Greed was a powerful motivator.
“What about their move to come here now, after all this time?” Leo asked.
Wang shook his head. “I don’t know why.”
“We will need the names of your sources,” Leo said unequivocally.
Darius paced back to the window. “We’re missing something. Why now? They’ve got a cushy set up with no interference from the rest of the world. Why risk that?”
“If it’s war they want, we’re well equipped to decimate them again, with only a quarter of our forces,” Leo said.
Darius pivoted hard on his heel and turned back toward the table. “Without the humans noticing?”
“No.” Leo followed his suggestion. “Maybe they know that here, more than anywhere in the world, our hands will be tied by our need to stay hidden from the humans. We can hardly blast them out of the sky without the whole city taking notice.”
“Our cover would be blown, and the whole Sanctuary would be at risk; they would know this.” Darius continued Leo’s train of thought.
They both frowned over the implications.
“But why would they announce they were coming ahead of time?” The question had been circling in Darius’s mind, refusing to land on a good enough reason for them to risk everything.
“Why indeed?” Leo said with a shake of his head.
Fear grabbed hold of him, and his vision wavered. He suddenly had a very good idea why they would warn them ahead of time: to flush Mei out and away from the Crown Jewel.
“Mei. They’re not after Alec,” he said. “They’re after Mei!”
Chapter Seventeen
Mei’s water dragon streaked through the lake water, past the crystal gypsum ledges, hardly noticing the lovely glint. Panic rushed through her veins, making her unable to think of anything except retrieving her jewels and getting back to Darius before the water dragons landed in Vegas.
When Scott had showed her the picture, she had known it was him. Even with the blurry, grained black and white print, with dark sunglasses and his face turned away, as if he knew the photographer was there.
It was in his rigid, upright posture. He was so vain, always telling her to stand up straight, taking a switch to her back when he caught her stooping, and a cane to her hands when she used them in ways that didn’t please him. And his fists to the rest of her body when they were alone.
She knew that Bo Quan was really Li—her husband—and he was coming for her.
It was him. She knew it the way a prisoner knows every nuance of their jailer.
Gauging Li’s body cues had been a matter of survival when she’d been on the islands. She’d learned to stay silent when he might raise a hand. How to make conversation when her silence might grate on him.
Sometimes, there were no clues, and he’d beat her ruthlessly for no cause and with no warning. Those beatings were the worst, the ones she didn’t expect. They made her question over and over what she’d done wrong. Even as he struck her, her head would be full of “why, why, why?” and, “I’m sorry, sorry, sorry.”
Eventually she had accepted there was no “why”, and if there was no “why”, then there was no reason. If there was no reason, then nothing she did—or didn’t do—mattered.
Not at all.
She had accepted it was her fate because it was the only life she knew. She waited patiently for the day when her mate mark would appear, and they would be blessed with a child, but that day never came.
When his mistress had come to see her, she was more shocked by the woman’s lack of propriety than by her protruding belly, full of Li’s child. Many of the men on the islands had affairs, especially when their mates didn’t bear children. She was actually relieved to know that Li had a mistress, naively hoping the woman might make him happy when she could not.
She should have known that anyone who chose to lay with him would be just as wicked. The mistress wanted her gone, wanted her place in Li’s house. Mei saw the truth then. She was nothing more than a poorly treated commodity, married to keep her under control. Her whole life was a lie. She would never have a proper mate or children. The pain of the revelation had doubled her over to the floor. When she’d confronted Li, he’d just laughed.
She’d escaped, even though she wasn’t a fast or capable flier. She got away from him because he never expected her to just fly away, to take her chances in the unknown world rather than stay with him.
She found Alec and threw herself at the mercy of the aspiring king. But she hadn’t told him about the water dragons—or the truth about herself—only that she was in danger.
Immediately after being with Darius, his mark had risen on her hand. It was a bittersweet moment because she knew that Li might find her one day.
But then so many years passed and nothing. She let herself believe Li was content with his new mistress. In the past few days, she’d really started to believe she and Darius could make a life together.
She’d been a fool.
She’d put Darius at risk, too, when she had tried so hard to protect him by not telling him the whole truth. She was still married to Li, bound to him by all that was holy and dragon, whether she was his true mate or not.
She’d committed adultery, and so had Darius.
It was a crime punishable by death among the dragons. They depended on the mate bond to continue their very existence. They could never turn a blind eye to her actions. She only hoped Darius would be spared, because he had no knowledge that she was bound to Li.
He would hate her when he knew. That, more than anything, had sent her running from the casino. He would never forgive her for giving him her body but not the whole truth of her past, with its myriad secrets. Especially after today, when she had chance after chance to tell him all of it.
Li would expose her and take her back to hell.
She couldn’t survive it again. Not now, when she knew the truth of a real pairing and the joy of finding her true partner. She had to get her jewels and convince Darius to leave Las Vegas before Li arrived.
Mei swam past the sunken swing set and dove straight into her lair.
