“I mean, I heard his children were in a bit of a predicament on Jeju Island lately. Kinda odd that he didn’t check in on them to see if they were okay.”
“Oh yes, I heard about that,” Daniella’s image said, and we all tensed.
My elder sister nodded her head toward the TV set in the background. “I saw the reports of missing villagers happening near the world heritage site of Seongsan Ilchulbong. Of course, the media is already blaming it on the North Koreans. Maybe it’s a good thing you are going away to Mexico for a little while, Mami.”
“Hang on—what?” We all stared at our mother. In our entire childhood, Mami had never mentioned Mexico, unless to scold Papi for teaching us Spanish.
“That is another reason I gathered you all here tonight.” Mami took a deep breath and attempted a small smile. But her hands had begun to tremble, as if remembering the things they had done. “I will be leaving tomorrow for a trip to México, nos niños. There is some unfinished business I must attend to.”
Miguel vaulted off the counter. “Bullshit. I tried to visit Nana’s former village my senior year of high school, and you all but barricaded me in my room as if I were talking about going to the Gaza Strip! What the hell happened there that you are so afraid of?”
“Who are you afraid of?” Raina asked more softly.
Mami attempted another smile and then settled for polishing silverware that was already clean enough to see our suspicious faces in. “Your imaginations are running away from you. My parents’ murderers are long gone, most likely shot up by some other street gang. However, I still own Nana’s old home, and there are some things there I must take care of. Miguel, you will run the restaurant in my absence. Look after your sisters.”
We wished Daniella many more congratulations. Then Miguel and Raina retired to the living room, bickering about what to watch on TV. Mami glanced over in surprise as I sidled up to help her do the dishes. After a moment, she made room for me. She kept glancing at my raw, red arms every time they surfaced in the soapy suds.
“I want you to go to church while I’m gone.”
I blinked. Mami picked up the abrasive sponge and began scouring the iron cast pan as if on a personal vendetta to peel away years of oil splatters.
“Mami, if it’s my soul you’re worried about, then Mun Mu offered for me to participate in Project Icarus—”
Blowing out a string of hair, Mami jabbed the ladle at me. “No. Do not trust men to do God’s work.”
“Mami,” I said, softer, “there are monsters out there. And this…demon inside of me…sometimes it’s the only thing that makes me feel strong enough to fight them.”
Mami grabbed my shoulders. I felt soapy water run down my arms. “Mija,” she said fiercely, “always remember: there are worse things to be afraid of in here.”
Abruptly, her grip turned to steel. “You foolish girl,” she whispered in my ear. “Why did you do it? Why the wolf bite? I wasn’t supposed to lose you, too.”
I pulled away as if struck. “What do you mean, why did I do it? I needed to save Raina, Mami! I was the only one who realized the truth about the spirit world. Except for—”
The gravity in her eyes pulled me down a deep, dark hole.
“Did you always know they were going to come for her, Mami?” I asked, my voice strangled between disbelief and horror.
She seized me before I could move and pressed a kiss on my dark curls. “When I go back, I will fix things, ’Lalli,” she murmured, rocking my stricken frame. “Don’t worry, mija. Everything will turn out all right.”
Later, I found Raina in our shadowed bedroom. Without a word, I crawled onto the bed and hugged her. Finally, she shifted to open her hand. A faded sun charm bracelet slipped out and hit the hardwood floor.
“What happened during the Final Trial, Raina?” I whispered as the night closed in around us.
She clammed up like a statue, but her eyes betrayed her. They were full of glittering, pale secrets that fluttered to hide from the moonlight. Then she said: “I saw the Yongs’ mother, Citlalli. After all this time, Sun Young is alive—sort of. She became the Fourth Spirit Guardian after her mortal body died. And she told me things. Many dark and unsettling things, about gods and life spirits who do wicked things. I’m still not sure what she means.”
I sucked in my breath. “You know what has become of Mun Mu, don’t you?”
My younger sister bit her lip. “Not exactly. But I promised Heesu it would be her secret to tell. After all, he is her father.”
“He’s your father.”
“No,” Raina said softly. “He never claimed me as a daughter. I failed Eve, Citlalli. I’m not from there. You are.”
Scowling, I leaped from the bed and scoured through my dirty laundry. Finally, I found it rolled behind a desk leg: a half-made soil box lantern, with twigs and frayed twine sticking up from the ends of it.
I stuck the atrocious thing in my sister’s face. “Raina, this is the garden lantern I tried to make for the Garlic Spirit. That other lantern the Greater Dark Spirit swallowed, the one which made it grow tall enough to touch the skies, was the lantern you made. Not me. So tell me how you’re not from Eve.”
At long last, she began to talk. She told me of the Trials, of betraying Ankor, of fighting Sun Bin, of combining forces with Heesu. She told of a silver dragon sleeping beneath the sea, whose dreams were endarkened by the past and the future. She whispered of the strange and powerful vision that the Dreaming Dragon had shared with her. Then Raina wove a picture about the night the stars fell; amongst them, a black pearl to inspire the world.
And it would never be hers.
“Good,” I told her, snuggling close. “Otherwise, you’d go off to save the world and forget about me. There will be other pearls, Raina.”
