Ventus found a reclusive lake by the woods. Uninterested in bathing or babysitting us, the guardians took off to hunt.

I surveyed the surroundings. If I escaped into the woods, Lucas would find me. The shifter’s nose had to be as good as my wolves’. That was why Ares had brought him along. I wondered what his animal was. Judging from his size, he could be a white lion or a bear.

If I escaped to the plains, the guardians would spot me. They weren’t in league with me yet. If Ares caught me running away, he would chain me for the rest of the trip.

“Why are we stopping here, Ares?” the horned Dragonian asked.

“Freyja needs a bath,” Ares said with irritation.

“The wolf girl?” the horned one asked. “And you let her have her way? We need to be on our way. We’ve wasted enough time just tracking her.” 

Ares snarled. “I’ll decide what we need or don’t need.”

The others gathered around in the clearing, sitting on the rocks. Some of them took off their boots with satisfied groans.

That was exactly what I’d planned for them to do—to get in the water with me. Over four months on the road, rushing from one place to another to look for me, they had to be desperate for the feel of a warm woman. When they saw me naked, their needs would be raging. And when they came for me, they’d get what they deserved.

I would soon be reunited with my pack.

I removed my gloves, kicked off my boots, and dropped my cloak. I breathed in the fresh, damp air. The lake smelled different from the hot spring in my forest, but its earthy scent blending with the sweet honeysuckle was equally pleasant.

What would come next might not be as pleasant, but I had to gain back my freedom.

Within seconds, I was clad in only my undergarments. My skin prickled with exhilaration as it met the clean air.

Ares cleared his throat to remind me of my modesty. If he was so concerned about my decency, why wasn’t he turning around as well?

His men stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

I slowly pulled the last of my garments over my head and lazily stretched my limbs. My bountiful breasts and perky, red nipples were generous for every eye to see and appreciate.

As I twisted my torso for another long stretch and bent down, I saw the men’s jaws drop in shock. Yet none of them moved their heated gaze from me.

I straightened and turned away from them, my fingers on the top lines of my panties, ready to pull it off my long, toned legs.

“Freyja!” Ares shouted.

I wheeled toward him. “What?” I asked innocently.

“Turn around!” he roared at his men. “Don’t fucking look at her if you want your fucking eyes stay in their sockets!”

Of course, they wanted their eyes staying in their sockets. The men obeyed, though slowly.

Wonderful! Ares—the prude—had just sabotaged my perfect plan.

But he wasn’t that prudent since he himself hadn’t turned around. His gaze, heated, dark, and furious, locked with mine. I tilted my head in challenge. What’s the harm in having a look? You’re looking.

His gaze dipped lower to my breasts, then lower—I’d pulled my panties half an inch down. When he tore his eyes from my body and stayed on my face by sheer will, a sudden fire of possessiveness leapt in them, turning his irises deeply molten gold.

“Stop what you’re doing,” he said, his voice hoarse as if he hadn’t spoken for a while.

“Why?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t you cover yourself?” He seemed incredulous at my innocent question.

“But I’m going to have a bath,” I said. “Who bathes with their clothes on?”

“There are men around!” he said. “You can’t go traipsing around naked in the wilderness.” 

“Why do you think I even consider any of them, or you,” I asked, “a man? Haven’t you seen a naked woman before? I’m sure your men need to wash themselves, too. Their smell, yours included, nearly choked me half to death from a mile away.”

Actually he smelled really good.

I heard someone chuckle. Ares growled nastily and the chuckles died off immediately.

“It’s a big lake,” I said with a small shrug. “There’s plenty of room for all of us.”

“Like hell I’ll let them share the lake with you naked,” he said. “There’re social rules.”

“But you just said we’re in the wilderness,” I said, putting confusion into my voice. “Who’s going to govern the rules?”

“I am,” he said. Then he yelled at the men. “Go patrol the perimeter and don’t look this way.”

The men picked up their weapons and slowly scattered.

“Are you sending them away so you can get into the lake with me alone?” I asked.

“No, I’m not getting in the lake with you,” he said. “But I’ll watch you. If you think you’re clever enough to pull this stunt and slip away, think twice. So far, I’ve been courteous. But if you keep causing trouble, you’ll force my hand. Then I’ll have to get rough with you and tie you up and drag you behind me. I don’t care that Ventus has taken a liking to you. Just remember, his fealty is always to me.”

I pulled my panties off and tossed it on top of the pile of my clothes. Dark fire leapt in his eyes and his gaze drifted down toward the valley between my thighs. He wanted me. He wanted me badly. He looked like he was ready to stalk toward me.

Did I really want him to die? My body tensed at the thought.

Ares inhaled sharply, his knuckles turning white on his sides, but he didn’t move toward me.

“Earth,” I said, walking toward the lake. “All this drama over a bath.”

