By the Horns (2 page)

“Ox?”

“Kassian?”

Both Sheng and Nat addressed him at the same time. He scraped his hands down his face, trying to scrub away the image of Natalie Quan, the girl he’d known since she’d been in diapers.

No such luck. She continued to gawk at him like he gaped at her.

“Natalie is a member of my Lotus League.” At the Matchmaker’s declaration, he whipped his disbelief back to her.
Lotus League? Oh, hell no.
Nat would never have joined the Matchmaker’s secret gang of assassins.

Right? He studied her. She clasped her left wrist just below the flowering tattoo of a Lotus. Hot damn. He recognized the tat as one all Lotus members bore, but he couldn’t reconcile Nat sporting the symbol. Hell, but she’d changed. In place of the waif-like girl of seventeen he’d last seen six years ago, stood a woman, with every charm the Matchmaker had apparently bred into her. Her long auburn hair curled to the middle of her back and dark lashes framed her large cocoa eyes. Like his dad, her father was Chinese. Her mother, Caucasian. The combination made her a bewitching beauty.

“You know each other?” Sheng, their leader, questioned again. Fuck him.

Kassian directed his statement straight at the Matchmaker. “This isn’t happening.”

Before the shrew had a chance to counter, he cloaked Ox’s spirit. The spirit formed a haze around him as he charged forward, snatched Nat by the legs, and hauled her over his shoulder.

He burst through the door, thudded down the stairs, and yanked open the alleyway door. In the back of his mind, he registered the rhythmic pounding of Nat’s fists on his back. Screw her protests. He’d send her back to wherever she came from on the next flight out. Fate of the world be damned, he’d be dead before Nat accepted the Snake.

Let the Matchmaker scheme her way around that.

On auto-pilot, Ox stormed through the streets. He braced for Sheng’s Tiger to rein him in but, for once, his friend didn’t butt in. Together, the other Chosen might be able to take Ox down, yet, with the mood he was in, they knew better than to try.

The streets blurred; Kassian surrendered control to Ox. He shouldn’t—he ought to be the one wielding the leash, but his mind was fucked. He required a moment, just a damn minute, to figure out what had happened back there.

He rolled his shoulders, jerking back from the recess his mind had taken, and uncloaked the beast. What the hell? Ox had brought him to his flat, not the airport.

The instant he resumed control, a sharp jab struck his side, followed by a searing pain in his right collarbone. He howled and hunched. Nat toppled over his shoulder and onto the floor, and he followed, catching her head before it cracked on the tiles of his foyer.

“What the hell, Kassian!” She shoved at his chest.

“Where the fuck have you been, Nat?” Because she sure as hell couldn’t have been where the Matchmaker claimed. Six years ago, Nat had sent that cruel text. He’d searched for her, camped out at her family’s house, and nothing. Tonight, she appeared out of the blue?

“Get off me and let me go!” Her long, reddish brown locks fanned around her head, and the scent of coconut suntan lotion teased his nostrils, provoking long-suppressed desires. Her soft, curvy body cushioned his—the first woman he’d handled in years. His cock responded, blood rushing from his head to that damned organ.

Fuck.
He shot to his feet, backing away from the temptation. The past three years, his life had been a clean slate of celibacy and abstinence. No more drunken player/frat boy. He’d dumped that shmuck’s ass in his past.

No way in hell would he revisit that chapter of his shitty life.

Kassian raked his fingers through his spiked hair, attempting to regain control of the shaky, labored inhalations of his lungs.
Function, dammit.

On the floor, Nat propped on her elbows, her lithe body displayed in an enticement he was certain she didn’t intend to offer. Didn’t help that her low-cut, red silk Chinese dress fit like a glove. The slits on either side were cut to an indecent height, leaving almost nothing to his imagination about what kind of panties she wore.

Thong…or nothing at all?

Subtle, Matchmaker. Waving a red flag in front of a bull? He snorted.

