basically raised together when I was adopted by Rachida, who was quite close with Adrian’s mother Juliette. We hung out as boys a lot at Riad Rhakvir in Morocco, though I was less in the mix of brotherly hatred and sibling rivalry. I was the baby of that group-hatch.”
“Group-hatch?” Layla asked as they arrived at the stables, grooms from the Hotel leading out sleek steeds already saddled and bridled, hitching them up at cross-ties for the party to mount up. Layla would have thought there’d be shotguns or crossbows for the hunt, but looking around, she saw not a single weapon. Her brows furrowed as she watched the Dragons walk through the horses and select steeds, passing their hand over a horse’s nostrils and letting the animal smell them before they decided on their mount.
