Ariel stowed her protective gear and sword in the armory of their cabin, and then she and Jett joined the others for dinner a short while later.

The smell of freshly cooked venison had her mouth watering, but did little to soothe the troubling thoughts tumbling through her head.

The pride members all cut big pieces for themselves. Jett carved a smaller than usual slice for himself, but it was still bigger than the portions of everyone else.

“Always cutting off more than you can chew!” Cliff said. The thickly-bearded former Alpha seemed in good spirits tonight. The big man had taken to his role as Second with gusto. Teri, his human wife, was smiling beside him.

“Trust me, I could eat this whole deer if I wanted to,” Jett said. He sounded cheerful, but Ariel could tell right away it was forced.

Cliff snorted. “Oh, so could I, don’t you worry!”

Ariel sat down beside Jett at one of the large picnic tables. She slathered her steak with barbecue sauce, and spooned a small amount of salad into her plate from the common bowl. Then she scooped up her knife and fork and set into her meal.

The lions were quiet, intent on eating their thick steaks. The conversation would start after everyone had a good portion of meat inside them. Ariel hoped to avoid most of the socializing tonight. She wasn’t in the mood.

After she swallowed her second bite, she found her eyes drifting to Jeremiah and the bracelets of bone he wore at his wrists. Those bracelets were so wide that they slid back and forth along his forearms with his movements. They were designed that way on purpose, and would stay attached even after he transformed into a lion, each bracelet thick enough to fit the larger limbs of his animal. That begged the obvious question…

“Can you use the Strength when in lion form?” Ariel asked him.

The din of cutlery and smacking lips quietened across the picnic table as all eyes shifted toward her.

“I mean, I’m just curious,” Ariel said.

“Not hungry tonight?” Razor quipped. “If you don’t want your share…”

She dragged her plate closer to herself. “I’m hungry.”

“Just thought I’d check.” Razor continued eating with a shrug. The other lions resumed as well.

As Jeremiah calmly cut himself another piece, he said: “Of course I can. What would be the point of a lion witch who couldn’t use his powers when he was a lion? It takes absolute mastery of my inner beast, however. Can’t allow any distractions to break my train of thought. It needs complete suppression of instincts, because trust me, creating a Weave is anything but instinctual. Why do you ask, anyway?”

“As I said, just curious,” Ariel told him.

She managed to finish the meal without drawing any more attention to herself, and excused herself shortly after the conversation began.

Jett joined her in the cabin.

“What was that all about?” he asked her.

“You know what it was about,” Ariel replied. She leaned back on the kitchen counter and crossed her arms.

He sighed.

“That’s right,” Ariel said. “I have a new beast I have to learn how to control.”

“You want to control it?” Jett said. “You really want to?”

“Of course I do,” Ariel said.

“Then I have a solution for you,” Jett said. “Never touch dragon bone again. It was a mistake for me to outfit you with those bone gauntlets. I thought they came from an ordinary dragon. Not a dragon with the ability to Siphon.”

“It sounds almost like you’re trying to hold me back,” Ariel said. “What are you afraid of? That I’ll become more powerful than you?”

Jett shook his head. “That’s not it at all.” He approached her and extended his arms as if to embrace her.

“Oh really?” Ariel said. She tightened her arms around her chest, and leaned away from him.

Jett got the hint and stepped back. He went to the kitchen table, pulled out a chair, and sat down with his legs straddling it on either side, his chest pressing into the back support. He folded his arms over the top and rested his chin on his thick forearms.

“I’ll never let them take you,” Jett said quietly.

“Let who take me?” Ariel asked.

“The Wayfarer witches,” Jett said. “If they find out about you, they’ll want to take you to their Steel Tower for training.”

“But maybe that’s a good thing,” Ariel said. “If I have magic, or Strength or whatever you call it, then I want to learn it. I’ve only ever wanted to be the best that I can be. It’s why I took Jujitsu in the first place. To empower myself.”

