Ooooh, it’s almost here!

Golden Dragon Bind: Royal Dragon Shifters of Morocco #9 – the final book in the Royal Dragons series – is nearly finished and will go live on Amazon, in Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback Friday, October 16th!

I’m super excited for this book, which wraps up the series, though I am planning a few stand-alone novels with the Royal Dragons and possibly even ANOTHER series with them in the future – more on that soon. :)

This book concludes the long-awaited final conflict with Hunter, Layla’s Royal Dragon Bind enemy – there are big battles in this one, hot action, and LOTS of intimacy between Layla and her men as the talons come out.

Please enjoy this excerpt from the book, which is available to pre-order here.

XO Ava

***SPOILER ALERT! READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT PLOT POINTS EXPOSED FOR BOOK #9!***

CHAPTER 1 – ROAR

As Layla Price strode through the halls of the Red Letter Hotel Paris, her thoughts were on battle. Though impressed as always at the Hotel’s transformation for a Grand Masquerade, the Palace of Versailles’ French Baroque marble halls in the Twilight Realm resplendent with summer garlands, she could hardly admire the opulence. Moving briskly towards the Hotel Head’s office, summoned for a war-council by her Bound Royal Dragons this afternoon, Layla could feel the star-bright energy of the Bind pulling her towards her drakes as she moved down the ornate halls.

Calling her forward into battle.

Wearing a stretchy burgundy lace cocktail dress with black lace shoulders and blush patent-leather heels, her sable curls pulled up into a chignon, Layla was comfortable in the midsummer heat. Exquisite flower garlands wrapped around the columns; decadent blooms crowding the cupolas for the Litha Bonfire in two days’ time at summer solstice. Gilded braziers were ready to be lit for solstice night, and bonfires had been set up in the gardens, the primary one directly behind the Hotel. Gazing out a bank of windows to the rose gardens, Layla saw the main edifice waiting to burn – five stories tall and fashioned into a massive Desert Dragon raking talons at an unseen foe. Smiling, Layla noted her Royal Golden Siren and Hotel Head Reginald Durant’s intention – that the largest fire of the night show their fierce resistance against their enemy Hunter.

When he came to attack them on solstice night.

Turning in to the Hotel’s Administration Wing, Layla stepped quickly towards a glowing ember in her heart, Bound by a bright coil of love. Her Royal Desert Dragon mate Adrian Rhakvir’s signature was ever-present inside her since they had re-Bound a week ago and he had been named the Desert Dragon King-Heir. Layla could feel him anywhere in the world now that they’d rejoined with the Star Bind at Wahdi Atlamenta, like they were standing in the same room together. It was like breathing golden fire through her entire body as Layla knocked on the Hotel Head’s office door with its ornate fleur-de-lis, then stepped inside.

Finding her Royal Dragon mates within.

This meeting wasn’t an official battle-planning session, only a progress update Layla had been summoned for by Adrian just now through the Bind. Layla and her men had been at it constantly this past week since Hunter had attacked the Hidden City of Petra. As she entered the vaulted French Baroque office with its massive bay windows and sky-blue drapes, Layla admired how the office had been remodeled with oil paintings of krakens and sea-Dragons by the Hotel Head, her Royal Golden Siren Reginald Durant.

But it wasn’t Reginald who commanded her attention as she entered. Stepping away from the unlit fireplace, her primary mate Adrian Rhakvir came to greet Layla first as she arrived. Dressed in a charcoal grey vest and trousers with a turquoise pocket square, the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to display his black, gold, and red Desert Dragon leadership tattoos on his forearms. Adrian’s vivid Mediterranean-blue eyes pinned Layla with a sexy tension as he bent his tall, lean frame down to kiss her. For a moment, everyone in the room disappeared as Adrian’s scorching cinnamon-jasmine winds devoured Layla, diving in through her lips as they rushed around her, stroking her everywhere.

