Ariel turned to look him in the face. Jett’s fiery eyes shone the same color as his hair—those bouncy curls that looked like they were made of melted-down gold. The eyes were almond-shaped, tender, sweet, and beguiling, glinting with intelligence. There was cunning there, too, and slyness, along with a hint of cruelty. These later traits she rarely saw in him, and were a product of his two hundreds years serving as king of the dragons.

His bold nose anchored his face perfectly, above the plump, sensuous curves of a mouth made for kissing. His strong aristocratic jaw and his silky tanned skin completed his look.

Yes, he was perfect in every way.

Takes my breath away every time.

Her eyes dropped to his thickly corded neck, which vanished beneath the collar of his black and gold dress shirt. The fabric bulged in all the right places, as if barely able to contain the broad shouldered, muscular chest within.

And don’t even get me started on that gorgeous body…

“Earth to Ariel, come in Ariel,” Jett said.

“What?” Ariel laughed. “Sorry. I was distracted by your hunky bod. By the way, I like how you keep talking more and more like a modern day guy.”

“Really, does it turn you on?”

“Everything about you turns me on,” she said, her voice becoming a little husky.

“You better cut that out,” Jett said. “Or you’ll make me take you right here.”

“You wouldn’t dare, not in front of everyone,” Ariel said.

“You’d be surprised,” Jett said.

“Get a room you two!” Tina said.

“Oh we will, don’t you worry,” Ariel told the lion shifter. She glanced at Jett, wanting to get that room, but decided she would have to satisfy her growling tummy first. “So what did you say?”

“I said ‘someone is hungry,’” Jett told her.

“Oh! But that growling was your stomach, not mine.” She knew it wasn’t true, but she couldn’t help but play with her dragon. When his stomach growled, it could be heard across the camp.

“Nope,” Jett said. “I’m still digesting the last buck I caught.”

“Hey!” Katelyn said. “Don’t talk about catching bucks in my presence. It’s like eating long lost relatives.” The elk shifter gave him a dirty look.

Jett shrugged. “You do know that we eat deer meat here in the camp almost every day, right?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to rub it in.” Katelyn was the only vegetarian in the group, and she ate bowlfuls of salad for breakfast, lunch and supper, most of it purchased in the city. She did go on foraging sessions in elk form, too, of course. The lions knew she wasn’t food, and didn’t dare attacker her—no natural elk was as humungous as she was. She definitely put some of the lion shifters to shame, size-wise. Besides, if anyone attacked, her mate would soon come running, and Philip was a grizzly bear straight out of nightmares.

Dinner was already laid out, and the picnic tables were packed.

“Cliff, I think you’re going to have to seriously consider picking up another two tables,” Jett told his second in charge.

The bearded Second shook his head. “We’re already using up enough of our precious camp real estate as it is.”

Teri, sitting beside him, frowned at Cliff. “I think we could fit in at least one more.”

“There you go,” Jett said. “Listen to your wife.”

Cliff sighed. “All right all right. I’ll head into town later with Connor and Duncan.”

Ariel squeezed in with Jett at one of the tables. She watched the hungry shifters eat. Blue Hurricane was certainly becoming a large pride. The lion shifters had cleared out two of the existing cabins for the newcomers, who housed in groups of five within each. The cramped living arrangements would be relieved soon: several new cabins were currently under construction at the edge of the camp.

The three members of Jett’s White Swords, Flame, Brazen and Viper, weren’t present. Though they were openly accepted as part of the pride now, they rarely dined with the others, instead eating afterwards. The three of them would be out in the forest, watching for signs of any intruders, protecting the others while they ate.

As usual, the shifters were mostly quiet during the first half of the meal, as satisfying their hunger was more important than socializing at that point. Then as bellies began to fill, the camaraderie began.

“We’re becoming like a regular menagerie here with all these different animals,” Razor said. He was a big, mean looking lion shifter, but he was actually a sweet man. Usually. But his wagging tongue could get carried away at times. “We’ve got bears, a wolf, a panther, a falcon, a gorilla, even an elk! Look at this trend you started, Dragon. Welcome to Blue Hurricane: the pride that has become a zoo.”

“I kind of like it,” Julia said. She was Connor’s wife. They had four children from the same litter. “Hopefully we can get you newbies mated soon, so the kids have some friends to play with.”

“They have enough friends,” Jayden said. The hot, muscular lion shifter downed a sizable portion of meat and wiped his chin. “There are seven children in the pride already. That’s more than enough. Any more and we’ll not only be a zoo, but a nursery!”

“Come on, you like kids,” Razor said.

“No, I don’t,” Jayden said.

“Could have fooled me,” Razor said. “You’re always talking about how you want to have a dozen little gorilla-lion hybrids with Sarah.”

Jayden’s face turned red, and he concentrated on his meat. “Never said that.”

Sarah was listening intently. Ariel had met most of the other witch shifters in the camp when they were still considered Potentials, before Mathis had them flown to the Steel Tower for training. Sarah, on the other hand, Ariel had befriended after arriving at the Steel Tower. The gorilla shifter was a fellow First Year, and had been in many of her classes.

When Sarah realized Ariel was looking at her, she quickly averted her gaze to her plate.

“Sarah and Jayden, sitting in a tree,” Razor said. “F U C K I N G.”

“Shut it!” Jayden said, smacking Razor behind the head.

“Hey, that was uncalled for,” Razor said.

“There are kids seated at the table beside ours,” Jayden said. “They know how to spell you know.”

Little Gemma ran over to Julia from the other table. “Mommy, what does fucking mean?”

“See!” Jayden said.

“I want you to forget you ever heard that word,” Julia told her daughter. She leaned down and whispered quietly to her, and then gave Razor a death stare.

“Sorry,” Razor dropped his eyes to his hands.

