Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3)

by Heather Heffner

  “Mud Girl!” Taeyang’s voice rang out. I turned to see him and Fred standing on top of a giant shipping crate, just big enough to fit a rampaging haetae inside. Fred had painted runes all over the crate’s interior walls, floor, and ceiling with colorful fiery ink that writhed as if alive.

  I swallowed. Now it was time to really piss off the giant magical beast. Wolf whined, but Demon was only too eager to oblige. Barking for the other wolves to take cover, I burst into ruby-red flames. Lava pooled around my charcoal-black jaws, and my single golden eye gleamed like a full moon. The three shards of my soul scraped against one another, sending waves of stabbing pain through my head. However, I forced us to remain trained on our target. I fired off a stream of flaming arrows, peppering the haetae in the eyes. He bellowed and shook his head, wounded. Then he charged.

  I could feel my pack baying for my attention, but I couldn’t hear them over the roaring furnace of my heartbeat. I darted into the shipping container, and the haetae barreled in after me. His weight was so heavy that the metal groaned. I whirled around in the back like a cornered animal and bared my teeth.

  The haetae laughed in the darkness. “What is this?” he asked in amusement, looking at the runes. “Pretty words on a wall? They will not save you. You’ve played your last trick, Fire Wolf. I shall eat you and grow more powerful still.”

  You’re the one who’ll be cooking in an oven, I snarled and then lashed out with a wave of wildfire. The haetae’s horn hissed through the flames and speared the spot where I’d stood. However, by then I had shot out of the crate to freedom, using my black smoke for cover.

  Now! I barked. Taeyang and Fred released the lid. The shipping crate door clanged shut, completing the runic circle. The container came alive with flashing golden light.

  I collapsed into human form, choking on smoke. Pain continued to blare through my head like an alarm. When I tried to reach for Wolf and Demon, it hurt. I was vaguely aware of Yu Li and Miguel dashing over to drape a thick blanket around my shoulders. When I looked up, a far less friendly face took shape.

  Xu Xiang, leader of the Were Nation, straightened from examining my charred fingertips and nodded to Rafael. “Thank you for inviting me here today. I have seen everything I needed to see.”

  “Rafael?” I coughed, my voice still raspy, but he wouldn’t look at me. The other werewolves had gathered. I felt their panic over watching me dissolve into flames solidify into something worse: fear. The rumors about my Fire Wolf shape had just been confirmed.

  “Alpha Citlalli Alvarez,” Xiang thundered, “you stand accused of being a Triad and letting the enemy infiltrate your pack. In one moonrise, you must stand before the Were Council at Donggureung Park, where you shall be judged by both the living and the dead. How do you answer these summons?”

  Poor Alpha Alvarez.

  I felt Fred’s voice brush my mind, and I turned to see the nine-tailed fox wink at me from the windowsill.

  You were defeated before you began.

  Then the kumiho slipped away with a wave of his golden tails.

  Chapter 25: Just Friends

  ~Citlalli~

  I strolled through Myeongdong Underground Shopping Mall arm-in-arm with Minho. The hour was late, but one would ever have been able to tell once lost within the labyrinth of fluorescent-lit shops winding underground for miles. We laughed over the Konglish T-shirts, drooled over chicken kebab skewers, and spent a fruitless hour shoe shopping, to which countless shopkeepers wrung their hands and kept repeating to me, “Feet too big.”

  Raina texted to check in, and I sent her a quick message that the date was going well. Miguel had told her about the vampyre princes’ latest attack on our compound, but I’d made him swear not to tell our family about Xiang’s summons to the Were Council. Mami wouldn’t have cared, but it was Raina I was concerned about. The last thing she needed to worry about was her crazy wolf-sister’s hearing during the Trials.

  I did experience a sharp pang in my chest when Minho pointed out a Gurkha Kukri knife. Rafael had agreed to buy one for me on our first date. Now my former flame was one of Xiang’s key witnesses against me.

  Minho shook his head in astonishment that such a dangerous item would be sold so publicly.

  Suddenly, a golden haetae face leaped out from behind a column with a mighty roar. I yelped and kicked him in the midriff. Laughter erupted. I looked down to see a masked man groaning on the ground. Nearby ajummas clucked their tongues pityingly, and several mothers prodded their children to check out the man’s stuffed animal wares.

