Matching Dragons Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 6 (9 page)

Seizing every last ounce of strength, Lok faced off against his enemy. Flames flickered from Xur’s nostrils as he morphed into dragon form. “Come back for more, have you? Can’t you just die, like your pathetic, heartless den mates?”

His skin bristled, but his mind snagged on one word: Heartless.

The one who’d murdered his family had torn out their hearts—which were never recovered.

Blood trickled down his leg. The gash in his belly was deep, and he’d bleed out soon enough. But not before he faced Xur and heard his confession for himself.

Lok raised his head and glowered at his enemy. “It was
you.
”

A satisfied gleam crossed Xur’s features. The bastard wanted him to realize this—murdering his den mates and framing Lok had been his true intention all along. Yet it hadn’t been fulfilling until now.

Until Lok learned the truth.

Xur snorted. “Took you long enough.”

“Why, Xur?” The pain of his grief pulsed through him. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Why not?” Xur scoffed. “Their hearts have sustained me far beyond my wildest expectations. Made me stronger, faster, fiercer.” He lunged forward, slashing his tail toward Lok.

Lok lunged backward, dodging the blow. “You’re a fucking cannibal.”

“And your timing couldn’t be more perfect. Everyone will be quick to blame you for the deaths of another den.” He smirked. “I’ll have the power to sustain me for another century.” His sneer passed to Kadence. “Or longer, since you’ve also brought me such a sweet treat.”

Fucking hell, no. Fury and vengeance pulsed in his veins. Lok roared, surging forward to slash his claws against Xur’s throat, but he was too fast. Xur cut to the side, and Lok slammed into the cave wall. He slumped to the ground, blood gushing from his wound, weakening him.

“Pathetic,” Xur snarled. “Our kindred will be here by morning. By then, I’ll have fed off another den, you’ll be to blame, and I will possess the pearl.”

“The hell you will.” Kadence bolted to Lok’s side and extended a hand toward him, but drew back at the last second. Brows drawn, wariness gleamed in her eyes.

He yearned to reach out, to stroke her cheek, and reassure her, but his limbs were too heavy, his eyelids sliding shut.

“No, Lok. You don’t get to leave me.” She pressed her palm against his cheek.

His instincts surged forward, clawing for that connection. For his pearl. Soothing heat swept over him, sealing his wound like a fire branding the gash shut. Energy zapped through his veins. His eyes shot open and he blinked at Kadence’s lovely, glowing face.

“Come back to me.”

“Always,” he murmured, raising his claws gently toward her cheek.

“No! She’s mine!”

Kadence jerked into the air, dangling from Xur’s tail. Her glow flickered, then brightened again, this time not a soft golden radiance, but a harsh blinding light.

“I’ll never be yours.” She pressed her hands together as though molding a ball of light and shot the bolt straight into Xur’s open mouth.

Spasms rocked his body, jolting his limbs, and his tail, which opened to drop Kadence.

Lok flew forward and caught her, cradling her against his chest as he backed away and shifted into human form.

The electric jolts didn’t stop pulsing through Xur, intensifying with each beat, until cracks of light split his hide like protruding veins. Shrieking a heinous roar, Xur cracked into a thousand pieces and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Kadence shuddered and buried her face against his chest.

Holy shit.

Kadence was far more powerful than anyone could have imagined.

Yet she still would never be his.

Kadence swallowed back a sob, clutching Lok’s chest. Xur was gone. She’d killed him. Somehow, a force inside of her had ignited when she’d touched Lok.

The match had struck, no longer a dud.

She shuddered, envisioning Xur’s eyes. Madness had twisted those green depths. An insanity like she’d never witnessed.

What if Lok hadn’t returned? She squeezed her eyes to block out the horrific image of the torment-filled future that had flashed before her.

He had come back. They’d beaten Xur, together.

But in no way did she feel safe.

Lok is a dragon. Holy hell.

