Pax ate well. Linara picked at a bit of over-cooked tilsi, but that wasn’t what she wanted or needed.

If she kissed Pax and her feeding drained him, would she stop before taking it all? Could she? She was much more powerful now than she had been the last time they’d touched. It had been days, and she was starving.

Awakening the demon inside her was hungry business.

They did not bother to go into the cave tonight. The weather was neither cold nor hot. The full moon shone bright, and so did her dragonstone fire.

Pax removed his kilt and the ragged shirt. Linara admired him for a moment. She had never known a man like this one, so rough and yet pleasing to the eye, so strong and powerful. Those dark, slightly slanted eyes had the power to look right through her. His hair, so full and dark and long, made him appear to be as much beast as man. It would be a shame to remove him from the world.

“I will stop, if you ask,” she said as she removed her shift. She wore nothing over or under that simple garment.

They met in the center of the clearing, away from the fire. She could douse that fire, or reduce the flame, but she did not. She wanted to see him by moonlight and firelight. She wanted to savor him and all that they had together, while she could. It would not last much longer.

She did not kiss his mouth; not yet. Instead, she placed her lips on his chest. He was hard and warm. She could feel his heartbeat, which was strong and steady and a bit slower than she’d thought it might be. Even this gentle contact fed her, in some way she could not describe.

In his arms, she was not alone. With his body pressed against hers she was stronger. She was not Linara or Ksana; she was both. She was who she’d been born to be. Powerful. Hungry. Connected to this world to its core. To her core.

She lifted her face to his, wondering if she dared yet to kiss him. He did not lower his mouth to hers, so she, too, waited. They dropped gently to the ground; Pax shifted onto his back and pulled her atop him. Chest to chest, she straddled him. He was hard, and so close. She was wet, and she throbbed for him. They were together, but soon they would be more. They would be one.

Was she poison to him now that she had found her strength? She would soon find out.

Linara lowered her head slowly and kissed the man beneath her. Softly at first, tentatively. She would withdraw if her touch harmed him, she swore it. As much as it would hurt, she would move away from him before he was inside her.

As it had before, his kiss fed her. She was instantly stronger; her hunger faded. She forced herself to take her lips away, to look into his dark eyes. He did not seem to be affected in a negative way, but how could she be sure?

“Don’t stop,” he whispered, his voice as steady and strong as ever. “You are afraid you’ll kill me with your body. I am afraid I will die if you take it away.”

And then he was inside her, and everything went away but the way he made her feel. She did not think about feeding; she did not think about war or powers or demons or soldiers or dragons. She only thought about Pax. She needed him. She didn’t need anything else.

She lifted up and then dropped to take him all, to sway in time with his slow heartbeat, to rise up and slide down and savor every sensation. This was beauty. This was power.

They moved faster, in time, in a frantic dance. She climaxed with a scream that reverberated all around her, in the stone and the trees, in the pond below, into the sky. Pax was with her, and she opened her eyes to watch him, to see his face as he gave in to this pleasure.

His eyes were closed, but he opened them to look into her face.

Those eyes glowed red and yellow, orange and black. They looked into and through her, they held her captive.

She knew those eyes.

Pax was the dragon.

* * *

Linara scrambled away from him. She had seen the truth, in his most vulnerable moment, and now she was afraid. She, who should know no fear.

“You…you…”

“I am the one you seek, yes,” Pax said as he stood.

“How?” she whispered.

He wondered if she would come to her senses and try to kill him now, while he was in his more vulnerable human form. She did not look at all dangerous at the moment, sitting naked on the stone, her silver hair draped around her as she stared at him.

“I will explain later, if you will listen,” he said. “Danger is coming. Your scream as I pleasured you has drawn it to us.”

She calmed herself and glanced into the woods. “Animals,” she whispered.

“Caradon,” he clarified, and then he looked at the full moon. “They usually travel alone, but I sense…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “A pack.” He frowned.

She knew what he was, so he did not step away to shift. There was pain, there always was, as his body grew and changed, as he left the man behind and became his true self. The moon grew brighter to his sensitive eyes, and so did she. So many colors, so much pain and confusion. So much love. He scratched at the stone with one talon and whipped his tail behind him, taking out a tree at the edge of the wood. He lifted his head to the night sky, took a long, deep, hot breath.

