“I just never thought of Adrian as a killer.” Layla answered truthfully, glancing over at Adrian on the top of the rise. He watched them, then turned his horse and walked around a copse of trees, Dusk following with a deep frown. Up ahead, they heard the dogs bay. Again, Layla felt a massive bloom of power as she saw a trio of pheasants clear the trees and be swiftly brought down – this time, by two separate spears of golden light and one that was opal. A third dark navy shimmer missed the pheasants entirely, and at her side, Adam chuckled.
“Poor Soukos. Rachida’s little paramour isreallytrying. Boy’s just not a killer, though.”
“The navy energy spear?” Layla glanced at him.
“Good, you can see them.” Adam nodded with approval. “What you’re seeing is a Dragon killing-strike. Small ones and tightly controlled, but effective for small prey. Soukos has enough strength to send a killing-strike to bring down small prey, but he always sends them wide. Either he’s got terrible vision or he’s sending them wide on purpose. Dragons don’t generally miss their targets once they learn how to kill. Come on. We’d better catch up.”
Adam urged his horse through a thicket of golden alder and Layla moved her horse in behind his. Dusk waited for them on his dappled mare and fell into step beside Layla, and she saw Adrian move his horse to the rear of their group, following.
Slowing her horse, Layla nodded for Dusk to ride ahead with Adam. Dusk lifted his eyebrows but acquiesced, not about to gainsay her in front of her clan. Layla appreciated that, and it made her smile a little. Slowing her horse so Adrian could catch up, she let him draw alongside. He glanced over but did not slow his black gelding. Layla clucked her tongue and her horse stepped on, keeping pace alongside Adrian’s.
CHAPTER 14 – STORM
Layla paced her horse beside Adrian’s, lagging behind Adam and Dusk, who had ranged on ahead through the golden-dark forest. A boom of thunder rolled in the clouds as rain began to spatter the leaves and ferns. Though the drops were still sparse, the gloom was finally winning. Layla felt heat in her veins from her ire with Adrian’s attitude today, but the cold was also getting to her – as if her heart ached like a black pit, not able to combat the dreary chill.
“So are you ever going to talk to me?” She asked, glancing over at Adrian as her patience finally snapped. “Or are we just going to continue this stalemate in perpetuity?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to talk to you.” Adrian blinked as he looked over also, something surprised on his face. He reined his horse to a stop and Layla did the same in a low hollow crowded with ferns. Another roll of thunder sounded, though the rain kept its slim patter, not yet ready to drown their day.
Yet.
“Why wouldn’t I want you to talk to me, Adrian?” Layla frowned, feeling confused, wanting to touch him and also wanting to slap him for being an idiot. “And why did you not come visit me while I was ill?”
“Because you told me not to,” he murmured, his aqua eyes aching. “After you almost shifted… you told me to go away, to not touch you or talk to you. So I did. I tried to stay away so we wouldn’t touch or speak with each other. So I wouldn’t raise your Dragon again through our Bind.”
“Oh, Adrian.” Layla’s heart broke to hear his words even as she stared at him, dumbfounded. She could feel the Bind between them as the beast inside her roared for his touch; roared to be recognized and included even in his idiocy. Layla’s eyes stung; too hot. A desperate look came over Adrian’s face as the first of her tears fell. He reached out between their horses, hesitated, then finally cupped her cheek in his hand. Layla hitched a breath, but Adrian was controlling his powers like a sonofabitch – she didn’t smell even a whiff of cinnamon, didn’t feel a single brush of scales from him. He just set his warm palm to her cheek as her tears slid down, his aqua gaze raw with apology.
“I’m so sorry, Layla,” he grated, watching her. “I’ve been such an asshole.”
“Yeah, you have been!” She half-laughed, half-sobbed, relishing his touch. Turning her face into his hand, she pressed her lips to his palm. She heard Adrian sigh, his eyes too bright now just like hers. “Don’t you know that when a woman you’re in a relationship with tells you to get lost, you’re supposed to apologize and try to work it out, rather than give her the cold shoulder?”
