Shifters of Grrr 1 (54 page)

“Not opposing,
complementary
. One cannot exist without the other. Together, they create
balance
.” Stray hairs fell across his eyes as he observed her with the subtle intensity she’d come to associate with him. Her fingers curled into her palms, concealing her yearning to brush back those locks.

Instead, his fingers raked them back as he strode to the altar at the front of the temple. “Here.”

She peered at the stone tablet he offered her, her lips parting.
Mom and Dad.

Her hands trembled as she accepted the small tablet and the framed picture. Replacing them on the altar, she covered her mouth with a shaky hand and stared. Her parents had opened their seaside bakery and gelato shop when she was seven. The first day, it had poured and they hadn’t had more than a handful of customers. Yet, in this photo, her parents stood on either side of her with the biggest smiles on their faces. It’d been Mom’s dream to own a bakery. Dad had been so proud of her, reveling in indulging her.

“Where did you get this?” The only copy had been in her luggage, in her apartment.

“You could just say thank you like a normal person.” He winked as though he found her accusation amusing.

“Like a normal person who happens to have long furry ears and a fluffy bunny tail, you mean?” She wrinkled her nose. “Or like you? A smartass, thieving, savage—”

He leaned in, his British accent thick. “I prefer
beastly
.”

***

Sheng smirked at Lucy’s response to his lips by her ear. Her skin shivered and her cheeks flushed. As she stepped backward, and her expression flustered, he backed off too. Keeping physical distance from her might enrage Tiger, but it’d be better for both of them until she accepted their world.

The defensive technique had served him well, shifting her focus from the pain of losing her parents to indignation over him scoping out her belongings.

Grief was an emotion he understood too well. Anger was easier to deal with than pain.

He handed her a joss stick, mimicking how to light it. “For your parents. Anytime you want, come in here, light one of these, and remember them.”

The second he explained the purpose of the incense, her keen gaze flicked to the other lit joss sticks. The other three tablets.

Dammit.

“Who are these—” She jolted, regarding him with wide eyes. “They’re yours? Your family?”

Great.
Now
there were fucking tears glistening in her eyes. Not for her family, but his. For him. It took everything in him to turn away, to not crush her in his arms.

“There aren’t any pictures.”

When he didn’t answer, she let her question drop. Thank fuck.

“I, ah…I saw something. With the Matchmaker.”

He spun around, one brow lifted. “Did you now?”

Her hands twisted the fabric of her skirt as she shrugged. “A white paw, overtop my hand. Even if I bought into this,” she waved an elegant hand around the temple, “whole Zodiac concept, though
I’m not saying I do
, what do you want from me?”

Clever how she added in that clause of skepticism. He’d been right not to tell her the truth about her arm. She wasn’t ready and he refused to risk Lucy bolting or worse.
Baby steps.
This wasn’t his first time around the block, introducing someone to their spirit animal. Still, her admission was an improvement. “We’ll join together and seek out the Plague God.”

“Who exactly is the Plague God? I don’t recall any stories—”

“That’s because the myths don’t speak of him. Except once, and that story doesn’t even name him because people are superstitious that addressing the Plague God by name is like inviting him into their homes.
We
call him Wen Shen. Good news is, he can only ever be released on September ninth. Nine nine,” he added, referring to the month and day. Number patterns had a tendency to acquire superstition in Chinese culture.

“The Double Ninth Festival?”

He blinked, impressed she’d heard of the celebration. “Yeah, that’s right. Nine is a
yang
number, and that date has too much
yang
—leading to imbalance, the potential for danger and, unfortunately, the occasional release of the Plague God.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Someone released him?”

“More than once.” He nodded. “The Bubonic Plague in Europe in the sixth century, the Black Death in Europe in the fourteenth century. Cholera in Russia in the nineteenth century, the nineteenth century worldwide influenza pandemic, and now the Red Death. You get the idea. Anytime any jackass released that motherfucker, the world went to shit.”