Nat’s long lashes fanned across her cheeks as she lowered them. He opened his mouth to apologize for acting the brute, but her head shifted to the left and right. The muscles in her forearms tensed an instant before she sprang to her feet and sprinted toward the open door.

She was fast, but he was faster. He lunged for the door, slamming into the frame a second before she did. Snaring her waist with his arm, he hauled her against his body while kicking the door shut and locking it with his free hand.

She rammed her elbow into his side, stomped her left foot on top of his, and swung back to slug his nose. He blocked her and clinched her arms, restricting her movements and any chance of further resistance.

“Dammit, Natalie. Stop.”

“Let me go!” She squirmed, creating the worst kind of friction as her ass ground against his front. Her bloody pheromone-ridden hair teased his nostrils while she bucked, seeking any weakness in his grip. He locked his arms around her, the constriction plumping her breasts and giving him more than an eyeful of her plush flesh.

Bloody hell, he needed to get laid. Three years of abstinence had been a blessing to him until this very moment, when it fucked him over.

***

Was there an inch of Kassian that wasn’t pure, rigid muscle? Doubtful. As Natalie butted against him again, the solid steel enveloping her constricted harder.

“Promise to stay put, and I’ll release you.” The rumble of his Australian accent purred into her ear, echoing deep into her core.

Damn. After six years of meticulous training, why was she breaking rule number one?

Never get distracted by a target.

While Kassian wasn’t her target, he did stand between her and her goal, making him one thing—collateral damage. She’d fight tooth and nail to get back to that meeting. To receive the gift she had every right to claim.

How dare he interfere?

Struggling against his strength was getting her nowhere, so she did as he asked. Relaxing her muscles, she went limp. Her gaze landed on the side table a few feet from her.
Perfect.

He released her. “Thank y—”

She jabbed her elbow into his nose, then lunged for the glass bottle of sparkling water on the table. Wrapping her hand around the neck, she spun and cracked the bottle against his skull.

The glass thwacked his head with a deafening thud.

Kassian didn’t crash to the ground unconscious, like she’d hoped. Instead, fury burned deep in his darkened eyes, his nostrils flared, and he folded his hand over hers, still holding the bottle to his head.

Oh, crap. The spirit of the Ox flickered over Kassian, and if the animal cloaked him again, there’d be no escape for her. She could handle any human opponent, but Kassian wasn’t human. The warrior spirit inside him made him something more.

A nearly invincible force not even a Lotus could best…in a fair fight. Good thing Lotus were trained to fight dirty. It would take every trick she’d mastered to make it out of here.

With painstaking deliberateness, he lifted the bottle from her grasp while maintaining a death grip on her hand. His fuming glower never parting from hers, he flung the bottle at the door, shattering it into a thousand sharp, menacing splinters coated in bubbly water.

She cringed, easing her lashes up to regard him. A tic worked the tightened muscle of his jaw. Rage and betrayal swirled in his tense scowl.

She swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat.

He lifted their hands and backed her to the wall, their bodies converging. With unblinking steadfastness, he stared into her eyes and pinned her wrists level with her head.

His chest rose and fell as though he struggled with whatever he wanted to say. “If I had any intention of trusting you, you blew your shot.”

The words were low, cold. Everything she deserved. It didn’t make it hurt less, though. She bit her lip, searching for any reasoning that might convince him to release her. If hosting the Snake meant spending an eternity with Kassian scowling at her, did she still desire the spirit?

Hell, yeah. The image of Mali’s small, cold hand flashed in her mind. Whatever Nat had to endure, she would. She’d failed Mali once and would never rest until she’d avenged that little girl.

She met his gaze straight on. “I don’t care about your trust. Release me.”

A slight shake of his head. “You don’t want the Snake, Nat. Not the Snake.”

Her indignation lessened. The concern in his pained tone and the furrow in his forehead were almost…endearing. Kassian believed he was protecting the seventeen-year-old girl who couldn’t even stand up to her own father.