Rising with a hot growl in her throat, Layla’s Desert drakaina was just as eager to greet her primary mate. As Adrian wound her in his arms for a long moment, oblivious to everyone else present, Layla kissed him back, passionately. Heat scorched her veins, lifting a wind of gold, white, red, and turquoise etheric fire in the room. Though it burned nothing, that wind swirled the drapes, flooding summer sunlight through the office as they kissed.

“Hi.” Adrian breathed as he at last pulled away, nuzzling her nose. “Glad you could make it.”

“Me, too.” Layla spoke as her heart hammered. “Give me more than five minutes’ warning next time though, huh?”

“Sure.” He answered as a small smile curled his perfect lips.

But then Layla’s Royal Golden Siren Reginald Durant was moving out from behind his stout desk to welcome her with a kiss also; just as loving, but brief today. Succinct but tender, Reginald was in business mode as his deep waters churned through their Bind. Dressed in an elegant tan vest and trousers with gold pinstripes, his long golden hair was clipped half-back, showing his sharply exquisite features as he smiled at her – tense.

As her Crystal Dragon King Dusk Arlohaim moved in next, Layla gave him a smile. Wearing a slim midnight blue Italian suit, plus diamond cufflinks and a Rolex that brought out the bright diamond-sapphire of his eyes, light refracted through Dusk’s dark hair as he enjoyed his kiss. Standing near the fireplace, Layla’s best friend and Head of the Hotel Guard Rikyava Andersen nodded to Layla as Layla finished kissing Dusk. Fighter-statuesque with her long Swedish-blonde braid pulled over the shoulder of her crimson 1800’s Guardsman uniform, Rikyava was armed to the teeth with obsidian Dragon-killing blades that glimmered violet.

And as Layla finished greeting everyone, she saw who was making her lovers and friend irate today in the Hotel Head’s office. The Master Vampire Quindici DaPonti – who gave Layla an elegant nod from where he stood in front of Reginald’s desk.

“Layla. Good to see you.”

“Quinn.” Layla blinked as she returned to Adrian and he wrapped an arm around her. “I didn’t know you were coming to help with the battle.”

“Reginald asked for my help. So I’m here.” Tall and regal, Quindici DaPonti was an enigma; Layla still didn’t understand him even though she’d trusted him often enough. As he turned to her, his short waves of dark russet hair were expertly styled, his onyx eyes penetratingly intense, a flash of red-copper blazing in both as he stood in the sun’s rays. Dressed in a charcoal jacket and slacks with a crisp black shirt, he wore a blood-crimson pocket square along with a plethora of gold men’s rings. A dark nimbus of power flowed around him in the day, devouring the light. As Quinn glanced to Reginald, returned behind the desk, Reginald lifted a straight golden eyebrow at him. From the firm set of Reginald’s jaw, his eyes a frosty blue, Layla could tell her Royal Golden Siren wasn’t liking this discussion.

Whatever it was about.

“I asked for you to organize Guard reinforcements for the upcoming battle, Quinn.” Reginald spoke now, continuing their conversation. “Not bring your entire Dark Haven of Florence here like you did when you arrived last night.”

“My Dark Haven Vampires make up the bulk of the Florence Hotel’s Guard, Reginald.” Quinn addressed Reginald now, returning to what was apparently an argument between them. “I have arranged for a number of Guardsmen from other Hotels to arrive in the next few days before solstice, but on such short notice, you get what you get. My Florentine Vampires are tremendous fighters. Are you saying you would refuse our aid?”

“No, I’m not saying that.” Reginald spoke sharply. “But I’ve seen how your Guard operate.”

“Yeah, brutal is putting it elegantly.” Rikyava snorted now as she crossed her arms, staring Quinn down.

“Are you saying my Vampires are too brutal to have on your Hotel’s grounds?” Quindici spoke dangerously to both Rikyava and Reginald as his dark aura swirled around him. “Because you know I have my younger brethren well in hand, Aldo. They are not Revenants.”

