Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3)

by Heather Heffner

  I snickered and set about organizing the wolves to unpack our belongings. Miguel had wanted to date Yu Li. I supposed he’d never dreamed that would mean prettying himself up to be presentable to Were dignitaries from around the globe.

  To my surprise, Kaelan approached to assist me in arranging our regional maps on the wall.

  “These may be a bit out-of-date for the techno lizards, but nothing beats the touch and smell of a good old-fashioned map,” the Irishman said resolutely, stepping back to admire our layout of the Seoul vampyre nest locations. “You’ll keep them up for me, won’t you, girlie? Even if the Lizard King insists on scanning them all into his fancy computer?”

  I caught the wistful trace in his voice and swiftly looked up to find his troubled eyes fixed on our map of the globe. On Ireland.

  “You’re leaving,” I said in a low voice.

  Kaelan extended a hand. “The Alpha gave me permission to return home and mourn my daughter. She knows my heart isn’t in this war anymore. It has been an honor to fight alongside you, Alvarez. However, that last battle against Maya took it out of me. I was so sure Colleen would have made it. That Ae Cha would have—” He stopped and turned away, blinking rapidly. “You and Yu Li see to it that Kang doesn’t get her kids, will ya? They deserve better.”

  “I swear it,” I said firmly. “Kang doesn’t know who he’s messing with.”

  Kaelan nodded. “Come see us in Ireland sometime,” he said gruffly, rummaging around in his pack. “We have a small wolf pack there. Nothing compared to the Brits’ ‘Royal Wolf Army,’ but we’re more fun. However”—he hoisted up a bottle of Guinness— “you’re not allowed to step foot on my turf until you’ve develop a taste for Guinness, you hear? I can’t have you embarrassing me in front of the fellas.”

  I made a face of mock disgust but accepted the bottle. “The things I do for you, Kaelan.”

  He laughed for the first time in months, and I couldn’t hold back the tears in my eyes for any longer.

  “But what I have done for you is nothing compared to what you have done for me,” I whispered, pulling him in for a tight hug. “I will never forget how you supported me during the Were Council hearing, pack brother. Komaweoyo.”

  Kaelan ruffled my curls good-naturedly. “Don’t worry too much about Xiang, girlie. He’s not an evil son-of-a-gun out to rule South Korea. However, he is an Elder Life Spirit, and all of those types are more Were than human. His primary nature is a bird of prey, and his instinct is to hunt those he considers disruptive to the stability of the region.”

  My gaze drifted to Mun Mu, who had a hand draped around Mami’s waist as he traded banter with Miguel and Yu Li. “In your experience, are all Elder Life Spirits that way?”

  The Irishman shrugged. “Younger ones may have more of a connection to their humanity. But look at it this way: they can’t be worse than those fire hazard Triad types.”

  I punched him in the shoulder, and he ducked away, laughing.

  To my surprise, I looked up to find the pack on high alert. Iseul cautiously circled me and put a hand on Kaelan’s shoulder. “Is everything okay here?”

  “Everything’s fine. I’m just giving ’Lalli a tough time about being a Triad,” he told her, and Iseul’s face grew progressively paler.

  “This den is brand-new. Let’s not provoke Citlalli into burning it down before we’ve had time to test the sprinkler system,” Yu Li said dryly.

  She had snuck up so quietly that none of us had noticed. We all hastily inclined our heads.

  “Algesseumnida,” Iseul murmured.

  Yu Li looked at our assembled pack and sighed. “Citlalli is a Triad. Let’s not tip-toe around it. However, she has been one for months now, and have any of you ever felt threatened by her?”

  Bae cautiously raised a hand. Kaelan followed in mock solemn salute, and I resisted the urge to punch him again.

  “We will support her. We will not abandon one of our own,” Yu Li continued firmly. “Becoming a Triad is a threat all Weres face. I refuse to accept that if it happens, then that Were is a damaged and broken thing. Helping Citlalli heal her soul will help everyone in the Were Nation.”

  A round of slow claps echoed behind us. I felt Mun Mu’s hand settle on my shoulder, and a shiver ran through me from the weight of his palm. Wolf whined, and even Demon hid warily. Power rolled off the Dragon King in waves that made me weak at the knees; I was ready to crouch at his feet like a good little dog.

