Chapter 25

25

“I’m going to start an IV drip of tranquilizer if you don’t shut up and hold still.” Simon held a compress over Longwei’s stab wound while he waited for the ren shen concoction he’d managed to throw together to finish cooking in his hotpot. He’d had to get creative with this one by substituting missing ingredients. Thankfully, Lilis had repotted the ren shen after he trashed it. He had just enough of the remedy for the asshole dragon currently glaring at him from his seat at Simon’s desk.

Said asshole dragon had the nerve to growl at him. “This isn’t going to work as well as the dang shen .”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t bring me any extra, did you? Despite your high opinion of me, it doesn’t grow out of my ass. This is going to work fine. Put some Tiger Balm on if that makes you feel any better.”

“You shouldn’t mock powers you can’t begin to fathom.” Longwei’s voice became extra gravelly, as though he’d changed parts of himself deliberately to be more intimidating. But he still reached for the jar of Tiger Balm and spread some of it on the angry purple bruise forming on his shoulder.

“Powers I can’t fathom? Listen, Swedish Fish, of the three of us, who was the only one not stupid enough to get stabbed? Oh, right.” He booped Longwei on the nose with a spoon. “Me.”

Longwei arched an eyebrow at him. “Did you just call Lilis stupid?”

“She almost died—unnecessarily—trying to prevent me from dying again. Do I think that’s stupid? Absolutely.” Simon tipped the ren shen stew into a thermos and grabbed his fireplace lighter. He draped one of the dragon’s arms around his shoulders and helped him out of the apartment. It was like trying to drag an ambulance, but Simon wouldn’t give Longwei the satisfaction of making him feel weak. He didn’t spend two hours in the gym four days a week for nothing. “If one of my neighbors calls the cops on me for all the naked, bloody people I’m carting in and out of my apartment, I will one hundred percent frame you for whatever I’m charged with and not blink an eye.”

Longwei snorted as he limped across the backyard toward the tree line.

They reached the fire pit that had seen more use in the last three days than it had gotten in the last three seasons, and Simon gave Longwei a push before igniting some of the kindling with his lighter. “You’re fireproof as a human, right?”

Longwei smirked and spread his good arm outward. “You’d prefer I stay like this so you can enjoy the view? I’m not shy.”

Simon shrugged. “Suit yourself. Whether you’re doing it to flirt with me or piss me off, you’re wasting your time.”

“Shame.” He winked. “I’m beginning to see why she likes you.”

He crouched before Simon could respond and morphed quickly into his elongated dragon form, shaking out his massive blood-orange mane.

Dealing with dragons is like dealing with toddler peacocks. Worst combination of show-offs and epic tantrums.

With a sigh, he approached Longwei’s injured side and held up the thermos. “Tell me if this hurts.” He slowly began pouring it into the dragon’s open wound. “Not that I’ll stop.”

The Chinese dragon watched him without blinking as his wound sizzled.

Had Lilis’ wound made that sound? He couldn’t remember. That entire night blurred into a mess of pain and fear. That someone could defeat her— destroy her—and walk away…

Simon’s only bright spot was his ability to help her that night.

And now their knife-happy “friend” had gone after Longwei, too.

The same fear from that night crept back into Simon’s body, spreading rapidly. Lilis had gone back to her lair. She didn’t know their attacker was out there, re-armed and searching .

Simon dumped the last of the tea into the gash in Longwei’s side. “Marinate as long as you need. If you get caught by one of my neighbors, I don’t know you.”

He was almost halfway back to the building when Longwei’s growly voice reached him. “Wait.”

Simon turned around. Longwei had transformed again, standing with one hand holding his side. He stepped out of the fire pit and walked toward Simon, the crinkles of his eyes the only sign that he was still in any pain.

Or maybe he just has resting Fuck You Face.

“Name your price.”

Simon looked Longwei up and down. “I told you already, I’m not?—”

“For helping me.” He stood with his chin in the air as though it pained him to ask.

As much as Simon wanted to continue to give Longwei shit, he couldn’t. Weakened, Longwei had sought him out, had trusted him to help and not hurt, and Simon didn’t have it in him to rub it in Longwei’s face.

“We’re even. You helped me save Lilis.”

Simon tried to leave again, and again Longwei’s voice stopped him. “I didn’t do that for you.”

Tension coiled through Simon’s body. He really didn’t need this right now. He just needed Lilis safely back with him. Preferably without running into the guy who nearly killed her once already.

“Tell me everything about the guy who stabbed you,” Simon demanded.

Longwei shifted uncomfortably and rubbed his side. “I started hunting the moment I left your little hovel. Couldn’t find him anywhere. I thought he wasn’t coming back. But then a couple hours ago, he set another blaze.” Golden irises met Simon’s with potent emotions that froze Simon’s blood. “He put the poison in the air. By the time I found him, I could barely move. He stabbed me quickly and moved on.”

The poison is in the air? Shit! “Help me find her.”

