Trancing the Tiger (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 1) Page 28

  “There, there, sayang.” Xiaodan strode to her side and patted her arm. “It’s for the best. Li never had a place on our new Council. But you do.”

  “I do?” Her voice squeaked.

  “Of course. You are my flesh and blood.”

  She slapped a hand over her mouth as though to stifle more sobs. “Bring me the Dragon. I will place it in whatever host you wish.”

  “Yes, sayang. I know you will.” Xiaodan snapped orders at Boar.

  She sniffed into her uncle’s shoulder. “Is he really dead?”

  ***

  Lucy nearly gagged on her uncle’s cologne. Musk…and evil. She forced the fake tears, playing the weak female he perceived her to be.

  Xiaodan released her and hovered above Sheng. The trance would wear off any second and then… Bang! A surge of energy like nothing he’d ever experienced.

  Sheng would kill her uncle. He had to because Xiaodan controlled the horde of demons.

  Her target was Snake.

  Tiger prowled inside her. Though the spirit had been itching to sink its fangs into Snake’s host for years, death wasn’t Snake’s fate. Not today.

  Xiaodan withdrew a knife from his waistband. “Let’s make sure, eh?”

  What? No! Just as her heart lodged in her throat and panic seized her, a low rumble rent the air.

  Sheng snapped out of the trance, seized the knife, twisted her uncle’s arm, and stabbed him straight through the heart.

  Her uncle’s eyes bulged and his tongue flopped around like a fish out of water, a hoarse cry escaping his throat. He sank to his knees before collapsing onto his face.

  Snake’s jaw dropped as he lurched toward Sheng, but she caught him first. Cloaking the Tiger over herself, she snared his ankle. Drawing upon her Shèhúnzéi powers, she sucked the Snake from him. His shrill cry raised the hair on her arms.

  After snatching up an ornamental axe hung on a plaque inside the corridor, Sheng snapped, “Don’t watch, Lucy.”

  Yet she had to. He brought the axe’s blade down swiftly and efficiently, rending her uncle’s head from his body. The blade clanged against the stone tiles beneath. He tossed the axe aside as both of them advanced on Snake.

  The man stared at his hands, his features twisted in horror. “What have you done to me? Give it back. Give it back!” He lunged at her, but Sheng stopped him with a punch straight to his face, knocking him backward.

  At that moment, Boar returned, prodding a shackled Delun in front of him. The second Boar stepped into the scene, he spun on his heel, fleeing.

  Sheng rushed to Delun’s side, but Dragon’s talons had already sliced through his shackles.

  “Should we go after him?” Delun inquired.

  Sheng shook his head. “The Council will deal with him and Snake. Or should I say, Zhao, since we can’t be calling you Snake anymore.” His lips curved in a superior grin as Zhao cast him a glower of pure menace.

  “The Council.” Lucy rushed past them, inside and up the stairs to the Grand Chamber. The Matchmaker, the Elders, their Kongsi. They were inside. Please don’t let them be harmed.

  She dashed to the doors and wrenched them open.

  A pungent, inky mist choked the oxygen from her lungs. She pressed the sleeve of her shirt over her nose and drove forward until her feet kicked something solid. A leg!

  Squatting, she probed until her hands hooked around a thick waist. She dragged the figure a few feet into the corridor where Sheng rushed past her and inside. She squinted at the man, recognizing him as Phoenix. She slapped his cheek once. He gasped and relief flooded her chest.

  “Lucy?” He choked and coughed into his fist. “Where, what?”

  “You’re safe now, but I have to get the others.” She nodded and dashed back into the room, passing Sheng and Delun dragging two bodies each on their way out.

  Cloaking the Tiger over her, she scanned the room, detecting the Matchmaker. She bounded to the Matchmaker’s side and hauled her into the corridor. The space soon filled with coughing, choking members of the Council.

  After they’d dragged out the last victim, Sheng threw his arms around her, crushing her against his chest. She soaked in his embrace, basking in the warmth of his love.

  “You’re a bloody good actress, Lucy.” He winked before planting his mouth against hers.

  Pulling back from their kiss, she smiled. “You’re not so bad, either.”

  “Now, about Tiger?” His brow quirked.