  “Well said, Alpha Ahn,” Mun Mu stated. “Your pack may rest assured: the question of how to restore a Were’s soul has received considerable attention at Yong Enterprises through Project Icarus. If Citlalli is willing to participate, then I believe she will advance the research.”

  I gave a shaky nod. My pack mates returned to setting up the den, but I could still sense their distrust. I blew out a strand of hair in frustration. Great. It wasn’t enough to be the disgraced Alpha and a dangerous Triad. Now I was the freak lab experiment as well.

  Sharp nails dug into my wrist. Mami had appeared at my elbow to draw me quietly but deliberately away from Mun Mu. “What do they mean, mija?” she murmured, smoothing down my jacket. “Why do they keep calling you this ‘Triad’?”

  Miguel stood nearby with arms folded. I swallowed, realizing that while creeps like the vampyres knew I was a Triad, my own mother didn’t.

  “I’m a pariah,” I admitted. “My soul isn’t just me and my wolf nature anymore. It’s fractured further into three, to include that of a fire demon.”

  Her stubby fingers froze on my collar. “The reason my restaurant office burned down—”

  “Was me,” I said in a low voice. “Demon is also the reason I ran out on my shift the other night.”

  She smacked me hard across the face. I clutched my jaw and managed a horrible grin. “Really, that’s the sort of thing it likes.”

  “How could you?” Mami hissed, stepping close to bombard me with the scent of her Rosa del Verano perfume. “It wasn’t enough for you to get bitten! Now both you and your sister! Cursed!”

  “I got bitten while trying to rescue Raina,” I managed in a strangled voice. “I wasn’t planning on it—”

  “No. You never do plan. You never do think!” Mami rounded on Mun Mu with tears glistening in her eyes. “My daughter is not to participate in your ‘study,’” she growled and then stormed off to the lavatory.

  I braced myself for an eruption from the stoic Dragon King, but Mun Mu merely studied me with disconcerting calm. “Citlalli,” he said, and I hesitated before dropping beside him to speak in private.

  “My son confided in you about his…weakness.”

  I started at the derision dripping in the Dragon King’s voice. “Ankor?”

  “He has not done that before.”

  I attempted to meet the challenge in his voice with a shrug. “Erm—similar life problems?”

  Mun Mu broke into a smile. “I am glad, Citlalli. For too long, Ankor has been alone, without someone who can truly understand what he is going through. I understand your mother’s concerns, but you are welcome to observe what we do at Project Icarus any time. I will oversee any procedures myself.”

  Before I could reply, the main wall screen buzzed to life, showing an incoming call from an unknown number. Mun Mu moved swiftly to the mainframe and keyed in a sequence. Within seconds, the screen readjusted. We saw the familiar faces of Sun Bin, Heesu, and Raina huddling around the phone. Delighted, I inched closer to search my sister’s face, seeking any sign that she might be distressed.

  “Ah! My children,” Mun Mu said fondly, and I didn’t miss the way Raina blinked at that. Miguel sidled up next to me.

  “Looks like she’s hanging in there,” he muttered. “Miss Ghost Girl. Is she remembering to eat?”

  “They must be calling about the Second Trial,” I said excitedly.

  “Have you returned from North Korea?” Mun Mu asked the Yong siblings. I could just make out Ankor sulking in the back.

 
Sun Bin and Heesu nodded. “Neh, Abeoji.”

  Mun Mu glanced back at the attentive wolves and returned to the call with a half-smile. “So. Who won a token of the Tiger Guardian’s favor? Who will advance to the Third Trial of Wisdom in Angkor Wat?”

  Three palms flashed up. I winced at the long gash adding to Raina’s other scars, but her face was flushed with pride. Yu Li applauded first, and then the rest of us broke into claps and wolf-whistles.

  The Dragon King rewarded them with a single nod. “And my son?” he prompted. Sun Bin wrinkled her nose but withdrew. Ankor approached with his shoulders slumped and his usual crown of arrogance broken. My breath caught. No. It wasn’t possible—

  “Abeoji…” Ankor stared at a point below the camera and then said in low English: “I failed, father.”

