His gaze whipped upward, his eyes wide and he looked again as if he’d been struck. In the next moment, however, his expression softened and he bowed his head. “Don’t be sorry. You didn’t say anything to hurt me. You...” he paused and sighed while she waited, nearly breathless for his next words, “spoke the truth.”
Jie glanced at Shao. Emotional pain slid into Jie’s dark eyes. Shao didn’t seem to notice. He leaned heavily against Meg, and his head lolled as if it were too heavy to hold up.
“I know you’re right about him, Meg.” Jie heaved a deep breath. “And...I know I must find a way to restore what I’ve taken from him.”
“From yourself, Jie.”
He nodded. “From myself.”
She gazed at Jie and her heart melted all over again for him, for his humility and care. She knew how difficult it had been for him to make that admission and she felt like the most fortunate woman in the entire world. He was her mate. Her soul mate. She smiled at him. “Jie, no matter what wrong you believe you’ve done in this life, you’re a good man.”
He looked back at her, the brown of his eyes liquid. “Coming from you, I can begin to believe it’s possibly true.”
The elevator doors slid open and Meg gently tugged Shao with her into the hallway. She followed Jie to their door. Her heartbeat quickened again as Jie slid the card key and pushed the door open.
She looked at the man clinging to her hand and smiled at him, at the sweet lost expression in his eyes. “Come, Shao. You’ll be safe here.” She led him into the room and ushered him to the seating area by the window.
Obediently he let her lead him and sank down onto the loveseat. He leaned back against the cushions, looking up at her.
She turned to Jie. He stood nearby, staring at Shao with an uncertain expression. “I’ll run him a bath while you order the food,” she told Jie. “Is that all right?”
Jie lifted his gaze to hers and nodded wordlessly.
She started for the bathroom, then heard a sound behind her. A hand grasped hers with lightning speed. She spun around and saw Shao’s panicked face. Her heart turned to a puddle of mush for him and she pulled him into her arms. “Did you think I was leaving you? Never.” She caressed his back, aware of Jie watching her. Jealousy simmered in the air from Jie’s direction, but she held fast to Shao, her concern for both men’s lives overriding her fear of Jie’s jealousy.
Gently she pulled from the embrace and took Shao’s hand. “Come with me.” She headed toward the bathroom with Shao in tow. Behind her, she heard Jie pick up the phone and ask for room service.
Once in the bathroom, she released Shao’s hand and knelt at the tub. She opened the faucets and held her hand under the spray, adjusting the knobs to make a comfortable temperature. When the temperature was right, she closed the drain.
Shao knelt close to her. He watched, fascinated, as the torrent of water fill the tub.
She couldn’t help smiling at his wondering expression. “This is for you, Shao.” She reached for the small bottle of complimentary bath gel provided by housekeeping and emptied enough of the floral-scented stuff to make a nice froth of bubbles. She turned back to him, took in the sight of his disheveled hair and clothing. “You could use a bath, really,” she said. No doubt it had been awhile since he’d bathed or changed his clothing, judging from his appearance and sweaty odor.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jie appear in the doorway of the bathroom. He stood there, watching her and Shao, the same unreadable expression on his face. If Meg knew him correctly, he was still struggling with jealousy. Understandable. If the situation had been reversed, she, too, would find it nearly impossible to believe that her double was not truly another person receiving her mate’s attention. She would have to work extra hard not to become furious. She smiled up at him and sensed a bit of his tension drain.
Jie’s gaze moved past her and suddenly, his eyes widened.
Meg turned around and caught her breath.
Shao had pulled off his clothes and crouched down again close to her. The fingertips of both hands touched the tiled floor. His expression showed caution and he eyed Jie with lingering mistrust from his crouched, ready-to-spring position.
Meg tried and failed not to stare at Shao. His perfectly muscled body mirrored Jie’s. Expanses of sleek golden skin, darker in places where the sun had kissed it, hugged finely etched muscles that quivered with tension. The same chocolate hued nipples as Jie topped Shaos’ round, hard pectorals. His legs, thick with sloping muscle and sprinklings of jet black hair drew her gaze, touching off the first whispers of arousal.
