By the Horns (6 page)

The grunts and thuds of sparring greeted his ears, as familiar to this place as the jasmine incense perfuming the halls.

“Hey, guys.” Fang met them at the gym doors.

“Hi, I’m Nat.” She stuck out her hand.

The Chosen of the Rat gave it a brisk shake. “Fang. Welcome.”

“Thanks.” Nat smiled.

Kassian jerked his chin at the gym. “The others inside?”

Fang shrugged. “Probably.” He swung open the doors to the main gym and groaned.

Kassian scanned inside. On the mats, Lucy straddled Sheng, their lips about to press.

Nat bumped his shoulder and curled her fingertips around his arm to peek into the gym. Kassian stiffened at the contact while Nat stifled a laugh. “Are they usually like this?”

“Nope.” Fang swung a grin at Nat. “Usually, they’re fucking.” He rolled his eyes at the lovers and grumbled, “I’m so outta here.”

Nat laughed as Fang trudged back in the direction he’d come. Her chuckling drew Sheng and Lucy apart.

Kassian advanced, scowling at the pair. “Save it for the bedroom, yeah?” He didn’t so much mind not getting laid but, bloody hell, did they have to flaunt their—very active—sex life in front of him?

Lucy hopped off Sheng and plastered Nat with a bright smile. “You made it. I mean, of course you made it. We knew you’d be fine.” She scrunched up her nose. Lucy possessed the Rabbit, and occasionally, no filter.

“We didn’t doubt for a second you’d come through.” Sheng rose next to his girl. He slid one hand around her waist and she leaned into him. Their intimacy seemed effortless, subconscious even.

Kassian tore his gaze from the pair of fucking happy lovers to survey the center of the room. The spaces between these walls were empty without Mei. Even with the addition of Delun to their numbers, without Mei… Hell, he couldn’t even look up at the elaborate tree fortress Monkey treasured.

“You up for sparring or what?” Kassian cracked his knuckles, directing his request to Sheng. After the past day, he had more than enough frustration built up.

A familiar clack of heels halted in the doorway. Sheng smirked. “Actually, you two have a visitor.” He clasped Lucy’s hand and the two of them squeezed past him and Nat to exit the gym.

“Matchmaker?” Nat’s voice chimed as Kassian spun to face the manipulative bitch. Why the fuck was she here? Hadn’t she already done enough?

Despite his desire to tell her to piss off, he clamped his jaw shut. He was already on her shit list. She’d probably placed a curse on him as punishment.

“Natalie. Kassian.” One fine brow arched as she waited their deference.

With his hands fisted at his sides, he inclined his head. “To what do we owe this pleasure?” he grated between clenched teeth. Kassian glanced to the side, but Nat beamed as if glad to see the woman. So much for standing together.

“I have your next assignment, Natalie.” She clutched a manila envelope in her hand. “If you’re up to it?”

He tensed. “What about the training?”

The Matchmaker’s sly perusal shot to him. “Oh, this
is
your training.” One red nail tapped the envelope. “Since you seemed concerned about Natalie’s ability to control the Snake, you are in charge of her.”

Great. This was to be his punishment? To run around, fulfilling the Matchmaker’s grocery list of hits?

So much fun. He couldn’t fucking wait.

“Besides, it’s better to keep Natalie out of Penang until we can prove to the Council the Jade Emperor bestowed the Snake upon her. We wouldn’t wish for any suspicion to fall upon Lucy,
hmm
?”

He raked a hand through his hair. She had a point. If any of the Council members met Nat before she’d learned to control her spirit, they’d ask one question too many. The Council had finally directed the spotlight off Lucy, and Sheng would have Kassian’s ass if he did anything to beam it on her again.

“Here is the information on your mission.” The Matchmaker handed the envelope to Nat.

“Thank you, Matchmaker.” She received it with both hands, broke the seal, and removed the sheet of paper.

Curious, he inched closer and read over her shoulder.

“It’s an address for a warehouse in Hong Kong…” She bit her lip, her skin paling.

