Reining Him In (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 5)

by Rachael Slate

  “Yes, coming.”

  He poked his head into the locker room and whistled low. “Damn, Daji. If we were going anywhere else…”

  She strolled toward him and patted his chest as she sauntered past. “Later, stallion.” His scent drifted into her nose. Dark and decadent. The leather jacket and jeans he wore graced his broad frame in a delicious enticement.

  His fingers slipped through hers and they descended together to the underground, where two black vehicles awaited them. She and Price climbed into one van with Ling and Ryden, while Sheng, Lucy, and Delun claimed the other.

  “It’s not far.” Ling tapped her phone, projecting the same image the discus had. “Not that anything is far on this island.”

  Penang was a tiny tropical island in Malaysia. Because she traveled through the portals so often, even ten minutes was a longer trip than what she was accustomed to.

  The second their vehicle passed through the wards shielding Kek Lok Si, Daji’s stomach twisted. No one mentioned yāoguài, likely because they assumed Zhao would keep them at bay.

  She didn’t bother correcting them.

  After a few minutes, Fang pulled the van to a halt. It was dark outside, the faint glow of streetlamps flickering in an offbeat pattern. A briny scent carried to her as she stepped out of the vehicle. Near the ocean.

  Price snared her hand and linked their fingers so tightly she sensed he wouldn’t release her for anything.

  She squeezed back. Whatever Zhao and the Empress schemed to coerce from her, they were mistaken.

  Queens didn’t bow to anyone.

  The Chosen surrounded her as they filed into the dimly lit club. Gyrating to the low beat of drumming music, dozens of humans occupied the dance floor.

  Suddenly, Fang broke off from their group and snatched the arm of one girl swaying to the beat. Was she the mysterious Mei? Daji stilled, listening for a hint of their conversation.

  “They see you with me, I’m dead,” the girl hissed and shoved him off. “Geez, Alpha Male Syndrome much?”

  Fang scowled, shaking his head as he rejoined the Chosen.

  Hmm. A jab in her side yanked her attention away.

  “Got it.” Nat handed her a long, thin object, which Daji tucked into the waistband of her leather pants, beneath her jacket. “Thank you.” Now that she had the weapon she required, her destiny stretched before her. All other paths closed off.

  Only one direction to go from here.

  “Good luck.” Her half-smile was full of hope, and doubt.

  “Thank you.” Daji refocused on the back room and strode to the front of the gang, spinning to face them. “I will go in alone.”

  “The hell you will.” Price still hadn’t released her hand.

  “I’m not dragging them into this.” She regarded the Chosen. Zhao might be their enemy, but this wasn’t their fight.

  “You can’t stop me. Naya’s in there.” Ryden scrambled to the front of the group.

  “I’m sorry, but no. They’ll feed off your desperation.” She held up a hand to hold them back. “They know you’re here. Yāoguài will be guarding. You must keep them away long enough for us to secure Naya.” Sheng nodded at her and she sighed, then veered around to head into the office.

  Price didn’t release her, so she stopped fighting him. Her will was confirmed, her fate sealed. One card remained and she’d better play it well. She wasn’t exiting this room, and where she was headed, he couldn’t follow.

  As desperately as he might wish to.

  “Queen Daji, and Horse.” The lean, impeccably manicured male reclined on a plush black leather sofa against the far wall of the neatly arranged office. A desk, a computer, and a scattering of bookshelves adorned the spacious layout.

  A quick survey of the male indicated his drive for order likely stemmed from shortcomings within himself.

  He’d never been Chosen, that much she was aware of. Instead, Snake had been stolen and gifted to him, by Lucy’s late uncle and father. Recently, Lucy had stolen it, placing Snake inside Natalie instead.

  A much better match.

  The Empress wasn’t present, and her absence would be to Daji’s advantage. The volatile female wouldn’t be as easily manipulated as her human minion.

  Well, somewhat human.

  She squinted and caught the glimmer of darkness tainting the male’s soul. A similar shadow had once been cast across Dì Xīn. She steeled her resolve and stepped forward. “Where is Naya?”

