The moment the door shut on Shaw and Kylan, Ari stalked closer to me. I backed up a step, he drew closer a step and once again I retreated, a playful smile spreading across my face.

Ari tsked and smirked, his dark eyes sparkling. The image made heat pool in my core. I slinked even further away from him, down the hall that housed our bedrooms. Ari made long easy strides, catching up to me in no time at all, a predator enjoying the chase. Men liked to chase, but for Ari it was different: it was a need driven by the lion waiting underneath his skin.

Instead of ducking into one of the rooms, I allowed Ari to back me up against the wall. My heart beat gloriously fast as he wrapped his hand around my wrist and pinned it to the wall. The feel of his skin on mine set my skin and core on fire.

The heat pooling just below my belly only increased as he leaned down, lips a hairbreadth away from my ear and whispered with his deep rumbling voice: "Caught you, cub."

At his words I let out a long breath that bordered on a moan. Ari chuckled and leaned in close so that his body caressed mine just barley, like a feather teetering on the surface tension of a pond. When Ari took my earlobe in between his teeth, my breath escaped my lips in a gasp and it felt like someone had lit a raging fire in my belly. It was too much.

I pushed Ari off of me with so much force that he keeled back into the wall next to us. As much as I hated to admit it, the she-bear lived beneath my skin just like the lion lived under Ari's and she too enjoyed the animalistic way I stalked towards Ari--just as he had done to me minutes before. The she-bear growled with pleasure as Ari's eyes, pupils dilated in the darkness and with desire, tracked me getting closer to him.

I wasn't exactly a tall or a short girl, more so average, but that hardly mattered because around Ari's height everyone seemed miniature. I came up to his chest, my forehead rested below Ari's pectoral muscles. There was space only for air in between me and Ari now, his large brown hands shot out to pick me up. His hands gripped my thighs in tantalizing touches as he picked me up like I was weightless. The meeting of our lips was just as animalistic as what slumbered beneath our skin; it was hot and vicious, a battle of tongues and clashes of teeth.

Ari lost his patience with being pressed against the wall, his alpha-like instincts no doubt roaring in his head, and Ari turned us around. My back hit the wall in what might have been a painful way, but the adrenaline and endorphins running through my system made it a minor annoyance. Ari won, as he always did, the battle of our tongues. He growled in satisfaction and broke off to trail kisses and nips down my neck. I didn't stop the moan that escaped my lips.

Ari peeled me away from the wall and carried me as he entered the bedroom. He tossed me on the bed and climbed on top of me, hands trailing over my skin in feather light caresses that made my skin tingle and made me want to beg him for more.

Ari's fingers found their way to my upper thigh, not going as high as I wanted, teasing me. One hand continued it's upwards track to the hem of my T-shirt while the other drew lazy circles on my inner thigh, impossibly close but miles away from where I wanted those fingers to be.

Ari drew his fingers away from my thigh and I bemoaned their absence, but Ari quickly made me forget by ripping off my shirt, muscles rippling as he did so. He peeled the sports bra off of my body, allowing my breasts to spring free. Most dancers were small in every way, their breasts no bigger than lemons. Mine were decidedly not. They were horribly annoying and mostly just got in the way of my dancing, but no matter how much I worked out or how small I got, they always stayed as big as melons. Usually I disliked them, but only Ari made me feel like they were beautiful. He stared at my naked upper half, pupils dilated with lust. He bowed his head and kissed them both. Another gasp parted my lips and Ari smirked against my skin, pleased in that way only men could be.

Ari sucked gently at one of my nipples, the other occupied by his hand, and elicited more sounds to escape me. He withdrew his mouth and blew gently on the spot that had only a second ago been in his mouth. I shivered at the sensation as Ari's deep rumbling voice permeated through the dark room. "So eager tonight, cub."

I snorted in a decidedly unladylike manner as Ari began sucking at my skin again, this time he was going further and further down my body. "Oh really, I felt just how eager you were earlier in the living room."

Ari said nothing, merely sucked hard at my skin, his teeth closing around it occasionally. All the places his lips touched my skin would leave a mark I was sure, especially since I could feel how sharp his teeth were--inhumanly sharp.

I didn't mind; I welcomed the pain. It made the pleasure that much more intense, the incongruity of sharp pain made pleasure seem all the more delectable. Besides, I deserved a bit of hurt for all the pain I caused others, so I arched into the sharp points of Ari's teeth. The movement released something in Ari and his eyes were shaded amber instead of his normal dark hazel, indicating that the lion was only a moment from appearing. That in turn released some of the control I had on the bear inside of me. I was sure my eyes were brown instead of their human green. I tried to shove her down, hopefully it would work.

Ari did no such thing with his lion, but then again Ari loved his lion. He seemed to think the lion was just as much the victim as Ari himself and that Ari's own imprisonment was not the fault of the lion. I tended to disagree. If it wasn't for the bear inside me, if it wasn't for her, my parents would be alive. I would be free.

You wouldn't have Ari, said a voice in my head, it wasn't my voice, I could never think something so glass-half-full about my bear. The voice was Shaw's. You wouldn't have me.

Ari's kisses made their way down past my hips, expertly relieved me of my leggings. All thoughts of sleeping bears and Shaw were gone. The lion remained because I could see him subtly before me in the points of Ari's teeth, the elongated, sharper nails, the pure amber eyes. I didn't care, it was actually hot to see such a deadly thing between my legs and to know that I had complete control over it.

