‘Let’s see if your CatLord can beat my dragon,’ she teased, and continued fighting.
‘You won’t win thisway. She’s very good. You’ll need a more physical approach Ithink,’ said a voice in his mind that didn’t sound like Alpha.
He felt himselfphysically spin around and clout her on the side of her head sohard that it momentarily stunned her, knocking her down. He quicklygrabbed her around the neck with his great jaws and pinned her bodydown with his body.
‘Submit,’ he said intoher mind.
‘No. This is cheating,’she hissed back.
‘Submit, you arebeaten,’ he said into her mind.
‘No. I won’t allow youto win this way,’ she hissed at him.
‘You have no choice,’and he squeezed her throat, choking her.
‘If you kill me,Miranda will never find out how to remove the tattoo,’ shereplied.
‘Then if you loveMiranda, you will submit,’ he said.
She hesitated,considered his words, then purred.
‘I submit, My Lord. Youhave me,’ and she let him take control of her mind and body.
Aquitain didn’t feel hehad won the mental domination contest fairly by physicallydominating her as well, but the outcome was the same. QueenSnowbelle was now mentally under his complete control and at hismercy.
He quickly released hisgrip around her throat and moved back from her, ordering her tochange back to her nymph form and kneel before him.
‘Where is Miranda?’ hedemanded.
‘She was in her privateretreat which is inside the crack at the ledge on the south side ofthe gully wall, last time I checked earlier this morning, MyLord.’
‘Why did you attackme?’ he asked.
‘Because it wasnecessary before you could find out the other conditions to liftMiranda’s curse, My Lord.’
‘I thought it was youthat had the chastity binding placed upon her,’ he said, a littleconfused.
‘It was, My Lord, butthe Lady strengthened it and placed the conditions upon it,’ shereplied.
‘Tell me theconditions,’ he commanded.
‘The first conditionwas that you must dominate me and you have succeeded, My Lord.
‘The second conditionis that the curse can only be lifted by one of the same blood asMiranda.
‘The third condition isthat he must be a king among your kind, My Lord.’
‘Well at least I didone of them,’ he thought.
‘I’ll release you ifyou agree to stop attacking me and calling me your Lord. My name isAquitain.’
‘I agree,’ she saidsubmissively, and he released the mental domination, freeing herbody and her will.
She stood, and lookingvery unhappy turned her back on him, then called out a few arcanewords and the gateway opened. She darted through and it closedbehind her.
‘By the Powers, what’sa permanent gateway doing here?’ he thought.
**
Miranda flew back tothe gully. The afternoon breeze had blown up and it was quitegusty. She had only been gone about ten minutes, and had scouredall the ravines leading to the gully. The exercise had loosened hertight muscle and she felt a little better, since he wasn’t anywhereclose. She would continue waiting near the entrance to the gully,and concentrate on staying calm.
She landed at theentrance to the gully and immediately after changing to her newmanform smelt a foul odour coming from further down the gully. Shewalked a few paces to get a better view, and noticed two largeblack and brown bear-like bodies near the edge of the southern wallabout two hundred paces away. With her heart in her mouth shesprinted towards them to have a closer look, and as she drew closerrecognised them as owlbears.
She carefully examinedtheir bodies, noting the type of damage and the cause of death.Without a doubt, a bear had mauled both. She saw bloody footprintsleading to the water and wet footprints coming out, leading to thecave under the waterfall. Her heart almost stopped and her mindfroze for a few moments, then she screamed ‘No. Mother not thistime!’ and she took off in fury for the fight of her life.
She burst through thewaterfall into the cave and ran smack into the back of Aquitain,who was sitting still looking at the wall where the gateway hadbeen. He swung around ready to attack whatever had attacked him,only to find Miranda on the ground.
‘By the Powers, Mandyyou gave me a fright. I thought your mother was up to no goodagain.’
Miranda rose to herfeet and smelt the female bear perfume in the air, and knew exactlywhat its effect was likely to have had on him.
‘Aquitain, what haveyou done?’ she said in a very accusing tone.
From her body languageand her tone of voice he was under no illusion about what she wasthinking.
‘Trust me Miranda, notwhat you’re thinking. Come outside and cool off in the stream, andthen I’ll tell you what happened.’
As they left the caveand waded into the cold water under the cascade, Aquitain suddenlyremembered that Alpha hadn’t said anything for a while. It hadn’teven welcomed Miranda, so he asked it why.
‘This woman will be thedeath of you,’ said Alpha.
‘Perhaps and perhapsnot,’ he said. ‘But it will be damn interesting to find out!’
Chapter 26 Travelling
The ice-cold waterquickly dampened any residual feelings that Aquitain had from theencounter with Snowbelle, and calmed Miranda a little. He knew thatshe wouldn’t let up until he told her every detail of the fight,and the cold water helped both of them keep a calm perspective onwhat had happened. In the end when he told her how he had used hermother’s strategy of sexual pleasure followed quickly by adomination attack, Miranda suddenly saw the irony of it and laughedwith amusement, waded over to him and cuddled him around his hugefurry neck.
Her whole attitudetowards him changed again. There was no more doubt. He wasn’t justa brave young man in a bear suit; he was her hero this time. He hadwon three battles today, the owlbears, her mother and her heart.There were only two things she needed to find out. What did hermother tell him about her cursed tattoo? And when could he removeit?
‘After you dominated mymother, what did she say?’ asked Miranda.
‘Not a great deal,’said Aquitain.
‘Did you ask heranything?’
‘Yes,’ saidAquitain.
‘What did you ask her?’said Miranda, becoming annoyed.
‘General questions,’Aquitain demurred, walking out of the cold water and trying to drawMiranda’s agony out a little longer. She followed him out of thewater and walked beside him.
‘What sort of generalquestions?’ she asked impatiently.
‘You know, questionslike