  “Well, I was going to offer you a drink first, before we dug into the details.” He jerked his chin toward the wall, and a female stepped from the shadows, the same one Fang had accosted on the dance floor. The mole, Mei.

  “What’ll you have? Something strong, I bet.” The spritely female’s light humming didn’t reflect this ominous meeting.

  Monkey was an odd one, that was for sure.

  She lifted two ornate glass decanters, jiggling them.

  “We’re good.” Price crossed his arms. “Answer Daji’s question. Where’s Naya?”

  “Very well.” Zhao snapped his fingers, and Mei set down the decanters, twisting her back to him and rolling her eyes before spinning, a pasted smile on her lips. “Be right back.”

  She shuffled out of the room. Daji tensed with anticipation, but a moment later, she returned, tugging along a handcuffed Naya. The girl’s eyes pleaded with Daji, but she shook her head against Naya speaking. “Release her.”

  “Why should I?” He bobbed his brows toward the sheet of parchment on his desk. “You refused to sign our contract, so…”

  Arrogant male. He believed he’d backed Daji into a corner, into his corner.

  She wasn’t foolish enough to assume he wouldn’t have demon guards surrounding his club. In fact, she’d counted on it.

  The humans in the club would provide both sustenance for the yāoguài seeking to gain corporeality in this realm, and a distraction for the Chosen protecting them from such a fate.

  Zhao wasn’t aware of Daji’s intentions. His weren’t the only “friends” on their way.

  The pang in her stomach intensified. They’re coming. She swallowed against the dryness in her throat. Every muscle in her body wished to spin to her left and clasp Price in her arms, but she required his shock for her plan to succeed. For them to make it out alive.

  Everyone except me.

  ***

  Price followed the conversation between Daji and Zhao, the hairs on his neck spiking. Something was off.

  Horse told him so.

  Naya was alive, Mei continued to perform her part, and Zhao couldn’t stop them if the Chosen stormed inside and carried Naya out of here.

  Right?

  This was Daji’s plan, wasn’t it? He shuffled his feet but froze as she stepped toward the desk. “Ah, what are you doing?”

  “I’m not worth it, Daji. Please,” Naya pleaded from the corner.

  Ignoring both of them, she plucked the plumed pen and positioned the tip near the bottom of the parchment.

  He rushed forward and snatched her hand. “No way.”

  She notched her chin, eyes flashing. “These are my people. This is my decision.”

  He flinched, the sting of her words cutting into him like a whip. “I thought they were our people.”

  “You thought wrong.”

  “Better hurry and make your decision, my Queen, because my friends are getting hungry.” Zhao jerked his chin to the monitor on the wall above the exit. Dozens of yāoguài closed in on the Chosen and humans alike. Sheng and the others must have already noticed them, because they shifted into offensive stances, cloaking their spirit animals and drawing their weapons.

  Panic seized his chest. “You can’t do this.”

  “I have no choice.” Before he had the opportunity to stop her, she sliced the tip of the pen across her wrist and dripped her blood onto the parchment.

  Daji’s betrayal and, basically, the enslavement of the húli jīng choked like a knife in his throat.

&n
bsp; In the far corner, Naya whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Nothing about this made sense. He’d deemed Daji more of a fighter than this.

  Guess he’d presumed wrong.

  Zhao snickered and rose to his feet, grinning like the motherfucking asshole he was. He sauntered to Naya and patted her cheek. “You made a good choice, Daji. Chose the right side. We’re the future.”

  “You don’t touch her.” Price stalked to Zhao, shoving him backward to keep his filthy hands off Naya.

  “No.”

  He twisted toward the firm note in Daji’s voice. “Naya is the future.”

  The pieces clicked in his mind. Fuck, no.

  Daji gasped, clutching her side as she sank to the ground. Four yāoguài flickered into the room, snarling with their fanged mouths, yellow and crimson eyes leering, and claws slashing.

  He rushed toward Daji, but a demon materialized right behind her, bracing a dagger above her chest, and slammed the blade straight into her heart.

  “No!” He skidded onto his knees, hands grasping for the knife slipping straight through his fingers.

  Daji peered right at him and wheezed, “Horse. Remember.” The word hung in the air while she faded, vanishing into nothingness.

