Never Match a Dragon (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 7) Read online

  As she passed by him, he seized her wrist and locked gazes with her. “You can do this.”

  Puzzlement knitted her features together a second before he released her and she scurried off to a corner of the restaurant to take the call.

  He linked his fingers and smirked. Tonight would be a win-win for him. If his soul mate didn’t turn up, he’d still have the pleasure of a lovely female’s companionship, plus a mite of revenge against the false trust he’d placed in the Matchmaker. Coming to this meeting had required every ounce of his pride. Only seemed fair he claimed some of hers, too.

  So much for a flawless record.

  He was going to be the Matchmaker’s one exception.

  ***

  “Everything is going exactly according to plan.” Jade struggled against biting her tongue. “They’re having dinner now. I’ll leave them be as soon as dessert arrives, like I always do.”

  “Good, good,” the Matchmaker hummed. “I’ll see you on Monday, then.”

  Dead air greeted her ears before Jade had the chance to respond. She stared at her phone for a second and then tucked it inside her handbag. Despite Liem’s assurances, there probably wasn’t a chance in Dìyù her boss wouldn’t learn about what had really happened tonight.

  Maybe, if she found the missing woman and united the happy couple, she’d save her job.

  Worth a shot, right?

  Steeling her shoulders, she puffed out her breath and marched to her seat.

  Liem studied the menu, but closed it as she joined him. “How did it go?”

  “Okay.” She bit the corner of her cheek and placed the napkin on her lap. “I’m not a good liar, but I hope she bought it.”

  At least, until Monday morning.

  He slanted forward. “Prove it.”

  “What? That I can’t lie very well?”

  “Yeah.” His lips curved smugly. “Tell me one truth and one lie.”

  “Ah.” She took a sip of the cranberry juice in front of her, probably ordered by Liem in her absence. “I have a boyfriend. We’ve been together for two years. And, oh, I don’t like mushrooms.”

  His nostrils flared slightly as he regarded her. “Huh, you’re right. You’re a terrible liar. Those were both false.”

  “How did you…? Never mind.” Dragon. His kind possessed a variety of extra senses and abilities, but she wasn’t ready to accept defeat yet. “Your turn.”

  His eyes widened, but then he straightened his features into a stoic mask. “I’ve killed before and I would do so again if anyone threatened what’s mine.” His gaze drifted to the menu. “Oh, and I don’t like mushrooms.”

  Killed? Her throat tightened. He didn’t have any tells, other than his slightly clenched jaw. “They’re both true.” What the hell was she doing with this guy? Sure, she regularly spent time with the Matchmaker’s assassins, the Lotus League, but she’d read their files. She knew what she was getting into with them. Liem’s write-up contained less information than an online dating site. The Matchmaker determined the matches in ways even Jade wasn’t privy to.

  He was dangerous; she shouldn’t be here.

  He angled his head, those sharp depths penetrating. “Now, you’re frightened of me. That’s probably a good thing. But, little human, I have no reason to hurt you.”

  Little human. Ugh. She straightened. “Actually, I think you’re more fang than bite. After all, you’re looking for love. Just like every other lost little human.”

  She shoved the manila envelope toward him. “Open it. Don’t tell me you’re not curious.”

  A frown crossed his features for an instant before he seized the envelope in both hands and shook out the files. His, he set aside, then he studied the one for his soul mate.

  “Song,” he murmured her name. “She’s beautiful.”

  Jealousy stabbed into her chest. Ridiculous. This whole dinner was a crazy idea. Not. A. Date. She pinched the top of her thigh and forced a smile. “Yes, she is, and she’s a dragon, too. Feilong clan. Should we stop by her address?”

  Liem lifted his head and set aside the file. “No. I’m hungry.” He raised a hand and caught the attention of their waiter, who stepped right to their table.

  “She’ll have the short ribs, with a side of roasted mushrooms. I’ll have the tenderloin. Rare.” He crossed his arms, bulging those thick biceps.

  Jade opened her mouth to protest against him ordering for her, but Liem flashed her a questioning brow and she hesitated. He’d ordered exactly what she would have, if she’d been able to decipher the menu. She’d never been with a man who exuded the kind of boldness he did. It was almost…comforting.

