Trancing the Tiger (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 1) Read online

  Good enough for me.

  Adjusting the temperature of the shower, she stepped under the spray, moaning as warm moisture cleansed away her fears. The changes in her body might seem odd, but there had to be an explanation. After every bizarre event she’d witnessed, this newest one shouldn’t alarm her. Sheng looked surprised, at first, but if she were in true danger, he wouldn’t hesitate to protect her.

  To fight for her.

  A smile tugged at her mouth as she grasped the bottle of shampoo. Strange, how she’d come to trust entirely in someone whose image screamed “dangerous as hell.” But when that lethal strength fastened to her side and declared she belonged to him… Well, he’d made it more than clear he’d die to protect her.

  She squirted a glob of shampoo onto her palm and lathered her hair. As her fingers combed the locks above her ears, they passed over something hard. Deeming the dense spot to be a tangle, she tugged and yelped. Not a tangle. She probed farther, following the long, thin thread down to its flared tail and back up again where it rooted inside her scalp.

  And then she screamed.

  Sheng burst into the room, his dark gaze at once settling on her through the foggy glass of the shower door.

  She withdrew her hand from her scalp, trembling as a vision of what it was shocked through her system.

  “What’s wrong?” Though she stood before him, naked and wet, angled aside for modesty’s sake, he was pure business.

  “In my hair,” she squeaked. “There’s something in my hair.” A shudder rippled through her, and she couldn’t bring herself to touch it again.

  He strode straight to her and flung open the glass door, ignoring the spray of water moistening his front. “Show me.”

  She pointed a trembling hand at her head. “I think it’s a f-feather.”

  He whistled as he brushed aside her hair to get a closer look. “Fuck me.”

  “What is it? Can you get it off?” She hugged her arms across her breasts, but his entire focus stayed fixed on whatever had attached itself to her head.

  Which she wasn’t really sure was a good thing.

  She dared to glance at him, but no disgust rippled his features. Instead, he examined her with a cocked head, his teeth bared in a grin.

  “What is it?” She demanded again, more forcefully.

  He locked gazes with her. “You’ve grown some plumage.”

  “Plumage? As in bird feathers?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.” His eyes glinted and his gratified smile widened. “More like a dragon’s.”

  Her mouth dropped open. A dragon? Her fingers brushed the two feathers growing out of the sides of her head again. She hadn’t imagined them.

  “They’re beautiful, actually.” His smile of approval darkened and he straightened, clearing his throat. Oh yeah, she was nude. “Finish up,” he rasped, jerking his chin at her before giving her his back. This time, he didn’t leave her alone.

  Thank goodness. Her shower complete without uncovering more weird stuff growing out of her body, she wrapped a towel around her torso and stepped out.

  Sheng didn’t miss a beat pinning her against the wall. His lips hovered less than an inch from hers as he sniffed her skin. His hands stayed rooted to the wall while he nuzzled her cheek.

  After a moment, he murmured, “Lucy.”

  She shivered as much from being wet as his nearness. “How is this possible? I’m a rabbit, not a dragon.” Was this what Rabbit had been hiding? Dragon?

  He shoved away to peer at her. “I’m not sure, but we’ll figure this out. Together.”

  Holy shit.

  Sheng stared at Lucy, a mix of wonder and apprehension spiking through his blood. Did she really host the Dragon inside her? Had Dragon actually told him the truth about returning in a new host? He’d pretty much given up that hope but, gazing at Lucy, the old wound of rejection eased.

  Fuck. He’d waited his entire life for the Dragon to join forces with him. The yang to his yin. Together, they’d achieve balance.

  The peace he couldn’t attain by himself.

  How had he ever dismissed her as merely the Rabbit? The urge to tell the others jumped along his veins, but he stamped it out. Fear for Lucy seized its place. No way to tell how anyone else would react. Still, her spirit animals seemed to coexist in perfect harmony. He sensed no dissention between the two, Rabbit and Dragon.

  In fact, Rabbit acted less timid, more willing to join with him. Of course, that would have to wait, since Lucy hosted the Dragon too. Dragon was yang, Tiger was yin. They were both alphas. One couldn’t submit to the other.