  An abrupt silence fell over the enclave. Mun Mu remained rigid in place, a single muscle twitching in his jaw. Ankor seemed to sink lower into the ground. Anxious, Sun Bin pushed her twin brother aside and said confidently, “Abeoji, the Second Trial was unfair. Guardian Baek Bo Ra was way out of line. She was completely biased against Ankor. You should have heard the things she said about us, and about you—”

  “Enough.” It was a sibilant hiss, yet it carried the intensity of thunder. Sun Bin shut up, and the three imugi sisters withdrew to leave Ankor to his fate.

  “Our family does not accept failure,” Mun Mu stated, and Ankor winced as if struck through the screen.

  “Abeoji, I—”

  “We have nothing more to discuss. The Trials of Wisdom have spoken. You are not worthy to become a dragon.” Mun Mu pressed a button, and the screen went black.

  “Accept my apologies,” he told our stunned faces. “I must go.” With a quick bow, he gestured to his bodyguards. They readied his table to take him back to the upper floors. I continued to stare at the indifferent black screen, wishing I could reach through.

  Chapter 32: Darkening the Doorway

  ~Raina~

  I was in the middle of packing for Cambodia when there came a sudden rap at the door. I froze, suddenly aware of the stillness of our apartment. I was the only one home. However, sunlight still peeked in through the curtains, so I padded down the hall and checked the keyhole.

  Surprised, I opened the door. “Rafael.”

  The tall and lanky werewolf turned from where he’d been pacing in the hallway. “Is Citlalli here?” he demanded, shouldering past.

  I folded my arms. “She is not. And I didn’t invite you in.”

  Rafael stood in the center of the living room, suddenly looking like a lost puppy. He ran a hand through his tousled bronze hair. “I’m sorry. I’ll go,” he muttered.

  “That’s a good idea,” I said firmly.

  The rogue werewolf paused in the doorway. He stood disconcertingly close, and I was regaled by his smoky, spiced scent and the heat of his gaze. He rubbed the dark scruff along his jaw, and I quickly averted my eyes. No wonder both Citlalli and Yu Li had both lost their heads around him. Rafael had dark brown eyes the color of chocolate that were adorable when they softened, and the pain chiseling his face made my heart break for him.

  Rafael laughed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Raina. Look. I know I’ve given your sister a lot of shit about ending the Were War after she rescued you. But do you honestly agree with her?”

  I bit my lip and gazed toward the living room. “I can’t help you rejoin the pack, Rafael.”

  “No, I don’t care about the pack. I only care about doing what’s right.” Rafael brought his fist down in his hand, his brown eyes aflame. “You don’t think it’s crazy, do you? To hunt down every last one of these vampyre motherfuckers?”

  Sudden ugliness reared up in my chest, slapping over my heart in thick, inky black tentacles. I remembered Donovan’s wives, Amrit and Eva, laughing as they used us as footstools. I remembered the desperation in Natalya’s eyes as she sparred with me over Donovan, fighting for him because becoming a vampyre bride meant surviving for another day. Worst of all, I remembered being thrown into a dark room lit only by the cold faces of mirrors, and Queen Maya’s heartless laugh as she sealed me inside to steal my soul.

  Baek Bo Ra’s voice growled in my head, hard and merciless: You wanted to have a choice. So make one.

  My head reared up, and the malice encasing my dark eyes gave Rafael pause.

  “I think all vampyres should die,” I said coolly.

  A slow smile spread across Rafael’s face.

  Chapter 33: The Third Trial

  ~Raina~

  The moped’s growl thrummed in my head like a persistent mosquito as I clung to Nyssa’s waist, watching the northern Cambodian highway spill out before us like a muddy river plunging over rice terraces and mangrove swamps. Cambodia’s sun was a ripened peach glinting softly through the dust and bromeliad leaves. The jungle rustled and shook with monkey hoots and twittering birds. It glistened so iridescently green that it hurt my eyes to gaze upon it for too long.

  Ahead of us, Sun Bin pressed her foot on the pedal. Heesu turned behind her to flash us a peace sign. Nyssa grinned. “Hang on, Raina,” she warned, and then our old cluttering scooter whined past them.

  I laughed, glancing back as if expecting to see Ankor sigh. However, the road was empty behind us. My scarred hand began to throb. Biting my lip, I looked ahead for our first view of the great Lake Tonlé Sap.