  Minho wrapped me up in a hug, trying hard not laugh. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I struggled to cease my shivers. I remembered my last encounter with a living, breathing haetae all too well…as well as his threats. I was okay. That didn’t mean Minho would be.

  “Mian haeyo!” I called out an apology to surrounding passerby. Stooping, I offered the masked shopkeeper a hand up. “I’m sorry.”

  He ignored it and scuttled away, muttering something about, “demon girl.” I adjusted my prosthetic eye self-consciously and extended my right hand for Minho take. My maimed left one, I buried away in my pocket.

  You are pathetic, Demon informed me. Be proud of your scars. She was so close it felt like the insides of my ears were burning. However, I felt Her attention fixate on Minho.

  Leave him alone, I snarled.

  He is my prize, She sneered. You bore him. He wants me.

  Wolf intervened, barking in Her face. Demon retreated, but not before She spitefully sent a burst of sparks sizzling down my right arm. I just managed to drop Minho’s hand before they ruptured.

  Minho raised an eyebrow at me. I forced a smile and looped my coated arm through his instead. He was safe. For now. As long as my skin didn’t touch his. My mouth went dry, and I suddenly, desperately needed the evening to be over.

  Minho and I continued our stroll through the lively night market, but the glowing neon lights had lost their warmth. The homely underground tunnels now bore down upon me with suffocating weight. Through the smoke of the fryers, I thought I caught a flash of a pale face with black holes for eyes, leering. Then later along the subway tracks, I thought I saw several dark shapes scuttling. I shut my eye tight and refocused on Minho.

  “Ta-da!” A street performer stood in a circle of lantern light, dressed in a ridiculous cape and starry pantaloons. He whipped out a blade. I blanched as the light caught it: a gleaming Toledo sword.

  While the passerby marveled, the performer pointed the blade around the crowd. “For my next act, I shall need a volunteer. You! In the back!”

  To my dismay, Minho’s warmth disappeared from my side. “Me?” he asked.

  The performer nodded impatiently. “You stand heads and shoulders above the rest! Come! Join me on stage!”

  He offered us a winning smile, but I didn’t see it. I only saw sharpened teeth and Santiago whipping around his Toledo blade like an unstoppable dust devil.

  “No!” I blurted and pulled Minho away. The crowd’s boos peppered our backs, but I continued to tow Minho along the shadowy passage as fast as I could. Yet only one thought ran on an endless loop through my mind:

  The haetae had known his name.

  “Citlalli, what is wrong? All night, you act”—Minho searched for the English word—“crazy.”

  I stared at him for a second and then burst into wild, uncontrolled tears.

  “We need to end things, Minho,” I stammered.

  For a moment that felt like an eternity, he stood motionless. Shadows played across his face. Finally, he bit his lip and ran a hand through his gelled hair. I caught a glimpse of his eyes tearing before he averted his gaze.

  I could only stand there, trembling and consumed with shame. I wanted Minho to yell at me. Shake me. Anything to make him less of a person to care about. My person, whom I did care about more than was safe to admit.

  “I don’t understand,” was all he said.

  “I know,” I replied. I
don’t ever want you to. I don’t want you to ever feel haunted by the evils of this world.

  He retreated back into the crowd, still stunned. Even though there were hordes of people shouting and brushing against me, I had never felt so alone. My tribunal loomed tomorrow, and I no idea what I was going to do.

  Closing my eye, I sent out one final whisper after his disappearing form:

  I never want you to know how close you came to a girl on fire.

  .

  Chapter 26: The Hearing

  ~Citlalli~

  If this was the way I was to end my short run as Alpha of the Seoul werewolves, then at least I had a damn good turnout to my tribunal.

  Representatives from all of the neighboring weretribes were present, even the reclusive Nepalese snow leopards and the Taiwanese white dolphins. The Japanese werebear chieftain grumbled that he’d just been settling down for hibernation. Thaksin, my werenaga friend from Thailand, hissed at him and then gave me an encouraging nod.