  Besides, he doubted Dragon would allow Tiger to have Rabbit. He shuddered as he recalled how Lucy had been electrocuted during their failed joining. To attempt it again would be disastrous, like how things had gone down with Chicken. The union was probably impossible anyway, since Lucy possessed two spirits.

  An explanation for Lucy’s ability lurked in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t recall the terminology. Doubtless, the Matchmaker would.

  He frowned at the concerns furrowing her brow and smoothed them away with a press of his lips. “I will protect you, Lucy. No matter what.”

  “I know.” The certainty in her whisper clung around his heart. She’d learned to trust in him, but was her trust misplaced?

  Suddenly, he regretted calling the Matchmaker. He’d agreed to meet her this afternoon because he’d been afraid Lucy might never wake up. Now that she had, he wasn’t certain he should parade her about in public. Her appearance hinted at more than the Rabbit. If he perceived the change, others would too. Like that bastard Snake.

  “Why did this happen to me?”

  “You remember our discussion about the Three Treasures?”

  She nodded.

  “Those three kinds of energy—jīng, qì, and shén—are connected. You can convert one form of energy into another. Jīng into qì, and qì into shén. When we, when I…” Hell, the memory of his fingers inside her sweet pussy had him fighting against getting hard. And losing.

  He nipped at her ear, devouring her taste. Sighing, he drew his mouth off her sweet skin. “I must have also released some of your sexual energy—your jīng—and converted it into shén—spiritual energy. That catalyst triggered this spiritual entity inside you to come forward.” He smirked. “Guess we awakened the Dragon.”

  Her small hand pressed against his pec. The caress of her skin against his flared his hunger to unbearable proportions. It was either get out of here or fuck Lucy right now.

  Impossible, until he was certain what set off this transformation.

  “Get dressed.” The command rumbled from his chest, and he fought against himself before leaving the bathroom.

  He waited for her in the living room, pacing the length from kitchen to terrace and back again a dozen times before she emerged. A groan resounded in his chest at the sight of her plump breasts squeezed into a tight bodice top, her body wrapped in a leather skirt that barely covered her ass. Painted like a co-ed hitting the nightclubs, she wore more makeup than he’d ever observed on her face. What the fuck was she playing at?

  “No bloody way. Go back and put on something else.” He scraped his hand along his jaw. She was damned hot. In that outfit, any man with a pulse would ache to bend her over and…

  Yeah, she wasn’t ever going out in public dressed like that. For him in the bedroom, maybe, but the Lucy he knew wouldn’t enjoy that particular brand of attention from strange men. The lewd images spinning through his mind and hardening his cock were proof enough of the vulgarity she’d attract. Men were fucking pigs. On these streets, in that outfit, the cat calls alone would bring her to tears.

  And then he’d have to castrate every one of those motherfuckers.

  “What’s wrong with…” She stared down at her clothes, frowning. “Oh.” A blush crept into her cheeks, making him even harder.

  Although she aroused his body, she didn’t have to dress seductively to attract his mind. A woman who fla
unted her beauty was one thing, but the effortless innocence of Lucy’s aura?

  It nailed him. To the wall. He wielded no defenses against that.

  The women he’d slept with made no attempt at false pretenses, tossing their sexual prowess in his face. Lucy didn’t even have to try and he acquiesced to her silent beckoning.

  “Yeah, you should probably wear something less stripper-ish.” He grinned and she eased, smiling back at him.

  “Good idea.”

  She vanished from his view again, and he braced one arm against the wall, attempting to cool his boiling blood. After their visit with the Matchmaker, Lucy would be in his arms again.

  Damn, but she was worth waiting for.

  ***

  Lucy tugged the tight skirt down over her hips. Whatever had possessed her to dress like a slut? Somehow, she’d taken the modest pieces in her closet and thrown them together into a prostitute’s outfit.

  Searching her closet for a more appropriate ensemble, she selected a sleeveless, green silk blouse and black capris. The material smoothed over her skin as she slipped it on, and she blinked to stop her eyes from sliding shut and indulging in the sensation of being enveloped in velvety softness. Yikes, her body was on edge, aroused from her last encounter with Sheng and even more by the virility of the man waiting in her living room.

