Dragon Her Back (Entangled Covet) (16 page)

Suddenly, Li shifted into his water dragon form and struck Darius with all the lunging power and muscle he had in his taloned dragon’s fist. It was a strike no human could bear, and Darius had no chance to shift himself. He flew across the grass and landed hard on his back. The broken red cord hung from his slack arm.

Leo exclaimed and pulled Tee into his arms, making her release her hold on Mei.

Still Darius didn’t move.

Mei ran to him, not feeling the ground under her.

Dragons in human form screamed and ran back into the shelter of the casino. Their panic spoke of their long held belief in the unbridled treachery of the water dragons. They were right, it seemed. Slippery and treacherous was the water dragon.

Alec’s men shifted into their dragon forms and roared fiercely from the perimeter of the roof.

“Don’t you dare be dead.” She sank to the grass beside Darius. “Oh God, oh God.” She put her ear to his chest, hearing the strong beat of his heart over the chaos around them. His breathing was steady, too. He was just stunned, out cold from the devious punch from Li’s dragon.

A roaring she would recognize anywhere sounded behind her.

Li.

She stood, putting herself between Li and Darius. Li’s water dragon grinned down at her with toothy fangs, all primal beast. But then, he was a beast in either form.

In her mind, she was back in the Triton house, on the Crescent Islands, cowering behind the sofa to avoid his kicks. She forced the fear away and reached deep into her reserves for strength from her dragon.

“You bastard!” She screamed the defiant words at him that she hadn’t been able to then.

Your lover is not so strong, Mei,
Li taunted.
Not as strong as me.

“I’ll kill you!” She realized her words were true with a slight shock. With Darius vulnerable at her back, and nowhere for her to go, she wanted Li dead. Not just wounded. She wanted him to never return to haunt them. She wanted him dead for the future. She wanted him dead for the past.

Li laughed in her head.
I
’
d like to see you try.

Mei pulled into her dragon form even as her human mind frantically considered the consequences. What did it say about her that she wanted to kill him?

Her dragon didn’t care.

She shifted in a heartbeat and lunged at his front side, biting at his neck, feeling the taste of his tacky blood in her mouth with zeal.

He would pay for hurting Darius, and for hurting her. She closed her eyes and used her dragon strength to hang on and pierce his vulnerable underbelly with her talons.

Li roared and swatted at her, but he was slower, and she flitted above him left and right, and then jumped on his back. She threw her tail around his shoulders and sank her talons and her teeth into the back of his sinewy neck.

Li’s dragon craned his head, trying to dislodge her, but Mei used his backward reach to sink her teeth in deeper. The gratifying tear of muscle and cartilage crunched between her jaws.

Yes
, her dragon roared with no thought of mercy.
I will kill you
.

She spit his blood and flesh out on the ground. Satisfaction for the harm she caused him pulsed through every cell of her body.

Li staggered forward. His tail thrashed, overturning chairs from the gala with the momentum.

He straightened on his hind legs and shook hard, but she sunk her teeth into his throat again and again. He roared to the sky, and a deluge of water fell over the roof. The water blanketed her but didn’t slow her. It ran in concentric waves to the roof edges and spilled down the casino walls before she could reach to it for restoring energy.

The wounds on Li’s neck bled, and his yellow reptilian eyes rolled back at her. If she gave up and didn’t finish him, he would never stop. It was enough to squash any remaining hesitation.

She opened her jaws wide and sank them into his windpipe, knowing that attacking this vulnerable spot was her best chance to end it, even though it left her wide open to his counterattack.

He shook his shoulders, flinging her side to side, and beat at her dragon with his wings.

Pain shot through her hurt arm as his claws tore it open. But she clung on tight with her jaw and talons, thinking of all the times he had kicked her when she coiled on the ground.

Once, he had beaten her with the flat edge of a long kitchen knife, telling if she moved, she would be cut. She bit even harder now, feeling the first rigid contact with his larynx, knowing his windpipe was close.

Li fought back hard. Again, shaking side to side, trying to throw her off, but she tightened her tail around his shoulders and hung on to him with every muscle and ounce of determination she had.

Her claws broke through his leathery scales even as her fangs crushed his windpipe.

Li still thrashed wildly under her, not knowing it was over. He fell heavily to the side and continued to spasm. Even pinned under him, his dragon’s blood dripping over her in bloody torrents, she didn’t release her grip until he grew still on top of her, and his body grew cold with death.

…

“Mei.” Darius crawled across the grass to get to her. Her human form was unmoving in the grass, pinned under Li’s dragon leg. The other dragon lieutenants rushed to his aid and helped to pull her free. He shrugged off their hands, wanting to be the only one near her.

Mei fluttered open her eyelids as Darius pulled her across his lap. She blinked at him several times, as if she couldn’t remember what had happened. He brushed her tangled hair away from her face. “Why did you do that? You could have been killed.”