  I managed to smile back. The pain of breaking up with a good guy like Minho still twisted in my heart like a knife, but I had done what was needed. We couldn’t continue to see each other without me coming clean about my deteriorating soul. And inviting Minho into my world of dangerous shapeshifters and evil spirits was a curse he didn’t deserve. I already worried about Mami and Miguel’s involvement, even though their wits and uncanny street-smarts had protected them thus far. As much as I hated to admit it, Ankor had been right.

  As evening settled over the grassy hill tombs of Donggureung, more spirits appeared. They twinkled between the chipped statues of horses, dogs, and soldiers. I thought I even saw Mangdung jump on top of the life-size sculpture of a weathered emperor.

  Xiang stood in the center of the dais, greeting dignitaries and giving very loud, forced laughs that didn’t fool me. Xiang was never glad to see anyone.

  Why do you think the dragons looked the other way while the Vampyre Queen reigned?

  The haetae’s voice darkened my heart. My face flushed as I caught pair after pair of unfriendly eyes glare in my direction. The Were Nation grew fearful the longer the Emerald Veil haunted us, and someone needed to answer for why it hadn’t been dealt with fast enough.

  Why do you think the goshawk leader insists on a stranglehold of power over the Were Nation, rather than let your tribes live alone in peace?

  Wolf whined, and I didn’t know what to say to console It. I still wore the Red Fang Necklace, but it had never felt lighter—as if it had disappeared already. My eye remained riveted on Xiang’s hand on Rafael’s shoulder as they walked from group to group. I was about to be hung out to dry.

  Yu Li and Bae stood faithfully behind me with the fighting monk Hyeon Bin, the only human allowed to attend the hearing. For one moment, I looked for Raina’s serene presence standing beside them, before remembering that this was one trial I couldn’t burden her with. I would have to handle this myself.

  Bae noticed me watching and clapped encouragingly, but Yu Li and Hyeon Bin could hardly summon smiles. My other wolves prowled restlessly in the background. While some, like Namkyu and Iseul, were solidly on Rafael’s side, I did catch Moon’s nostrils flare in displeasure at the proximity of Rafael to the goshawk leader.

  They will not take our pack! Demon vowed, and it was all I could do not to burst into tears as smoke began to curl from my fingertips.

  Go away. Please, I begged Her.

  She snarled at me. You summoned me to fight the haetae. You are weak without me. Mark my words, Alpha…I will demand a price for my help. If you will not give me the tall Korean boy, then I will find another.

  I focused on crushing Her down until Her threats were mere whispers.

  The moon rose up suddenly, illuminating the forms of the spirit beasts intermingling with the Weres, and I knew it was time. I stepped up onto the dais beside Rafael.

  “Greetings.” Xiang extended his arms in welcome and then proceeded to conduct introductions in Mandarin. He paused at times so the translators could catch up. Shivering, I folded my arms and stared at Kaelan, who stood opposite with his back to me. Xiang would be calling him into account to describe the night Jaehoon had passed.

  Rafael took a step closer to me. Our feet touched. “I’m sorry,” he muttered, gazing down at the earth. “I didn’t want it to come to this, Citlalli.”

  “It’s still ‘Alpha Alvarez’ for now,” I reported, my jaw clenched. Heat pulsed between our bodies. I could hear his rapidly beating heart, but I refused to look at him.

  “I can unite the pack,” Rafael continued softly. Persuasively. “You know I can, Citlalli. Jaehoon was my creator. I was meant to be Alpha after him.”

  “Why don’t you ask the goshawks if they’re recruiting?” I snapped. “Wolves are bonded by loyalty. We don’t leave each other’s carcasses to be eaten by the birds.”

  Rafael’s dark brown eyes flared the orange of his inner Were. “I can get rid of Xiang, but right now he’s useful to us, Citlalli. Why don’t you see that? The goshawks outnumber us fifty to one. We can use Xiang’s army to storm the Emerald Veil and destroy all vampyres forever.”

  I didn’t miss the emphasis on all. Rafael mistook my silence for hesitation. He broke into that irresistible grin, the one I hadn’t seen since we’d been rolling around in the snows long ago, innocently convinced that vampyres were the only evil we needed to conquer. I remembered what it felt like to run my hand through his dark-chocolate hair and the warm buzzy feeling in my stomach when his lips touched mine.