“Until the Chosen stopped him?”

“Yep. Come with me.” He led them out of the temple toward Turtle Pond. “See him?” He pointed to
Áo
. The largest turtle in the pond, he’d been around since the formation of the world. Legend claimed he carried the islands of the Eight Immortals—
Pénglái
,
Fāngzhàng
, and
Yíngzhōu
—upon his back. Metaphorically, no doubt. He wasn’t
that
big.

“Ah, okay. I see him now.” She smiled and stretched her hand upward to, once again,
pet
the giant turtle. “He’s beautiful.”

To those who didn’t believe,
Áo
looked like any other reptile. To him, and now Lucy, he displayed his actual, enormous size—about that of a minivan—and the dozens of intricate Chinese symbols carved into his flesh that radiated a bluish phosphorescence. The monks claimed he used the symbols to travel between oceans, but Sheng had never witnessed him do it.

“I bet you can read my card now, too.” He plucked one from his pocket and flashed it in front of her.

She snatched it from him and peered at the script. “
Li Sheng. Chosen of the Tiger. Kek Lok Si.
Huh, and here I assumed you’d provide useful contact information.” Her sultry smirk faded. “If what you say is true, why doesn’t the Jade Emperor intervene?”

He glanced at her, hedging. “You’re not going to like my answer.”

She placed a hand on her hip. “Try me.”

“
Yin
and
yang
. Life and death. You can’t have one without the other. Imagine the world population if it’d never been culled back.”

She gasped, horror in her eyes. “He
let
this happen? That makes him just as monstrous.” Tossing her hands into the air, she stormed down the path.

He jogged to catch up, snared her arm, and spun her around. “Hey. It’s hard to accept. I get it. We don’t make the rules. We just enforce them.”

“Well then, let’s go.” She waved her hands around in the air. “Where is this Plague God hiding?”

He grimaced. This conversation had belly-flopped. “It’s not that simple. We have to wait for the Jade Emperor to send us the other Chosen.”

“Why? There are five of us. Can’t we take on one measly Plague God?” Her nose scrunched in that cute little rabbit way of hers.

Clasping her hand, he softened his tone. “No. From what I’ve read, he’s one twisted motherfucker. He’d chew us up and spit us out before we could even get near him. Five Chosen, alone, isn’t enough to combat his rotten-ass powers. If I had my way, I’d secure all twelve before even going near that son of a bitch.” He curled his finger under her chin. “Despite what the Matchmaker told you, we’re never going to stop smuggling the vaccine. I promise. When Mei discovered she could use the immunity in Chosen blood to engineer a vaccine—”

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“Chosen are immune to every virus, including the Red Death. Thanks to Monkey, we have a vaccine we can smug—”

“My parents
died
, and this whole time, I had the vaccine
in my blood
?” Wrenching her hand from his, she violently shook her head.

“We can still save people, Lucy. When the time comes, we’ll go after the Plague God. Together.”

“No. I’m tired of waiting. Of standing by and doing nothing while people are dying. I did not come here to be the clean-up crew for some sadistic god’s excuse for massacring innocent people.” A second before she stormed off, tears pooled in her eyes. It was like watching every foundation block he’d carefully assembled come fucking crashing down. A landslide he could do nothing against but brace himself.

Sometimes, a person had to be torn down before they could be built back up.

CHAPTER TWELVE

During the next two weeks, Sheng kept his distance from Lucy, ignoring the burning twangs inside his chest. Every day, he steeled himself as her driver pulled up to the temple. She would glide out of the car, unfailingly wearing a slip of cloth he wanted to tug off.

With his teeth.

She’d change in the locker rooms while he’d give one last go at a punching bag so, when she emerged, he might feign some semblance of collectedness.

Today, he threw his last punches as she stepped out in the black tee and pants uniform his
Kongsi
wore. Except on her, the sleek fabric stretched across her curvy breasts and molded to the sensual sway of her hips, making it damn hard for him to focus on anything else.