Though his skin was warm against her fingertips, he wasn’t human. Kadence stiffened. “Please, put me down.” She forced strength into her voice.

Lok set her on the ground, taking one step back.

He might be a formidable creature, but so was she. Too many questions swirled in her mind. “You’re a dragon.”

“Guilty.” His lips quirked.

“Can I see you?”

In answer, a shimmering glow rippled over him, transforming Lok the human into Lok the dragon. She gasped and took a step backward, studying him. He stood as tall as an elephant, his azure-hued scales glistening along his serpentine body. Glowing sapphire eyes fixed on her from within his feline-like head. His body was long and agile, graced by two enormous, leathery and paper-thin wings, four clawed feet, and a spiked tail.

“You’re…beautiful,” she whispered, awed. Every inch of him screamed power and seduction, calling to some deep yearning within her. His mouth curled in satisfaction, almost like a cocky grin. Yep, that was definitely Lok.

“This is kind of awkward, but exactly how old are you?”
Please don’t be creepy ancient.

“Old enough to know how to make you scream in pleasure.”

Not an answer, but judging from his thirty-ish human form, he couldn’t be that old. Her cheeks flushed. Okay, so he did have a point. His age didn’t matter as much as their connection.

“Can you breathe fire?”

“Yes, but it requires a ton of energy. We only spew fire as a last resort.”

That explained why he didn’t scorch the other dragon. Both Xur and the princess had called her a flaming pearl. The term pinged in her mind, conjuring up an image of a dragon chasing a ball of light. “Am I what he said I am?” Biting her lip, she focused on the wall behind him.

“Yes.” A flash and he shifted into human form once more. “You are a flaming pearl, Kadence. A powerful being that all dragons covet. Though usually, they take the form of inanimate objects, not humans. You are a rare treasure.”

Wow, that was…a lot to take in. “So it’s true that more dragons are coming for me?” She flicked her gaze to his.

“No.” He cleared his throat. “They don’t know about you. They’re coming. For me.”

“Because they think you did what Xur said. Killed your family?”

He didn’t answer, but grief filled her heart. For his loss. How awful that must have been, to not only lose one’s family, but be blamed for their deaths?

Mel. Yeah, she could empathize, all right.

“I’m so sorry.” It didn’t seem like enough. Even though Lok had learned the truth, it wouldn’t change the past.

“That’s why you’ve been hiding your strength. Why you didn’t save yourself during the Lotus test.” He didn’t answer and he didn’t have to. Her suspicions had proven true. Lok was far more formidable than he’d ever let the world know.

“What are you going to do now?”

He strode to a golden chest beside the wall, lifted the lid, and pulled out something. Though his back was to her, she twisted, trying to watch. The point of a needle glinted against the flickering torchlight. She edged backward, but he transformed into a dragon and plunged the needle into his clawed leg, drawing blood.

Dragon blood. Her lips parted and her hand trembled as she covered her mouth. Shifting back into a human, he faced her, the vial of his blood offered on his palm. “Go and save your sister.”

She stared at the vial, but something about taking it seemed final.

Like, if she did, she might never see Lok again. Her sister had been sick for a long time. A few hours wouldn’t make any difference. But if she let Lok walk away without trying to save him, he really would be lost to her. Forever.

She perched her hands on her hips. “What about after that?”

Pain flickered across his eyes before he lowered his lashes. “Xur is gone, so I don’t have proof.” He shook his head. “It’s the only way,” he murmured to himself, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I have to protect you. Xur may be dead, but every living dragon will hunt you until they claim you. They will kill everything in their path. Your sister would not be safe.”

Every dragon? “What about you? You haven’t—”

“I would.” The ice in his voice raked across her skin. “Make no mistake, Kadence. Now that I’m a dragon once more, I will covet you. Fiercely.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m a dragon, and one thing you should know about dragons is that we love treasures. You, Kadence, are the greatest of them all. You’re a flaming pearl. The only weakness a dragon has.” His eyes swirled, blue mixed with black. “The greatest transgression for my kind is to kill one of our own, but we would massacre each other to get to you. Until you are claimed, you will never be safe. If you are claimed by the wrong dragon, you’ll be locked away. Forever.”

