Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire (Love at Stake) (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

A
fter three more hours of hunting Han, dawn was approaching, so Russell teleported Jia to the last campsite they would check that night.

While she had enjoyed her dinner with Howard and Elsa, he had spent that time teleporting more food supplies to the bat cave and setting up an antenna in the tree next to the solar panels. Now when Jia called her cousin, she would get decent reception.

“Since this is our last stop, I’d better . . .” Jia motioned toward a thick clump of bushes.

“Right. I’ll be up the tree over there.” Russell pointed to a tall tree, then teleported to the top of it so he could look inside the camp.

He was surprised by what he saw. The soldiers were armed and rushing into position as their officer barked out orders. They peered over the battlements, as if expecting an attack. Russell scanned the surrounding area but spotted nothing except Jia emerging from some bushes. What had happened to put these soldiers on alert?

The sat phone in his pocket buzzed, and he checked the caller. Rajiv. The Grand Tiger might know what was going on, but Russell knew better than to take the bait with Jia nearby.

He teleported down to her. “Something’s got the soldiers agitated. They’re staying inside the barricade for now, so you’re probably safe out here to do your sniffing. Even so, I’m worried about leaving you alone.”

“It’ll take me only a minute,” she assured him. “I’ll be fine.” When his phone buzzed again, she gave him a questioning look. “You’re not going to answer?”

“Not here.” He touched her shoulder. “I put my number into your sat phone in case you need to call. Don’t answer your phone unless it’s me. Howard may have passed your number on to J.L. or Rajiv. They still think I kidnapped you, so if you call them at night—”

“Jin Long will try to rescue me,” she finished his sentence. “I know how they are. Go on, so I can sniff around.” She removed a knife from her belt. “I can take care of myself.”

His mouth curled up. “I know.”

She smiled back. “You’re the only one who does know. Everyone else thinks I’m a helpless princess.”

“You are a princess.”

She swatted him. “Go away, cowboy. You’re interfering with my nose.”

“I’ll be back soon.” He teleported to the glacier in the Himalayas. The instant blast of freezing wind nearly knocked him off his feet. Needles of sleet pricked at his exposed face and hands, and he gritted his teeth as he called Rajiv.

“The sun will rise soon,” Rajiv told him. “I want you to teleport Jia back home so she can spend the day here.”

“And then what?” Russell replied. “Will you let her go with me tomorrow night? Or do you plan to lock her—”

J.L. materialized beside him and gasped. “Holy shit!”

Russell smirked. “I knew you’d show up.”

J.L., dressed in trousers and a T-shirt, wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered. “What the hell is this? Antarctica? Where’s Jia?”

“Someplace a lot warmer.”

“What’s going on?” Rajiv demanded on the phone.

“I took a little trip before calling you,” Russell explained. “We’re high in the Himalayas.”

“N-not funny,” J.L. said, his teeth chattering.

“You’re not with Jia?” Rajiv asked. “Where is she?”

“She’s working,” Russell said. “At the last campsite we checked, the soldiers were on alert. Any idea why?”

“Angus and Emma have returned to Tiger Town with a bunch of the guys,” J.L. said, bouncing on his feet in an attempt to stay warm. “We attacked a camp tonight and took all the soldiers prisoner. There are thirty more supersoldiers in the clinic now getting returned to normal.”

“And Emma brought Winifred with her, the warrior woman who can talk to dragons and birds,” Rajiv added. “We’re hoping Winifred and the owl can figure out where the dragon boy is being held captive. And then we’ll know where Han is, too.”

“In other words,” J.L. shouted over the whistling cold wind, “we’ve got everything under control. You don’t need to endanger Jia any more. Angus wants you to return her.”

Russell snorted. “I don’t work for Angus. And neither does Jia.”

“You have no right to put her in danger!” Rajiv yelled over the phone.

“I won’t let anything harm her!” Russell shouted back. The frigid temperature was stiffening his fingers to the point of pain. “You have my word as a Marine. I will keep her safe.”

“If you don’t, you’ll have an army of were-tigers hunting you down!” Rajiv hung up.

Russell sighed, his breath frosting the air.