The position of his knees and thighs hid his dragon, but it would obviously be the same thick, veined rod of reddish gold and nest of black pubic hair, the same firm sac of life-giving yang fire beneath it.
Before she realized what she’d done, she licked her lips. She turned, afraid of inflaming Jie’s jealousy, yet desperately needing him to understand. She leaned over to the tub, which was now filled with steamy, sudsy water, and shut off the faucets. Silence, broken only by the drip of water from the tap, fell over the bathroom.
She glanced up at Jie, then at Shao. “Go on, Shao,” she said softly. She trailed her fingers through the sudsy hot water for emphasis. “Get in.”
Shao reached out and grasped her hand, his eyes pleading. A tiny whimper echoed from his throat.
She shook her head. “Of course I won’t leave.” She rose, put down the seat of the toilet and perched on it, unable to keep herself from watching Shao unfold from his crouching position, his muscled body like Jie’s, both rounded and powerful and lean at the same time.
Of course, his dragon was also like Jie’s, hanging thick, even non-erect, the plump head hidden in its folds of skin.
She looked again at Jie, surprised to see a look of surrender in his eyes, as if he’d made a firm decision not to react from base, wild emotions.
“The food should be up here by the time he finishes his bath,” he said softly.
She smiled at him and nodded, happy when the corners of Jie’s full lips turned up just a bit. He looked at her one more lingering moment, then retreated into the main part of their room.
She then turned her attention to Shao. He’d settled into the tub and the white foam of bubbles covered the lower half of his body. She reached for a cup from the bathroom vanity and knelt by the tub, dipping the cup in the water and sluicing it over Shao’s hair and upper body.
He looked at her and to her surprise, he smiled. The sudden delight that sparkled in his eyes made her smile back at him.
She giggled and dipped the cup in the tub again to refill it. “You like the water? Me too. A bath is a very good thing.” She lifted the cup and he bowed his head, letting her douse the back of his hair. The water streamed down the ebony fall of his hair, making it stick straight and gleaming.
Suddenly, he leaned over and dipped his head under the water as if he were bobbing for apples. He came up with a showering of bubbles and water that sprayed her.
She laughed and watched him dip under the surface a second time and then pop up again and shower her with the spray from his long hair.
She loved his playfulness, the childlike delight he took in the water and bubbles. The front of her blouse was now darkened with water and droplets dripped down her face. Water was everywhere on the floor, as if two children had been playing water games in the tub, but she didn’t care. She was happy to see life come back into Shao. It could only mean healing.
She reached for a bottle of shampoo and poured some into her hands. “Come here,” she said, “I’ll wash your hair.”
He looked at her blankly at first, then smiled again and bowed toward her outstretched hand.
She rose up on her knees and lathered up his thick long hair with shampoo. The sleek, wet strands slid against her fingertips and the smell of shampoo in the humid damp bathroom wafted to her nose. She massaged Shao’s scalp, scrubbing his skin and hair gently clean with gentle fingertips. When she’d fully
lathered his hair, she dipped her hands into the hot water to rinse them, then reached for the cup, careful not to let the shampoo run into Shao’s eyes.
She needn’t have worried. The moment he saw what she was doing, he leaned back, dipped his hair into the tub and shook the suds into the bathwater. When he straightened again, his glossy raven hair, heavy with water, hung stick straight around his strong shoulders. Water ran in rivulets off his golden skin, beaded off his dark nipples.
Meg cleared her throat. Her body tingled pleasantly, especially her sex. She shifted her crouching position by the tub in an effort to distract herself then reached for a washcloth, wet it down and gently swiped it across Shao’s broad back.
He turned and looked at her. The playful look in his dark gaze had shifted to something else. His eyelids were heavier now over the smoldering depths of his irises and his nostrils flared with each wipe of the cloth over his skin. Meg wiped the cloth over his round hard pectoral muscles and heard him groan softly.
Her gaze met and locked with his. Her hand froze in mid-wipe across Shao’s chest. He rose to his knees in the tub, made evident his rising erection.