  “Very good, sir.” The waiter advanced as though to pour them champagne, but Liem waved him off.

  Instead, Liem snatched their two glasses and poured the bubbly liquid, handing her one. “To soul mates.”

  As he offered the toast, everything in her floundered. She shouldn’t be dining with another woman’s soul mate.

  She planted her glass down, not having touched it. “I’m not sure we should be—”

  “Ask me how long I’ve known about her.” Liem downed a deep sip of his champagne.

  She gripped the stem of her glass. “Okay, how long?”

  “Five hundred years,” he replied in a dry tone, as though he’d said two weeks.

  Her jaw dropped. “Why are you just now—”

  “My mother departed with others of our kind. She made me swear to find contentment in this world.” A heavy sigh deflated his assured tone. “But ask me, Jade, how long my soul mate has known about me.”

  ***

  Liem winced at the admission. True, he’d sought out the Matchmaker centuries ago, yet he’d danced around her questions, and she’d let one small admission slip. His fated female was aware of his existence. “Not once, not in a thousand years, has she attempted to meet me.”

  “Oh, Liem. I’m sorry.” Empathy flickered in Jade’s stunning eyes, but her pity only stung more deeply into his festered wounds.

  He waved it off. “Believe me, tonight comes as no surprise.” He didn’t care how beautiful Song was. Whether she was a dragon, a human, or a fox spirit. He already knew her heart was colder than his.

  “Just because two beings are fated does not mean their hearts, their minds, and their bodies are meant to be one.” He flipped over her file, no longer wishing to view her stunning face.

  Besides, the creature across from him was far more beguiling. A spark had passed between them, a connection he hadn’t experienced with another being in hundreds of years. He wasn’t about to allow that to pass him by.

  “Why did you ask me to find her?”

  “I wished to make you stay.” Narrowing his stare, he studied her. “I enjoy your company, Jade. That’s not something I say about anyone.” He took another swig of the bubbling alcohol. “My kind aren’t exactly extroverted.”

  “Right. You belong to the—”

  “Fucanglong.” He bared his teeth in a grin. “And yes, it is.”

  She pinched her brows together and then rolled her eyes. Fucanglong. Fucking long. “That is the worst pick-up line. No wonder you’re single, Mr. Suave.” Curiosity in her smile, she leaned in. “Don’t tell me it actually works.”

  “On every night but tonight.”

  Humming, she sipped her bubbly and stuffed the files inside her handbag. A moment later, the waiter deposited their meals.

  Jade seized her fork and took a bite, her downward cast lashes fluttering as though she savored the earthy tang of the au jus. And yeah, the mushrooms.

  Liem studied her, fixated by her luscious mouth.

  “Please don’t stare at me.” She glared, wrinkling her nose.

  “I can’t help it. Your lips…”

  “My lips, what?”

  “I want them on mine.” If he concluded for a second she would encourage him, he’d already be on the other side of this table, claiming her mouth. Yet Jade reclined in her seat, holding back.

  Dragons didn’t hold back. They took what they desired, whenever they desired it. By all rights of his nature, he should have swooped in by now. Dammit.

  Jade’s lashes fluttered. Hmm, this might be the right moment. He inhaled and caught a scent sharper than her succulent fragrance.

  Poison.

  The fork hovered near her mouth. He swatted aside her hand, growling, “No, don’t,” but his vision flickered, the room spinning, and he glowered at the champagne.

  The truth hit him too late.

  It wasn’t the mushrooms.

  Jade moaned and lifted her heavy head, a clanking of metal ringing in her ears that matched the buzzing in her skull. After a few tries, she pried her eyes open. A musty, dank cave greeted her vision, torches lighting the rock walls, and a feminine silhouette stood ten feet away.

  “Song?” she rasped. This was probably what she got for stealing a female dragon’s soul mate.

  The woman tapped her nails on her folded arms. “What kind of music were you thinking of?”

  “That’s not her,” Liem muttered from her left.