  His hands fumbled across the floor where she’d been, coming up with nothing.

  No.

  He blinked, struggling to catch even a glimpse of her. How had she disappeared?

  Like Mum.

  Comprehension plummeted like a stone in his gut, wrenching his heart in half. He hunched, his entire body blinded by pain.

  She’s gone.

  His eyes stung; hot moisture flowed from them down his cheeks. It didn’t make any bloody sense. Why did she do that, any of it?

  She’d let the yāoguài stab her; she was too good of a fighter to submit.

  Unless…

  That was part of her plan? What fucking plan? He sniffled and swiped his tears. This wasn’t finished yet.

  Even if he had to trek through Hell itself to get Daji back.

  The yāoguài’s portal system functioned differently from the húli jīng’s and Daji slammed into consciousness, landing sprawled on rough ground. “Uhn.” She rolled to her side and blinked. Dìyù stretched before her, a vast, scorched wasteland. Like a desert shadowed in darkness, illuminated by the eerie strikes of lightning and mountains of molten lava.

  Hell existed in a separate realm, just like the húli jīng’s land.

  Except no one ventured here for fun or sanctuary.

  Dìyù was where human souls were harvested after death. Those righteous enough to be spared punishment were reincarnated. Those who committed crimes in their lifetimes were sent to the appropriate level for torture and restitution.

  There were eighteen levels in Dìyù, and Dì Xīn had suffered through each of them. Apparently, not even eighteen Hells were enough to purify his soul.

  The four minions who’d wrenched her here snickered and cackled. Stiffly, Daji shuffled to her feet, setting her shoulders. They wrenched on the thread from her fox spirit as though it was a chain binding her.

  Two of them bore wings, leathery and thin, sporting gaping holes. Their clawed hands and forked tongues made them resemble bat and lizard hybrids. The other two had chimp-like noses, hollowed-out faces and long, curling spiked tails. They garbled words to each other, in a rudimentary, guttural language Daji had never bothered to learn.

  She guessed the gist. Bring me to their master.

  One scrambled, tugging her along, and she jerked forward but maintained their rushed pace. No point in delaying the inevitable.

  She must face Dì Xīn and defeat him.

  The first test of her captor’s scheming rested ahead. Gaining entry to Dìyù was one thing, but stealing past its guardians—Ox Head and Horse Face—would be an altogether formidable feat.

  Scuffling behind her indicated the other three minions were scattering, in opposite directions, likely to draw away Hell’s sentinels.

  Would they fall for it?

  Her demon-guard prodded her to the top of a rock face and she peered over the side, toward the twin pillars adorning a foreboding cave entrance.

  Wearing viciously depicted bestial masks, Ox Head and Horse Face posed as menacing statues outside either pillar.

  The scurrying minions didn’t distract them from their posts. Errant yāoguài were likely a common enough observation.

  Hope and duty warred inside her. Daji dug her claws into her palms, debating whether to aid them. The pebbles around her stirred, humming and vibrating while the ground beneath them rumbled.

  She whipped her gaze toward her far left. An ebbing wave of inky blackness headed straight for the cave.

  No, a swarm. Of yāoguài.

  Curses echoed from the guardians’ lips and they braced their weapons to attack.

  Damn, Dì Xīn must really covet her.

  The minion at her side prodded her with its spear while the other three rejoined them. She hissed, shoving aside the pointy tip, and marched toward the cave.

  Sneaking past the distracted guards proved no difficult task. She cast a pitiful glance at them, wishing to go to their aid, before slipping inside the cave.

  Foul sulfur stung her nostrils, the air thick and heavy with the stench of the bowels of the earth. Grimacing, she squinted into the blackness, toward the crimson glow ahead.

  These first nine layers comprised the East Hell. The last nine encompassed the West Hell. The eighteen levels of Dìyù were a labyrinth of enormous chambers, each dedicated to a different sin. In the first, gossipers atoned for their loose tongues by having them ripped out.

  Repeatedly. Everything in Dìyù was continuous, an endless cycle of torment until the demon overseers deemed one’s sentence served.