Jett sighed heavily. “I’ll have Jeremiah begin lessons. Teach you the affinities, and how to Siphon. Maybe some small Weaves.”

“Small Weaves?” Ariel said. “By his own admission, he was kicked out of the Steel Tower after a year. I’ll never unlock my full potential with him.”

“Yes,” Jett said. “But it’s a start. When you’ve learned everything you can with him, then we can talk about sending you to the Steel Tower.”

She nodded. “Fine.” It was a start, at least. And she wouldn’t have to worry about making a big life decision for a while. “What happened back there, by the way? Before supper?”

Jett lifted his chin from his arms. He squinted his golden eyes against the sunlight as he peered at her. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you attack me so… ferociously?”

“Oh.” Jett lowered his gaze. “I felt like I was being too soft on you. I imagined what would happen if a vampire jumped you, and you fought like you did back there. You’d die. The thought pissed me off to no end, because it would be my fault. Because I hadn’t trained you enough.”

“So that’s why you did that…” Ariel said. “You scared the living crap out of me. I had no idea what you were doing. I thought you couldn’t control your emotions because you’d lost the collar or something. Would you have really stabbed me with the sword?”

“Of course not,” Jett said. He seemed insulted that she would even suggest such a thing. “I wanted you to think I would, so you’d fight your hardest, but I planned to land with my knees on either side of you, planting the sword in the dirt. I was going to scold you, and then make love to you right there in the grass behind our cabin. Things didn’t quite turn out the way I thought they would, however.”

“No...” Ariel said.

“I shouldn’t have done that to you,” Jett said. “I realize that now. Your partially right… I lost control of my emotions. Maybe it really is because I’m not collared anymore. But I would have never harmed you, I swear it to you. I’m so sorry I forced you to Siphon like that.”

“Don’t be,” Ariel said. She went to him, and reached down to cup his beautiful face in her palm. “At least I know I have the ability, now. I’d rather know, than not know.”

Jett wrapped his fingers around her hand, pressing her palm harder against his cheek. She could feel the bone underneath, and the hardness reminded her of another bone he had…

“The knowledge is going to be a weight hanging over your head,” Jett said. “You’ll always know that someday, the witches will come for you.”

“That’s a weight I share with you,” Ariel said, her voice catching slightly. More than slightly.

Jett looked into her eyes hungrily. “Do you fear me after what I did to you today? Are you afraid I’ll lose control of my emotions again?”

She stared into his eyes, her gaze flicking to his lips, then up again. “I’m not afraid. Lose control. I dare you.”

“Good.” Jett’s eyes bored into hers. “Because if there’s anyone who can handle the raging passion of a dragon, it’s you.”

“Were you really going to take me in the grass behind the cabin?” Ariel said.

A sly looked filled Jett’s eyes. “I was going to lay you out on the grass and do what I pleased with you.”

“Ha!” Ariel said. “While I had a sword? Good luck with that.” She tried to project nonchalance into her voice, but instead it came out husky.

“Do what I please with you.” Mm-hmm. Please do.

He released her hand and stood up briskly. The chair fell away to the side, slamming into the floor. Ariel hardly noticed.

“You don’t have a sword now,” Jett said.

“You don’t, either,” Ariel told him.

Jett smiled thirstily. “Are you sure? Last chance to run.”

She remained motionless. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Jett closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his chest up against her cheek.

“You can’t run now,” Jett said, his voice rasping.

Ariel could feel his member pressing into her. It turned her on big time. She reached down, slipped her hand inside the hem of his jeans, into his underwear, and wrapped her fingers around his throbbing cock.

Jett’s entire body stiffened.

“And you can’t run, either,” she said. “I was wrong. You do have a sword.”

“I never claimed I didn’t.” He growled softly, and leaned down to mash his mouth against hers. His tongue darted past her lips and moved in and out in rough thrusts. Ariel began to purr.

She squeezed his manhood tighter, and then began to rub her hand up and down the throbbing shaft, raw.

Jett began to pant as he moved his mouth in time to hers in the extended kiss. One of his hands slid up her T shirt and along her back, the other down into her shorts.

