The Arena novel Chapter 55

The next day, Jena and Bastian emerge from her room. She has quite a mark on her neck. It looks similar to mine, whereas the one on his neck is a single puncture but bigger, as if she punctured him with her beak. I guess that’s what she did.

I expected to hear from Cedric the next day, but I didn’t. It wasn’t until Sunday that I got the call.

“Tana. Are you ready to be claimed?” he asks in his arrogant Lycan tone.

“I don’t think so, Cedric.”

“Oh, I do, beautiful. You are mine, and it’s about time you realized that. Turn on your phone’s video,” he orders. So arrogant.

At first, I refuse. “Tana. You’re going to want to see what I have here.”

“Nothing you have will draw me into a battle with you, Cedric. I have no interest in killing you.”

“Hmmm, so maybe I should empty this incredible cave of treasures.”

I snarl, flames licking at my mouth and nose. I can’t turn the video on fast enough. When I do, I see that Cedric is at my cave of treasures.

“There you are, gorgeous. You know, I’m pretty sure that you have a couple of favorites based on the ones that smell the most like you. For instance,” he lifts one of my most prized gems to the camera, “this one. It’s got your scent all over it, but damn if it wasn’t hard to get out of the wall. You sealed it in pretty good.”

“That is mine!” I grit out. He’s in my cave, and my dragon is furious that he’s touching my treasures. How dare he!

He tosses it in the air negligently before putting it down and grabbing another. “What about this one, Tana? This one looks like a gorgeous sapphire. Or what about this one?” He lifts it to the sun, the ruby sparkling in the afternoon light. “This one seems to be a favorite, Tana. You seem to like rubies. I’m becoming partial to them myself, I have to admit.”

He turns to look at me on the camera. “They are the color of your scales, after all. And the color of your hair.”

“Those. Are. MINE!”

“And you are mine, Tana. So, if you want them, come get them. I’ll be waiting for you,” he says and disconnects the phone.

I stand there, fuming at the dark phone.

“Umm, Tana. It’s getting really hot in here,” Palila says. I turn and look at her, she’s fanning herself, Kenna standing beside her.

“What are you going to do?” I whip around and see Ishir, Jena, and Bastian watching me.

“I’m going to kill him,” I roar, dropping the phone and running out the patio door, leaping off the balcony and shifting.

I fly high into the sky, knowing it’s still light out, and if anyone looks up, they will see me, but I can’t wait. He has my treasures. MY TREASURES!

As I get close, I roar my anger at him for thinking he can touch what is mine. I look down and see him on the ground, waiting for me. I tuck my wings and swoop down, opening my mouth, intending to snap him up. He ducks and rolls as I extend my wings and pull up. I see my favorite treasures on the ground near him. He doesn’t have my entire cave, but he has the ones that I would never part with.

I turn back around and land hard, shaking the ground and roaring at him again. I finally notice that he’s in his Lycan form, and he’s got a rope wrapped and hanging across his chest.

“Tana …”

I don’t let him speak before I’m blowing a stream of fire at him. He drops to the ground, my flame blazing over top of him.

“I know you love me, Tana,” he yells from my back. As I roar again, I feel something slap against the side of my face, wrapping around the other side. I breathe my fire, expecting it to burn, but it doesn’t. I scream my anger, and I feel him tie the rope in my mouth to the rope around my neck. He bridled me with a rope!

I duck, intending to throw him off me.

“No, you don’t,” he says, pulling my head back up using his self-made bridle. I try to overshoot and lift up higher, but he pulls my head back down, forcing me to fly straight.

“That’s my girl,” he coos at me, only flaming my fury. I blow more fire, knowing he will have to fly through it, but I feel him press himself against my back and neck. I begin to fly faster, intending to toss him off with my spin again, only this time, he has the leverage to hold on. He has somehow looped one of his ropes around a back ridge and it’s helping him to stay seated on my back, even with the force of my spinning.

As I try to open my wings to level out again, I realize what he’s done. He used my movement to wrap several ropes around my wings. I’m now tangled up in his ropes, and my wings are being held tightly to my sides. I can’t fly.

I begin struggling, fighting with everything I have to free my wings, but nothing is working, and I begin falling to the earth. I scream, knowing that my landing is going to hurt, possibly breaking my wings if I’m not careful. I feel Cedric grab the bridle, leaning his body to pull me straight before I crash to the ground I land on my feet, but the force of the crash pushes me to the ground.

In the moment it takes me to get my bearings, Cedric jumps off my back and ties one side of the ropes to the ground. I try to stand as he rushes around, tying the other side down and effectively pinning me to the ground.

I try to move, trying to free myself. I scream in anger before keening in frustration. He has me tied up, grounded, and I can’t move. He comes to stand in front of me. “Submit to me, Tana.”

I don’t want to. Submitting means giving up everything. Everything becomes his, my life, my will, and every decision becomes his. If he is good, I will be good. If he is evil, I will become evil. I hate that he or anyone would have that kind of power over me.

I cry piteously, wanting him to release me, begging him in my dragon form not to do this. His hands, gentle and loving, caress my snout. “Submit to me, Tana. You are mine, and I am yours. Submit.”

I take one more moment to enjoy my freedom, freedom from the enslavement that may come from submitting, before I give in. I blow my fire onto his chest, leaving my mark on him as I submit.