The Arena novel Chapter 73

When Tana and Kenna get back, they have Ishir with them. At first, when I see someone riding on the back of one of them, I feel a wave of jealousy rush over me. MY dragon!

‘He’s on Kenna’s back, not mine,’ I hear Tana’s voice flit through the mind link. ‘You are my rider, and only you can give permission for anyone else to ride on my back.’

When they land, she shifts and walks right over to me.

“I don’t know why I felt that flash of jealousy. I know you’re my mate, I …”

“It’s because you’re my rider. Dragons are possessive of what is theirs, and so are Lycans. Put the two together and …”

I pull her to me, kissing her fiercely for understanding me. When I pull away, I turn her toward the changing rooms that are now complete. “Go get dressed before you see exactly what a possessive dragon-riding Lycan looks like.”

I nudge her toward the changing rooms, smacking her ass as she walks away.

She turns, looking over her shoulder at me, giving me a sexy look that only a dragon can, her eyes ablaze, fire licking at her lips.

I force myself to focus. If they have brought Ishir, there’s a reason.

“Papa! We found it! Or Ishir found it,” my naked daughter says, running over to me. While my pack knows better than to touch my daughter, it doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate her beauty when it’s on display for them. Even by shifter standards, dragons are unnaturally beautiful.

“Changing rooms. Now!” I point in the direction she needs to go.

“But Papa …”

“NOW, Kenna.”

She snarls, turning around to head to the changing rooms, but before she walks inside, she tosses a fire ball at a group of trees nearby. Since she purposefully chose trees that are NOT the ones that I told her she could burn, I’m guessing this is the defiance that Tana warned me about.

I sigh before turning to Ishir. “You found it?”

“I did. It’s bad,” he says, watching the trees burning where Kenna threw her flame. Several of my pack members rush out with hoses to extinguish the fire.

“Was that expected? I don’t remember Kenna intentionally setting fire to things,” he says, frowning.

“Tana warned me that this would be a possibility. Apparently, after reaching maturity, dragons go through their defiant stage. Come on, we’ll go to my office.”

I mind-link Bastian and Galen, asking them to join us in the office. They arrive at the same time that Ishir and I do. We’re just getting settled when I hear Tana and Kenna walking down the hallway, Tana scolding Kenna for setting the trees on fire.

Once we’re all in the office, I walk to the map I’ve been using to track the arenas, drawing everyone’s attention to the wall.

“These are the arenas we found and destroyed so far.” I turn to Ishir. “Can you show us on this map where you found this one?”

Ishir stands, coming to look at the map. He takes his finger, guiding it from one arena to where he pointed us to the laboratory. “This is the abandoned lab I told you about. You said it was deserted,” he says, looking at me.

“Yes.” I go to my desk, getting a blue push pin, putting it in the spot where he pointed.