“Yes, I do, Kassian.” She sighed. “I need this.”

His grip relaxed. He eased some of his weight off her while keeping her wrists pinned to the wall. “Listen to me. Let me explain what you’re getting yourself into.”

She tilted her chin up. “I already know.”

Chapter 2

Kassian swallowed hard. Was he wrong about her, about the Snake? Sure as hell didn’t feel wrong. The blaze of tenacity in Nat’s eyes had never been there before. Hell, the girl he’d known had made him purge her bathroom of spiders. She’d never failed to exercise a vise-like grasp around him on the rollercoasters he’d dared her to ride. Fuck, she’d made him walk first into every cave they’d explored.

Yeah, he didn’t buy this whole tough-girl act. Sure, she’d learned a few moves. Probably took a self-defense class. That didn’t make her a seasoned warrior capable of dealing with an ancient spirit who was, at best, mischievous and, at worst, well, evil.

The spirit of the Snake was inside Lucy, Sheng’s woman. Before that? A bastard named Zhao had hosted the spirit, and he’d committed heinous acts using its powers.

There was no missing the worried glances Sheng sent Lucy’s way or the increasing pallor of her features. Sheng seemed determined to get the spirit the hell out of Lucy as soon as possible.

Kassian vowed to be as stubbornly opposed to sending Snake into Nat.

Even so, guilt ate at him. They needed the Snake. Lucy also hosted the Rabbit, but she couldn’t cloak two spirits at once. The bigger their numbers, the greater chance they stood against the evil forces gathering against them. Tasked with restoring balance to the world, the Chosen were the guardians standing between peace and total chaos. They alone held the power to balance the forces of
yin
and
yang
.

He was torn. The fate of the world…or Nat’s. As desperate as the Chosen were, he refused to involve Nat in their war.

“No, you really don’t know. Despite whatever rainbow-encrusted fluff the Matchmaker fed you, you’ve gotta trust me. You don’t want
this
spirit.”

She moistened her lips with a soft flick of her tongue. His cock jerked in response.
Dammit, not now.
Her slender hands beneath his were small, delicate. Fragile. He’d seen her broken before and refused to watch her break again. He might never forgive her for their past, but neither would he allow her to ruin her future.

Six years ago, he and Nat had been closer than friends, his heart teetering on the edge of love. The night before she’d flown home, he’d acted on impulse, stealing a kiss. The next day, she’d rejected his sorry ass with nothing more than a fucking text.

Don’t try to find me. Don’t try to contact me. I never want to see you again.

He flinched as the words stabbed into his brain. With precise movements, he released Nat’s hands, scrutinizing her for any signs of tensing. When she didn’t, he blew out a breath of relief and stepped to the side. She lowered her arms and rubbed both her wrists.

“Sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Crap. Sometimes, he forgot his strength. He held out his hand for hers, but then she did it again.

She fucking tensed.

“Bloody hell,” he boomed as Nat darted to the left, toward the balcony on the far side of the living room. Instead of chasing her, he strode to his closet and rummaged around until he dug out a set of handcuffs.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Her frustrated grunt came from the opposite side of the flat.

He side-stepped toward Nat, blocking her sole possible exit—the door.

The balcony access was bolted shut better than a maximum security prison. He lifted his hand and pointed to his finger pads, then to the scanner next to the balcony door.

“Seriously? A little paranoid, aren’t you?” She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him until her eyes widened at the sight of the handcuffs. “
Uh-uhn
. No way.” She protested while he pressed forward.

“We’re at a stalemate, so you’re going to put these on.”

She arched her brow. “Just like that, you expect me to surrender?”

He casually raised and dropped a shoulder. “You can deal with me or Ox. Your choice.”

He had to give her credit. She’d learned to hide her emotions well. The only hint of her unease was the thin pressing of her lips.