Fear bitch-slapped Maddox through his matebond mid-sentence. No context. Just volume. And right now, the fucking volume was telling him that something had just scared the hell out of his wife.

He was in middle of a meeting with his generals and elders. Sterling glanced at him, then took over. Good man.

She smothered her fear, locking it down with determination. Adorable. It was probably from seeing a dragon up close for the first time without him behind her. He was six-foot-five, blocked the wind, and made her feel safe the first time. Remove those variables and of course she was afraid.

He suppressed a smile. He would teach her not to be afraid. She’d be fine.

Gentle exposure. He made a mental note to tell Ryker to keep the other dragons at a distance around her for now.

He turned his attention back to the meeting.

The first mindlink he overheard was from a warrior on the field who had forgotten to close the channel. Normally, he tuned those out.

Holy shit. Did he just have her do that?

Warm up. Skills assessment. Ryker was having her shoot arrows. Warriors said "holy shit" during target practice all the time. Maybe she’d shot some arrows in Lunaris and knew how. He wouldn’t put it past her. She was full of cute little surprises like that.

Tight and clean. That’s what I like.

No. That’s about her form. Ground mount drills. No flight until she had that down. End of day at the soonest.

He had written this schedule himself. In ink. On purpose. Ryker had it.

She’s going to ride me next.

Context. She was going to ride a dragon warrior next. But that would be when she was flying, which she wasn’t. And over his dead body would she be riding anyone outside of himself and Ryker. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Gods, look at her legs.

Everything in Maddox went still.

"The eastern garrison," Sterling said, tapping the map, "requires reinforcement by the third quarter."

Is that the Commander’s new wife? Or the High Generals?

Neither. I would let that woman sit on my face and use my balls as a stress toy. Fucking hell where did she come from.

The glass in Maddox’s hand exploded.

Water and glass went in every direction.

✦✦✦

Guinevere knew three things about the lethal simulation. It was lethal. It was a simulation. And she was about to do it.

A horn sounded from below.

The amount of information Ryker provided was zero.

He zoomed at full speed with no warm-up this time.

Assuming there would be targets, she stood on his back, and was about to load her bow when an arrow came flying at her face.

Her wolf bristled.

She spun on the dragon and caught the arrow out of the air.

Then she looked at it in her hand. It was a free arrow if she ran out of her own, which she decided was a perfect development.

She loaded and began firing on the targets, catching the incoming arrows and used those instead of the quiver she had been given. By the end of the first rotation, she had not touched a single arrow from her own supply.

Then she saw gold orbs floating across the course, spaced between the targets.

Guinevere: You see those right?

Ryker: What do you think you are supposed to do?

She genuinely did not know.

The not-knowing lasted approximately two seconds before it became intolerable. So she did what any reasonable person would do when confronted with an unknown objective at altitude on the back of a dragon.

She put her bow and quiver down, jumped off his back, and grabbed one of the orbs on the way down.

It turned green the second she touched it.

For a terrifying second, she thought she gravely miscalculated. The wind rushed past her, her lungs locked, and the ground was rising to meet her at an alarming rate.

Ryker dove, catching her in his paw before she could fall much further. With great effort, she kept her breathing level, like what she’d just done was normal.

He didn’t say anything. So she assumed that was the correct method.

Then she saw another closer to the ground.

Guinevere: Can you drop me?

He dropped her. She fell, touched the orb, and caught an incoming arrow on the way past. She held onto it as Ryker dove.

This time, he caught her on his back. It wasn’t graceful. But she had landed on worse in the last week.

Guinevere: Are my primary goals accuracy and speed?

Ryker: What do you think?

Guinevere: Let me rephrase. Is stealth an objective?

There was a long pause.

Ryker: It is not.

He dropped lower across the field.

She saw more gold orbs ahead of them and did not wait for permission. She jumped off his back and trusted her wolf to handle the landing. Her wolf could withstand heights that her human body could not, and her wolf was bigger than her and faster, and this was way too damn fun of a game to lose.

She shifted midair like she had done it a hundred times.

She had not.

Her own boldness surprised her.

Air tore past and for two full seconds she wasn’t sure her wolf would answer. The shift ripped through just as the ground rushed up, and her wolf landed at a run, hitting the remaining gold orbs. Each one she touched turned green.

In an explosion of white light, she shifted back into human form, just as another arrow came for her, which she caught on instinct.

Ryker was flying parallel to her, and his leg was low enough that she could jump and catch it.

She hurled herself upward and caught his leg on the first try.

He picked up speed before she was fully back on her feet, which she did not love, but if they were being timed then she was going to stop complaining about it internally.

Then came the second lap.

She grabbed the bow again. The pattern was obvious to her now. The number of arrows that came at her matched the number of targets, which meant if she caught them, she could use their arrows instead of her own. That was clearly the objective.

The gold orbs came next.

She dove off his back and touched two of them on the way down. The fact that she was free-falling from altitude was less of a concern than her conscious mind was telling her it should have been.

Ryker caught her in his paw without a word and dropped her at the same point he had dropped her the first time. She shifted before hitting the ground, and her wolf moved in a blur, hitting every remaining gold orb, turning them green.

She shifted back in time to catch his leg.

She climbed up faster this time, and she was already in position when the next arrow came.

They ran one more lap in the same pattern, and then he landed on the field.

She jumped off his back.

More warriors had gathered since they had taken off.

Every one of them was staring.

She really needed someone to give her a straight answer about whether she was mounting and dismounting correctly.

The targets lowered from the clouds. Every one of them carried a bullseye, with a second and a third arrow split down the center of the first.

The orbs floated down next.

All of them were green.

The captain called out across the field. "Three minutes, twenty-seven seconds, High General."

Ryker shifted back into human form.

"Third lap time."

"Forty-five seconds."

He glanced at Guinevere. "Analysis."

Her brows knit together. She did not understand why he would not just tell her.

"Accuracy, perfect. Speed, I am not sure. Is there a frame of reference or data point you could give me?"

Ryker’s eyes lifted above her head.

She turned.

Maddox was approaching.

His eyes were locked on her with an intensity that made her face flush immediately.