J.L. grimaced. “Why are you helping that poor girl with her obsession with revenge? Just because you’re obsessed too doesn’t give you the right to endanger her. You’re bloody crazy.”

“Is it crazy to think she should be allowed to accomplish something she feels passionate about? Am I crazy that I don’t believe in locking her up in a princess prison for the rest of her life? She has the right to be herself and find her own destiny!”

J.L.’s eyes widened. “You see yourself as her champion?”

Russell winced. “She doesn’t need a champion. She’s stronger, smarter, and braver than any of you realize. We’re in a business partnership. I need her help as much as she needs mine.”

J.L. inhaled a hissing breath as another shudder racked his body. “We all need the were-tigers. They’re our best ally. If we don’t stop Han and Darafer, they’ll keep taking over more and more territory and killing more humans. The alliance with Rajiv will be totally fucked up if anything happens to Jia—”

“Nothing will happen! I’ll keep her safe. Now get out of here so I can return to her and keep my promise.”

J.L. muttered a curse, then vanished.

Immediately Russell teleported back to Jia.

Five soldiers had gathered around her in a semicircle, while she faced them, her back to a tree. Two had pistols pointed at her; the other three, swords. Russell’s initial shock quickly morphed into rage, first at the soldiers, then at himself. He was the one who had left her alone.

Jia threw a knife at the nearest soldier holding a pistol, then dove to the ground to roll as bullets meant for her tore up the tree. Her knife thudded into the shooter’s chest, and he collapsed. Meanwhile, with vampire speed, Russell wrenched the pistol from the other soldier’s hand and punched him. He dodged a sword, clobbered the first swordsman, then spun around to land a kick on the second swordsman’s head. One soldier lay dead on the ground; three others were unconscious.

The last soldier had his sword lifted overhead, ready to swipe it down onto Jia. She rolled toward him, whipped out another knife, and plunged it into his leg. He cried out, dropping his sword. Russell leaped on him and snapped his neck.

The soldier fell half on top of Jia, splattering her with blood. Russell pulled him off and she jumped to her feet, breathing heavily as she pulled out another knife.

“Are you all right?” Russell asked.

She looked frantically about. “It’s over?”

“Yes. Are you injured?” He inspected her quickly, but she appeared unharmed. The blood on her clothes wasn’t hers.

She glanced at the knife in her hand, then grimaced as she rammed it back into its sheath. “I had to kill again. I hate that.”

“That’s a good thing.”

She frowned as her gaze lingered over the two dead bodies. “How can you say that?”

“If you actually enjoyed killing, you’d be a sick bastard.” He plucked her knife from the soldier she’d killed. “You want this back?”

She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.

Russell wiped the knife clean and pocketed it. Then he retrieved the one embedded in the last soldier’s leg. The design of these knives might be traced back to Tiger Town, so they couldn’t be left behind. He quickly scanned the area to see if they’d left anything that might identify them. Three of the soldiers were still alive, so he dove into their heads and erased their memories of the last hour.

“We should go before they wake up.” He turned toward Jia and noticed she was visibly shaking. What an idiot he was that he’d bragged just moments ago that he could keep her safe.

He pulled her into his arms, and her trembling body nearly killed him. This was all his fault. He’d known the soldiers were on alert.

She grasped his coat in her fists. “Take me home.”

His heart sank. “To Tiger Town?”

“No.” She blinked with surprise. “I meant . . . our home. The cave.”

He stared at her a moment, his chest squeezing so hard he couldn’t breathe. Then he gathered her close and teleported.

They landed in the kitchen area in the dark. He stepped back, planning to light some lamps, but she held on tight to his coat. A shudder racked her body.

“Don’t . . .” She leaned against him, her brow resting on his chest. “Just a little bit longer.”

He wrapped his arms around her. How many times over the last few days had he held her and thought to himself,
Just a little bit longer
?

She nestled her cheek against his chest. “I can’t seem to stop shaking.”

“That happens sometimes afterward, but you were strong and brave when you needed to be.” He rubbed her back, recalling how panicked he had felt after his first skirmish in Vietnam. How heavily the knowledge that he’d killed other human beings had weighed on him. But tonight he had killed with no remorse, feeling nothing but rage that they had dared attack Jia.