  “You will be my Beta,” Rafael whispered. “You can’t be the Alpha and a Triad, Citlalli. You’ll always be seen as weak and unstable. But I will shut up any Were who questions your place in my pack. This is the way it was supposed to be, Citlalli. You and me. Leaders. Mates.” His hand seized mine, and I didn’t let go. “I know you feel it, too.”

  Xiang finished his speech, and the Were dignitaries settled back in their seats. I didn’t have much time. Demon hissed in displeasure and Wolf howled, but I blocked them both out.

  “You’re right,” my mouth said.

  Rafael smiled and then slipped back to his place at Xiang’s side. The goshawk leader fixed his unforgiving yellow eyes on me.

  “Alpha Citlalli Alvarez. You stand accused of incompetency and falsifying information about the state of your weresoul. Is it not true that you consorted with a dangerous nine-tailed fox on numerous occasions, the last of which resulted in the breaking of your soul into three pieces?”

  Freakin’ Fred. I would have felt bad that he was the last of his kind if he wasn’t such an enormous pain in the ass. Hell, for all I knew he was lying about that, too.

  “It is true.” I raised my chin defiantly. I would not be hung meek and scared. “I am a Triad.”

  Shocked whispers broke out amongst the crowd, and I heard the name “Fire Wolf” being thrown around. That woke the werebear chieftain up, while Kaelan flinched and looked away. Half of the werebeasts growled and bared fangs, as if convinced I would dissolve into inconsolable rage at any second.

  Xiang raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected my admission to come so easily.

  “Is it not also true that this same nine-tailed fox successfully infiltrated your pack, gaining access to werewolf intelligence and allowing a corrupted haetae to destroy your den?”

  Blood flushed my cheeks. I did take responsibility for that one. I should have picked up Fred’s scent earlier.

  “Yes.”

  “You accepted the ‘werewolves’ from Jeju-do into your pack without scrutiny,” Xiang pushed.

  “Yes.” I steeled myself. “I made the call to accept them.”

  Xiang rolled his eyes and turned to Kaelan. “Are you certain this is the wolf Jaehoon passed the Red Fang Necklace on to before his untimely death?”

  Kaelan’s brow furrowed, and he stared at his boots. The Irishman’s silence stretched as long as the shadows, and the Were dignitaries began to whisper amongst one another. I regarded him sadly.
This wasn’t fair to him. All Kaelan wanted to do was mourn his daughter’s death at the hands of our true enemy, the Vampyre Court. But I understood if he wanted to go after her sons for Colleen. All he had to do was lie, say a quick “no,” and this would all be over. Xiang and Rafael would get what they wanted.

  “Yes. She is.” Kaelan’s head rose, and his ears flattened as he met Xiang’s gaze head-on. “‘Do not lose the necklace I gave you, Citlalli.’ I will always remember those words. They were the last few the juin-nim ever spoke. He wanted to ensure that all wolves present knew he was entrusting the pack to her.”

  Xiang raised an eyebrow. “Then let us go over the events of that night in detail, shall we? On the date in question—”

  “You dare call my pack mate a liar?”

  Fury had built up like a teetering tower inside of me, but I spoke softly. At this moment, it was very important not to lose control and prove myself to be the mad Triad everyone thought I was.

  Xiang’s wrath turned on me. “It is not the Accused’s turn to speak—”

  “The passing of the Red Fang Necklace is our ritual,” I cut him off again and took a step forward. “Who are you to interfere in wolf business?”

  “It is the ritual of the Seoul werewolves,” Xiang reported. “It was developed for generations in Korea, hundreds of years before you or this Irishman stepped foot on Korean soil.”

  “But the juin-nim passed the necklace to me,” I said. “Not because he wanted to hand Seoul over to foreign powers, but because he trusted me.” I blinked back sudden tears. Wolf and Demon watched me, solemn. They knew there was no coming back from what I was about to do.

  “Seu Jaehoon told me to pass the Red Fang Necklace on to the right Alpha successor who does know our ways. Who will lead the Seoul werewolves to a glorious and prosperous future.”

  Shock hung in the air. Thaksin shook his head as the translators worked in overdrive, and the spirit beasts began to buck and throw their heads. Even Xiang’s eyes bulged, but he had no choice. He allowed me the floor. Slowly, before the living and the dead, I removed the Red Fang Necklace from around my neck.