I pushed myself up slightly, enough that I could reach Ari's shoulders. I dug my nails into his shoulder as his lips stopped their decent and focused on one sensitive area between my legs. I wasn't particularly gentle, but Ari hardly minded. He didn't mind it either when I ripped his shirt from my shoulders.

Ari's bronze sun-kissed skin greeted my eyes and I took in his half-naked body; he was gorgeous: muscular body, the skin of his chest slightly paler than his arms and neck, the amber lion's eyes set in Ari's human face seemed more appropriate and fitting for him than the human brown, as if some part of his human form was made for the lion.

"A picture will last longer." Noted Ari, voice husky.

I ran my hands over the swell of his muscles, enjoying who his male body was hard. "It just might, but that would require me getting my phone and getting my phone involves me leaving."

Ari smirked. "We can't have that."

I grinned, I'd leave soon, but not quite yet. But Ari didn't need to know that. I responded by bringing my lips to the place just above Ari's collarbone. I decided to leave my own mark there, however to do so, my cheek had to meet the stinging cold of the Lion Collar. I hated that thing around his neck just as he hated the one around mine. Even in this we could not escape.

It was Ari's turn to let out a moan, the noise deep and sexy, causing more heat into my core. I continued to kiss the spot next to his Collar as my hands slowly unbuckled Ari's belt. He languished under my touch and I relished being able to bring Death--the notorious lion--to his knees with only my hands and lips.

His pants joined mine and our shirts on the floor. We took turns peeling off each other's remaining layers until the only thing left to remove were the Collars, silver for me and gold for Ari.

And, well, those were never coming off.

Ari was over top of me, hands braced beside my head. Normally he laced his fingers through mine own but not tonight. His fingernails were gone, replaced by claws that tore into the bed. I didn't care and wasn't afraid of him. There was nothing that could disgust me or scare me about him. The same was true for him of me.

Other people might have shrunk away at the claws, the eyes, but I didn't.

Ari's manhood pressed against my stomach as I leaned forward to press my lips to the juncture of his throat and neck. Ari released rare breathy moan as I scraped my teeth over his skin before I closed my teeth around the spot, wanting to leave a mark there, my more animalistic side coming dangerously close to the surface.

I licked over the hurt I had made. Ari growled; I felt the vibrating sound reverberate through my body. I ached for more, more, more. The need for him growing so much it made me feel dizzy.

The aching need, built up even more as Ari rolled a condom onto his member, ready to give us both the pleasure our bodies craved. A strong part of me wanted to let him give it to me, but tonight was not about pleasure.

With sudden force, I pushed Ari back, changing our position so that I was straddling his chest. "Anything you want to tell me?" I asked him in a sweet singsong voice. "Anything to confess?"

Ari looked up at me with questioning amber eyes. "Asking me to tell you my sins?"

I leaned back slightly, running my hand down the plain of Ari's hard stomach, feeling the ridges of his abs, and settling the hand a mere inch away from his manhood. Ari sucked in this breath, his member twitching in anticipation.

I smirked as I said: "Something like that."

"I thought we agreed not to--" His voice wavered and cut off briefly as my hand caressed him. Ari gritted his teeth but continued: "We agreed not to share sins."

I rolled my eyes, but stroked him more. "Not what I meant, Ari, matek."

His face was caught between pleasure and confusion, halfway across the bridge of not caring what I was saying from the pleasure I was giving him. I smirked as I shimmied down his body so that my lips were one small movement away from his manhood. Ari had stopped breathing completely. My tongue snaked out and gently licked up his member, painstakingly slowly.

Ari's breath had returned and was racing, his soft moans echoed through the empty apartment. I withdrew my tongue and looked Death straight in the face as I said: "You ate my ponchik."

Ari's eyes went wide, turning from amber to their usual hazel-brown, and I saw that he knew he fucked up. "Lya..." I began to draw away from him and Ari's voice took on a delicious pleading note. "Lya, please."

I pulled away completely from Ari, off of him and the bed in the span of a few seconds. Ari's face looked pleading and open, so different than the mask he usually wore. Only around Shaw and me was Ari so open, vulnerable. But that look wouldn't work. Not when he'd eaten my sweets. No one messed with my food. And snows help the stupid bastard who messed with my sweets.

In this case, Ari was the stupid bastard and I would show no mercy, no matter how sexy he looked all naked and hard and wanting me.

I slowly walked out of his room, letting him take in everything he wouldn't get because of his bad behavior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke up, all I knew was a name: Ari. It wasn't that his whimpers were loud--in fact, a normal person, a normal changer even, wouldn't have noticed either--just that I was in tune to Ari, my bear always aware, always searching for him. My ears twitched as Ari's breath hitched and near sobs escaped his lips.

Before I was rightfully awake or even thought to move, I was in his room. Ari's massive back faced me, his front pointing towards the window--starlight sparkling off the snow and casting it's silver light into Ari's room, making his dark bronze skin take on a paler tone.

His breath caught again and Ari, who was always strong, whimpered, curling in on himself until he was a small ball. I sucked in a breath and climbed into bed with him. Usually when we slept together, Ari held me, his massive body sheltering my smaller one. But tonight, I held him, wrapping my arms around his massive torso as best I could. Ari didn't say anything, just melted into me, unfurling from his ball a bit. His breathing evened ever so slightly.

I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

I'd hold Ari as long as he needed me to.