  Dragon was a hussy. This surge of confidence in herself and her appearance was hard to control. One minute, she’d burst with brazenness, the next, ooze Rabbit’s timidity. Despite this fluctuation, Rabbit submitted to Dragon and the two seemed in harmony.

  How was this even possible? She fought against wearing a pair of three-inch heels her hands gravitated toward and, instead, slid her feet into a more sensible pair of platform dancer’s shoes. The shiny black pair boasted thick, sturdy heels and the firm clasp would prevent her ankle from twisting if she had to run.

  Wait, what? Why would such a foreboding notion pop inside her head? They were meeting with the Matchmaker. No need to plan for the worst.

  Right?

  She shook off her jitters and met Sheng in the hallway. What was going through his mind? When their spirits had first met, he’d been so disappointed—had even growled at her—to learn she wasn’t the Dragon. Now that she was, how would he regard her? She tensed, but he didn’t treat her any differently as he kissed her forehead and led her out the door.

  Whew. Nothing fazed him. She leaned into his arm, accepting his strength as hers. Trusting Sheng had come as the most natural decision in the world. After everything they’d been through, even her fears about this new development didn’t muddle one fact.

  Sheng would protect her with his life.

  They took a taxi into the middle of George Town, and pulled alongside the curb in front of a shop squeezed between two larger ones as if it were in the process of being swallowed.

  The bright red overhang read Happy Fortune Telling and Tea Leaf Reading in bold, crimson Chinese characters. She arched a brow at Sheng, but he winked and helped her out of the car.

  Inside, the dim store proved her theory of it gradually being consumed. A young girl wearing a traditional Chinese dress led them, single file, down a short corridor to the table in the back.

  Incense stung Lucy’s nostrils, more stringent than the blend perfuming the temples of Kek Lok Si. Cheap was the first word that came to mind. Why on earth the Matchmaker insisted upon meeting them in this rundown establishment baffled her. She must have access to dozens of tea readers at her office, unless…

  “Who are we hiding from?” she whispered to Sheng, one hand smoothing her hair to ensure the feathers remained concealed.

  He opened his mouth to answer, but the corridor ended. A figure rose from a table crammed into the far corner of the tiny room.

  The Matchmaker.

  “Lucy, Li.” She greeted them and Lucy copied Sheng, dipping her head.

  The Matchmaker’s keen inspection roamed over her. “I see you’ve made some changes.” Her tone was dry, her perusal acute. “Please sit.”

  Lucy followed the sweeping hand with the long red nails and claimed the seat to the Matchmaker’s left. Sheng took the right.

  Instead of observing her closer, she addressed him. “You risk much by bringing this to me instead of the Council.”

  He exchanged her direct stare with one of his own. “I don’t trust them. I trust you.”

  Lucy flinched at the subtle reminder that the two of them might have once shared more than just an alliance. After Sheng’s claiming of her last night, she suffered a smidge of possessiveness. Shoving her jealousy aside, she focused on Sheng’s declaration. Despite the sarcasm pinging back and forth, it was true. He did trust the Matchmaker. He never would have brought her here otherwise.

  The Matchmaker’s crimson lips curved. “You are probably right. Well, let’s have some tea, shall we?” Her focus shifted to Lucy as she seized the small clay teapot from the center of the table and poured the fragrant liquid into Lucy’s cup. No one else’s.

  Lucy waited a beat. “Just me?”

  “Yes. Yours is the only reading I’m not sure of.” Again, the Matchmaker’s cunning inspection flashed to Sheng.

  Lucy seized her teacup. Bringing the rim to her lips, she sipped the floral liquid, glad it tasted better than the incense inside this establishment smelled. Once she’d swallowed the last drop, the Matchmaker snatched the cup from her hands, examining the leaves at the bottom with a critical eye.

  “Interesting…and inconclusive.” She leaned back and sighed.

  So much for answers.