“By undressing yourself like that in front of my men,” he spat, “you put yourself in danger and them in a tough spot. If any of them loses control and touches you, I would have to punish them severely.”

“What about you?” I asked over my shoulder, my bare feet hitting the cool water.

“I have enough self-control,” he snarled.

“Right, I’ve learned it the hard way,” I said, intentionally dipping my gaze down at the bulge at his groin covered by his sculpted armor.

His eyes glittered with amber fire. “You’re now my responsibility, Freyja,” he said. “I have to guarantee that you’re well treated and unharmed until the day you’re allowed to go your way.”

“I’m so touched,” I said.

Obviously, he didn’t like my tone since he was probably expecting my gratitude. His next words were full of acid. “You have no problem getting completely naked but flustered at my hard-on,” he asked. “Why is that?”

“You go figure it out.” I brushed him off, knowing that would irk him more.

When I sent him one last glance filled with disdain, I caught such ravenous hunger in his eyes that the heat pooled within my belly again.

I treaded deeper into the water. The coolness caressed my skin, and I gave a blissful sigh. The cobblestones under my feet were round and smooth. When the water reached my neckline, the Dragonian leader shouted his instructions. “Don’t go any further. Clean yourself quickly. We don’t have the whole day.”

Well, he didn’t know me then. Once I was in the water, nothing and no one could get me out of it without me agreeing to it.

He stood at the edge of the bank, ready to lunge into the water and grab me at a second’s notice.

“Could you fetch me soap?” I asked.

“We didn’t bring soap,” he said. “We aren’t pusses.”

“Then I’m going for a swim.”

“No, you’re not,” he said. “I promised a bath, not a swim. This isn’t a getaway. You’ll get a vacation once you find my witch.”

Watch me. I stretched my arms and propelled my legs backwards as I shot toward the center of the lake. In order to irritate him more, my feet hit the water with force, and the water splashed in white waves behind me. I heard a string of Dragonian cusses.

As if I gave a fuck.

I giggled and my strokes became more languid against the water.

Nature and I were one.

I was wild and free.

Something dropped overhead. Before I could dodge, a loop came down and wrapped around my waist. With a curse, I tried to pull it up then down, but the leather loop tightened on my body. If I kept struggling, it would only hurt.

Damn the Dragonian’s device! He had no soap, yet he had this.

I darted a furious look toward the end of the rope, and Ares pulled me toward the shore.

“What are you doing, you savage?” I shouted.

“Did I not tell you not to swim away?” he yelled back. “Stay near the bank and finish your bath.”

I squatted down, but he pulled me up with the rope. I picked up a rock and hurled it at him. He ducked and the rock flew past his head.

“Wild, completely untamed, with no concept of rules and discipline!” he hissed.

Discipline, my ass!

I didn’t need him to drag me. I stalked toward him in rage. He could dodge rocks, but he wouldn’t be able to avoid what I had in mind.

I pushed waves of water, and a huge splash slammed into his face. He shook the water off his hair and promised, “You’ll pay for that!” He didn’t loosen the rope. He would never let me go before I took him to the First Witch.

An alarmed roar rose through the air and our surroundings.

The next second, an army of mixed species materialized and charged toward us from the slope. There were approximately fifty of them: a few blue-skinned Dragonians, Aryanian, and mostly average humans.

After the war, humans increased greatly in numbers. They were the most power-hungry, violent species. They’d slaughtered and conquered nearly all of the smaller species on half of the continent. But they allied with the Dragonians, for now, knowing the engineering race was still too powerful for them to defeat. The Dragonians lusted after the humans’ vast genetic pool and didn’t interfere with humans wiping out weaker species.

The raiders on the horses led the charge and I could see they carried a variety of weapons. I recognized the most potent ones as ray guns, an energy weapon Angels had brought to our world. The High Prince’s Fallen Angels had confiscated most of them from the earthling armies.

My pulsed spiked and my mouth dried at the sight, but when I realized that the horde hadn’t come for me, my heartbeat slowed a fraction.

Ares was at my side in a flash, untying the rope around my waist. “Get dressed, quickly!” he ordered, his eyes burning with fury. “Hide amid the bushes. I’ll make sure they won’t come near you.” He pulled one of my daggers out of his boot and handed it to me

I grabbed the handle of the dagger without thanking him and dashed toward the pile of my clothes just as a laser beam fell on the honeysuckle bushes beside me, obliterating it. My eyes widened, but I made no sound.

Ares raised his beam weapon and aimed toward the slope. A ray of red light shot out from it. A rider tumbled from his horse, a smoking hole in his chest.

Ares whistled urgently and fiercely, calling for the guardians to return.

The rest of Ares’ men charged toward the raiders, roaring their battle cries, but the raiders had spread out too fast.

We were surrounded.