She frowned and seemed to replay the fight in her head, and then threw her arms around his neck. “You’re okay.”

“I’m fine.” His hand shook as he stroked it down her back.

She could have been gone in an instant. He wanted nothing more than to get away from the dragons and go over each and every scrape on her body to make sure she wasn’t really hurt. Shock sometimes hid injuries.

He looked around for the doctor, but his eyes were drawn toward the side of the patio where Alec stood.

“Get the doctor,” Alec said to one of his lieutenants. Helping arms lifted Darius and Mei to their feet and onto a patio chaise.

The crowd cheered and stomped their feet rhythmically across the roof as if in celebration. The sound crept up his hyper-aware senses with foreboding. They still hated the water dragons. Mei’s defeat and killing of her own didn’t change that.

“Do you think you can stand?” he whispered in her ear.

She looked level at him, understanding filling her face with sadness. “You think they will still turn on me?”

“I don’t want to wait around and see.”

She shook her head and looked straight into his eyes. “I want a life with you. I meant it before when I said I love you. If you still want me, I want to complete our bond, have children.”

“I love you, too.” Happiness squeezed his heart. She was his. He was hers. They just had to make it off the roof and start over somewhere safe. “I want that, too.”

“You were right before,” she said. “We have to stay and see this through.”

He had to smile at her twisting his words back to him. They would likely never be those symbiotic mates who always agreed, they would likely always be scrabbling about something. As long as they were together, he was good with it. “We could wait things out in my room, let Alec tell us what happens.”

“I’m not afraid anymore.” She sat away from him so that a foot separated them. “Li is gone; I killed him.” Her voice was small but victorious. She looked past him to the dead dragon. “I killed him,” she repeated as if not quite believing it.

“You did.”

“Please settle yourselves.” Alec’s voice broke over the crowd, and instantly, all chatter stopped. He stood on the stage from the gala, and all the dragons watched as Lucy in all her red-headed humanness walked to him. He brought her to his side.

Leo walked hand in hand with Tee to stand behind them in support, while Alec’s guards and lieutenants patrolled the crowd. There would be no divisions. Whatever Alec decided, it would be final.

Alec turned back to the crowd. “I’ve made a decision on the issue of the other water dragons.”

“Do you know?” Mei asked him, and Darius shook his head.

“Our people are evolving. Recently, several of us have found our fated mates among the humans.” There was not a sound from the dragons as Alec lifted Lucy’s hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.

“More fated mates could be found among the water dragons. It is in the best interests of our people that we find a way to bring them back into harmony with the kingdom.”

Slight hissing broke out, but was quickly quelled by glares from Alec’s men.

“There will be some among the water dragons who are ready for unity, and some who are not. I’ve been told of unspeakable brutality among them.” Alec’s voice hardened, and he shook his head. “That kind of abuse will no longer be tolerated.”

Mei inhaled and glanced at him before turning her attention back to Alec. She clasped his hand, as if wanting to share her excitement for the changes Alec announced.

“I will begin this process by removing the women and children for care and observation,” Alec said. “The young men and woman who wish to join our dragon guard will be given a guardian to ensure their transition is successful.

The water dragon commanders who have led their fold into treachery and ruin will be given the opportunity to swear allegiance to me and join the kingdom. Those that do, will live out their days on the islands they have chosen as their home.

“After a cooling-off period, I’ll evaluate each case to see that all have been treated as fairly as possible. Aiding me in this transition will be my trusted lieutenant Darius Dachien and his rightful mate, Mei Chen.”

Happiness flared in Darius’s chest. This was a future he could not have hoped for: a future with Mei, safe and rewarded for her loyalty to the king, and in a position to help her people find the right path.

“How about that date now, Ms. Chen?” he whispered in her ear. “You. Me. And an island in the middle of the ocean?”

Tears sheened her dark eyes, and her smile lit her face. “Yes!” She slid her arms around his neck and held tight. “Oh, yes.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The luxury yacht in the South China Sea had been a stroke of brilliance, if Darius did say so himself. And he did, several times.

Mei had agreed with his brilliance and made sure he knew how much she appreciated the gesture to give her a respite from the unification task. As it was, they could boat over to the Crescent Islands for the meetings with the water dragons and leave whenever they liked.

They’d been to the islands twice so far. The water dragons were even more manipulative than the
Book of Dragons
said, and it amazed him how anything good, let alone Mei, had come from their gene pool.

Their first trip over, the dragon fold leader, Donghai, had feigned complete shock that there were other dragons in the world. He made much ado over welcoming them and extending his tribe’s pseudo-gracious hospitality.

They’d spent a full day wading through the hip-deep shit, but Darius and Mei had let them keep their ruse.. Saving face was important, Mei said, and she argued to him privately that it was just the first step in bringing the antiquated fold into the kingdom.