Claimed. Wrong dragon. “You’re going to claim me.” Kadence clamped her hand against her mouth. She tried to swallow and couldn’t, the air frozen in her lungs. After he claimed her, how exactly was he planning to protect her from himself? “You’re planning to sacrifice yourself? No. You can’t do that.” This was crazy talk. The worst plan she’d ever heard. “I won’t let you do that.”

Setting the vial atop the chest, he took one step forward. Then another, stalking toward her. “And I won’t let you sacrifice your freedom.” Leaning in, he inhaled against her hair. “You have no idea what it would be like to be mine.”

She tilted her chin, a shudder quivering across her skin. “Try me.”

***

Her pouty pink lips offered Lok a challenge he couldn’t resist. Suppress and deny as he might, he wanted Kadence. He craved the flaming pearl, but he yearned for the entrancing human female.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a dragon? I would have kept your secret.”

“I wanted you to choose me. Not the dragon or the pearl, just Lok and Kadence.” Speaking the words solidified his resolve. He’d come to care for her, deeply, and he would do everything in his power to protect her.

Even from himself.

As her rosy tongue swept across her lush lips, moistening them to a glisten, his reasoning abandoned him. Lok snared his hand around the back of her head, drawing her mouth to his.

Her sweet gasp and moan sang in his ears while his tongue delved inside her silken mouth. He flicked his tongue against hers, savoring her sweetness, then pulled back. “Would you grant a dying dragon’s last wish?”

“What is that?”

“To love you.”

“Oh, Lok. Yes.” She tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged his mouth onto hers. Kadence was passionate, as fiery as the flaming pearl pulsing inside her. He tasted them both and savored the sweet fragrance of pure power flowing through her veins.

How ironic, to have lived this long, only to die to protect the one thing he would have lived forever for.

Death for a dragon wasn’t the same as for a human. Like Xur, he would explode into a thousand tiny particles to be reabsorbed into the universe. No reincarnation. No
Dìyù
—eighteen levels of Hell—to redeem him for rebirth.

Death was the ultimate end. And yet, his siblings hadn’t even been granted their rightful end. Since Xur had torn out their hearts, their bodies had been left to decay like mere mortal corpses. A vile insult added to the villainous transgression.

Kadence didn’t have to know Lok’s fate. For this moment, he would cherish her as a dragon yearned to. He would commit to memory every second, and if the gods were merciful, their love would form a sparkling cloud in the atmosphere.

She clawed at his shoulder, pressing their bodies closer together. His hardness rubbed against her, desperate to connect.

Funny how the verge of death brought clarity to one’s mind. He’d finally earned her trust, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Not enough to save him, or to give them a future.

Would she have been better off if he’d let those vines strangle him during the Lotus test? No, if anything, at least he could give her the parting gift of his protection.

Lok caressed his hand down her throat, across the full curve of her breast, and dipped his fingers under the hem of her skirt. Tearing aside silk lace panties, he found her silken heat and thrust two fingers inside. Kadence’s wetness slicked his fingers, her whimpers chiming in his ears.

The other dragons would locate them, likely before dawn. But in this one moment, he would claim her. He’d sample everything he’d forbidden himself to crave.

He drew his fingers out of her. “Take off your clothes. Slowly.” Lok stepped backward and sank onto a cushion, spreading his thighs wide to accommodate his throbbing cock.

From everything he’d studied about her, he judged Kadence hadn’t slept with many men who knew what they were doing. Hard and fast, they probably didn’t take a beat to worship the beautiful creature she was.

He wouldn’t make that mistake. Hell, maybe this was his other parting gift. To give her the night of her life.