  A recent storm had left the waters churning with broken reeds, logs, and muck. Amidst the golden morning haze, I could make out thatch-roofed cottages on stilts, fishing boats, and children paddling in buckets. A farmer prodded a drive of water buffalo across the road. We waited patiently; Heesu giggled and snapped pictures.

  Hours later, the rumble of a moped shook me awake. To my surprise, the dirt road had vanished to be replaced by pavement. Vans, bikes, and carts rattled past one disgruntled elephant. The chatter of people rose in a crescendo as they all threaded their way toward the market. Sun Bin pulled alongside us, and Heesu pointed. “Look!”

  Sucking in my breath, I stared down the rolling road. There, framed on either side by palm trees, was an ancient, towering temple spire spearing the sky. We had reached it, then: Siem Reap, home to the legendary Angkor Wat.

  There was no Third Guardian to greet us. Helpless, we relied primarily on Nyssa to speak to the locals. She had been exposed to the Khmer language during her childhood in neighboring Thailand before her father had been targeted as a political dissident.

  The nagi managed to find us our hotel. The Yongs protested that there was no pool, and Nyssa calmly confiscated Sun Bin and Heesu’s credit cards. “You want to swim? There is a giant lake right over there,” she told her girlfriend unsympathetically. Sun Bin huffed and helped herself to a handful of long-haired rambutans that we had bought from a fruit stall.

  “Can we please go ride an elephant?” Heesu begged for the fifth time as we lounged on the lively Pub Street at our appointed meeting spot beneath strings of butter yellow umbrellas and silvery lights. A street vendor offered us some fried snake on a stick, and all four of us reptiles looked at him with such disdain that he backed away and almost ran into a troupe of orange-robed monks.

  Nyssa smiled in Heesu’s direction. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt while we’re waiting. I’ll see what I can arrange.”

  “Don’t leave me to babysit for too long,” Sun Bin begged, and Nyssa gave her a deep kiss before disappearing into the crowd.

  “Wow, I could get used to that.” The eldest Yong leaned back and grinned. “Usually Nyssa frowns upon kissing in public.”

  “You used to as well,” Heesu replied. “But Appa says then you went to that English university and became all Westernized.”

  Sun Bin’s cheeks tinged pink with annoyance, but she shrugged. “Well, he’s the one who paid for it.”

  “Nyssa does seem a lot more relaxed,” I agreed, trying to steer the conversation back into safer waters.

  “Yes. Nyssa’s never been home since her father was murdered in
Thailand for his political views. This is probably the closest she’s been to her country in a long time.” Sun Bin bit her lip and stared at the ground in uncharacteristic worry, but then Heesu begged her to buy her the beaded dress in the shop across the way. Sun Bin pulled yet another credit card out of nowhere and winked at me before leading her younger sister over.

  I was about to follow, but suddenly I scented another snake in the thriving marketplace. Whirling around, I found a short, dark-skinned Thai man with a ruby gemstone in his nose smiling at me, along with two Cambodian companions, a boy and a girl. Their shifter scent was strange, and I couldn’t place them.

  “Greetings, imugi princess.” The Thai man bowed, and my face broke into a grin.

  “Thaksin?” I remembered the majestic golden snake bursting free from the snowy drifts to ward away the ghosts during the final battle of the Were War.

  The serpent man hissed. “Ah, so you remember! These are fellow shifters who would like to bid you welcome to their home: lok-Devi and lok srey-Mau, of the rare clouded wereleopard people.”

  We bowed to one another. Devi and Mau spoke no English, but they offered me gifts: a tin of sugary fruit jellies and a nagi figurine made out of glittering blue crystal with amethysts for eyes. Mau gestured toward me, and I bit back a smile at its likeness to my water dragon form.

  “I don’t have anything to give them,” I mumbled to Thaksin.

  “Seeing you is thanks enough,” he replied, and I flushed. Scouring my pockets, I found a few riel bills and offered to treat us all to refreshment.

  “I think it’s so cool that you’re a naga,” I told Thaksin later after the clouded wereleopards bid us farewell. “Sun’s girlfriend Nyssa is a nagi, too.”

  “Ah!” Thaksin’s eyes sank into olive-toned slits. “Which tribe is she from?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted, a bit embarrassed. “I’ve never seen her shift, but Heesu told me she has glassy black scales.”