  “Hmm? Oh, this little spirit? Maybe I like being a Tigress. Rawr.” She raked her nails down his chest.

  The effect she had on him was evident by the hardening ridge pressed into her stomach. “Dammit, Lucy. Not here.” He growled low and claimed her lips, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

  She moaned and wound her fingers through his thick hair.

  A woman cleared her throat.

  Sheng kept on kissing her until a sharp voice reprimanded, “Excuse me, but when are you going to enlighten me as to what happened?”

  The Matchmaker.

  Lucy sighed against his lips, hovering across hers, reluctant to let go. She pushed against his chest enough to note the woman cutting a stare through them. Heat rushed into her cheeks as though she were a child caught in the act of disobeying her parents. In this case, disobeying the Matchmaker’s orders.

  Not to be with Sheng.

  How could this be wrong? Every beat of her heart thrummed with her love for him. As his did for her.

  The finely arched brow and perched hands on the Matchmaker’s hips brooked no dissension.

  Sheng shifted his arm while he regarded the Matchmaker, his head cocked.

  “Why don’t you tell us, Mistress? How you let that devious bitch, the Empress, along with that bastard, Snake, his groupie, Boar, and Lucy’s power-hungry uncle, unleash madness on this world?”

  Her features widened in a rare expression of surprise. She hadn’t surmised anything. How sneaky of Xiaodan.

  The Matchmaker scanned the corridor, left and right. The other Elders had made their way down the stairs. They were alone. “Start at the beginning, Li.” Her commanding tone warned that while she might not be aware of the situation, she’d be damned if she didn’t control its aftermath.

  “Well, it started with Lucy.” Sheng nudged her, giving her the task of storytelling.

  “Many years ago, my father stole the Dragon from Delun and gave it to my uncle. When he disagreed with Xiaodan’s plans, he stole the spirit back. He must have believed removing the Dragon from Xiaodan would stop his schemes.” She drew in a shaky breath, and he squeezed her body in reassurance. “It didn’t. Afterward, Xiaodan took to drastic measures, releasing the Plague God, hoping to force my father to come back to the Council. Instead, Xiaodan got me. His connection to me kept him in your circle, but it was his scheming with the Empress and Snake that destroyed the world…” She lowered her gaze to the ground. “So many lost lives.”

  Sheng growled. “They’ll suffer for it. Trust me.”

  She shuddered in his arms, but the Matchmaker interrupted them once again. “What do you mean?”

  “The Plague God,” he elaborated. “That trio figured out where the other gods had banished him and they were the ones who unleashed him. They’re responsible for the Red Death.”

  “Why?” Lucy shook her head. “What do they have to gain by killing so many?”

  He sighed. “Power, Lucy. For every soul killed, they reaped the evil ones, boosting their ranks. The cloud of demons? Way more where they came from. Stealing the warrior spirits was just one part of their plan. Most likely, insurance that the Chosen wouldn’t interfere with their greater schemes.”

  “What cloud of demons?” the Matchmaker demanded. Sheng rolled his eyes and filled her in, finishing with, “I cut off his head and Snake is tied up somewhere. Boar escaped, but he has nowhere to hide.”

  “I see.” The Matchmaker’s crimson lips pressed together. Whenever she got that look, he could never guess what she was thin
king.

  Except it wasn’t good.

  “I must speak with the other Elders.” She moved to head down the stairs, but Lucy placed a hand on her arm.

  “Wait. Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything, child.”

  “Why did you tell Sheng he couldn’t be with me?”

  Both brows arched before her mouth settled into a smug curve. “I am the Matchmaker, Lucy. That isn’t the question you should be asking.”

  Lucy frowned, crossing her arms. “What is?”

  “Are you happy?”

  “Yes, very.”

  “You love him, he loves you?”

  Lucy angled her face at him and he nodded.

  “Would anything I say change that?”

  “Never.” The conviction in her voice warmed his heart.

  “Then you have your answer.” The Matchmaker strolled away a few steps but, at the last second, pivoted. “If I had simply told Sheng you were his destiny, the love of his past life, you would not be together now.”

  “I was bloody right. I knew we’d been together before, Lucy.” He squeezed her tightly. “And you…you clever, cunning, conniving bitch.” He chuckled.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. Today.” She winked before slipping away, sashaying her hips.