Meg caught her breath. She tried not to stare but couldn’t help glancing down. A tingle passed through her at the sight of his hard dragon, now curving up from his dark pubic hair and heavy sac underneath. The water glistened on the thick reddish shaft, the lobes of the head smooth and taut. She didn’t know what to do. Wash or not wash...
He reached for her hand. Strong thick fingers...closed around her wrist, guided her hand toward his thick shaft.
Her breath caught softly, her fingertips tingled in anticipation of touching the slick skin stretched tight from his erection. She thought of Jie. Strange, that he and Shao were the same man and yet...so different.
A knock sounded at the door to the hotel room. Shao released Meg and yanked his hand back. He slid back, flattened himself against the tiled wall with a loud slosh of water. He stared, obviously alarmed, at the partially open bathroom door.
In the background she heard a voice calling out room service. She released a sigh of relief and looked at Shao. “Its some food for you,” she said. “You must be hungry after all this.”
In spite of her assurance, Shao remained against the wall. His body trembled and he whimpered. “It’s all right, Shao,” Meg crooned, her own heart pounding. She heard Jie pass to the front door, closing the bathroom door on his way. She reached out to Shao and picked up his hand. “I promise, it’s all right.”
Shao cringed another moment, his upper body dripping with water and bits of foamy bubbles. Meg tugged his hand gently and slowly, he moved back to the center of the tub.
She squeezed his hand, released it and opened the stopper of the tub. “Come, let’s get you rinsed off and dry so you can eat.” He rose to his feet and Meg noticed, unbidden, that his cock was still hard, in spite of what had happened. Trust shone unmistakably in his dark gaze and he let her rinse the suds off his body with the detachable showerhead.
She tried not to stare at his naked body as she rinsed him. The water ran in rivulets down his sleek muscles, flattening the smooth dark hair on his forearms and lower legs, made the hard round muscles of his buttocks and thick dragon gleam.
Meg marveled, both at his beauty and his likeness to Jie. Every detail of his body was Jie, even to the pattern of veins on his cock. She knew Jie blindfolded at this point, having touched and tasted every possible inch of his body.
When she’d finished rinsing Shao, he stepped from the tub and let her wrap him in a fluffy towel. She took a second towel from the stack, opened it and dried his back and arms. Suddenly, he shook his long wet hair as if he were a dog, spraying water again everywhere. She laughed, enjoying his playfulness.
The bathroom door opened and Jie stood there, some clothing in his hand. “The food is here,” he said, “and I brought a pair of pants for him.” He stepped into the muggy wet bathroom and set the pants on the vanity.
She looked at him, seeing the surrender in his velvety dark eyes. He was a dear man, in addition to being the sexiest. “Thank you, Jie,” she said softly.
He lingered another moment in the doorway and then went back into the room, leaving her to towel dry Shao’s thick glossy hair and give him the pants to put on.
She watched him slip on the baggy silk material, unable to keep her gaze off his hard round buttocks before they were covered. His golden muscular torso rose above the waistband, made her hunger to run her hands and mouth over him. She swallowed hard and set down the towel, averted her gaze from his, which had begun to shine again with desire. She picked up his hand and gently tugged. “Have something to eat, Shao,” she said softly. “Then Jie and I will figure out a way to...help you.”
* * * * *
Jie watched Shao emerge from the bathroom. Meg trailed behind him and Jie immediately saw the telltale flush of arousal in her pale cheeks. The jealousy he’d promised himself not to feel sent a fiery streak up his arms. Jie took a deep breath and looked at Shao.
The other man wore Jie’s trousers. Shao’s long hair was still damp and shiny from his bath. Jie tried to imagine himself with that length of hair and his facial hair grown out. Even in his days of running with tough kids, he’d never worn his hair longer than it was now, shorn close to his head as if he were in the military, a bit longer on top. However, it was strange to see what he would look like...did look like...with the wilder appearance.
