The high-pitched squeal of death, which was emitted by the hare, filled her ears right before she chomped down, severing its life-cord. Like a cat that kills for a game, the slender golden dragon tossed the prey away, bored and uninterested. Layra was seething on the inside, her discontent growing steadily, and she couldn't help but feel like it was entirely the black dragon's fault.
His fault that she was in this cave, his fault she was even alive, his fault that they were mates. Or at least, he claimed that they were, because of her change. She wasn't so convinced, though.
Layra's nostrils flared reflexively, glaring at Jareth from beneath scaly eyelids, irritated at the lesson he was trying to teach her. She longed to take to the skies, hunt freely, but he kept her here in his cave, trying to educate her constantly. She'd become so submissive to him before the change, but now all she felt was contempt, and anger.
He turned around and realized she'd killed the rabbit, and picked it up in his mighty jaws, tossing it back over to her.
"Eat it." His voice, as always, commanded no disobedience.
Layra lifted her head haughtily, lying down cat-like, but with her nose stuck in the air.
"No." She glared at him, almost begging for him to whip her for such insolence.
He sighed and looked at her hard, until she was squirming uncomfortably under his gaze.
"We eat everything we kill, Layra. That is the way nature intended it, and that it the way it must be. Whether you like that rabbit or not, you must eat it."
When she refused further, he gathered himself to his full size and she saw those golden eyes swirl some as he spoke the words that would transform her back to a human. She roared in defiance at his control over her body, but her roars turned to a scream. She immediately willed herself to change back, but found she was unable to.
He walked over to her, pinning her form to the ground, and took the rabbit up in his talons.
"You WILL eat this Layra, even as a human, and let it be a lesson to you. She cried out in anger and he sighed, walking away from her. She was surprised to watch his retreat; he usually forced her if she refused to do his bidding.
"Do you think I enjoy this, Layra? Do you think I delight in punishing you?"
At this he whirled around, and uttering a few words, changed to his human form, so tall, and so striking.
"Who are you, Layra? What discontent is building on the inside? Do you not think I would help you if you would let me?"
He sighed, sinking into a squat by the pool, and Layra felt smug in her power over him. He whispered his next words.
"What's happened to you? What's happened to my little darling?"
Layra tried to ignore his words, to ignore how her heart instinctively reached out to him when he uttered them, but her pride held her fast. Without a backward glance at her, he dipped into the pool, and disappeared from the cave. She could see his dragon form flying off in the distance, and she felt a twinge of sorrow, but it passed quickly.
~~~**~**~~~
Jareth flew in and out of the cloud cover, banking left and right at ease, not overly concerned with where he was going. His thoughts were instead occupied with his mate. Layra had become distant the last few weeks, and even resentful. She refused to sleep in his bed, instead lying on the floor, and would not spend any time with him except when forced. She constantly tried to stay in her dragon form, and he could tell she was straining to find a way out of the cave, and away from him. He just couldn't figure out why. He knew the transition was frightening, but she had freely given herself to him, and then suddenly tried to retract it. It didn't make any sense.
Jareth landed on a precipice, watching the mountain goats below. Normally he would have loved to take Layra to see these things, to let her take part in the thrill of the hunt, but she had no respect for the value of life. She was becoming once again the spoiled princess she had been before he took her to his cave. Back then though, she had been so grateful to him, and in so much awe of his dragon form, she had looked at him with a kind of reverence.
Naturally, he had taken to spoiling her, letting her get her way more than he should, but he had only used a firm hand at first because of her defiance. He had never intended to use one her whole life. Dragons, once mated, mated for life, and Jareth had always thought he would spoil his life-mate beyond her comprehension, letting her live a life in pleasure and joy, and expected to receive the same treatment.
Layra, with her new form, was spoiled and rotten, and just plain mean. She nipped at him when she thought she could get away with it, she purposely bullied him and spoke to him disdainfully, and she was practically asking to be put in her place. Jareth toyed with the idea, it was enticing. She needed it-that was for sure. But though he had been hard on her at the beginning, forcing her was never his intention. He had asked for her complete submission, but he had still taken care of her along the way. Some may have said he'd made her into a slave, but any observer would state that he was as much a slave to her.
He sighed softly, picking out the weakest goat, and swiftly dove down for the kill. The ram bleated in protest, but the dragon's swiftness and jaws made quick work of the kill, and in seconds, the fight was over. Jareth mercifully snapped its jugular, letting the animal die quickly and instantly, and then picked up the kill, taking it back to Layra. In her giant form, it seemed there was never enough food to satisfy her.