“I know, Quinn.” Reginald passed a hand over his eyes now in a gesture Layla had never seen, frustrated and irate all at once. “It’s just that Rikyava and I are already receiving complaints from allies who have remained to fight that your Vampires are terrifying them almost to the point of abandoning the Hotel and going elsewhere to wait this out.”

“Some of them are my own Guard.” Rikyava spoke up again with a severe eyeball at Quinn.

“It’s not my fault your Paris allies lack courage. Or your Guard.” Quinn spoke with a cutting edge now as he glanced to Rikyava, a scathing tone in his voice before he looked back to Reginald. “Love is war, Aldo. The Florence Hotel has never allowed perfumed weaklings in its ranks.”

“Yet we at the Paris Hotel uphold that love is love, Quinn – not war.” Adrian spoke up now from where he and Layla stood. “The original tenets of the entire Hotel organization.”

“An organization we’ve discovered was begun by Hunter.” Quinn turned his ire upon Adrian as he raised a caustic russet eyebrow, his dark aura cool as it licked over Layla’s skin. “An experiment to unite the world, but why did Hunter abandon it? Because he knew love is weak without dominance behind it.”

“You can believe that if you want to.” Adrian spoke back, matching Quinn’s dark iciness with a formidable power of his own. “But Reginald and I and everyone else who works here at the Paris Hotel don’t see it that way. Love becomes stronger when we all work together – and power does, too. Domination only leads to fracturing in the ranks.”

“As we’re already seeing with your Vampires intimidating everyone else here in just a scant twelve hours.” Rikyava snorted again, though Reginald held a hand out to her now.

“Domination gets things done.” Quinn spoke with the deep chill of the grave as he looked back to Reginald. “It is efficient.”

“Domination is the tactic Hunter uses, Quinn.” Reginald spoke quietly now, a fierce intensity on his face. “And if you want to work that way… then we don’t need you.”

Layla held her breath at Reginald’s sudden ultimatum against their longtime ally, watching her Royal Golden Siren and the Florentine Master Vampire stare each other down. Suddenly, she understood why Adrian had summoned her, as Reginald’s powers contested with Quinn’s in the bright afternoon. A drowning swirl of Reginald’s etheric golden Siren-energy crashed against Quinn’s dark nimbus; for a moment, Layla actually saw the two powers fight in the room with dark flare of wrath and shining swirl of etheric water.

As if Quinn’s dark power was trying to wrestle Reginald’s bright seas into submission, both magics heaved up in a wrathful contest, and Layla felt an old feud in it. Standing by, she felt for a moment how intensely strong Quinn was – in a way he’d never shown before. But drawing upon the steady energies of Layla, Adrian, and Dusk, Reginald suddenly overcame his feuding with Quinn. And with a hammering sweep of the Bind, Reginald washed that contest away – his vast etheric waters rushing out and surrounding Quinn.

Confining the Vampire’s darkness.

“You dominate me at last.” Quinn’s smile was cold as he stared Reginald down, and only then did Layla realize she’d been watching a battle of wills and mind-magics as the Master Vampire and Royal Siren engaged. Something Adrian had anticipated and wanted her here to help with when he’d summoned her just five minutes ago. “Fine. I will command my Vampires to be less overbearing with your people. But we are not the monsters you think us. I hope someday to impress that upon you.”

“Indeed.” Reginald spoke, easing his etheric magic around Quindici like a tsunami rolling back now. “We will have a conversation about all this once Hunter’s threat is over. In the meantime, I thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Red Letter Hotel Paris.”

“I do this for you, Aldo. Never think otherwise.” Quinn spoke bluntly then, staring Reginald down as his dark nimbus gave one last impressive swirl. And then he turned, nodding stiffly to Adrian and everyone else as he flowed to the door and moved out, closing the door so firmly behind him it was nearly a slam. A dark aura permeated the space for a long moment, as if Quinn had left some of his black mood behind to drain all joy from the day. But with a wash of sea-gold energy, Reginald banished the last of the Vampire’s power. Taking a deep breath, Reginald looked over as Adrian curled Layla to his side.