“Done.” Longwei brushed past Simon. “But you’re not riding me,” he called over his shoulder.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Simon smiled with deep satisfaction “I have my own transportation, and I think you’re going to love her…”

“How is it that you’re so ancient and perfect , but you still can’t find the only other dragon in town?”

Simon maneuvered Tracy around a series of potholes that should probably be given their own zip code and tried to ignore the extra protests she was making in the form of a revving engine and the ominous smell of gas. In the passenger seat, Longwei—whose complexion was experimenting with new shades of chartreuse—gripped the grab bar so tightly, Simon feared he might yank it off.

“Consider yourself lucky that I have steel willpower, or I would have already decorated the pants you loaned me with yesterday’s lunch.” Longwei swallowed audibly as they passed a farm with cows meandering out front. “See those? They’re allowed to smell this bad. They come with the added benefit of tasting great, too.” He cranked his window and stuck his head out like a puppy. “She’s not here either. We should try the Barrens.”

“She wouldn’t go there. She wouldn’t do that.” To me. Fear trapped the words in Simon’s throat. Fear for her life. Fear that she’d never trust him.

“Well, she’s not anywhere else. Your call.”

With a mental curse, Simon swung Tracy around to head in the other direction. For several slow moments, the only sounds in the car were the motor puffing its way through the streets and Longwei’s obnoxiously loud breathing.

Longwei leaned his head against the seat, closing his eyes. “What did you mean earlier?”

“Which part? The bit about you being a perfect asshole?”

“Not that, you fruit fly of existence. The part about you not dying again .”

Simon bristled at the annoying superiority of his passenger. “This isn’t my first time around. I’ve reincarnated a few times. I wasn’t joking when I said I’d find her again. So much for me being a puny human, huh?”

“No, you’re still a puny human. This just makes you a slightly intriguing one. Or a mistake.”

“Why’s that?”

Longwei was silent for so long that Simon began to suspect he wouldn’t answer, just to drive home what an arrogant asshole he was.

Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion and took a breath. “Your stabby friend is an endirim. A race of beings tied to its own shitty luck of the draw when it comes to reproduction. Their species has to wait for nature to designate a mate for them, kind of like fate.” He puffed up, and Simon was once again reminded of a peacock. “Dragons, on the other hand, claim their own mates. Typically, they choose other dragons, but there have been a few who’ve claimed other demons. Either way, we choose.”

“What’s this got to do with me? You just said you choose your own mates, and, as far as I know, no one’s picked me.”

“And yet your dumb ass keeps coming back and running into Lilis every time.”

“Are you saying it’s not random? That my reincarnation is somehow tied to Lilis? To this whole mates thing? But you just said dragons’ mates aren’t fated.”

“I’m saying I haven’t heard of a dragon’s mate being fated instead of chosen. Not of nature repeatedly plunking the same person down in front of us. And especially not a human. I’ve seen a few other demons claim human mates, but never dragons. I don’t even know if we could claim a human.”

“Why not?”

“Our bond transfers some of our power to our mates. No telling what that would do to a human.”

Simon snorted. “Isn’t your theory shot by the fact that I do keep reincarnating around her? If mating between a dragon and a human won’t work, then why does fate seem to like us together?”

Silence again filled the car as Longwei appeared to consider.

“What do you remember?”

Simon blew a raspberry. “Not much. Some of my times with Lilis.” He tried to ignore the erection stirring as he remembered which times with her were the clearest.

“Are you sure it was her?”

“Well, who the hell else would morph into a giant black dragon? Even when she was a human, she was pulling party tricks and changing her eyes.”

Longwei went entirely still. “Changing how ?” Not a hint of humor tinged his voice, and his mouth thinned into a hard line.

Simon’s humor tanked, too. He swallowed, a knot forming in his throat. “Slitted. Like she’s halfway between dragon and human.”

“Her dragon wants you.”

“Hard pass on that one, thanks.”

“Not like that, you moron.”

The trees of the Barrens loomed in front of them, and Simon slowed down to hear the rest of Longwei’s explanation.

“If she’s not able to control her dragon, that means it’s trying to claim you. But she’s resisting. She might not want you as much as you think.” He leaned forward suddenly. “She’s close. Head toward those trees.”

Simon complied, but a thought kept nagging at him. “What if we are fated?”

“No idea if that’s even a thing for us. But if it is, and she doesn’t claim you, you could wind up doomed to repeat the cycle of your death forever.”

Before Simon could answer, Lilis came into view, standing at the edge of the Barrens, ebony hair blowing wildly in the wind. She faced away from them, staring into the smoking gloom of the forest.

The knot of fear and worry in his gut relaxed its hold on him. She’s okay.

And when she turned around, the look of pure longing still on her face made Simon’s heart ache. He felt so insignificant and… fleeting .

He shoved all thoughts of his conversation with Longwei about mates and fate to the side and got out of the car.

He would content himself with holding her, feeling her safe in his arms, for as long as she would let him.