Bear rose to his feet slowly and stepped hesitantly toward her. He was confused by his own mix of emotions and what he could sense of hers, including her sting of anger still upon his neck. He wanted only to please. He stopped a pace from where she looked out at the moonlight. He was spellbound by the glow upon her skin and the apparition of her body in a dress the color of moonshadows.

Arianda's arms hung at her sides but her fingers flexed into fists and released. She stood watching the moons. She must regain control, of him, of herself. Quietly and without looking at him, she commanded. "Unbind your hair."

Bear reached immediately to remove the tie from his braid and shook his long raven silk free to fall about his shoulders, over his chest and down his back. "Yes, M'Lady."

Slowly she turned to face him. The moonlight shifted across her, bathing one side in glowing detail, accented by shadows playing at the curve of her beast, between her soft swells, in the hollow between her thighs. He took in the vision of her then just as she stopped moving, a beam of moonlight flashed through the amethyst teardrop resting against her chest. He looked up to her face a moment. It was no longer stirring with anger but she still had a solemn expression. He was compelled to reach out. His fingers gently pressed over the amethyst then traced across her pale skin. He was fascinated with the contrast of her between his tanned fingers.

She took a deep breath beneath his hand and let her words drift out in a whisper. "Tell me why you serve."

He watched his hand as it moved up and across her collar bone. He slipped his fingers back to the nape of her neck but his hand was large enough that his thumb could press beneath her chin and tip her face up to him. "Can we not discuss this another time... M'Lady?"

The moonlight shone across his eyes and to Arianda they were brighter than ever. His gentle but powerful hand at her neck was causing an involuntary shiver to run through her as she struggled to keep her wits about her. Her expression told him No, the time was now.

Bear was growing more uncomfortable beneath her gaze. He wanted to look away but assumed this would anger her again. His thumb played nervously along her fine jawline. He dared look aside to his hand to escape her eyes seeming to pierce his soul. "My transgressions at Auction were willfulness, yes. Treatment there is inhuman. I'd been there for several days and reached my limit. Had I not been shackled..."

Arianda watched his face. She heard the tightening in his voice. She would not let him out of this however. He would answer her questions. "You might have killed the Handler, yes. I've thought this of him myself. But you are property, such is your lot."

The corner of Bear's mouth turned up into that half grin. However, it was a sad irony that his voice conveyed. "Yes, my lot. My lot as heir to a murderous tyrant. My lot as..." His eyes drew back to hers again and he saw the soft blue of them was returning. "I have chosen to serve rather than become him. I serve to amend... M'Lady."

Arianda arched a brow. "Sins of the father?" She floated her hand up and slowly swept his arm away from her then spread her hand across his chest and pressed the Bear backward. He gave into her pressure as she walked him back toward the bed. He was rather surprised when his legs bumped the side of it. She shoved at his chest, unbalancing him further, such that he dropped back onto the mattress. "Would you not have been in a better position to make amends from his advantages?" She gathered up the full skirts of her dress then crawled over him and looked down into his confusion. "Why not take his power from him and use it to your liking?"

Bear held her glittering sapphire eyes a moment then drew his hands up to grasp her waist. With his power and grace, he rolled the both of them so that he was now over her. His hair fell across his shoulders to brush the swell of her breasts which heaved with the sharp breath she'd taken at his action. He looked down into her face and whispered gravely, "I took more than that from him. I took his life."

There was again the dark veil within his gray eyes, the touch of sadness she had seen before and yet the gleam of the predator. "And what of your premature inheritance? Why are you not there tending it?" She reached up to brush her thumb across the mark still on his cheek.

"I dismantled the estate. It had meant nothing but pain and death." He shifted his weight to one elbow as he held her eyes. His free hand gathered her hand from his cheek and kissed her long pale fingers. He closed his eyes and whispered against them. "I feared what power and wealth might turn me into."