“Do any of you lions miss Belgrade?” Michelle asked, changing the subject. The falcon shifter’s long red hair was tied into a tight ponytail for the meal.

“Not particularly,” Duncan said. The huge biceps of the big lion shifter bulged underneath the sleeves of his T shirt as he cut himself a slice of meat. “It’s kind of a relief to be back: I’m just glad I can finally speak English when I’m out and about. It’s an amazing feeling to have strangers understand me again.”

“You never really did learn Serbian that well, did you?” Connor asked.

“No,” Duncan said. “Not like your Julia.”

Connor nodded, and smiled proudly at his wife. “She has a gift for languages.”

Teri smiled. “I remember whenever any of us wanted to leave the apartment complex for any reason, to buy meat from the market, clothes, and whatnot, we’d always be rushing to Julia’s room to beg her to come along.”

“You should have started charging for your translation services,” Connor said to Julia with a wink.

“Oh come on, I wasn’t that indispensable to you guys,” Julia said. “Jett spoke Serbian just fine. As did his White Swords. And you all had Google Translate on your phones.”

“True enough,” Teri said. “But you’re way less intimidating than a dragon, or some translation app for that matter.”

“I’m not intimidating,” Jett said.

“Ha!” Teri said. “You may not see it, but we do.”

Jett glanced at Ariel. “Am I intimidating?”

“Um, yes?” Ariel said. “You may not realize it, Jett, but you’re one of the most intimidating people I’ve ever known. Even to me, sometimes.”

Jett frowned. “I hate the thought of intimidating you.”

She smiled and wrapped an arm around him, kissing him on the cheek. “I like you that way. Makes me feel safe.” She glanced at the other lions around the table. “Most of you are intimidating as hell, too. Don’t get me wrong. Why do you think I like it here with you all? This is the safest place to be in the world, right here. With you guys.”

“Aw shucks,” Razor said. “Though honestly, I’m not sure whether to feel grateful or insulted.”

“I’d be grateful,” Jayden said, casting a quick glance at Jett, who was scowling at Razor.

“For me, the one plus about Belgrade was the garbage disposal,” Razor said. “All you had to do was waltz downstairs and throw your bags into the waiting bin. Here, we have to toss our sacks into our trucks and drive all the way to the city to throw shit out.”

“Wait a second,” Michelle said. “The only nice thing you can say about Belgrade, a city renown for its architecture and culture, is that you liked the garbage disposal?”

“Pretty much,” Razor said. “Though I admit, sometimes when throwing out your garbage, you’d meet a sexy Serbian girl along the way, dressed in a nice short skirt with long hair reaching down to her bum. Good luck finding that when you throw out your garbage here! We definitely could use some more fine-assed Serbian girls around.”

“Someone’s cultured,” Brian quipped.

“Yeah yeah, shut it baby werewolf,” Razor said.

“Wanna go?” Brian said. The twenty-year-old slid a hand over his head, combing back his spiky-hair. When he removed his palm the spikes instantly jumped back.

“Not now,” Razor said. “I’m busy eating. I promise to kick your ass later though.”

“You’re the one who’s going to get his ass kicked,” Brian said.

“We’ll see,” Razor said.

“What about you witches-in-training?” Connor said. “Do you miss Belgrade?”

“We never really got to see it,” Michelle said. “For myself, I walked around the cobbled streets for maybe two hours before Ked called and told me Jett needed rescuing.”

“What about the Steel Tower?” Connor pressed. “Do you miss it?”

“Can’t say I do,” Ked said. The bear shifter scratched his grizzled beard. “We’re learning at a much faster pace with Mathis here in charge of our training. And we don’t have to worry about a cruel taskmaster making us do hundreds of pushups and forcing us to run five miles each morning.”

“I was wondering why you were all getting so out of shape with us,” Razor joked.

“I do miss some of the friendships,” James said. The panther shifter was staring out into space. “Not to mention the eye candy. A bunch of shifter girls, dressed in form fitting white robes? Hell yeah I miss that.”

“Too bad it was against the rules to touch them,” Ked said. “But out here, we’re free.” He glanced pointedly at Michelle, but James ignored the gesture, pretending to be absorbed by what was left of his meal.

The table was quiet for several moments; the only sounds were the scraping of cutlery on plates and the smacking of lips as mouths chewed.

“Did we ever find out what happened to that vampire witch?” Julia asked.

“No,” Jett said. “She’s still out there, somewhere, so we need to keep our guard up. The scouts have been back to the battleground multiple times. Her undead minions are still decaying.”

“What about Midnight?” Cliff asked. “Has anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary?”

Jett downed a large chunk of meat. “I’ve been in touch with my brother by email. He tells me everything is quiet in the city.”

“What about Dan?” Gwendoline asked. “Did you have it review the security camera archives, checking for anything suspicious recorded while we were gone?”

Jett frowned. “No. Dan seems to be down.”

“Down?” Gwendoline said. “That seems unusual. I can’t remember Dan ever experiencing downtime before.”

“Yeah well, Midnight’s computer system was designed by humans,” Jett said. “We all know how reliable their technology can be at times. I’ve assigned Duncan to pour over the logs from the local cameras Blue Hurricane has set up around the camp. He’ll let us know if he finds anything, right Duncan?”

“That’s right,” the big lion shifter replied with his mouth full.

Ariel heard the muted buzz of a smartphone.

Jett put down his knife and fork and reached into his pocket to retrieve his sat-phone. He showed Ariel the message he had just received from Flame:

Call me.

Jett stood up and walked out of hearing range as he quick-dialed the White Sword in question.

After a short exchange he hung up and returned to the table.

“What did he want?” Ariel asked.

“Ephephany is here,” Jett said. “The dragon witch of Midnight.”