“Thank you. All of you.” Reginald spoke softly as he watched Layla, Adrian, and Dusk. “It’s not easy for me to face Quindici sometimes, and be strong with him.”

“No problem.” Adrian spoke back as he and Reginald shared an accord that was new between them since Reginald had pushed Adrian at Wahdi Atlamenta to show his true power.

“Well, I suppose that was a win.” Rikyava spoke with a snort, one hand resting on her rapier as if she’d wanted to use it. “Who knows what Quinn getting his Vampires to be less overbearing means, but at least maybe it won’t drive our allies off before the fight in two days.”

“So what’s up Quinn’s butt?” Layla asked, having never seen him so irate.

“The fact that he wants me but can’t have me.” Reginald spoke succinctly, though his voice was decidedly warmer now as he came out from his power-position behind the desk. Moving over, Reginald stroked Layla’s cheek with his knuckles, then kissed her on the lips far more tenderly than when she’d first arrived. “Quinn has desired me a long while, Layla. But he does not see himself as a person who can have true love, only dominate others, and so it frustrates him that I am no longer submissive to him. I have discovered true love with you in the Bind, whereas Quinn doesn’t understand that equal sharing of hearts. I no longer function in a hierarchy of dominance and submission with my loves; and Quinn doesn’t know how to be that way with me.”

“But he’s helping the Paris Hotel because he wants you back,” Layla understood suddenly.

“Yes, Quinn does nothing without personal motivation.” Reginald spoke as he brushed one of Layla’s sable curls back from her face. “And while I appreciate his help, there is no room in the Bind for someone like him, who believes only in dominance and not love.”

“Just like Hunter.” Layla spoke back with a sigh, knowing what Reginald was getting at, yet hating that every conversation turned back to their enemy these days.

“Indeed.” Reginald replied as he smiled softly.

Just then, a knock came at the doors, breaking Layla and Reginald’s moment as she felt a deep wave of silver-dark oceanic energy flow through the room. As her Royal Silver Siren Fury Durant entered, Layla was mesmerized for a moment by Reginald’s twin, just as elegantly beautiful as his brother though more sensually moon-dark. With his long silver hair braided loosely over one shoulder, he was intensely poetic, dressed in a dove grey three-piece suit with a midnight blue tie and pocket square that matched his dark blue eyes. As he entered, the massive power of Fury’s tremendous oceanic Siren-drake washed him to Layla for a deep kiss before he turned to the others.

“Layla, everyone. I’ve received an update from our sister Leni just now over the phone.” Fury spoke in his sensually musical voice, lovely as the deepest currents of the ocean. The Siren’s half-sister Leniana Morregain was Queen at their clan-home of Deep Harbor in the North Sea, helping to house non-combatants until things were over with Hunter.

“What did Leni say?” Layla asked, blinking to break her trance at Fury’s ridiculous beauty.

“She’s found space for all our non-combatants in the Siren’s underwater grottoes.” Fury continued with a soft smile now, knowing the effect he had on Layla. “They’re being protected by her best warriors, though she says it leaves few people to send us for the fight. But as of now, innocents from Château de Chambord, Deep Harbor, the Scandinavian Blood Dragon cities, Manadora, and the Paris Hotel are safe undersea. As for our allies, Storm Dragon fighters from France and the British Isles have already departed from Deep Harbor. They’re en route here, though Rhennic’s making one last stop at Chambord to leave instructions for his Lightning-Strikers defending the palace.”

“My Crystal Dragon non-combatants are in our caverns also,” Dusk spoke up briskly now, adding to Fury’s report. “Our cities are emptied except those left to protect them; my mother Sky Arlohaina is coordinating the underground. And as of this morning, Adrian’s and King Lethou Mathii’s Desert Dragon non-combatants are also in our care, in caverns near Wahdi Atlamenta.”

“Good.” Adrian nodded. “Riad Rhakvir and Wahdi Atlamenta are emptied now, except for a few protectors. King Mathii and his Black Spear Dragons arrived here this morning, along with Rachida, Emir, and my best Wind-Warders from Morocco.”