He frowned at her reaction, but the print on the sheet caught his attention. “Wait, isn’t that the location of the mid-point for the vaccine shipments?”

Nat twisted to address the Matchmaker. “Is this about the vaccine you smuggle?”

“Indeed.” Her boss lifted a shoulder. “There’s an inconsistency in our numbers. The two of you must determine where the errors originate.”

Taking over for Mei, Fang oversaw the production of the Red Death vaccine here at Kek Lok Si, while he, Lucy, and Sheng handled the smuggling side. The governments of the world had become too corrupt to be trusted with dispensing the vaccine. Selling the precious vials to the highest bidders, and keeping it out of the hands of those who needed it most. His fist clenched.

If not for their operations, the virus would continue to ravage the poor of the world.

Viruses didn’t discriminate.

People did.

The lesson left a bitter taste in his mouth. He swallowed and unclenched his fist. This was the first he’d heard of any issues regarding their smuggling. “What kind of inconsistency?”

The Matchmaker’s gaze slid to his. “We are losing shipments. They’re disappearing, somewhere between Hong Kong and India.”

“Fu—” He coughed back the curse. Doing so once in the Matchmaker’s presence had been enough. “How long has this been going on for? Why are you just investigating now?”

Her obsidian eyes hardened on him. “Do not question me. You take your orders and I take mine. That is all you need to know.”

“Sorry.” He bowed his head, though the apology stung his tongue. Bloody politics.

“As I was saying, you will travel to Hong Kong, investigate our operations there, and report back to me.”

“What will be our cover—
Oh
.” Nat’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the paper.

He whipped his head back to read the sheet. Scanning down, he found what had tripped Nat up.

Fuck.

Nat dumped out the envelope’s contents, and sure enough, a tiny object clinked against the tiles.

A ring. An engagement ring, to be precise.

He scowled at the sparkling diamond. “A couple? Why not make us brother and sister?” The Matchmaker and her damned schemes. Well, screw her. Those games might have worked on Lucy and Sheng, but they sure as hell wouldn’t on him and Nat.

“You are off on break from college and he surprised you with a trip to Hong Kong. One night, beneath the fireworks, he proposed. How romantic.” The Matchmaker folded her hands, smugness curving her lips.

This was what he got for his disobedience yesterday. But, fuck. Making the celibate dude pretend to be in love? Yeah, that wasn’t the slightest bit messed up.

“Are you ready, Natalie?” The Matchmaker inclined her head.

What
did
she conclude about this whole shitty situation? He leaned back to study Nat’s expression, but he couldn’t discern any emotion in her features.

“I am. Thank you, Matchmaker.”

He breathed in and out through his nose, his jaw tight. Why the hell did she seem okay with this?

“Prove it to me. Kiss him.” The Matchmaker’s lips pressed thin.

Wait, what the fuck? He whipped his gaze from Nat to the Matchmaker, who drummed her nails against her forearm as though impatient. “No bloody way. I’m celibate.”

The Matchmaker tilted her head. “You won’t be breaking your vows if the kiss isn’t real. And it won’t be, right?”

He opened his mouth to contest her reasoning, but what could he say? Either way, he’d be screwed. His last chance lay in Nat’s refusal. He turned to her, hopeful she’d come up with a surefire argument against them kissing.

“It’s just a kiss, okay?”

Hell, she agreed with the Matchmaker? Clearly, he’d stumbled into the twilight zone, because he bloody nodded. Without hesitating, Nat gripped his shoulder with one hand, the back of his neck with her other, and slanted her mouth across his.

His body hardened as his cock thickened and strained against his jeans. And his heart, it fucking rammed into his throat.

She tasted even better than she looked. Her soft lips parted to allow him access, and damn, but he accepted. He slid his tongue inside, but kept his hands fisted at his sides. He didn’t dare embrace her, yet he couldn’t resist the kiss.

A taste. Just one. He closed his eyes and drowned in her coconut fragrance. The sweet, sensual sparks between them electrified his body. Three long years, he hadn’t touched a woman, so he must be responding to his long-denied libido.

