“I want it.” He gasped as more tears slid down his face. “Please! I need it… this soothing, this ease. This peace.”
“I want to give you this peace.” Layla spoke softly as she held her palm to his chest, reaching out and caressing his perfect face with her other scaled hand. Still radiating love from the depths of her Bind, Layla poured love into Hunter now from her mates and Hunter’s, and every one of the Dragon-souls there in the canyon. “Nadia wants to give it to you also, and Nimir, my mates and all the other Dragons who committed themselves here to benefit generations to come. But we can’t let you remain alive from what you’ve done. You understand, don’t you?”
“I understand.” He gasped now with a beautiful agony as more tears slid down his face. Reaching up, he clasped her hand to his heart. “Kill me, Layla Price, I beg you. Take me out to the stars… and give me this everlasting peace of true love in the cosmos. For continuing to live will only bring me more darkness. And I don’t want it anymore.”
Layla’s smile was gentle as light beamed all through her at Hunter’s request. Leaning down, her lips were pure mercy as they met his. And her heart was nothing but love – as she poured a fire of gold down his throat with her kiss and deep into his heart.
Orrin gasped beneath her lips, and Layla felt his heart seize. His body spasmed, pressing up hard into her kiss one last time as he shuddered and finally went slack, laying still upon the cracked desert plain. Easing her lips from his, Layla gazed down at his dawn-bright eyes one last time as they darkened in death. And then she touched his eyelids and soft golden lashes and pulled them down.
Closing those beautiful eyes at last.
Peace breathed through the morning as Layla looked up. Returned to human from their Dragon-man forms now, her men surrounded her with Nadia and Nimir, the two ancient Royal Dragon Binds holding each other gently as they witnessed their third’s demise. As the sun rose above the canyon’s rim, Layla felt a vastness suddenly roil inside her, as the Old Dragons from the canyon wondered if she would keep them and wield their souls for selfish aims. But this was a place of miracles, and Hunter’s Bind inside Layla had taught her how to do miracles before it was severed. Placing a hand to the cracked and desiccated earth with the bones that lay beneath, Layla whispered to the bright morning.
“Go. Be Unbound from me, all of you. Be at peace.”
Like a long sigh all through the fabric of the cosmos, all those dead Dragon souls left her, flooding back to their ancient bones. And with a deep exhalation, Layla released Nadia and Nimir also from her Bind.
Leaving her alone with her true mates at last.
“Giving up so much power voluntarily,” Nimir spoke softly as Layla pushed up from the earth, her Dragon-woman form sighing away as all that power left her. “Some might say that even the strongest of hearts couldn’t do it.”
“Good thing I have five strong hearts to help me, rather than just one.” Layla spoke with a deep smile now as she opened her arms to all her Bound men. “Five strong hearts, that I love to the end of the world and back.”
As Layla’s Bound mates joined her in the peace of the dawn, they cuddled close. Standing behind her, Dusk pulled her in with his strong hands as his lips nuzzled her neck, while Adrian stood before her, beaming down at her with his perfectly Mediterranean-blue eyes. As the others crowded in also, all of them touching each other and Layla in a sweet knot, she felt a vast love surge through them all. It wasn’t a selfish love, nor a dominant love that drove them, but a pure love, bright as all the diamond stars in the sky.
True love, Layla knew as she felt the Star Bind still flooding them all.
As the sun rose high in the blue desert dawn.
CHAPTER 27 – LEGACY
Standing in the grand main lobby of the Red Letter Hotel Paris in a stretchy blush cocktail dress and classy blush heels, Layla moved her hands in a smooth motion to lift up the lobby’s collapsed main staircase with her Desert Dragon winds. Soot-smirched from the battle a week ago, the marble staircase had broken into pieces; as Layla held those pieces steady, a team of Red Giant Guardsmen rushed in through the wreckage. Heaving up the charred remains of the main Concierge desk, they hauled it out as Layla continued to hold up the staircase. Heading in again, the Guards positioned themselves around the Hotel’s amethyst wall computing system, their big arms out and ready to receive it. Beside Layla, Dusk stood in one of his slim blue pinstriped Italian suits, immaculately coiffed as he directed targeted rumbles at the wall, causing large sections of amethyst to detach from the alcove and fall into the Guards’ hands. As all the pieces were liberated, the Guards retreated.
And Dusk darted in, moving to a charred black safe in the wreckage.
Working quickly, Dusk rumbled his magics through the ruined safe; deep within, Layla heard its complex magical locking mechanism chunk open. Prying open the damaged door as Layla continued to hold up the stairs, Dusk thrust his hands in – retrieving the Hotel’s gilded Assignations Ledger. As he stepped briskly back out with an enormous grin like Indiana Jones liberating the golden idol, Layla let her winds fall, the broken marble staircase settling.
As Dusk beamed to the blasted-out rafters – his sapphire eyes bright with pleasure.
“The Assignations Ledger survived, thank all the gods!” He chuckled as he made it back to Layla by the wrecked mermaid fountain. “You might not know it, Layla, but the Assignations Ledger is the heart of any Hotel – a sacred contract between that Hotel and its patrons, which acts as the foundation of trust between the two parties. And phone calls – for us to get up and running again with the right clientele.” Dusk winked at Layla now, and she laughed.
“Well, as far as operations go, I’m glad the Paris Hotel’s computing system survived.” Layla smiled as she watched the Red Giant Guardsmen settle those massive pieces of amethyst onto padded beds that Adrian had charmed to float, to take the amethyst wall away.
“Naturally.” Dusk quipped at Layla, then whistled sharply to get the Red Giants’ attention.
“Yes, Hotel Owners?” The big Red Giant leader rumbled at Dusk and Layla, raising his dark eyebrows.
“We’re done here for now, Kavi – the most important items have been liberated.” Dusk spoke briskly with his do-it-all nature. “Go transport the amethyst wall down to Rikyava in the Safehouse and have her stash the pieces in the armory there until I can get some Crystal Dragon technicians in to repair it. After that’s done, you and your crew can take lunch. We’ll reconvene here at two pm and deal with the staircase next.”
“Yes, Hotel Owner.” The lead Red Giant Kavi dipped his chin, then waved to his crew. As they departed down the blasted-out main hall of the Paris Hotel, Layla watched thirty other crews of staff and allies using magic, levers, floating wheelbarrows, and brute strength to clean up shattered glass, charred timbers, exploded plaster, and more. The main hall was in rough shape, badly damaged not just from the battle a week ago, but the fires that had consumed it afterwards. In one spot, an entire swath of the grand lobby had been blasted out and was now completely open to the blue summer day all around. But this main area had fared better than some places.
And Layla found herself grateful as she gazed around, that the Paris Hotel would recover in time.
“You know, I quite like being a proper Owner in the Red Letter Hotel, now that I can do with my Crystal Dragon hoards as I like.” Dusk chuckled as he glanced to Layla, his sapphire eyes flashing in the midsummer sunlight. “Not only can I spend as much money as I want on the Paris Hotel’s repair and redesign, I can also order any Hotel staff member around now and not get any guff. It’s positively remarkable.”
“No one ever gave you any guff when you were Head Concierge, either.” Layla snorted as Dusk set the gilded ledger aside on the pile of mermaid-rubble and gathered Layla in his arms, cradling her as she smoothed her hands down his pinstriped lapels.
“Plenty of people gave me guff.” Dusk grinned back at her, his blue eyes merry today. “You, for one. Reginald, for another. And Rikyava’s always been a pain in my ass, so there’s that.”