Then he shifted his head to look at her again. He towered over Linara and watched as she scooted away from him. She seemed so small now, so insignificant. He leaned down and sniffed, smelling her, watching the essence of her. She tried so hard to be powerful and dark, but while there was more darkness within her than there had been when he’d first seen her, she was not yet evil.

Pax saw her passion for him within her. Her fear of him, her admiration. A single breath, and she would be charred beyond recognition. He could fly away and the pack of Caradon would feed on what was left of her.

It would be the simplest way to end this.

Pax spread his wings and flew up. Linara grew smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew. She still sat there, naked and vulnerable, cowering against the stone wall. Were those tears on her face? Were they tears of sorrow or fear?

She was so intent upon him that she did not sense the Caradon — eight of them — until they were in the clearing and springing toward her, claws extended. He did not have to kill her. The shapeshifting beasts would gladly do the job for him.

Pax did what dragons do. He spat fire into the clearing to destroy his enemies.

* * *

Linara watched the flame swirling from above, as the fierce cat-like creatures ran toward her. They screamed, the fire roared, her heart pounded so hard that she could hear it above all the rest.

This was how it would end. She would not destroy the dragon, he would destroy her. Maybe Stasio would leave her family alone, after she was gone. Maybe there was a place in the Land of the Dead for her. She closed her eyes and waited to be consumed by the fire.

The Caradon screamed, piercing, unnatural screams that made her brain hurt. She felt heat, but no pain.

Linara opened her eyes. Fire blazed all around, but it did not touch her. The attacking animals burned. They screamed and writhed and six of them, the closest six, died. Two of the beasts were in the back of what had been a powerful and dangerous pack, away from the semi-circle of fire that now protected her. They both screamed, then growled, and then turned and ran.

The dragon gave chase, leaving Linara alone.

Suddenly all was quiet, but for her heart. For a moment she sat there, trying to grip the stone beneath her, trying to melt into the stone wall behind. Pax had not killed her; he had saved her. Those animals could have ripped her apart in her stunned and unprepared state. She might have survived, if they had left her head attached to her body and some of her heart had escaped destruction, but she could’ve been badly wounded. It might have taken years to recover.

If they had eaten her…

Her newfound powers had done her no good at all when danger had come. She’d not been prepared. Could one ever be prepared for such an attack? Love one moment; violence the next. If not for Pax, she would not have survived.

Long after the Caradon and the dragon — Pax — had gone, the fire continued to burn. It was dragonfire, after all, and was somehow much like the stone in and around the cave. Eventually, it waned, and she could see beyond the protective flames.

The Caradon were not just dead; there was nothing left of them but dust and a bit of bone. The charred bone continued to smoke a little. She stood, her knees shaky. That could have been her.

That should have been her.

Anger rose up inside her. When danger had come she’d frozen, she’d panicked. She had been a worthless human, not a powerful daughter of the Isen Demon.

Linara leaped over a low spot in the ring of fire and grabbed her shift. She pulled it on as she made her way to the cave to collect what she had.

Inside the cave, she did not have to worry about Stasio peeking into her mind, thanks to the enchanted stone that surrounded her. She had more control over her thoughts than she’d ever had, but once she left this place, she would be vulnerable. Stasio might peek into her mind if she let her guard down.

She could not let him.

Linara pulled her dress on over her shift, and stepped into her boots. When she’d started her journey the gown had been sturdy, even pretty, as had the boots. Both were worn now, but they would suffice for a while longer. She didn’t suppose what she wore mattered at all. She checked her sack, made sure there was water in the skin she carried. She wasn’t well-armed, but she had her knives, and she needed nothing else. With her newly found powers, she didn’t even need the knives, not really.

And yet…the sword, Pax’s sword, caught her eye. Barely thinking, she grabbed it, testing the weight, swinging the heavy weapon to see if she could. The grip was too large for her hand, but she could manage.

She left the cave, sword in hand, and stepped quickly to the fire she’d built earlier. The flames had died when the much greater fire from the dragon had burst into the clearing. She reached down and scooped up a handful of rocks, and then another. Pieces of hot dragonstone filled her pockets. The stone increased her power. She didn’t know why, but the why didn’t matter.

The moon lit her way as she began to travel down the mountain. She was strong tonight, thanks to Pax. She was alive, thanks to Pax. She would not kill him, no matter what the consequences might be.

How could she save her family without fulfilling her mission?

There was only one way.

Stasio had to die.