Arianda's breathing was shallow and voice shaken. "So... you turned your fate over to others."

"Yes. Several."

"And what became of them? Did you kill them too?" She was toying with him, dangerously. He had the strength to easily kill her. Why press him? Why give him these notions? Because it was exciting. Her soul was stirred by his physical strength and force of will and the ultimate test of it, to subjugate it to another, yet it appeared he had not learned to do this completely.

He hesistated then squeezed her hand gently. That and his look into her eyes was a sorrowful apology. "Yes. Some... M'Lady."

"What shall save me from you then? It would seem you are not harmless as you said. What if I find your... limit?" She was surprised again as he slid his arms beneath her and in this embrace, rolled onto his back, drawing her with him, holding her to him. He slipped his hand up her back and across her neck to draw her face gently but firmly to his shoulder before releasing.

The Bear's deep soft voice whispered across her ear. "Feel my quickened heart against your own? We know my strength and capability yet I lay all that I am at your feet." She held her breath but her heart still pounded in her ears and was echoed within his own chest. His hand drew softly over her bare shoulder as he pressed his face against hers.

Arianda let herself lay in his comforting arms another moment then rather clumsily pushed herself off him and the bed. She stepped back then turned away from him. Bear sat up on the edge of the bed. He ran his hands through his hair and stared at her silhouette in moonlight. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it again.

Silent curses filled her mind, curses at herself. What was she doing? Her true fear went beyond his physical strength. The part of her he was touching was available to NO one. She would not allow it. She could not let him think his beguiling was getting to her. He was property. Nothing more.

She whirled back to him and commanded, "Undress me." Her voice was sharp, cold.

Slowly Bear rose from the bed and took the step to her. He lifted one hand to her shoulder and rested it lightly there on her bare skin as his thumb brushed lightly over her neck. She stared blankly aside.

His other hand came up and both pressed out across her bare shoulders then began pushing the soft gray silk down her arms. When the fabric was pooled at her elbows, he paused, he could not help but gaze across the smooth curves and shadows of her breasts. He marveled at the palest rose of her nipples, now hard.

In her silent litany she confirmed that she must do this. Let him see that he is nothing to her, that there is nothing between them more than ownership and how he may be of service to her.

With effort, Bear concentrated on his task. He took up her left hand and pulled the sleeve from that arm, then from the right. With only the slightest pressure at her hips then, the dress fell to the floor. He knelt to get it, but then his face was so close to her soft curly tuft of lighter copper fur, he could feel her body heat on his cheeks, yet otherwise her warmth was gone.

His voiced was a cracked whisper, "If you will step from the dress, M'Lady..." She absently took a side step out of the dress. As she drew her other foot from it, the Bear picked up the dress and stood, carefully handling it. "Shall I hang or fold it, M'Lady?"

"Fold. Chair." She turned her naked body now to face the window as she gestured in the direction of a chair. Bear took the dress there and folded it neatly then turned to look at her again. She had slipped the ties from her copper tresses and it came to rest across her shoulders then cascaded down her back. His breath was taken from him. Her body glowed in the moonlight. Her hair and that between her thighs shone with the light.

Facing the moons, eyes closed and with the barest whisper, Arianda commanded, "Now share your body with me... because I own it." Her last phrase was as cold as anything he'd heard her say. She paused in the moonlight a moment longer then turned, walked to her bed and lay down upon it, looking up at the canopy. She propped one hand behind her head and the pool of hair upon her pillow. The other rested across her stomach. One knee was pulled up across the other.

When he was able to move again, Bear slipped off his leggings. He knew he was already stiffened. He had in fact been uncomfortable at just the sight of her in that light. He folded his leggings neatly and lay them across the back of the chair. He walked to the bed then crawled to her. His hand slid up her leg and gently pushed it aside. He used his own legs to part hers further then supported himself on his locked muscular arms, he was poised over her. She looked up to see him gazing back. Again she saw the heaviness in his eyes, the sadness. Just as well, she thought.