He looked again at Meg. Her face radiated a deeper sheen of happiness than it had in – his heart thumped, dammit -- in the three months since they’d begun the Dragon-Tigress exercises. More heaviness settled onto his chest. She seemed to like Shao’s wildness. She didn’t say it in words, but it showed in her eyes. Had she possibly missed the lang ren that much? Did she even realize that her eyes were shining the way they had when he’d first told her what he was and she’d accepted him wholeheartedly, without a moment’s hesitation?
His heart pounding, he cleared his throat and indicated the room service cart laden with covered dishes. “I ordered food for all three of us,” he said softly. “I thought you might be hungry too, Meg.”
She smiled at him, her almond-shaped eyes disturbingly dreamy. “I guess I am a little hungry.”
She approached the sitting area where he’d put the cart and as she drew closer, the scent of her yin juices filled the entire space, immediately setting Jie’s body on edge. Her tangy intimate musk filled his nostrils, causing his dragon to stir and harden. As she sank down onto the sofa, bringing Shao to sit next to her, Jie saw the glaze of desire in her eyes.
He glanced at Shao. His...twin’s...complexion had darkened, the same way his own did when he wanted Meg.
Jie clenched his jaw and fought another potent wave of jealousy. He was determined not to frighten Shao any more than he had already, or to bring Meg another unnecessary moment’s suffering. He understood the situation better than he wanted to admit to himself, even down to the only possible way to restore the stolen qi to his other...half.
He removed the silver dish covers on the cart, revealing a dish of Mongolian beef, chicken Teriyaki and pizza.
“Thank you, Jie.” Meg was looking at him again, her eyes still radiating joy and desire.
The look pulled a smile from him in spite of the heaviness he felt inside.
Shao stared at the food. He seemed to hold back as if he needed permission to eat. It was strange to Jie how much like a wild creature, a child and a man all at once Shao was.
Jie’s heart lurched. Was this the being that his godfather had seen in him all those years of his wild youth, the being the older man had continued to love unconditionally? Was Shao truly so innocent both as a human and a beast that Meg did not see the lang ren as deficient and horrid, as he saw it?
For the first time since he’d been bitten, Jie saw the beast...saw himself... through different eyes, through the eyes of people who loved, rather than who judged and criticized him, as he did...as Su Lin
had. His pulse rose, increased with his deeper understanding. He wasn’t detestable for having harbored the resentments and done the things he’d done. He’d been troubled, an unhappy person who’d made mistakes and was good-hearted enough to wish to undo them. For the first time, he appreciated, rather than felt angry about, the complexity of being human.
He looked again at Shao through his new understanding and felt softer toward that broken part of him. Jie reached for a bowl and spooned helpings of the beef and chicken into it, added some sticky rice. Picking up a pair of chopsticks, he held the offering out to Shao.
Large brown eyes...his own eyes...gazed back up at him, as if deciding whether Jie would attack him or not. Shao reached out with hands that looked exactly like Jie’s, right down to the pinkish skin under the nails, and accepted the bowl and chopsticks. In the next second, Shao brought the bowl close to his lips and set to eating, rapidly scooping one mouthful of food after the next into his mouth with the chopsticks as if someone would take the food away from him before he finished. When Jie looked at Meg, she was watching Shao eat while nibbling on a slice of the pizza.
For himself, he poured a cup of tea and sat quietly, taking in the sight of Meg and Shao, side by side, a sweet, companionable affection between them. The improvement in Shao’s health in just the little bit of contact he’d had with Meg was undeniable. However, the restoration of Shao’s qi was only half the matter. There was also the matter of their lycanthropy. Shao had not existed until recently and...well...becoming one again with Shao meant...
Jie shook the thoughts from his mind. He had the first hurdle of seeing Shao and Meg...together. That was going to be difficult enough.
It had been several months since Jie had undergone the Change and hadn’t missed it. He couldn’t deal with the prospect of Shao’s and his rejoining, of having to be the lang ren once more just yet.
Jie remained quiet, sipped his tea while Shao devoured most of the food on the cart. As soon as Shao finished one bowl of food, he’d look up at Jie or Meg, a pleading look in his eyes. One of them would refill the bowl and the food would rapidly disappear once again.
Tao of Love 3: Kiss of the Twin Werewolves Page 7