Yesterday, they’d gone back. Mei had vibrated with nerves from the moment they’d landed on the rocky shores. Darius’s increased awareness of her feelings made him more than a little testy as he outlined the unification plan to the water dragons.

Basically, they would obey the king and join the rest of the kingdom—or else.

“Or else?” Donghai had asked.

He crossed his hands in front of him, right over left, and pulled his shoulders back in a way that communicated aggression. Behind him, the line of water dragon leaders mimicked his posture so that he and Mei faced a homogenous, wall-like human formation: all men, dressed in blue ceremonial robes, frowning and communicating their unwillingness to comply.

Mei had seemed to shrink by several inches, curling into herself. She leaned into Darius’s side as if to hide from their displeasure.

It pissed him off to see her so cowed down. He’d lifted a hand and encased one of the men in a solid block of ice. The man’s look of horror was frozen on his face for all to see.

“Or else,” he said the two words with deceptive calm, “I encase every man here in ice… Or, if you prefer fire, a legion of fire dragons will scorch you to the ground.”

Donghai didn’t glance at his suffocating comrade. His eyes narrowed fractionally on Mei, picking her out as the weak point. “Surely, a daughter of the water would not permit such widescale slaughter?”

It was all he could do to keep from crushing his fist into the water dragon’s condescending face.

Beside him, Mei straightened. Though he could still sense her terror, she forced nonchalance. “A daughter of the water would order the attack herself.”

This had ended the revolt of words.

Donghai asked for twenty-four hours for families to say their temporary goodbyes before the fold was separated into three groups: young men and women ready for military training, women and children, and the obfuscating men. He and Mei had agreed to the reprieve and returned to the boat in silence.

Once on the boat, Mei slipped into the ocean without a word for a long swim. Late that night, she returned to their bed soothed and calm, and whispered to him in rote fashion of the atrocities she had survived on the islands. His fury became so fierce that he wanted to stop her words, put his hands over his ears like a child.

He could only think of killing Li all over again.

Her quiet reminder that if she’d lived through it, he could listen, was humbling. So, instead of flying into a rage, he’d listened, stroking her back with one hand, while discreetly clenching and unclenching his fist with the other. After the initial onslaught, her stories had only trickled out through the night, bubbling up, then retreating, like an unchecked tear.

God he hated the fuckin’ water dragons.

…

The sound of water rippling near the boat brought Darius’s attention to the present. From his vantage point lounging on a deck chair, he peered over the side to see Mei sliding in and out of the waves. Her slight form was agile and graceful. So distracted was he by the perfection of her that he had no warning when she shot a spray of water at him. The cascade of salt water hit his sun-warmed, bare chest with a welcome coolness.

May I have another?
he teased to her with mind speak.

Mei floated on the surface of the ocean, her shimmering blue dragon’s head bobbing on the waves. She regarded him with what he knew was amusement.
You’ll never come back into the water again, will you?

Fuck No.

He couched his reply with charm.
I can’t say never to you… But once was enough to last me a great while.

Mei laughed in his head and shot from the water. Although she was ungainly in the air, she landed her dragon on the open deck with a light thud. With a gleam of turquoise and blue, she shifted to her human form.

She wore a two-piece red bathing suit he’d not seen before.

Lots of curves on display.

Lots of loopy strings that looked untie-able. He lifted his gaze to her face, seeing that she looked serene and soft. More lovely than ever.

“Well, if you won’t come to me…” The red strings brushed at her hips and ribcage as she walked to him, swaying her hips. “I’ll just have to come to you.”

“Oh yes, do
come.
” He grinned widely at the not so clever double entendre.

Mei climbed over his prone body and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Listen to you, with your mind stuck in the gutter.”

Her right hand stroked down his wet chest, leaving tingles in their wake.

He stretched under her, bringing her knees to either side of his hips. “Nothing wrong with the gutter.”

She rested her round ass directly on his throbbing erection. “What am I going to do with you?”

He gave her a little hip lift and settled her until the contact was snug and enticing. “Anything you want as long as it doesn’t require wearing this.” He pulled the right bow at the side of her swimsuit bottoms, so the fabric gaped.

Pure genius, whoever had thought up the easy access ties and made them fashionable.

“See what I mean?” She feigned disapproval, but smiled all the while. “You just can’t help yourself.”

She kissed him lightly on the mouth, and he tasted the hint of salt on her lips.

“I am a sad, sad case.” He pulled the other side of the suit bottom free.

“Such a waste of hot body and brilliant mind…” Her voice trailed off as he lifted his head to kiss the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

“Good thing you love me anyway.”

“Good thing.”

“You could join me in the gutter?” He pulled the tie between her breasts and lost all train of the conversation as he got a level view of her breasts.

“Deal.” She smiled and leaned into him, giving him the whole of her body and heart. Just the way he wanted it.

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