  Daji tensed. Did these minions plan to sneak her past the levels, or did they carry orders from Dì Xīn to ensure her suffering?

  How deep did his vengeance burn?

  Her hand skimmed to her spine, and she angled her back against the wall, halting so the minions would proceed first.

  One screeched at her, jabbing the spear in her direction, then toward the open chamber.

  Guess she was going first.

  Sighing, she dropped her hand to her side. One yāoguài wasn’t worth revealing her secret weapon for.

  She wasn’t like the other beings in this place. When a human died and their soul was transported here, it wasn’t corporeal, though they still bled and suffered pain. The souls could be dismembered and reconstructed.

  Not Daji. If they cut out her tongue…

  She pressed her lips together. No, the torments in these chambers would kill her. Dì Xīn sought her alive, of that much she was certain.

  The minion screeched for her to creep alongside the wall of the first cavern. She crept through the shadows, ignoring the strangled screams of the souls being tortured. They’d earned their punishments.

  One level traversed, they descended a closed stone staircase to the Chamber of Scissors, where those who broke apart marriages had their fingers cut off.

  Deadened screams and soul-wrenching wailing filled her ears, and the copper tang of blood stung her nose, as she treaded past the victims in this level and on to the next.

  She didn’t have to ask her captors in which level she would encounter her ex-husband. The tether of her soul had followed each of his torments, down to the bowels of Hell.

  Journeying deeper, she bolstered her courage. No sunlight dared filter through this netherworld, an endless expanse of purgatory.

  And at the end? Her redemption awaited.

  ***

  On his knees, Price pinched the bridge of his nose. Shock and confusion warred with the agony splicing through his chest. Daji couldn’t be gone. He refused to allow it to be true.

  The yāoguài had transported her to Dìyù. If they’d smuggled a fox spirit into a place only souls and demons were permitted, he would figure out how to follow them.

>   She wouldn’t face that monster alone.

  Heavy footsteps thudded toward him. Zhao snickered. “Now, that’s a shame.” He stepped over the place where Daji had disappeared and plucked the parchment from his desk. “At least I got this first.”

  Dammit, he was right.

  It wasn’t like Daji to not cover all the bases.

  “Finish him.” Zhao nodded to the last remaining yāoguài and flicked his wrist toward Price.

  He tensed, fisting his hands, but the demon shrieked at Zhao and vanished in a poof of darkness.

  Huh. Those dudes didn’t answer to Zhao. They had another master. Dì Xīn.

  Yeah, that motherfucker.

  “Guess it’s not your bitch.”

  Zhao sneered at him, displaying the scroll. “Unlike Daji.”

  Rage shot through him and he lunged to tackle Zhao. The force smacked them both to the ground and he smashed his fists into the bastard’s face.

  Sheng and the others might have been afraid of teaching this asshat respect, but Price wasn’t. He raised his fist, but the parchment that had rolled out of Zhao’s hand crinkled. They both whipped their heads toward it. Daji’s blood sizzled on the paper before evaporating.

  Gone.

  What did that mean?

  He shoved off Zhao and took a step back. Shouting thundered at the door.

  “No, no fucking way,” Zhao snarled, shaking his head and steering those black eyes toward Naya.

  Daji’s heir… No, the new Queen. Daji’s signature no longer possessed any authority, now that she was dead. Signing the contract had been a diversion.

  Price rushed to Naya while Zhao’s hand emitted an eerie glow. As he shielded her, a jolt zapped into his back, electrifying his blood. “Argh!”

  The door slammed open, Ryden and the Chosen gang flooding the room.

  Grimacing, Price shoved Naya toward Ryden. “Get her safe.”

  He spun toward Zhao, but the asshole smirked. “Later.” He snapped his fingers and vanished, along with Monkey.

  “Mei?” Sheng clamped a hand on Price’s shoulder.

  Hunching, he shook his head. “Gone. Oh, and I’m fine, by the way, thanks for asking.” The zinging spun through his veins, dissipating. “Daji too. Demons dragged her to Hell, but whatever.” He shoved off Sheng’s hand and marched a few steps forward, then shoved his hands through his hair. “Fuck.”