  ***

  “That’s it?” Sheng leaned forward and snarled at the Matchmaker. “Look at her!” He waved a hand toward Lucy. “Something else is inside her, don’t you dare deny it.” He lowered his voice, glancing around the room to ensure they were alone before speaking. “I think it’s the Dragon.”

  The Matchmaker flinched. “I agree her aura is clouded, but to be blessed with two spirits? Only a Shèhúnzéi—a Spirit Thief—can do such a thing, and Spirit Thieves are rare, indeed. To imply she had contact with one, or is one herself, is preposterous. I cannot fathom why the Jade Emperor would—”

  “Well, he fucking did.” Tiger lurched forward and Sheng let the beast cloak him for an instant.

  The Matchmaker’s widening eyes were reward enough.

  “What do you make of this, huh?” He peeled back the strands of Lucy’s hair, revealing one long, reddish-gold feather.

  The Matchmaker’s crimson lips parted in surprise, but she resumed her mask of cool too quickly for his liking. He narrowed his gaze on her. In fact, she was acting far too unruffled, even for her ice queen status. Yep. He squeezed his hand into a fist. He’d bet Tiger’s tail she’d known something was up with Lucy from the start. Maybe even how she hosted both the Rabbit and the Dragon.

  Fuck. That had to be why the bitch had told him to stay out of Lucy’s pants. The release of Lucy’s sexual energy had coaxed out Rabbit and awakened the Dragon. Double fuck. If he guessed right, the Matchmaker knew Sheng had been inside Lucy’s pants.

  He shifted in his seat and scratched at the back of his neck.

  “Until I view concrete evidence, I cannot make such a bold assumption.” The Matchmaker spoke the words, but the curve of her lips sang a different tune. She was meddling, all right, in typical Matchmaker fashion. For once, he was grateful she stuck to her games and didn’t call him out on his disobedience.

  She straightened her posture and swirled the contents of Lucy’s mug to erase the reading. “We’re finished here.”

  “Finished what?” A menacing inquiry demanded from the corridor.

  Fuck. How the hell hadn’t he detected anyone sneaking up on them? Sheng shot to his feet and whirled to greet the intruder.

  Boar. Crap. Snake must have sent Boar to spy on Lucy after their meeting at the Council Chambers.

  “Just having tea, mate.” Sheng grated the greeting, fists clenched at his sides. On edge, Tiger readied to po
unce at the slightest provocation.

  “Funny. I heard talk of dragons.” Boar folded his arms across the expanse of his chest, stretching to his full height. A flash of the beast inside flared in his eyes.

  “Must have heard wrong.” Sheng brushed him aside, lending a hand to help Lucy to her feet.

  “No, I fucking didn’t.” Boar shoved him, knocking him straight into Lucy.

  Sheng tumbled on top of her, shattering the chair and smacking them into the floor.

  She cried out, making him panic for a second that he’d hurt her, but she brushed away his probing hands. He didn’t get off her, so she swung at him, the blow propelling him aside as if he weighed nothing.

  Landing on his side, he twisted to catch sight of Lucy surging upward. At first, the cloaking around her blurred, the spirit animal indistinguishable. Until two massive, leathery wings spread from either side of its body. Plumes of red-gold feathers sprang from the spirit’s head, elbows, and knees as it rose to fill the tight space. Its lionesque head brushed the rafters and the tips of its wings scraped the walls as the beast unfurled its long, snake-like body. A Chinese Dragon, the animal closely resembled a serpent except for its four legs.

  His jaw dropped. Dragon had just made its appearance.

  He cast a smug smirk at the Matchmaker, but her attention was glued on Lucy’s transformation. Her nails dug into her crossed arms as though she held herself back. Why wasn’t she helping?

  Any triumph he’d experienced evaporated. He switched his focus to Lucy. The secret was out long before they’d determined a plan.

  Lucy was in danger.

  Boar squealed at the sight of the Dragon.

  Sheng had to contain this mess. Boar had already spied too much and they’d be screwed if he reported this back to Snake.

  He charged toward his enemy’s middle, tackling him to the ground. Tiger cloaked him, lending him the use of razor-sharp claws and teeth. Just as he was about to slice through Boar’s jugular, the swine freed his leg and thrust his foot at Sheng’s middle.