“My uncle King Huttr Erdhelm and our Scandinavian Blood Dragons got in last night.” Rikyava added also now. “And Jenna Ostlheim and Lars Kurs in Concierge Services have rooms ready for the Storm Dragons when they arrive.”

“Good.” Fury nodded to Rikyava with a flash of silver in his dark blue eyes, the look of his Siren-drake ready for a fight. “I’ll contact Rhennic and let him know when we’re finished here.”

“Sure ’nuff hot stuff.” Rikyava winked back, and Layla watched them share an accord. The closer they got to battle, the more Rikyava and Fury had both become almost viciously cavalier, as if both were looking forward to the fight ahead. Dusk shared their battle-ready eagerness, and as Rikyava slapped Dusk’s shoulder now, she glanced to him and Fury. “Hey. We’ve got a breather this afternoon. You two wanna practice fighting down in the Guardhall? We could work with blades again, make it some really fun trouble.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Dusk grinned back, though Fury only gave a nod, his eyes shining silver.

“Wait. Forbidden blades?” Holding a hand out, Layla stopped Rikyava. “The fuck? You’re going to practice with Dragon-killing weapons on my men?”

“Chill, Layla. We’ve been practicing with them all week.” Rikyava winked at her now. “Dusk and Fury can each withstand ten strikes per hour now. And they’re healing in under three minutes.”

“Dusk, Fury, why didn’t you tell me?” Astounded that they’d been doing such dangerous combat-training, Layla blinked incredulously at her mates.

“Easy, Layla.” Dusk spoke back as he corralled her around the waist, pulling her away from Adrian. Holding her close, he sent a soothing rumble into her. “We’re doing fine. And if Hunter Binds any of the Desert Dragon King Lethou Mathii’s Black Spear Dragons against us, we’ll need to know how fast we can recover from poison. Don’t worry, we’re holding back enough that we have strength to heal.”

“I know, just…” Layla protested as she smoothed her hands down his lapels. “I worry about you. All of you.”

“We worry about you, too.” Dusk smiled sweetly as he kissed her lips. “But you’re a ball-busting powerhouse of a drakaina and we’re ovary-busting powerhouses of drakes. You’ve got to let us flex our muscles for battle, Layla.”

“Just as we trust you to do, too.” Fury spoke up also.

Fury had a point, and taking a deep breath as Dusk held her, Layla absorbed it. Nothing was assured in this upcoming battle; and no one’s life was, either. If they were going to fight Hunter, they had to bring it – and Layla knew everyone practicing close to their edge would make their Bind stronger when battle came. Still, her drakaina gave a roar of fire through her veins with a scorched bourbon-orange scent, worrying about her drakes fighting with deadly poison. But Hunter and his army of Royal Dragon Binds were deadlier still – and as Layla looked to Adrian and Reginald and then back to Fury and Dusk, she saw that knowledge in them all.

“We’ve got to bring our A-game at solstice, huh?” Layla spoke with a wry smile.

“Good thing we have an A-Team to do it with.” Dusk grinned tenderly down at her.

As her Bound men’s energies smoothed through her with a deep, loving support now, Layla cinched an arm around Dusk, reaching out to clasp Adrian’s hand. But even as she did, she suddenly felt a massive roar hit her through the Bind. Reeling, her fingers clamped hard upon Adrian as all her men staggered from that roar.

And as a vision suddenly opened up through them all, Layla saw it was her Royal Storm Dragon Rhennic Erdhelm far away in the Loire Valley who had roared through them. A view of a storm-dark sky suddenly filled them; Rhennic rushing up fast into his massive Royal Storm Drake with another terrible, thundering roar. As Layla watched, Dragons of all kinds came flooding out of a black rift in the sky over Château de Chambord, home of the Storm Dragons of Europe.

As Rhennic engaged Hunter in battle.

The Sexy Times

NEW EXCERPT & PRE-ORDER! Golden Dragon Bind: Royal Dragon Shifters of Morocco #9

Ava Ward

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