Dusk’s words were low in the empty hall. He hesitated, then moved back down the stairs. Their gazes connected, but before Layla could say anything, he stepped in – gathering her close. As he did, he let his shield drop. Golden light surged through Layla, and her body was suddenly searing with bliss, held in his arms. Her Dragon turned over inside her, filled with pleasure as he clutched her close, breathing softly at her ear. Small tremors wracked him also. Dusk was feeling their melded diamond-gold energy, rushing through him as much as it did her. Layla felt lightheaded as her energy expanded and she swooned. Dusk caught her fast so she wouldn’t collapse, one hand cradling her head. It left her looking up at him, meeting those handsome sapphire eyes – watching them burn with flecks of diamond in the night.
“You slay me, Layla Price,” Dusk murmured, moving his lips softly over hers. “You slay the heart of this Crystal drake. I don’t care what Adrian says; I’m not sorry you bound me. But I will do what you ask of me…whatever makes your life easier. Tell me to stay or go—”
“I don’t want you to go,” Layla breathed, feeling herself lift up, as if for a kiss.
“But you don’t want to come home with me.” Dusk’s smile was wry.
“I can’t right now. Please.”
“You’ll miss me when I’m gone.” He breathed back, smoothing his lips over hers.
“I miss you already.”
Dusk chuckled at her lips. And then he pressed her with a kiss, right out in the open for anyone to see. It was warm and sensual and Layla reveled in it, swirling with golden light until he finally let her go. His eyes drove into her like diamond lances as he slowly released her. He licked her taste from his lower lip, taking it gently into his mouth and sucking with a devilishly handsome smile curling the edges of his lips before speaking again.
“Goodnight, Layla Price. Dream of me.” A smooth rumble slid through the floor, sliding up Layla’s ankles and thighs, deep into her body. She gasped, her eyelashes fluttering, one hand clutching the railing of the stairs so she wouldn’t collapse.
“Damn you,” she breathed.
“Damn us both.” And with a last rumbling glance, he was gone up the stairs.
Layla shivered from Dusk’s lingering pleasure. She could still feel it, as if their Bind left a tingle of his delicious energies still rushing through her, and always would now. Steadying herself on the wall, Layla turned and walked back toward her rooms, exhausted and languid, and pleased.
CHAPTER 24 – BIND
Layla had slept in long past her usual five a.m. wake-up and well into the mid-afternoon. She’d woken with a tremendous amount of energy, bounding out of bed, and had slung on her yoga clothes from the night before. Filling a water bottle and grabbing her orange yoga mat, she was out the door with only a bite of bacon and a sip of cold coffee – down to her favorite spot in the gardens with a spring in her step.
Rolling out her yoga mat on a smooth expanse of flagstone near a leaping fish-fountain, Layla breathed deep of the chill autumn air as she stepped onto her mat. Sunshine flooded her nook as the October wind whirled by the fountain carrying golden leaves, but Layla wasn’t cold. She felt invigorated, trying inverted balancing poses today that she never usually attempted without a wall. As she moved, she realized that a diamond-gold energy filled her still – an echo of what had passed between her and Dusk the night before.
She knew she should have been thinking about Adrian. She should have been worried about how he would react to her Bind with Dusk. But she found she just couldn’t be upset today, as if binding Dusk last night had somehow changed her. Today everything was perfect, and as Layla held her unsupported handstand strong, she realized she could do more. Lifting her right hand, she adjusted to balance one-handed, something she’d never done. Glowing with energy, she missed the soft step behind her until someone spoke.
“Well, someone’s vibrant today.”
With a startledeep, Layla lost her balance and fell, barely controlling her tumble and catching herself on the balls of her feet. Her inner Dragon growled to be so rudely interrupted and Layla growled with it, whirling to face her intruder.
Except that her intruder was Rachida Rhakvir, Third of her clan and Adam’s foster-mother, not to mention Adrian’s great-aunt. Layla paused the tirade she had been about to unleash, closing her mouth in surprise. Rachida was dressed in yoga clothes also, and the fierce drakaina had her exquisite copper hair pulled back in clips today, showing stark cheekbones and a lovely jaw that looked like it could crack bones.
“May I join you?”
Rachida’s alto voice was like buttercream over molasses, rich and full. Unlike the Storm Queen, Rachida Rhakvir was still in her prime, and her curvy, strong body betrayed no infirmity. As those knowing emerald eyes pierced her, Layla realized it was Rachida’s presence that felt ancient, as she slung a yoga mat down off her shoulder. Power pushed out from Rachida in a battle-ready way, like her aura was so full of strength that she couldn’t contain it. Layla blinked, recalling Adam’s words that this was the woman who had birthed Julius Caesar.
“Be my guest.” Layla gestured to an open spot on the flagstones. Rachida smiled, moving forward with grace and rolling out her mat.
Rachida didn’t speak again as she began her routine. Layla resumed her own practice and the two women moved through their flows as the chill day blustered around them. But Rachida performed a strange series of postures Layla had never seen, then eventually sat and began pranayama breathing, fast pants with long holds that heated her like a forge-fire. Sweat was soon cascading off Layla’s body from the woman’s scalding energy, though Rachida remained cool and composed. But whatever she was doing was flaring her magic like a bellows, and Layla’s own Dragon roared inside, wanting to understand it.
Layla sat. Watching Rachida, she learned the breathing, then gave it a try. Immediately, her body flared with heat and she felt her magics expand, like her body was a bellows powering a volcano. Her inner Dragon coiled in an ecstatic way that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with power as a flood of energy roared through Layla. It made her dizzy and she had to cease – humming with energy like she could fight a hundred men.
“So. The Bind has battle in her veins and not just sex.” Rachida had ceased her breathing and was watching Layla, a small smile on her lips. “I feel your beast, child. It is a wild animal. But it can be tamed.”
“What were you doing just now, that breathing pattern?” Layla asked, feeling like Rachida was a wealth of untapped information.
“It’s calledFeeding the Dragon.” Rachida smiled, taking her copper waves down from their clips and combing them out. “I learned it during my first sojourn to Tibet as a young woman. An old Crystal Dragon matron taught it to me. I practice it daily.”
“I feel like battle filled me as I was doing it. This enormous fire,” Layla spoke, curious.
“Indeed,” the elegant Dragon matron smiled, her emerald eyes twinkling. “How do you think I bested seven drakes in an open fight once? I wasn’t bigger than them. I wasn’t stronger, or older. I was faster and more vicious, and my magic roared through them like a battering ram. Because I practice strength, subtlety – and control.”
“Your battle when your son was murdered. Julius Caesar?” Layla felt bad questioning the Dragon matron, but she couldn’t help it.
