“I think that’s what he meant a week ago when he talked about going after our heart,” Dusk spoke again as he gazed around Layla’s room, his dark brows drawn in a line. “Not just that he would attack the hub where we all met, but that he wants to wound us; to bleed our hearts and make us feel agony before the end. He wants to desecrate things we hold sacred – like Petra, Chambord’s pear orchards, and the Paris Hotel. I can’t help but wonder if anything of our fine establishment will be left standing when Hunter’s through with it. I’m not holding out hope, considering what we saw at Wahdi Atlamenta and now Chambord. He certainly made sure the Château’s lands got razed, like someone firebombed them with asteroids.” But Dusk didn’t bring up an image of the battle through their Bind as he spoke, and Layla didn’t either.
Thinking dark thoughts about how Hunter might attack them for the deepest wounds.
“What did you read from Rhennic down in the lobby just now, Dusk?” Adrian asked quietly as he glanced to Dusk. Lifting the crystal bourbon decanter, Dusk poured them all a second round from Layla’s stash, taking a deep drink.
“Rhennic’s shaken from what just happened at Chambord, Adrian.” Dusk answered as he regarded Adrian frankly. “Hunter struck his heart today. We’re not even at the big bad battle yet and Hunter’s already getting under the skin of one of our Bind-mates, our most stalwart fighter and battle-commander. I could feel it like snakes, worming all through Rhennic’s vibrations as he moved around the Hotel’s foyer, insisting on healing his people like the attack was somehow his fault. It’s still writhing through him, though it’s less now from Reginald being with him. Still –not good.”
“Not at all.” Adrian echoed darkly as he sipped his bourbon, glancing to Layla.
Just then, a knock came at the door, and Layla rose swiftly to open it – already knowing who was outside as she felt a bright-hot surge of seas and storm-energy. As she answered the door, Reginald moved in with Rhennic. Though Rhennic was dressed in a high-collared blue quilted men’s robe now from Reginald’s closet, he looked tired, despondence in his energy as he shut the apartment door. Everyone stared at him as he entered; but with a surge of fire inside her veins, Layla flowed to him, reaching up to cradle his beautifully Viking-handsome face.
Rhennic’s short blond beard was soft beneath her fingertips, but his sigh was hard as he pulled Layla close to his massively-built body. Tears brightened his lavender eyes, but in his commander’s way, they weren’t shed – though Layla wasn’t above crying for him, as tears slipped from her own eyes. As the others surrounded Rhennic in a supportive knot, he heaved another sigh, winding Layla tighter in his arms. Reaching out, Dusk squeezed Rhennic’s shoulder with a kind look as Layla held her Royal Storm Dragon. Lowering his head so their foreheads rested together, Rhennic kissed Layla softly on the lips, as if drawing solace from it.
“Hi, honey.” He spoke quietly as their kiss broke. “I’ve had a bad day.”
And then he began to heave with sobs – as the Bind tightened around him, pouring a soothing harmonic deep into his bones.
CHAPTER 3 – STORM
Wrapping her big, beloved Storm Dragon in her arms, Layla held Rhennic close as he cried for his people. As the Bind remained in a knot around him, pouring a soothing harmonic from all their hearts deep into Rhennic, he shook with silent agony, more sobs slipping out. It was awful, as Layla felt her most war-hardened mate break under the shock of Hunter’s first significant attack against them. But at last, Rhennic heaved a sigh. Straightening, he wiped his nose on a pocket square Dusk offered, a disgusted chuckle spilling from him as he nodded his thanks. Still standing close as Rhennic took a deep breath and heaved it out like a lion’s roar, the Bind waited.
As he finally gave them all a wry smile, his lavender eyes red-rimmed.
“So there’s that.” Rhennic spoke as he handed Dusk his ruined silk square back and Layla reached up and cupped his bearded jaw again.
“How many people did you lose?” She asked, already knowing the answer to the questionhow are you, where she could feel Rhennic’s energy twisting inside their Bind.
“Ninety-six.” Rhennic spoke frankly as he raked both hands through his gladiator-cut blond hair, then rubbed them down over his short blond-red beard, gently taking Layla’s hands from his face. Glancing around, he addressed the entire Bind. “We took out quite a few, but the way they were fighting – it was like a hive-mind, like nothing I’ve ever dealt with. They saw everything, moved into our every gap, took advantage of our every weakness… I lost a number of my best Lightning-Strikers in that battle. Good fighters and good people, all.”