Bear wanted to do more, take time to please her, go back to the moment of the wine kiss in the shadow or embracing warmly here or.. something. This was not right. She was angry. This was harsh. She was cold and this act was somehow vindictive, though he was not entirely sure why.

He kept searching her face for some hint of... what? Caring? What right did he have to even want that from her? But he did and it was not there. She was detached. This was business. What was he waiting for? She drew her knees up and let them relax open. He swallowed and held her gaze as he lowered his hips. His stiffness pressed between her soft folds but she was still angry, he sensed it. She was not prepared and his eyes flickered his concerns. She kept her determined gaze on him.

He proceeded to press in though it was uncomfortable, more than just physically. This was not pleasing. This was punishing, but who was being punished? He took partial strokes and coaxed her body to take him. With each press her jaw seemed to tighten but her eyes never left him. They hardly blinked. When at last his slow progression had drawn sufficient moisture from her, he gasped at the first full smooth stroke. Arianda simply closed her eyes and let her body enjoy what her mind could not.

The Bear's body took over as well. He felt detached too now. He was performing for her but not experiencing her. It was the loneliest he'd ever felt but his body continued to work within her. He lowered himself to his elbows and pressed his face into her neck. He wanted so badly to please all of her not just the part he could pierce and stroke as he was doing now. His hips worked between her thighs and both their bodies urged him on but part of him wanted to get up and walk away.

Finally her breathing started to go shallow. Her hands floated up and wrapped across his back as it flexed with his thrusts. He felt buoyed by this. His strokes grew more urgent. She was tightening around him. Yes! She was responding. He was pleasing her. Arianda's hips began to move with him. She held onto him tightly until her face was pressed against his shoulder. He kissed her neck and breathed pantingly beneath her ear. Yes, his body and hers were moving smoothly in concert.

Though he could not feel it against his rocking shoulder, Arianda's jaws were still clenched tightly. She wanted him to pierce her, to run himself through her. She worked her hips against him harder. She started to hold and release her breathing to bring on the quickening. At last she felt a twinge of it and she grasped to that desperately. He felt that much as well, when her muscles flexed around him.

Bear's skin was moist from sweat when Arianda's body convulsed. Her sharp tightening pushed at him until it pushed him over the edge too. He groaned aloud with his whole body stiffened for a moment then shuddered and gave her a few more erratic pumps, causing aftershocks to course through her.

Arianda took a shuddered breath. It would be unnoticed or assumed a reaction, she thought. The anger had passed with her orgasm. Now there was the backlash. She moved her cheek against his shoulder so he would not know, so he could not feel the tears that stung her eyes.

Bear wrapped his arms beneath her and breathed heavily against her neck as his power waned then slowly began to recover. Arianda drew her arms away from him and tried to turn to her side. As soon as he realized what she was doing, he released her and reluctantly slid out of her, rolling to his side, staring at the back of her head, wanting to say something. She spoke first and he barely heard it over the sound of his own returning breath.

"Leave me."

"M'Lady..." but he didn't know what to say, what to ask, how to help or if... He didn't know, but again he felt the isolation. He had performed as commanded but there was ultimately no pleasure in it for either of them. He felt it in the pit of his stomach. He felt it radiating from her.

Bear rolled out of the bed and went to the chair to put on his leggings. He kept looking over his shoulder at her. Arianda had curled up on her side, facing away from him. He went to the bedside and merely looked at her a moment then leaned and slid the bedclothes gently from beneath her to cover her. He let his hand draw her hair back across her shoulder.

With a whisper, he wished "Sleep well, M'Lady." but wasn't sure if she heard it or not. His steps from her bedchamber and down to his quarters in the cellar were slow and heavy. He would lay awake for another hour or better, trying to sort out the evening.

Arianda released the remainder of her emotions with audible tears once she was sure the Bear was gone and finally the whole castle slept.