He flushed, a beautiful look coming over his face as his jasmine-spice scent whirled through the drizzle, shaking the leaves and showering them in gold. “Are we in a relationship?”
“You tell me!” Layla laughed, shaking her head with incredulity. “I want to be in a relationship with you, Adrian. I want to get to knowyou, not just be mystically bound to you. But so far, all you’ve given me are half-cocked romantic evenings where you run out on me for weeks at a time, too-hot-to-process passion, or the deep cold shoulder. It’s driving me insane!”
“I just… I go crazy around you,” he rasped, annihilation taking his handsome face.
“I know.” Layla laughed again, another tear blinking down her face. “I go crazy around you, too. Did Dusk tell you his theory?”
“He did.” Adrian spoke, gazing at Layla with longing. “I’m starting to think I never should have bound that talisman on your wrist, Layla. That I did us both more harm than good. Dusk’s right. I didn’t research the Hamsa Bind talisman thoroughly enough – I didn’t question the magic it contained as deeply as I should have. I bound us together with it and now we’re both paying the price of that dire magic. I hate that you’re paying for my impetuous stupidity. I can’t stand seeing you suffer – and knowing I’m the cause.”
“Are you always this volcanic in relationships?” Layla laughed again, rubbing away her tears though the rain was spattering more now, fat drops hitting her face.
“I didn’t used to be.” Adrian gave a sad, sincere smile. Removing his hunting jacket and leaning over from his horse, he settled it around Layla’s shoulders as the rain pattered down, snugging it close around her to keep her warm. “I’m rusty on being close to people, and the Bind isn’t helping. Would it make a difference if you knew I was trying?”
“Maybe.” Layla shrugged his jacket around her, breathing deep of his heady desert-spice scent in the soft wool and satin. “Dusk said you’ve been celibate since we met.”
“Dusk has a big mouth that he needs to keep shut.” But the way Adrian’s straight dark brows furrowed let Layla know it was true. He drew a deep breath, his aqua eyes locking to hers, deepening with gold. “I’ve had a lot of women in my time, Layla. But you slay me in a way I’ve never experienced before. I dream of citrus groves at midnight, tossing and turning in bed while seeing your eyes. I lose track of time when I sip a bourbon twisted with orange peel. I pause when I see women with hourglass curves and dark hair on the street. I turn, hoping to see your face. Hoping that you somehow figured out where I was and hopped the next flight searching for me. I didn’t just bind you because it would raise my power, Layla. I bound you… because from the moment I saw you again at Mimi’s funeral a few years ago, I couldn’t bear to not have you in my life. I searched for the Hamsa Bind talisman not just to wrangle your power, but because I needed you beside me,withme.These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”
Adrian’s tirade and his final Rumi quote whirled in Layla’s mind as his energy swirled around her, raw and passionate. The scent of jasmine was thick in the rain, drowning her. He reached his hands up, cupping her face in his palms and Layla’s tears fell harder, wanting him so badly. But he was touching her, and it was so good through the hurt. Her power roiled in deep waves, responding to his and sending a spiced orange scent twining through the trees – coiling deep into his magics in a bright cord.
With a sigh, Adrian leaned close. Sliding his hands down around Layla’s waist, he hauled her up from her saddle. In a smooth, powerful movement, he’d lifted her from her horse and slid her down his body astride his own saddle. Facing each other with her in front, Layla’s power ranged out now that they were close – tasting his energy, devouring it, needing it as the rain soaked their clothes, a flash of lightning illuminating the black clouds as thunder boomed.
“How in the hell are we ever going to figure this out?” Layla spoke, needing him. Needing his energy, needing to smell him, to taste him – to inhale and touch every part of him.
“One step at a time,” he breathed, kissing her shoulder, brushing his lips over the skin of her neck. Layla’s heart raced at the touch of his lips, so smooth, so impossibly soft. A deep passion thrummed in him as he gathered her close to his lean, strong frame – though she could tell he was being exquisitely good, still holding most of his magic back from affecting her.
“I want you,” Layla breathed, turning her face up to his.
