Trancing the Tiger (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 1) (26 page)

“I want you, Sheng.” Not a whisper of uncertainty in her throaty moan.

Good enough for him.

His gaze didn’t leave hers as he slipped a second finger inside, brushing against the resistance with care and precision. He didn’t wish to hurt her. With his fingers of his left hand inside her, he used his right to coax her back to the brink of ecstasy.

She writhed in his arms, and he drew her against him, her breaths hot on his neck.

Her teeth grazed his skin between his neck and collarbone, and he encouraged her, “That’s it, baby, sink your teeth into me.”

A love bite from Lucy would be a fucking trophy he’d flaunt.

He thrust his fingers in and out, gently building a rhythm. The second the first spasm rocked through her, he scissored his fingers apart, ripping her barrier.

She cried out, the sharp points of her teeth piercing his neck like he’d instructed her.

Her small body exploded in his arms, and he continued to work her hard until her pleasure-filled cries faded to simpers. The sounds died on her lips, and she clung to him. Even as he removed his hands from beneath her skirt and wrapped his arms around her body, she didn’t make an attempt to retreat.

Guess he’d cornered her, after all.

A grin tugged at his mouth. He’d given a plethora of orgasms, but no one had ever responded to him as Lucy had. He’d wager she’d never experienced such an intense orgasm. His chest swelled, full of male pride.

At last, she understood.

She was his.

Chapter 20

Lucy buried her face in Sheng’s neck, her mind reeling from the intensity of her climax. She wasn’t a novice in the orgasm department, but she’d never experienced anything as consuming as what she’d just done with him. Between her thighs, her sex pulsed from the aftershocks of her explosive release. Instead of feeling spent, energy hummed throughout her body. As if the sparks between them had just begun to ignite.

And there was a whole world of fireworks waiting to be set off.

If foreplay with Sheng was this good, she couldn’t imagine actual sex. How would she ever recover from
that
?

Strong arms wrapped around her. He scooped her up and carried her out of the garden. She rested her cheek against his chest as he headed back inside and brought her to his room.

He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead before depositing her on the bed and slipping inside the adjoining bathroom to return with a cloth. He wiped the warm, damp cloth between her thighs. The tenderness in his gesture tugged at her heart.

She was no longer a virgin. Sort of.

His half-claiming of her left her mind twisting over what that meant. Him choosing to take her this way screamed one thing.

Possession.

This experience hadn’t been about sleeping with her. It was about staking his claim on her. About making sure she knew she was his.

Wordlessly, he tossed the cloth aside and sank onto the bed beside her, dragging the covers over them both.

She stilled, waiting for him to make the next move. He didn’t proposition her with sex. Instead, he stretched on his side, hauling her back against his front, and nuzzled her neck.

“Good night, Lucy,” he droned.

Good night?
She bit her tongue against demanding what he was doing. It was clear enough. While she might have expected sex, he had no intention of seducing her further tonight. Granted, she was a little sore and, with Sheng’s large, toasty body enveloping her, sleep beckoned her. Heart full of warm, fuzzy emotions, she snuggled in.

His chest rumbled as he draped his leg over hers. Another gesture of control. She swallowed hard. She hadn’t taught him anything tonight. He’d accepted her pleasuring him and one-upped her by flaunting his mastery over her body.

A mastery she just might consider surrendering to.

***

Lucy tugged open her eyes and yawned. Bright sunlight streamed across her face, making her wince. “
Uhn.
” She smacked her hand across her eyes and groaned.

“Lucy?” A deep male voice called, followed by heavy footsteps pounding toward her.

Her temples pounded back.

“Ack, quiet.” She cradled her head in her hands until the throbbing ceased.

“Lucy.” The man called again. No, not man. Sheng.

He claimed me last night.
Her heart sputtered inside her chest.

A furious blinking cleared her vision. Sheng frowned at her, concern etched into his handsome face.

Huh?

He rushed to her side, but paused a foot from her, a wariness in his stance while his dark gaze passed over her. “Are you all right?” As he posed the question, hesitation coated his tone.

Did he have misgivings? She swallowed the stab of hurt in her chest. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d changed his mind about her.

“Lucy?” He knelt beside the bed. Reaching toward her, he halted, but his hand surged forward to stroke her hair back from her forehead.

“I’m fine.” Fighting to keep her voice from trembling, she shrugged off his hand. Why was he peering at her so strangely? Had she pressured him to do something he regretted?

Damn him. He was as responsible as she for everything they’d done together. She flipped onto her stomach, unwilling to discuss it further. Rejection was bad enough when she was fully conscious.

She blinked and focused on the sheets. White? Sheng’s were dark blue.

Odd.

She sniffed and inhaled jasmine. Strange, these sheets smelled like the ones in her apartment.

She sat up.
My. Apartment.

What a way to reject a girl. He hadn’t even planned to wake up next to her. Lowlife bastard. Her fingers gripped her sheets, clutching them to her chest. A flash of bright red caught her eye, and she glanced at her nails. She didn’t recall painting them, but they glistened a blood-red crimson.

Weirder.

“Easy, Lucy.” Sheng addressed her as one did a wild animal. Out of the two of them, he was far more feral…wasn’t he?

Why did he stare at her as though she’d sprouted a second head? She hadn’t, had she? Her hands whipped up to probe her face. Everything seemed normal…except, as she combed her fingers through her hair, the long locks extended past her fingertips, shimmering.

Streaks of red? Gold too?

What the hell? Had he highlighted her hair?

“What have you done to me?” Clutching the sheet, she shot from the bed, backing against the wall. The entire room spun, a chorus of vibrant colors, scents, sounds, movement.

Sheng had done something to her. She was…changed.

***

Fear sprouted wildly from Lucy’s widened eyes.