“Not wearing underwear again I see,” he said.

She only gasped in response.

She felt him trace the fingers of one hand in delicate swirls along her back, while the other hand reached between her buttocks, stretching her already tight pants so that the front pressed against her clit. He thrust a finger into her throbbing center from behind.

Ariel whimpered, interrupting her purring. Jett always knew how to make her feel just right. In his touch, she could forget the world, and everything that troubled her. Nothing existed in that moment but Ariel and her dragon, her hand wrapped around his center, his inside hers.

Jett moaned. He ripped his lips away and withdrew his hand from her moist folds. “Let me go or I’ll be of no use to you.”

She gave him one last tug for good measure, drawing a final groan from him, then she withdrew her hand from his pants.

Jett scooped her up in his arms, folding her legs over his left forearm while his right arm cradled her upper body. She felt so safe in his arms. Like no one in the world could touch her while he held her.

He walked to the back door, kicked it open—nearly breaking it off its hinges—and leaped down the steps. He carried her across the grass, and when he reached an area clear of shrubs and pricklies, he tenderly set her down.

“We can’t make love here,” Ariel said. “The other cabins have windows in the back. Our neighbors will be watching.”

“They’re not perverts,” Jett said.

“Oh yeah?” Ariel said. “I beg to differ.”

Jett opened up his shirt and threw it away. Then he unzipped his jeans and slid them off.

“You have no shame,” Ariel said, but she lifted up her T shirt right after, letting her breasts wiggle free.

“When you become a shifter, you’re not ashamed of your human body anymore,” Jett said. He slid his underwear off.

“You certainly aren’t,” Ariel said. But all of her attention was focused on one particular part of him.

Jett knelt, blocking her view, and then vanished between her legs.

She sat up on her elbows to watch him slide her shorts down her legs. When it passed her ankles, he slid them free with a final twitch, and tossed them aside in a flourish.

“Ooo, you’re the dramatic one,” she said.

In answer, Jett dropped his head between her legs. She felt his tongue flick in and out, just as it had during their French kiss moments before. She began to squirm, and when his fingers joined in the action, massaging her outer lips, and her clit, her toes curled. She clenched her fists, bunching up the grass on either side of her.

“Oh Jett,” Ariel said. “My dragon.”

His tongue darted faster, but then withdrew, allowing his fingers to enter instead. Now while the fingers worked her insides, the tongue worked her throbbing bud.

She moaned, pressing her legs against him. She felt so free. So incredibly free. So alive. She had never lived before her dragon.

“I love you I love you I love you,” she said, and came.

Ariel relaxed completely and sighed contentedly. Jett withdrew from her center and planted kisses on her belly with those gorgeous lips. He slowly made his way upward.

Ariel smiled down at him and rested her hand in his luxurious locks.

Jett took a break from his kisses to say: “I’m not done with you yet, lioness.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ariel cooed.

When he reached her breasts, his mouth clasped onto one nipple; at the same time he scooted his knees forward, bending his upper body to position his legs on either side of her hips. He was getting ready to mount her.

“I want to ride you today,” Ariel said.

Jett looked up from her breast. He raised an eyebrow. “You think you can handle it? Riding a dragon?” The humor was obvious in his tone.

“Oh you’re so cocky.” Ariel giggled. “You know you like it when I’m in control.”

“Do I now? Well that’s debatable.” He winked at her.

“Hush and lie down!” Ariel said.

Jett chuckled softly. “You really are on a power trip today. Sheesh. She flukes out, draws on lion magic, and then becomes completely full of herself. What are we going to do with you?”

Jett slid off her, then paused.

“Almost forgot.” He dipped his fingers into the pocket of his abandoned jeans and produced a small packet. Ripping it open, he removed a folded condom and slid it on. Then he lay flat on his back beside her, his throbbing manhood pointed skyward.

Jett turned his head toward her. “Well come on then. What are you waiting for, lioness? Ride me.”