She found the hidden key in the silt lake bottom and inserted it with her mouth into the lock on the cage. A thudding noise sounded through the water, tunneling to her ears like a warning scream. Her heart sprang into overdrive, and she fumbled the key, dropping it in the mud. She scrambled to recover it.
She listened but heard no more worrisome sounds, just the muted quiet of the deep water. The thud could have been a boat above or a simple shifting of rock.
Reinserting the key, she grasped it gently between her front teeth so as not to snap it. She turned her head to the right, but the lock was rusted with disuse and wouldn’t open. Her dragon banged against the cage in a fit of frustration, and the loud clanging noise was magnified under the water.
Inside the cage, the pearls screeched with alarm. What is it? What is it? they cried.
Shh, she spoke to them and to herself. It will be okay.
Finally, the lock opened, and she gathered the rose, the gray, the black, and the ivory. They were soundless, but, for just a moment, her blood sang at the contact with them against her skin. Excitement and pleasure tunneled up her arms and settled over her heart, urging her to forget the threat and just stay here with them forever.
She had no time for the euphoric reunion, no matter how much her dragon longed for it. Mei placed each jewel in a cotton bag she had brought for the purpose and tucked the bag securely under her webbed wing.
She swam out of the house and immediately upward.
Midway up to the surface, the entire lake quieted to utter silence. The normal zipping and zinging sounds of fish and aquatic life that permeated the water became as silent as a tomb.
She froze in the water, her every instinct on high alert. She wasn’t alone anymore. She made no moves, hovering in the water. The eerie silence made her every nerve stand on end.. Her mind scrambled to formulate a plan. Should she swim up or
down?
Upward, the water would become more transparent with the rays of the sun, and she would be more exposed. She reversed course and dove downward, tracking in her mind to a cave the humans favored for diving. She was so desperate for cover that the prospect of being seen by humans didn’t bother her at all.
Suddenly, something hit her from behind, sending her end over end, hurtling through the water. She hit the edge of an underwater rock shelf with a bone-jarring thud.
Four hulking male water dragons surrounded her. They were distinguishable from the females by their larger torsos and neutral gray markings at their tails and wings.
Mei fluttered her wings to the side, frightened and utilizing too much of her oxygen stores. She could never outmaneuver them. Their massive chest muscles allowed them to swim faster than her.
Hello wife, Li said in mind speak. The words entered her brain with painful stabs, as if he pressed his fingers into her eye sockets. I’m very angry with you. You’ll come with me back home, or I’ll expose your lover.
He knew about Darius. Oh God.
Some part of her believed that Darius really would be safe, even if Li discovered her. She wanted more than anything to warn Darius. She had been wrong to try and shield him, because now he had no idea what was coming for him. She steadied herself before responding.
Of course, She sent the docile message with a calm vibe. I’ll come with you.
Li and the three water dragons struck quickly, grabbing her wings and tail. She didn’t fight them. She knew better. It would just give them an excuse to really hurt her.
Of course, Li parroted her words back to her. Don’t think I’m buying your meek act. You’ll never see the light of day again when we get home.
Of course. She stretched the phrase deliberately. The two words had composed nearly her entire vocabulary on the islands. Horror raced through her as she realized he had never intended to go to the gala, never intended to expose himself to Alec. His message had been designed to lure her away from the safety of the casino. And she’d swum right into his trap.
Did you think I wouldn’t find you? Li taunted. Did you think you could break our laws, and no one would punish you? You have set a bad example for the women on the islands. You need to be publically punished.
Mei forced herself not to react, knowing he wanted to see her fearful and cowered.
Tsk tsk, Mei, he cooed. You know the rules.
The rules never stopped you, she reminded him.
I’d like to see you prove that. Li’s dragon gave her a fangy smile. No one will believe you.
He acted like he wasn’t afraid of the king and didn’t care whether the other dragons knew of the water dragons at all. She thought back to his mistress and the others on the islands, and knew Li was right. Even if the woman had taken her place in Li’s house, no one there would betray Li. They would say she was the bad wife who had run away and committed adultery.
I’ll go with you. But leave the others alone.
You always were a poor strategist. Li laughed in her head. You reveal your weakness for your lover. Don’t worry, I won’t have to do anything. Your king will kill him for me. He’ll have no choice. It is the law. You’re a mated dragon.
No.
Oh yes. His words left slime trails through her mind. You know how ridiculously honorable these land dragons are. Banding together to save the kingdom and worshipping that absurd Book of Dragons. They’ll do anything to uphold its sacredness. It’s the only thing keeping them all together.
She was immobilized at his plan. He would take her back and have Alec kill Darius, too?
I can see I’m going to have to teach you things all over again. Li twisted her wing hard, and pain shot through her body.
The foursome swam her toward the surface, pressing in on her, squeezing her between them, making it difficult to hold air in her lungs. They broke the surface and yanked Mei up between them into the early evening air.
Relief coursed through her when she saw that Darius wasn’t there. The four landed hard on the dock, and her bag of jewels fell to the wood.
What have we here? Li said. His water dragon lowered his head to sniff the bag. Pearls…how lovely.