“I’m so sorry, Rhen. Truly.” Dusk spoke to Rhennic now, his sapphire eyes sincere as he squeezed Rhennic’s shoulder. Reaching out, Rhennic gripped Dusk’s shoulder back, and Layla felt camaraderie sing between her most heartfelt drakes as Dusk intensified his river-water steadiness, pouring it like a waterfall into Rhennic. As Dusk’s ministrations continued, Rhennic suddenly pulled Dusk in close. Though Dusk blinked, he didn’t pull away – heat moving between them now as Layla watched need spark in Rhennic’s lavender eyes. Pulling Dusk in close as Layla stepped aside, Rhennic swallowed hard.
“Do that, please. That energy you used on me just now. Just give me that… for a while.”
As Rhennic stood there baring his heart to Dusk, raw and awful, Layla saw how badly it had shaken him to lose at Chambord. Rhennic had expected to lose fighters against Hunter, maybe even some of the Bind-mates or his own life, but not to lose at the abode that had been his clan’s home for centuries. With a kind wistfulness, Dusk complied to Rhennic’s need. Reaching up, Dusk gripped Rhennic’s neck as he rumbled soothing waterfalls of energy deep into Rhennic’s body.
And then pulled Rhennic down – giving him a gentle kiss.
It was sweet to watch Dusk and Rhennic together, even as it made Layla heat with ardor to see them be intimate. Kissing him solidly but sweetly, Dusk was tender with Rhennic as he administered his healing vibrations, and it made the bigger man shudder with a tremor as they met heart to heart. Gasping suddenly, Rhennic hauled Dusk in close with his big hands, gripping Dusk’s fine suit. Devouring Dusk’s kiss and rumbles now, Rhennic consumed the soothing energy being poured into him; Layla could feel him drinking Dusk down as she and everyone around her surrendered to shudders. But as the two men parted and Rhennic gave one last deep shiver, tears slipping down his blond eyelashes as he breathed quietly now, Layla felt how much release Dusk had given him. As Rhennic hitched another breath, Dusk massaged his nape, setting their foreheads together.
“Better?” Dusk murmured.
“Better.” Rhennic rumbled, quiet as he breathed with his eyes closed.
Moving in close now, Reginald curled around Rhennic and laid his cheek against the bigger man’s; as he did, Rhennic reached up, corralling Reginald and kissing him instead of Dusk, deep and long. As the two longtime lovers shared tenderness now, Rhennic reached out, corralling Layla into their cuddle. She ended up with her cheek on Rhennic’s firm chest as Dusk nuzzled her lips and Rhennic breathed at her hair, with Reginald curled close around them all. Fury stroked Rhennic’s back with a soft touch, and even Adrian kept a hand on Rhennic’s shoulder as they all poured love and light into him through the Bind, bolstering Rhennic’s aching heart. Squeezing Layla and Reginald both close now, Rhennic gave a rumbling sigh.
As Layla felt joy spark in him at last.
“Thanks. I needed that.” Rhennic spoke finally as his eyes came open, a gentler lavender than before and no longer flickering with storms.
“Don’t mention it.” Dusk spoke kindly as he gripped Rhennic’s nape in a brotherly gesture. As the Bind came unwound, Rhennic took a deep breath, standing taller. And for the first time since the attack, Layla felt his calm commander’s surety flowing through him once more.
“Sorry for the breakdown, everyone.” Rhennic spoke wryly now as he glanced around.
“Your Lineage just took a big hit, Rhen.” Adrian smiled kindly. “I would feel the same if it were my people at Riad Rhakvir. We all would.”
“How are your clan taking it? Did you contact them yet?” Layla asked as they stood together.
“I did. My main fleet of fighters arrived just now at the Hotel and I told them about the battle, plus I called the rest of our clan up at Deep Harbor from Reginald’s rooms.” He spoke as he slid his big hands around her waist in her lace cocktail dress, squeezing her. Fierce, Rhennic’s lavender eyes sparked with lightning now as they darkened to a deep, furious plum. Layla didn’t have to ask how many of Hunter’s Royal Dragon Binds he’d killed during the fight; she could feel him reliving it inside his mind. Rhennic was a beast in battle, and Layla saw a mental replay of him skewering Binds with fiery crystal shards, then hammering those cruel spikes into their bodies with a wave of water through the skies from Reginald and Fury’s magic before fighting on with his own plasma lightning.