What a cold, heartless monster he had become.

She shivered again. “I was so outnumbered. I thought I was going to die.”

Guilt ripped at his heart. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“I told you to go.”

He shook his head. “I screwed up. I won’t leave you alone again.”

“Then how will I sniff out—”

“I don’t give a damn.” He held her tighter, his right hand cradling the back of her head. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

With a small shock, he realized the full import of what he’d just said. Somehow, in the last few days, Jia had become more important to him than his quest for revenge. “I promised everyone I will keep you safe, and I will.”

She looked up at him, then touched his cheek. “I can hardly see you.”

“I know.” She couldn’t see what a monster he was. Somehow, miraculously, she still believed in him. He cupped her face and wiped her tears with his thumbs.

She rested the palm of her hand on his cheek. “Thank you for charging to the rescue.”

“Anytime.” He kissed her brow. He continued to caress her cheeks with his thumbs, then slowly his thumb inched over to her mouth. Softly, he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her lips. Her mouth opened.

An invitation. His groin hardened, and his vision went red.

With a gasp, she stepped back. “You must be hungry.”

“No, I—”

“Of course you’re hungry. You used a lot of energy in the fight.” She fumbled along the table till she reached the ice chest. “Let me get you a bottle.”

“I’m not going to bite you.”

“I know that.” She pulled a bottle from the ice. “Do you need it warmed up?”

“This will be fine.” He opened the bottle and took a long drink of cold blood to cool off the onslaught of desire. “I’ll light a few lamps.” He set the bottle on the table and soon had two lamps lit. Glancing down, he winced at the bulge that persisted in his trousers. He looked back at Jia, but she was totally focused on the bloodstains on her tunic.

“What a mess. I’d better wash this before it dries.” She removed her boots and socks, then waded into the river, where she pulled off her tunic.

He sipped more blood as he watched her, still tinted pink from his glowing red eyes. She leaned over, vigorously scrubbing at her tunic. No doubt she wanted to erase the bloodstains, along with the terror of tonight’s skirmish, but her action was affecting him differently. Her movements made her breasts jiggle and agitated the water enough to dampen the camisole she wore. Her nipples hardened as the cool river water soaked through the thin silk.

He turned away. His groin and his vision would never return to normal as long as he was ogling her. He took off his coat and put away his weapons, then grabbed an extra blanket from the bookshelf. As he passed the bed, he snatched his pillow, then continued walking to the far reaches of the cave.

“I’ll sleep here,” he announced, tossing the blanket and pillow on the ground. “You can have the bed.”

“I can’t do that.” She stepped onto the riverbank, wringing the water out of the tunic. “It’s your bed.”

He glanced toward her and groaned. Her wet pants and camisole were glued to her body, showing every dip and curve. “It doesn’t matter where I sleep. I’ll be dead. I could sleep on a bed of nails and not know it.”

“Well, if you insist.” She stretched out her wet tunic on the nearby drying rack.

“I insist.” He grabbed a clean towel off the rack and draped it around her shoulders.

“What—” She glanced down at herself and gasped. “Oh my God, I’m . . . sorry.” Her cheeks turned pink as she clutched the edges of the towel together.

“Go back to the kitchen so I can shower. And no peeking like last night.”

She huffed. “I didn’t—” Her cheeks blazed a hotter shade of pink. “Of all the crazy things . . .” She marched back to the kitchen area and slipped his coat on.

Did she think that made things better? She was in his home, wearing his clothes. This was torture.

A cold shower, that’s what he needed. With vampire speed, he filled the tub and overhead bucket, then stripped and showered. He glanced over at Jia a few times, but she was steadfastly ignoring him, eating chips and studying one of his books.

He’d come so close to kissing her. If his red glowing eyes hadn’t startled her, he would have kissed her. Hell, he might have done more.

She’s engaged,
he told himself for the hundredth time. He’d promised he would keep her safe. That meant safe from him, too. She had a prince waiting for her. He couldn’t screw up her chance for a happy future.

He grabbed a clean towel off the rack to dry himself, then put on the underwear that Jia had washed the night before.
She’s engaged,
he reminded himself again. He couldn’t kiss her. Shouldn’t even think about her.