  Jade twisted toward him, but manacles binding her wrists jerked her into place. Panicky dread slithered around in her gut. He wasn’t chained.

  Was this a game dragons engaged in? Drugging humans and dragging them to their lairs to play with them?

  Should have read his damn file more carefully.

  “She’s not my friend, Jade.” His brows bunched as though he sensed her anxiety.

  “Then who is she?”

  “His rival.” The woman answered, stepping forward, and Jade caught a clearer glimpse of her. Tall, slender, and pretty, with a swan-like neck and blue-black waves of hair that swung past her waist, but she definitely didn’t resemble Liem’s soul mate. A r
ival lover, perhaps? “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to crawl out of your den, Liem.” Her sly coppery gaze passed from him to Jade. “Guess all it took was her.”

  Wait, what? Could this be a case of mistaken identity? “I’m not his soul mate,” she blurted.

  Both whipped their heads toward her.

  “Nice try.” The woman’s fuchsia lips curved smugly. “Liem wouldn’t have shown his handsome face out in the open world for anyone else.”

  “Honestly, I’m no—”

  “Jade.” A rumble echoed from Liem.

  She cast a pleading frown at him. “Please, tell her the truth.” So she’ll let me go.

  He gave his head a curt shake.

  The woman sauntered toward Jade. In one hand, she gripped a jewel-handled dagger. Pausing beside Jade, she grabbed Jade’s hair and yanked her head backward, bracing the knife’s edge against her throat.

  She squeaked, then grew very, very still. The razor-sharp blade pressed against her flesh, menacing.

  “Give it to me, Liem, or she dies.” The woman’s cool tone fell across the room as silent and deadly as permafrost.

  “I can’t do that, Kim.” He crossed his arms and refused to meet Jade’s pleading stare.

  Kim eased back on the blade enough for Jade to be able to swallow and speak. “Beg for your life, pathetic human.”

  Instead of complying, Jade rasped, “What does she want?”

  Kim peered at her. “Such lovely eyes. I can see why you were drawn to her, Liem. But you have to choose. Which jade will you save?”

  Jade gaped. “You’re going to let her kill me over a stone?”

  “It’s more than a stone,” Liem barked, crossing his arms, his nostrils fuming.

  What the hell was wrong with this man?

  “You’re going to make me kill the human? Can’t you just hand it over?” Kim droned, sounding bored.

  “Liem, please. I think we should listen to the nice lady and not kill the human.” Jade flashed one last pleading look at him. To think, she might’ve gone home, gone to bed with him.

  Ugh. Dragons.

  ***

  Liem glanced between the two females and loathed this choice. Kim had stooped to low depths before, but this was a new angle. “It’s true. She’s not my mate. She’s merely a human, and you know me well enough to realize this won’t work.”

  “Little human,” Kim tsked.

  “Seriously? What’s with the little humans? You’re the same size as I am,” Jade scoffed.

  “Oh, really?” Kim flashed a hand in front of her body and burst into her dragon form. Long, massive body. Glinting copper scales. Four taloned feet and a tail the length of a school bus. Her felinesque head tilted at Jade. “Change your mind, little human?”

  “Uh, yeah.” A flicker of fear crossed Jade’s eyes as she switched her focus to him. “Why, Liem? Why is a stone worth more to you than my life?”

  Her challenge stung, cutting into his chest. He longed to argue it wasn’t true, but the truth was, he wasn’t sure. The darkness of his nature valued only one thing.

  And it wasn’t a human’s life.

  “He stole it from my family,” Kim grated, back in human form and wielding the knife toward Jade’s neck once more. “Jade is his favorite. Imagine that.”

  “There’s more to the gem,” Liem offered, attempting to make it sound better. “The stone is magical. It has special…properties.”

  “Wow, a magic stone. Glad I won’t die over a regular rock,” Jade intoned, glaring at him.

  He winced, fully deserving the jibe. There had to be another way around this, but Kim was of his clan. His wings were literally tied. He couldn’t harm her any more than she could him, not without bringing the Huanglong—enforcer dragons of the Jade Emperor—down onto himself. Plus, it was considered bad taste. Dragons valued clan above everything.