At least, Sheng was pretty sure she was Lucy. Beneath the honeyed overtone of this new scent, she smelled the same.

Yet, the creature before him had morphed into something else.

Her eyes, normally a solid, impenetrable gold, were outlined with an emerald hue. Thin highlights of red and gold streaked her brown hair and even her skin glistened. By the way her nostrils flared, he guessed her senses were heightened as well. He slowed his rapid pulse while affecting a demeanor of calm. Whatever this was, they’d figure it out. Together.

“Lucy.” He approached her again, hands held open before him. “It’s okay. I’m not sure what happened, but there must be a logical explanation, yeah?” He purred the words, letting the low hum of his voice soothe her.

It worked. Her breathing evened and her heart rate slowed. She worried her bottom lip while regarding him, trepidation in her eyes.

“I’ve got you.” Closing the distance between them, he hauled her against his chest and enclosed his arms around her. He stroked her hair, murmuring reassurances.

Last night, she’d been in his arms, hot and writhing, yet now more than the acute spark of lust commanded him. The instinct to protect her overwhelmed every other impulse.

Lucy had undergone some kind of transformation.

“What happened to me?” The small pleading of her voice fisted around his heart.

“I’m not sure, baby, but I brought you here so the others wouldn’t see.”

“Wouldn’t see what?” She shoved back from his arms. As he shook his head, she stormed into the bathroom.

Her sharp gasp hit him a few seconds later.

He bolted into the bathroom, halting a foot from her. “You’ve been asleep for a long time. It’s the afternoon now. I was afraid waking you would interfere with,” he waved his hand at her, “whatever this process is.”

She probed her cheek, staring at her reflection as though she viewed a stranger. “What am I?”

He crossed his arms, debating how much to reveal to her. “When you accept your spirit animal, it’s not uncommon to experience a heightened state of awareness. Physical changes can follow. Like increased muscle mass…” He drifted off. Ox had gained at least fifty pounds of muscle the day he’d joined with Tiger. Monkey had always been spritely, but she went from scaling rock walls to skyscrapers in one day. Fang’s features sharpened; his speed and agility honed to a blade’s edge.

This transformation in front of him was like nothing he’d witnessed. Had Lucy finally accepted her spirit?

Taking in her new appearance, he didn’t perceive Rabbit, not entirely.

“Why is my hair red?” Peering at herself, she tilted her head. She examined her locks before directing her arched brow at him. “You don’t look too worried. Do you think I’m okay?”

Worried? Hell yes, I am.

Revealing his concern to Lucy would make her more anxious. “I’ve seen transitions like this before. When I accepted the Tiger, my body changed as well.”
Just not as dramatically.

“Red? Rabbits don’t have red fur.” Her nose twitched, a tell-tale sign of the Rabbit that eased his concern…until he recalled the darkness he’d glimpsed inside Lucy.

When he’d fingered her pussy and broke through her barrier, what if he’d unleashed this “other” as well? Fuck. Did that account for the bizarre makeover she’d undergone?

Collecting himself, he tucked a lock of streaked hair behind her ear. “We’ll go to the Matchmaker. She’ll have answers for you.” His lips hovered near hers, and the longing to claim her mouth surged through him. Those now-crimson lips parted in invitation, but he cleared his throat, shoving aside his lust.

“Clean up and, after, we’ll leave.” He placed a chaste kiss upon the top of her head instead.

***

A visit to the Matchmaker? Apparently that was Sheng’s go-to answer for everything. Meanwhile, the woman in the mirror continued to stare back at her, the smirk in her eyes declaring she wouldn’t give up any answers about what had happened so easily.

Lucy shook away her concerns. No one regarded her from the mirror except herself. Searching, she sensed Rabbit and coaxed the spirit forward. The animal held no trace of fear. Whatever was happening to her, the spirit accepted these changes.

Good enough for me.

Adjusting the temperature of the shower, she stepped under the spray, moaning as warm moisture cleansed away her fears. The changes in her body might seem odd, but there had to be an explanation. After every bizarre event she’d witnessed, this newest one shouldn’t alarm her. Sheng looked surprised, at first, but if she were in true danger, he wouldn’t hesitate to protect her.

To fight for her.

A smile tugged at her mouth as she grasped the bottle of shampoo. Strange, how she’d come to trust entirely in someone whose image screamed “dangerous as hell.” But when that lethal strength fastened to her side and declared she belonged to him… Well, he’d made it more than clear he’d die to protect her.

She squirted a glob of shampoo onto her palm and lathered her hair. As her fingers combed the locks above her ears, they passed over something hard. Deeming the dense spot to be a tangle, she tugged and yelped. Not a tangle. She probed farther, following the long, thin thread down to its flared tail and back up again where it rooted inside her scalp.

And then she screamed.

Sheng burst into the room, his dark gaze at once settling on her through the foggy glass of the shower door.

She withdrew her hand from her scalp, trembling as a vision of what it was shocked through her system.

“What’s wrong?” Though she stood before him, naked and wet, angled aside for modesty’s sake, he was pure business.

“In my hair,” she squeaked. “There’s something in my hair.” A shudder rippled through her, and she couldn’t bring herself to touch it again.

He strode straight to her and flung open the glass door, ignoring the spray of water moistening his front. “Show me.”

She pointed a trembling hand at her head. “I think it’s a f-feather.”

He whistled as he brushed aside her hair to get a closer look. “Fuck me.”

“What is it? Can you get it off?” She hugged her arms across her breasts, but his entire focus stayed fixed on whatever had attached itself to her head.

Which she wasn’t really sure was a good thing.

She dared to glance at him, but no disgust rippled his features. Instead, he examined her with a cocked head, his teeth bared in a grin.

“What is it?” She demanded again, more forcefully.

He locked gazes with her. “You’ve grown some plumage.”