Her dragon roared in fury, and the dock shifted with her twisting lunge to get to her pearls, knowing what he would do to them. The other two dragons held her firm. The one on her right sank his teeth into her wing and tore it painfully.
You don’t deserve your own jewels. Li lifted his heavy foot and brought it down on the pearls with a crushing weight.
No! Mei fell to her knees, disbelief and agony shooting through her.
The cotton bag lay flat on the dock, her jewels crushed to bits inside. No. The vibration of the pearls that she always felt when near them slipped away to nothing, as if they took their last breath and died. Her heart hurt. Her soul hurt.
No.
Yes. Li smiled at her distress.
He jumped into the air above the dock and flew awkwardly into the air. His body supported by sluggish wings. With each stroke, he rose and then dropped like a leaded weight, nearly to the water.
Mei had worked tirelessly on her flying skills to be able to reach the lake undetected. Her own flying was much better than his was, she realized with a jolt of hope.
It was her only advantage.
Li’s dragon scouted in the air, then signaled back for the three dragons holding her. They leaped from the dock with her, pulling her hurt wing between them.
Mei made her body a dead weight, so that they labored to lift her with them in the air. When they stroked down, she pushed hard on her wings, wrenching herself free and raced for the sky.
A land dragon would have blown by her pace, but the water dragons behind her couldn’t reach her. Li flailed in the air in front of her, and she juked past him, headed for the low clouds in the reddening sky.
Once in the clouds, she had both cover and advantage. She spared no backward glance for Li, or her broken treasure, but flew higher and higher. Gravity pulled on her muscles and bones, and her hurt wing listed, pushing her off kilter so that she had to overcorrect with each stroke. One false move would send her spiraling to the ground.
Her head pounded with lack of air, and her muscles strained to stay aloft. Behind her, she sensed the water dragons in the clouds now, too. Her body fumbled, and she knew she couldn’t keep the pace all the way to the casino.
She needed to land and find somewhere to hide.
The lights of Freemont Street downtown flickered below her. Without thinking it through, she tucked her body and dove down to the one spot she knew.
Chapter Eighteen
Mei landed hard on the pavement next to Freemont Street. She shifted immediately to her human form. Humans around her screamed at the vibration on the ground and looked around for the source, but only saw her: a human woman oddly dressed in work clothes and bare feet.
Mei limped down the street. Her right arm hung painfully from her body, and she braced it to her stomach as best she could. The flashing neon lights of Sterling Club never looked so welcoming. She halted in front of the bouncer working the door.
“Twenty bucks,” he said without looking at her.
“Please,” she said. “I need to speak to Lana.”
“That’s twenty bucks, too.”
“Look, please.” She glanced over her shoulder, waiting for water dragons to drop from the sky and overtake her. The glare of the lights on Freemont Street made the twilight sky appear pitch black and obscure to her human sight. “Can I come inside?”
The bouncer looked into her face, then at her arm. He must have seen something pitiful, because he frowned and opened the door. “You can talk to Lana, and then you come right back out.”
Mei ran inside, the blast of air conditioning chilling her to her still-wet scalp.
She closed her eyes and tried to reach Darius with mind speak.There was no answer, it was as if her call to him floated free like an unanswered telephone ring. Dari
us, please answer me. If you can hear this, don’t go to the lake.
Nothing.
On the stage, Lana herself performed in a black panther suit that cut way under her breasts, leaving her bare chested and in a tiny G-string with a panther tail. She worked the tail between her legs suggestively.
With the beat of the blaring music, she climbed the pole, bent, and flipped her body with ease to the vast appreciation of the mostly male crowd beneath her. They called out to her and stuffed bills in her thigh-high fishnets when she drew close.
Mei moved to the corner of the stage and saw the minute Lana recognized her. She grinned and overemphasized her sexual moves as if to entice Mei.
Come to watch, Lana seemed to say with a curl of her finger. Let me give you something to remember.
“I need help,” Mei mouthed to her and looked nervously at the outside door.
Lana frowned ever so slightly and finished her routine to loud applause. She exited the stage with a graceful bow. A few minutes later, one of the bouncers led Mei by her unhurt elbow to an office in the back.
Like Darius’s office, it was large, but this room was expensively decorated with a dark wood desk and plush visitor chairs. Lana stood in front of her desk, drinking a glass of water. Although she wore a red silk wrap over her shoulders, she hadn’t bothered pulling it over her bare breasts. Her face was still made up in white and black stage makeup that went with her panther costume.
Mei sat down gratefully in one of the chairs, protecting her arm from the movement.
“Don’t sit down.” Lana pulled cash from her thigh highs. She straightened the bills on the edge of her desk, making neat piles of each denomination. “You aren’t staying.”
“I need help.” Mei scooted to the edge of the chair. “I need to get a message to Darius to meet me here.”
“You ever hear of a phone?” She pointed at her desk where a phone sat. “Be my guest.”
“It has to be delivered in person. There’s someone after me, or I would go myself.”
“You need help?” The makeup didn’t hide her snide expression. “From me? A two-bit downtown stripper?”
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