  She fucking knew him too well.

  Lucy tugged on his arm. “What did she mean?”

  He spun her to face him in his arms. “She meant, sweetheart, I would have done anything to contradict her. The best way to make me realize you were mine, to make me fall in love with you, was to order me against it.” He swept her up in a kiss, sampling those once-forbidden lips, which had always been meant as his.

  Mine.

  She pulled back and licked her lips. “I’m sorry I’m not the Dragon you wanted me to be.”

  Loving Lucy came as naturally as breathing. He didn’t need the Dragon or his tight rein of control. Just Lucy. He tipped her chin. “Hell, Lucy. Don’t ever apologize for me being an ass.” Her frown shifted into a smile. “You were bloody brilliant fighting today. You.” He tapped her on the nose. “Not Rabbit, not Tiger. I don’t care if you host the Dragon, the Rabbit, or nothing at all. You mean more to me than even Tiger.” He leaned his forehead to hers. “You’re my balance, Lucy. You’ve always been my balance.”

  With the Ghee Hin conspirators either dead or locked away or off the charts for the moment, his mind drifted to finding the nearest dark corner and claiming her as his.

  Delun shouted from down the corridor. “Li! Get over here. You too, Lucy.”

  Apparently, that would have to wait.

  He groaned against her sweet lips. “We’ll begin this later, yeah?”

  “Begin?” She smiled against his mouth. “Don’t you mean finish?”

  “Nah, Lucy. I’ll never be finished with you.” With that, he plundered her mouth until they both had to come up for air. Reluctance in his every step, he led her toward Delun’s shouting.

  The second Sheng spotted Kassian, Fang, and Mei’s blanched features, plus the grim set of his brother’s mouth, his elation sank. They’d uncuffed Snake’s previous host, Zhao, and the four of them had boxed him in.

  Zhao’s determined smirk didn’t falter as Delun smacked him across the cheek. He rebounded, cutting his gleeful sneer back to Sheng, then Lucy.

  A fucking anchor dropped in Sheng’s gut, weighing down the buoyancy of his buzz at being with Lucy.

  “Ah, you must think I’m going to miss the Snake, right? How fucking wrong you are. I don’t require that pathetic shield, not when I’m on my way to more power than you’ve ever dreamed of.” He tore open his shirt, revealing a chest inked with black, rippling tattoos. “Immortality.” The swirling pattern on his chest moved as though it lived and breathed.

  What the fuck had Zhao done to himself? He appeared almost…half demon.

  If that were even bloody possible. A human demon? Shit.

  “You think this is over?” Zhao chortled. “That you’ve won? You don’t even fathom whom you’re up against.” He sliced one long fingernail into a tattoo. Through the oozing blackish red pus, he removed a glistening bead. He crushed the drop in his hand and the air between them twisted like a tornado, revealing a gaping hole at its center. “The Plague God will return and, when he does, there won’t be anything left for you to save. Bitch.” He spat at Lucy.

  Mei leapt between him and the aperture. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “The hell I’m not.” His shadowy arm shot out to wrap a sinister hold around Mei’s neck. As she struggled, he pulled her to him. “You’re coming with me, Monkey. Anyone tries to follow me and I’ll snap your pretty little neck.”

  Despite being in Zhao’s clutches, Mei winked at them. Ha! Clever Monkey. She’d planned on getting caught, on infiltrating Zhao’s lair. She was far more resourceful than anyone he’d ever met.

  She’d uncover what they couldn’t from the outside. Mei just might be their best hope. Monkey would protect her. Zhao wouldn’t harm anyone he might turn to his side.

  He regarded Delun and caught the triumphant glint in his brother’s eye. Ha! This had been Delun’s plan all along. Guess they were more alike than even their shared blood accounted for.

  Let Zhao escape today. They’d be after him tomorrow.

  With a fucking army behind them.

  ***

  It happened too fast for Lucy to stop. Sheng blocked her path. Zhao snorted in glee, tightening his grip on Mei before he hauled her backward through the black hole.

  The vortex sucked them in, yanking them into its blackness.

  “Mei!” she cried, but Sheng held her back.