“I’m ready.” She walked toward him, hugging one arm across her body.

He hadn’t expected her to return after their blow-up, but she did. Whether Rabbit coaxed her or Lucy sought answers for herself, so long as she kept coming back, he counted it as a win.

Right. He shook himself and snatched his clipboard. All week she’d been improving her times on the obstacle courses. The rock wall and the pool required further progress, though. The Matchmaker kept a strict record of their abilities. Her rigorous plan of physical training as well as meditation, pushed all of them to their limits.

Whenever and for whatever reason the Council issued a command, they’d be ready. The warrior spirits might be millennia-old, but the host-bond with their human Chosen required a masterful level of control. Which Lucy lacked.

Each time he’d reported her progress to the Matchmaker, he’d received a serious tongue lashing. He’d yet to pluck this morning’s barbs from his ass. As a result, he grumbled, “Into the pool.” He jerked his head toward the Olympic-sized belly of water in the adjoining room.

She tugged her t-shirt over her head, revealing the one-piece swimming suit beneath. “Sure,
Master
.” She’d taken to calling him that, but whenever she uttered the term of respect it never resounded through him like it did with the others.

Because Lucy rolled her tongue in a sensual manner over the word “Master.”

Vixen.

Keeping his hands off her made Tiger fucking whimper in misery, but Sheng required Rabbit’s trust and he hadn’t yet learned enough about Lucy to satisfy his craving. Understanding what made her tick would be his best chance for gaining Rabbit’s fealty.

Only then would he have a shot at changing her perspective.

She slipped out of her pants, revealing her sexy ass, and dove into the pool. Sheng forced his focus to his clipboard, clicking his stopwatch and scribbling the time as she completed each lap.

Panting, she climbed out of the pool and snared a towel from the rack to dry off.

He pretended not to notice the slick moisture cascading down her body or how luscious she appeared when wet. How it made images pop into his head of making her wet in other ways. Clenching his jaw, he scrawled her last time into the box and jerked his chin toward the rock wall.

The first time he’d told her to climb, she’d gaped when he’d refused to harness her. They didn’t use ropes. Shouldn’t have to. The spirits within each of them augmented the strength in their bodies.

They were faster. Stronger. More agile.

If he’d given her a rope that first day, she would have never learned to trust in her capabilities like she was beginning to.

Lucy pegged her foot in the first foothold and reached for another.

Mei hung upside down from the ceiling, coaxing her upward. The rock wall didn’t end at the rafters. The training course continued across the entire length of the ceiling with rods for handles like monkey bars.

Monkey fucking loved it. Mei would spend her entire day swinging from the rafters if he permitted her.

Lucy quickened her pace, ushered by Mei’s instructions. The two of them were becoming fast friends. Mei made the most progress with Rabbit. The furry little devil revealed itself to Monkey, and even greeted Ox and Rat.

But Tiger? Yeah, fuck that. The second he stepped into the room whenever Mei and Lucy were meditating, all he’d catch was the retreating blur of white fur.

While her assimilation pleased him, it was bloody hard when she wouldn’t cloak for him.

A few more days, Tiger.
He coaxed the beast to settle. Lucy wasn’t there yet, but she would be.

Soon.

***

Lucy hauled her body up the last hold, arriving at the ceiling.

Beside her, Mei laughed, hanging upside down from her ankles. “Great job. Let’s swing across.”

Damn. She hated this wall. The muscles in her hands burned. Her grip was sweaty, uncertain.

Mei loved climbing, but it was in her nature as Monkey.

Rabbit would much rather be safe on the ground.

“Easy,
tùzi
. We’ll be done soon,” she murmured, still unused to the idea of a spirit inside her. Mei said speaking to them helped even if they never spoke back. Since Rabbit was a timid creature, the more Lucy spoke to it, the more Rabbit showed itself.