“The hamsa-cuff, Layla. Off with the cuff. You can’t fight with a talisman on, not very well at least. We need you to take the leash off your Dragon. So strip it.”
“Oh. Right.” Layla flushed harder, feeling idiotic. Setting her right hand to her left wrist, she hesitated over the long silver pin that would unbind her antique Berber wrist-cuff. She’d not been without it since almost killing Luke back in Seattle. That episode had scared Layla straight, and now the cuff felt far less like a manacle and more like a safety blanket, able to contain her magics whenever her passions rose. Now, a series of worries poured through her, having no idea what would happen once she took it off. She didn’t have any clue how strong her Dragon really was after two months of being awake – nor what might happen once it was free.
Dusk saw her hesitation and moved forward. Suddenly, all that hard, honed muscle was standing close to her and Layla shivered, gazing up into his lovely sapphire eyes. They glinted with humor, but also understanding as he reached out, setting smooth hands to her wrist. His skin was silky as he held her wrist and the cuff. “Would you like me to do it?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, Dusk.” Layla spoke, letting him see her fear. She trusted Dusk – it was herself she didn’t trust.
“I don’t either,” he spoke reassuringly, his blue eyes kind. “But you’ll never know what you’re capable of until you try.”
Cradling her hand in his, Dusk nodded at the long silver pin. Him being there, helping her through this, suddenly made gratefulness wash through Layla. Here he was helping solve her problems just like he always did – even though he had plenty of his own to worry about. Gazing into his eyes with his warm hands on hers, Layla realized that that was who he was. He was a problem-solver, and a kind heart. He loved his friends with the same depth of passion Layla had, and he would always be there for her. Just like this, with patience and tenderness, something neither Adrian nor Adam could do. In that moment, she felt Dusk’s depth and crystalline surety – and as she did, she smelled a curl of his scent steady her like a clear river purified by crystals.
Bolstering her. Holding her hand as she faced the unknown.
With a swift in-breath, Layla nodded. And then she pulled the silver pin, letting the Moroccan cuff fall into Dusk’s waiting hand.
There was nothing for a moment, except silence. A cool flow of air moved through the cavern as Layla’s Dragon went utterly still inside her. Silence stretched between her and Dusk as he watched her, still holding her hand and the cuff, touching her skin.
And then a roaring sensation spilled out from Layla so fast and hot she screamed. A tirade of energy rushed out from her, flaring through the unbound silver cuff into Dusk where he still touched her. With a short cry, Dusk collapsed to his knees and Layla went with him, falling onto his body and bowling him over backwards to the floor. Dusk roared and Layla echoed it as she felt her blistering power slam through him – from the silver cuff still trapped between his hand and her wrist.
The red mark of the hamsa burned upon Layla’s inner wrist, flaring like lava. She felt that scorching flow rush into Dusk everywhere their skin touched – spearing him like a thousand harpoons. Dusk arched in pain, roaring. Sprawled over him, Layla saw and felt his body erupt in luminescence beneath her, like sunlight through a prism. The midnight ridges along Dusk’s arms and around his hips flared with light, shuddering him in waves. Spears of light shot from his shoulders and his spine so hard it thrust him up. Light rushed through his body beneath Layla, blue-white talons shooting from his fingertips as a flare of diamond brilliance rushed through him from head to heels.
Their hands still clasped, their bodies entwined upon the crystal floor, power rushed through Layla also. Waves of fury and passion bent her backwards atop him, making her cry out in vast pleasure now. Heat blossomed from her; too much to contain. A drowning orange-bourbon scent swirled into Dusk’s clear river-water fragrance – flooding the cavern with the scent of oranges chilled in a river of diamonds. Their hands were clasped hard together, Dusk’s body pulsing with light as he vibrated like an over-tuned harpstring. Pleasure flooded Layla in an obliterating wave to his power and music, cresting her instantly – again and again. Dusk spasmed beneath her, crying out now with incredible, overwhelming pleasure as their thundering power brought him also.