  “It’s okay, Lucy. I sent her in.” Delun’s strong voice commanded their attention. “Releasing Zhao—with a prisoner he deems he seized himself—is the only way to get what we require.”

  “Mei is just a kid!” She struggled against Sheng’s chest, but he cinched his arms around her.

  “She’s a lot more resourceful than that,” Sheng murmured. “Don’t forget, Monkey is a fucking genius. Plus, they won’t hurt her, not when they might turn her to their side. His threat was empty, and he knew it.”

  “We didn’t permit Zhao to capture her, Lucy. We planted a mole,” Delun reassured.

  “A mole?”

  Sheng nodded. “Trust me, she knows what to do. That kid is capable of way more than what she appears.”

  “I haven’t spent all these years being Snake’s…what did you call me, Sheng? Lapdog?” Delun chuckled. “Well, lapdog, without damn good reason. I’ve been tracking his movements, just as Mei will now. We’ll go after her as soon as she sends the signal.”

  “Signal?”

  Delun nodded. “I’d never have sent her into enemy territory without a way out.”

  Lucy shook her head, disbelieving the moves these people made. Always one step ahead of where the other planned on being. It was enough to make her dizzy. Luckily, Sheng’s arms were wrapped around her, steadying her. “How did you even come up with this?”

  Delun shrugged. “Mei’s idea. Once we told the other Chosen what happened, they weren’t too fond of dragging Zhao before the Council only to have him receive a slap on the wrist.”

  “It may not be the best option, but it’s better than any alternative.” Sheng laid his cheek against the top of her head.

  “What happened?”

  She whirled about in Sheng’s arms to spot the Matchmaker storming toward them, a flock of Elders flanking her like the formation of birds in flight.

  Pissed off ones.

  “Where is the prisoner?” she demanded.

  Delun stepped in front of Sheng, shouldering the responsibility. “It seems he has escaped, Matchmaker.” He heaved a sigh, appearing aggrieved. “With Monkey as his captive.”

  “Monkey?” Her inspection pierced each of them before landing again on Sheng. “Li, I hope you know what you’re doing. If any harm comes to that child—”

  “You’ll wh
at? Eat my balls for breakfast?” He chuckled while the Matchmaker fumed.

  Instead of answering him, she whispered to the Elders at her side who then retreated down the corridor.

  “Do you still possess the Snake?” This time, her interrogation fell on Lucy.

  She gave a slight nod. “The spirit is hiding. I think Snake is traumatized from being with Zhao for so long.”

  “Indeed.” Her voice dropped low. “Do not, under any circumstances, reveal this gift of Shèhúnzéi to any of the other Elders. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, but why not?”

  The Matchmaker straightened, the flash of hesitation in her features so unlike her usual cool confidence.

  “Another one is in on it. Working with the Empress.” Sheng answered for her and, judging by the look the Matchmaker exchanged with him, he wasn’t wrong.

  “Perhaps. I require more time to follow this lead.” What lead, she didn’t elaborate.

  “Dragon.” She switched her focus to Sheng’s brother. “Welcome.” Her slow appraisal of him ended with a satisfied curve of her lips. “My, won’t you be quite the challenge.” A challenge she appeared keen to commence.

  He crossed his arms over his expansive chest, his massive biceps bulging. The corner of his mouth curved in an I’m-a-hell-of-a-male-specimen-and-I-know-it expression. Oh yeah. Dragon had definitely begun to pimp out Delun. He leaned in to purr, “Think you can handle me, Matchmaker?”

  She toed up to him and murmured, “Why don’t I answer after I’m through with you?” She patted his cheek as if he were a child, smirking, before backing down.

  Guess everyone played this game of cat and mouse with the Matchmaker. No one wished to succumb to her methods, which spurred her harder.

  Like Sheng, for example. She’d read him to perfection. Would Sheng have seduced Lucy if the Matchmaker hadn’t told him she was off-limits? Lucy shoved aside those musings. What mattered now was she and Sheng were in love.

  Point to the Matchmaker.

  A fact she seemed intent on flaunting. “Li, tell me. Now that you have Lucy’s heart, thanks to me, of course, how about the Rabbit? Hmm?”