Not to Nat. Definitely not to Nat.

A bored sigh hummed at his right. “Convince me.”

He jerked open his eyes. The Matchmaker stared at them, her head tilted as though evaluating their kiss. Like this was a bloody audition. Hell, maybe it was, but he refused to put on a show.

As he was about to pull back, Nat moaned into his mouth and ground her hips against his.

Apparently, she was determined to get the part.

Chapter 5

The Matchmaker demanded more. Dammit, Nat craved more too, but not at this price.

Still, her entire future rested on how well she kissed Kassian, so she threw her whole body into it. The recesses of her brain scrambled to scan the Lotus handbook for the right maneuver—a sweeping crane or a backward lute?

Trying and failing to ignore the thick ridge pressed into her belly, she tangled her tongue with Kassian’s. Once this kiss ended, she’d have a talk with him about his acting skills, and his “celibacy.”

Immune to baser urges, my ass.

Like she was any better? Grinding against Kassian’s hard body had not only made her panties wet, she inched toward an orgasm. Well, that would convince the Matchmaker, wouldn’t it?

Even for a guy three years out of practice, he was a hell of a kisser. His firm, sensual lips and talented tongue teased hers in ways that made her forget this was a test.

That kissing Kassian shouldn’t be this enjoyable.

Her entire body refuted the notion, her blood heating through her veins as the spark of contact with Kassian electrified her. Just as it had when they’d kissed six years ago. Only, the real thing was a thousand times more intense than her memory recalled.

A mantis entrapment? Yes, that technique might work.

She curled the fingers of one hand into his short locks, while raking the nails of her other down his chest, across his hard pecs, and trailing them to rest low on his hip. His muscles jerked in response, and the hands fisted at his sides broke free, sliding around to grip her ass.

Lust pounded through her core as his large, masculine hands lifted her hips to grind his neglected erection into her belly. She wrapped her legs around his waist and moaned.

How had a man as sensual as Kassian ever chosen to deprive the world of his talents? She lost the train of thought as he broke free from her mouth to trace his lips and tongue down her throat. She tossed her head back in abandon, struggling to maintain even the slightest awareness that this was a test.

Nothing more.

Just like every other.

Test. Test. Test. Oh, man
. His thumb grazed her nipple as he felt her up, or rather down, smoothing his hands over her body. She caught his lips again, desperate to connect with him, unable to get close enough. The chemistry between them was more addictive than any drug.

His fingertips brushed across her hips, then slowly, tortuously, ascended. She had to end this or she’d put on more than an audition for the Matchmaker. She dragged one eyelid open. Then the other. The woman surveyed them with hawk-like keenness.

Her boss knew Nat’s heart. No matter what happened, Kassian was the last man Nat would ever fall for.

The Matchmaker had told Nat so herself.

Nat disentangled her hand from his hair, broke their kiss, and shoved away from his deliciously hard pecs. Kassian dropped her like he’d awoken from a nightmare and she was the monster who’d haunted it. He jerked backward, thrusting one hand into his hair.

Was he okay? He
had
been acting, right? What if he hadn’t? His hand trembled against his head and his chest heaved.

Oh hell, hers probably did too. Her knees wobbled like she’d hopped off a merry-go-round after one too many turns.
Pull it together, Nat.
“Satisfied, Matchmaker?” Because yeah, Nat sure as hell had been while kissing Kassian. Damn, the heat of his lips lingered, but she forced an air of calm.

Put on an act. Just another mask.

The Matchmaker pursed her lips. “I’ve seen you do better, Natalie. You haven’t lost your touch, have you?” Her gaze shifted to Kassian. “I certainly hope you haven’t regained yours, Casanova.” She refocused on Nat. “Well, I suppose that was adequate. Let’s keep this a flowering level, shall we?” She headed toward the exit and called over her shoulder, “Get some rest. You’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

The second the Matchmaker disappeared around the corner, Nat pinched the bridge of her nose. To pull off this cover with Kassian, this fuzzy, lost-in-a-cloud haze must never happen again. She had to maintain a clear head.