And somehow through her passion, Layla knew what was happening. As Dusk shuddered hard to match her last obliterated cry, she knew they had been bound together – just like she had been with Adrian. Gasping for breath as she fell back to his chest, tears leaked from Layla’s eyes as the power finally flooded away. It was pain, but it was also so much pleasure as her orgasms finally left her. Beneath her, Dusk coughed, his body shuddering and his fingers still laced tight through hers. Her right hand had clamped behind his neck in their glory, and Layla gasped as she looked up, moving her head so she could see him.
Though he’d returned from his strange half-shift, Layla found Dusk changed, his body more astoundingly vicious and elegant than before. Extensive ridges of midnight scales curled over him where there had only been thin lines before. Serrated now, the scales were honed, accentuating the exquisitely cut muscles of his body. His skin was slightly darker, rippling with iridescent lines that edged his muscles and chiseled him out to perfection, etching him like midnight rivers. The spines of light that had appeared during his transformation were gone, but hinted at what he would one day become.
A Crystal Dragon, sleek and powerful like a diamond.
An obliterated half-laugh came from Dusk as he rolled his head to look at Layla. As their gazes connected, she felt a rush of power roar through her again – a smelted hot and cold fever that blazed like a star. She gasped and Dusk echoed it, his eyes scorching from sapphire to diamond in an instant. Layla felt the brilliant fury of those eyes coursing through her. She felt her Dragon roar, matching that light with heat, thundering through her body and his.
In that moment, Dusk moved. Lightning-fast like a sidewinder in the sands, he rolled Layla down with a surge of powerful muscles, pinning her to the crystal floor.
And then he kissed her – like there would never be another dawn.
Starlight fever rushed through Layla, swirling up inside her body and deep into his as they kissed. Rushing from Dusk’s lips into her, making her Dragon shudder with pleasure, their kiss was a bond as they devoured each other’s breath, lips, and tongues. Layla’s mind fled – all she could see was stars, standing out diamond-bright in a black night sky. Endless. His power was endless, and she felt it in that moment, in the passion of his kiss. As strong as the earth, as wide as the night sky, Dusk’s power was his heart. And as he poured all of that passion and glory through Layla she found herself obliterated by it – rushing out far into the universe like a shooting star.
There was no limit. There was no stopping point. There was no way to stop it, how far she would go with him, surging with his passion roaring through her like an underground river and hers scalding that river into a roaring boil. But it was Dusk who broke from their kiss with a gasp, his eyes blazing with all colors in the white – just like a diamond.
“Stop!”
Layla felt Dusk slam up his shield-wall between their endless passion. Layla gasped; it was painful, her energy so deeply entwined in his that it felt like he’d hacked through it like a battlefield surgeon. She cried out, spasming upon the stone – and gripping her neck so she wouldn’t whack her head, Dusk moved her up to a crosslegged seat, holding her in his arms. Cradling her close, he heaved with hard breaths, shaking just as much as she was – yet still maintaining his barrier between them. It was an effort; she could feel his Dragon screaming for her touch just as much as hers did for him, to taste that endless power again.
To shoot through the sky like a falling star.
And yet, through all that passionate annihilation, Dusk held himself back – solving their mutual problem even as they both shuddered, pressed close to each other and gasping.
“My god!” He laughed at last, unsteady.
“Holy shit!” Layla heaved also, still annihilated.
“Did we just…?”
“Yup.” Layla laughed back, completely undone. Dusk clutched her closer to his chest, still heaving as she inhaled his cool river-water scent. It was different now, holding a fragrance of crystallized orange peel and chilled bourbon. Whether Layla’s Dragon had bound him when they’d touched with the hamsa-cuff or if the cuff had done it, Layla didn’t know.
But the truth was in Dusk’s scent now, and hers.
“You smell like me.” Dusk’s nose was in her hair, confirming it as he drew a breath and let it out in a deep sigh – as if nothing had ever made him more content.
