Ariel sat on the grass in the middle of the clearing, dressed in the jeans and blouse Jett had stowed in the backpack. He had forgotten to save her runners, so she wore the boots the human mate of one the lions had given her.

Ariel was exhausted, both physically and mentally. And she felt ashamed at her betrayal of Jett. So ashamed. After she’d transformed back to her human state, he had said very few words to her. He was obviously angry. She didn’t blame him.

Jett sat on the ground beside her. The other members of the two prides sat cross-legged in the grass around them, forming a wide circle encompassing the pair. The two Alphas, Cliff and Finn, perched on stools.

Even though Jett was their king, these two men were the Alphas of their respective prides, and Ariel suspected they would show only the minimum amount of respect Jett’s power and position required, nothing more: they wouldn’t risk doing anything to endanger their standings among the prides. She knew Jett didn’t care much for grown men fawning and bowing to him, but she also knew he wouldn’t bow and scrape to these men in turn.

“Did you get my text or not?” Jett asked Cliff.

“No,” Cliff said. “But I know why you’re here. We haven’t found the perpetrator yet. What was left of him ran away.”

“What was left of him?” Jett said.

“Yes,” Cliff said. “Logan came crawling back here the day of the attack, bloody and beaten. We didn’t know then what he’d done: he told us a rogue lioness had jumped him. I organized a search party and we soon picked up the trail of the lioness and pursued. I assigned a couple of the remaining members of Blue Hurricane to help with Logan’s recovery, since our witch has limited healing powers.”

“But lions heal faster than normal humans…” Jett said.

“Yes,” Cliff said. “But not as fast as dragons. And Logan was beat up bad. And I mean real bad: his belly was sliced open. The skin on one leg was torn away. And his dick was bitten right off. He’d lost an incredible amount of blood.”

Jett glanced at Ariel.

“I don’t remember a thing,” Ariel said. Except for what I know from my nightmares.

“Well, either way he deserved what you did,” Jett said. “That and more.” He glanced at Cliff. “You were saying?”

“We continued tracking the rogue,” Cliff said. “When I realized she was heading toward your domain, I got in touch with Finn here of Starry Oak, hoping he would be able to head her off. I didn’t want to involve the dragons in this.”

“Guess you failed,” Jett said.

Cliff nodded. “The tactic was a mistake. Your lioness had reverted to human form by then, and we almost had her: we were coming up on her with all of our stealth, but then the lions of Starry Oak headed her off. That triggered her transformation. She fought them hard, mauling a good number of their pride, and escaped before we arrived.”

“She’s one mean girl,” Finn said. He lifted up his shirt to reveal a set of abs. They would have formed a perfect, chiseled eight pack, were it not for the three ugly pink slashes that ran through them.

“So when did you figure out that Logan was responsible for what happened to her?” Jett asked.

“We knew something was off from the beginning,” Cliff said. “She was acting strange. At first we thought she was a ronin—a lioness belonging to no pride. But her behaviors were erratic. She would leave kills in the forest half-eaten, as if she ate only out of sheer hunger and was otherwise disgusted by the meat. She seemed to transform randomly, as if unable to control her change.

“All these behaviors suggested someone who was newly bitten. She had that new lion fear smell all over her, too. When our scouts finally caught sight of her in the daytime, we realized she had brown and yellow patches on her back, with streaks of white along the flanks. There was only one other shifter like that in our midst. Someone visiting Blue Hurricane from Bounding pride out of Colorado. Logan Kane.”

“So you detained him?” Jett said.

Cliff shifted uncomfortably. “I sent texts back to camp, with instructions to question Logan on the matter. He denied biting her, of course, and said his Alpha father would be outraged I even made the accusation. I had my representatives tell him he would have to remain in our camp until we could capture the lioness for questioning. I didn’t consider him a flight risk, based on his condition, but I told the men in camp to set up a twenty-four-seven guard anyway. Apparently it wasn’t good enough.” He glared at two members of the pride circle before continuing. “The next day I received a text telling me Logan had eluded them and run away. Logan would have only been half healed by that point.”

Jett nodded. “He would be fully healed by now. Which suits my purposes just fine. I guess I’ll be heading to Colorado.”

“Logan is still in our territory,” Cliff said.

Jett cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“You went through Starry Oak territory getting here, no?” Cliff asked.

“I did,” Jett said.

“You noticed the state they left their cabins in?” Cliff said.

Jett frowned. “I did. And I haven’t missed the fact that their whole pride is camped out here with you. You’re telling me Logan spooked them all the way here?”

Cliff glanced at Finn. “Tell him what you know.”

“Two days ago, our scouts spotted a group of five Orions in our territory,” Finn said. “Logan Kane was with them. They had at least one witch among them. I recognized her by the gauntlets of their order.”

“So he’s sold out his own race to the Orions,” Jett said.

Cliff nodded. “He knows his father wouldn’t be able to protect him when we confirmed he’d broken our most sacrosanct law. By betraying us and joining the hunters, he prolongs his life on this Earth, if only for a little while.”

Jett glanced at Finn. “So you abandoned the Starry Oak camp when you saw these Orions?”

Finn nodded. “I made the call to leave, yes. I’d never be able to handle the witch. When you find witches among the Orions, usually they aren’t weak.”

“No, they’re not,” Jett said. “Why didn’t you come to the dragons for protection?”

Finn shrugged. “I don’t like owing dragons any favors.”

“It wouldn’t be a favor,” Jett said. “We’ve signed a treaty. It is our duty to protect the shifters on our borders.”