  Except treasures.

  He grunted at Kim. Time to bluff. “How do you expect this to play out? I won’t give you the stone. Kill the human or don’t. I truly care not.”

  Kim’s assessing glower scrutinized him and she huffed. “Dammit.” Then she slid her gaze to Jade. “If you’re not his mate, where is she?”

  “The envelope.” Jade jerked her head toward her handbag before he had a chance to tell her that was a very bad idea.

  Fuck.

  Swaying her hips, Kim strolled to the bag, dug into it, and plucked out the envelope. “Song. Pretty girl. Prettier even than this one.” She waved an absent hand toward Jade while she hummed and read through the file.

  He clenched a fist at his side, unsure why the jab irked him. Shouldn’t he agree with the observation?

  “Looks like you two will be spending a bit more time together, while I hunt down your mate.” She snapped her fingers, constricting the invisible locks she’d placed on him, squeezing his arms tighter against his chest. Jade’s lips parted, as though she grasped he had been incapacitated this entire time, too. Well, sort of. Kim wasn’t exactly the most adept kidnapper. He could easily break through these paltry locks, but that would only lead into a brawl with Kim, and once again, possible punishment by the Huanglong. Better to wait for Kim’s exit before making his own.

  Silence dripped after Kim left the cave. Slowly. Painfully. He had no reassuring words for Jade. He’d like to believe he would’ve found a way to save her life.

  Though he couldn’t be sure.

  Metal scratching against rock crossed his ears. He glanced toward her. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting out of here.”

  “Why?”

  She stopped scraping her manacle against the stone floor and grimaced at him. “Um, because I’m not going to wait around for her to come back and kill me?”

  “If this is your great escape plan,” he jerked his head at the futile task, “then, yes, you are.”

  She huffed and crossed her arms. “It’s not like I can count on you.”

  “You underestimate me.” Slyly, he quirked his lips. “Are you ready, Jade?”

  “Ready for what?”

  “To have your mind blown.”

  ***

  Ugh. Did all dragons have such enormous egos or had she been blessed with the cockiest one for a cell mate? Jade scowled at Liem’s assured grin, but he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, and a second later, his form erupted.

  In his place stood the most gigantically badass dragon she’d ever seen. Way bigger than Kim. His robust, serpentine body filled the cavern, twisting in a zig zag down to the burly tail flicking like a cat’s did before it pounced. Copper scales glinted across his body like plated armor and his clawed feet were spiked with talons the size of short swords. A fiery mane framed his lionesque head and flaming plumes raised like spines along his back, ending in a folding fan of dagger-like feathers. Incandescent, molten depths stalked her with keen precision.

  Her jaw dropped and she tensed. This was who she’d been with this whole evening? Crazy.

  Even in dragon form, he cast her a wicked smirk, baring a set of razor sharp fangs. “I told you. Fucanglong.”

  She scoffed, but her anxiety about his fierce size eased. He was still Liem. “What’s your brilliant plan?”

  “Rescue the damsel.” He chuckled, then inhaled deeply. Twisting toward the blocked exit, he blew, spewing a stream of bright orange sludge.

  Dragon fire. She gulped. Certain breeds of dragons breathed a specific kind of dragon fire. Guess his was lava.

  As their escape route sizzled into a melted tunnel, he faced her, eyeing her manacles.

  “Oh, no.” She gripped the cuffs close to her chest. “I’d go up like a marshmallow.”

  “Relax, Jade.” He stalked to her and slid one talon between her bound wrists. The sharp edge cut through the metal like it was butter. “I’ll cut the rest off when we’re safe.”

  She nodded, rubbed her wrists, and inspected the tunnel. It glowed red-hot.

  He followed her perusal. “Ah, yes, well, I guess this means you’re getting a ride.”

  Ride? A dragon? The little girl inside her squealed while the woman on the outside shrugged casually, stamping down her excitement. “Sure.”

  She rose and stepped to Liem’s side. “How exactly do I get—Oomph!”

  Liem grabbed her about the waist in one large clawed hand and deposited her onto his back. “Hold on tight.”