Finn shrugged. “I’d prefer to rely on my own kind. I knew if I joined up with the larger Blue Hurricane pride, we’d have more than enough to take them. We’ve been sending out scouts since arriving, but haven’t seen any further sign of them.”

Jett glanced at Cliff. “You’re okay with this?”

“We like the action,” the Alpha of Blue Hurricane said. “We need it, in fact… it lets us funnel our aggression toward other things besides each other. We can definitely take on these Orions. Besides, we hate to call in favors from you dragons, because you usually increase the tribute we owe you in later years after that.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jett said. “I’ll have to have a talk with my shifter affairs minister.”

“You do that,” Cliff said.

Jett inhaled deeply. Ariel worried that the Alpha was behaving too bossily and condescending with him. Jett was a king, after all. She wondered if the two men would come to blows.

But when Jett spoke again, his voice was the epitome of calm and patience: “Do you have any further intel on these Orions? Where they are headed?”

“As Finn mentioned, we haven’t seen any sign of them since Starry Oak arrived,” Cliff said. “But I know why you’re asking. It’s doubtful the hunters will attempt a penetrative attack on your domain. Especially with only five of them.”

“Assuming there aren’t more out there,” Jett said.

Cliff bowed his head, conceding the point. “By the way, the Orions are the reason we haven’t been receiving your texts. When we realized the hunters were prowling our woods, we shut down our sat-phones and disconnected the satellite Internet. We were worried the hunters were monitoring our communications. We’ve also hunkered down, going into lockdown. Those of us who work have called-in sick to our various jobs in the city and backcountry. We leave camp only to scout and hunt.”

Jett nodded. “Probably a good precaution. It’s highly unusual for a group of Orions to trespass in these woods. They know your territory is protected by the dragons.”

“Logan must have promised them easy spoils,” Cliff said. “He knows our numbers. The layouts of our camps. With a lightning quick raid, they could be in and out before you dragons could do anything.”

“So what are you planning?” Jett said. “You’re just going to wait here until they attack?”

“I have members of both prides out in the woods now, watching for these Orions,” Cliff said. “When the scouts find them, we’ll make a preemptive attack.”

“I could easily summon a hundred dragons to scour these woods,” Jett said. “There will be no tribute required on your part. The moment the Orions realize dragons are searching for them, they’ll flee.”

“Do you want to risk Logan getting away?” Cliff said.

“No,” Jett said. “You’re right. I’ll stay then, and help you ambush these Orions.”

Cliff shook his head adamantly. “We can’t have a dragon in our midst. A pride can only take so many Alphas. Already tensions are strained with Finn here. If we add you to the mix, we’ll be constantly fighting.”

Ariel could certainly see that happening; despite the calm demeanor Jett was presenting, she had the impression he was seething inside.

“But—“ Jett began.

“You would break our autonomy agreement?” Cliff said. “We have sworn to go to war for you. To pay tribute. To watch your borders. In return we, like all shifters in North America, are allowed to run our pride as we see fit. You would deny us this last freedom? Go against years of loyalty and goodwill?”

Jett’s features hardened for an instant, then he looked down. “No.”

“Leave the Orions and Logan to us,” Cliff said. “This is a pride matter. I’ll text you a photo of Logan’s body when this is over. Will that be acceptable? I promise if it turns out there are far more Orions than we can handle, I’ll get in touch and ask for your help.”

“It could be too late by then,” Jett said.

“I’m sorry, that’s all I can offer,” Cliff told him.

Jett hesitated. He glanced at Ariel with an unreadable expression. “What about her?”

“She’ll be safe,” Cliff said. “She won’t be a member of any attack parties.”

“Assuming she wants to stay,” Jett said.

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Cliff said. “We can’t let her out into the wild, not when she might transform at any time. We must teach her how to control her inner lioness.”

“But there are other prides nearby,” Jett said, looking her way. “Maybe she would prefer to join one of them instead?”

“What’s the difference?” Ariel said. “One group of smelly lions is the same as the next.”

Cliff arched an eyebrow. He seemed amused.

“But at least another pride might not have Orions hunting them,” Jett said.

“The Orions hunt us all,” Cliff said. “You know that. One pride is no better off than the next, not in that regard. If they’re not hunted today, then they will be tomorrow, or the day after. She’s probably safest here with us, since the proximity of you dragons does normally act as a deterrent.”

Jett gestured toward the boarded-up cabin. “You’re going to keep her caged in there all day?”

“No,” Cliff said. “As I told you earlier, she’ll be allowed free rein of the camp when she’s in human form, though she’ll have at least two of us with her at all times. Maybe more, given how aggressive we’ve seen her behave.”

“And when she transforms?” Jett said.

“She must stay in the cabin,” Cliff said. “At least at first. Eventually, when she grows more comfortable with us, we’ll begin allowing her lioness out into the camp as well, also under escort. We’ll allow her to range farther and farther in both human and lioness form, and eventually she can even join us on hunts. When she finally has her beast under control, we’ll give her the option to stay with us, or she can go ronin.”

Jett talked further with the other lions, but Ariel tuned out. All she could think about were the next few weeks. They weren’t going to fun. She would be alone here, training with these lions. But at least she would have something to distract her from Jett. That was one plus to the situation. Perhaps the only one. And when she had her beast under control in a few months, or maybe years—hopefully not years—maybe she could finally move back to the city. And who knew, by that time, maybe this place would feel like home.

But as she gazed at those men and women scowling at her, it was hard to imagine a future here. She glanced at Jett; he looking so tall, so royal among these lions. She truly wished he could stay. But it was probably for the best he was leaving.

At least that was what she tried to tell herself.