She smiled sadly but leaned her head against mine until we both fell asleep.
Chapter 57: Custody Battle
~Miguel~
My younger sister Daniella was getting hitched to a guy who appreciated the Dallas Cowboys, and I was the interim manager while Mami finally dealt with her issues in México. A couple weeks without the Dragon Lady breathing fire down my neck? I had a few menu change ideas. I still couldn’t believe she’d nixed my dessert tacos idea.
The courthouse was brimming to the lip. Everyone was eager to see my girlfriend, Yu Li, go toe-to-toe with Kang, Ae Cha’s ex-husband, in defense of Ae Cha’s children. The kiddies weren’t present, but Young Soo was in the back row with me, scuffing up the floor with his heels because his Smartphone wasn’t allowed in here.
“Kid, you are lucky. When I was your age, we only had spitballs and glow-in-the-dark yoyos to entertain ourselves,” I told him.
Young Soo glared at me. His sharp black eyes were so frightfully similar to his mother’s that I began to feel like this was all my fault.
“I don’t like you,” he said in a short rush of English. Perfect pronunciation.
Yu Li waved to me from the front and then tilted her head toward her pouting son. I swallowed and tried to put a reassuring arm around Young Soo, which he promptly threw off.
“I know, I’m the ugly American who can’t help you with your homework. I don’t know why your mother puts up with me, either.”
Young Soo shot me a dogged look. “I don’t want you to be new Appa. I want him to be Appa. Rafa.”
Fuckin’ Rafael Dominguez. I didn’t get what women saw in him. He wouldn’t have lasted a week as a line chef.
Young Soo wasn’t done. “Umma has hurt because you.”
I knew what he was trying to say. It was my sister who had accidentally scarred Yu Li’s face. Yu Li had experienced little peace since getting involved with my crazy family.
I patted Young Soo awkwardly on the head, which earned several annoyed looks from our neighbors. I quickly retracted the hand and tried to pretend that Young Soo’s sneaker tapping against my foot didn’t bother me. The head was sacred, a direct portal to the soul, and one did not simply touch it
without permission. Rafa would have known.
The proceedings started. Kang was sober for once, but his attorney spoke in a tedious drawl as if he were as bored of being here as Yu Li’s son. A drink might have livened him up.
Then Yu Li stood up, representing Ae Cha’s parents. She demolished Kang. It was scary, really. I didn’t understand the full power of her words, but even Young Soo quieted to hone in on his mother. She was a damn fine natural Alpha, and no mortal could take her pack’s pups unless they were family. When the custody ruling was in the grandparents’ favor, the entire courtroom erupted in applause.
Kang’s goons immediately flocked to him, and they shot Yu Li several Medusa-cold looks before departing. Yu Li opened her arms so Young Soo could run and greet her. I sidled up and brushed a kiss against her ear.
“Congratulations, beautiful,” I whispered.
Yu Li pushed me away, her nose wrinkling. “You smell like Marlboro again.”
“I’m working on it,” I protested.
She ignored me, turning to take an incoming phone call. “Neh? Yeoboseyo?”
Young Soo and I padded after her like perfectly trained house pets to the car. Yu Li hung up and looked at me over the hybrid’s roof with a curious expression on her face.
“That was my journalist friend from Kenya. I have not heard from her in some time.” Yu Li absently-mindedly rubbed her vivid red scar.
I caught her hand. “Easy there, babe. Doc said not to scratch. Who’s your friend?”
She slowly relaxed in my arms, calming down from the zero to sixty hyper-intensity she usually operated at. “Kendari. She is a shapeshifter like myself, a werecheetah. Kendari says she has news about missing Vampyre Prince Aaron.”
“Werecheetahs. Of fucking course. Is no place immune from the shapeshifting epidemic?” I stopped as Yu Li raised an eyebrow at me.
“You have spirit sight, Miguel. So you are hardly ‘normal.’” She yanked open the front door with a vengeance to toss her purse in.
“Hey, I’m just worried about your competition, babe. So Kendari couldn’t tell you over the phone?”
“She wants to meet.” Yu Li briskly helped Young Soo into the backseat and put his seatbelt on. “I will present her request to the pack. Aaron cannot hide on the other side of the world. We will not let him open Xibalba there or anywhere else. But first—” She shut the door and flashed me a smile that made my dick get hard. “Can you come over tonight? Young Soo needs help with his math homework.”
“Sure,” I said casually, sweeping my door open and raising an eyebrow. “While I’m over…anything I can help you with?”
Yu Li’s cheeks reddened. I saw it. However, she looked pointedly elsewhere. “We’ll see how well you do. Young Soo needs your tax accounting expertise to get into a good school.”
Yeah, I knew a thing or two about taxes by successfully dodging them before coming to Korea. But I’d rather Yu Li think I was a piss-poor accountant than see the look on her face when she found out about what I’d really done for a living. God knew it was a miracle Citlalli had kept her mouth shut about it for this long, but there was no way in hell Daniella would let a lie like that continue.
I scowled. Ok, so I had been such a little shit when I was younger that no one had known how to control me. But I’d left that life behind when I’d moved to South Korea. And I hadn’t looked back.
So maybe that was why I held her extra tight that night and kissed every crevice of her body until she was trembling. I scooted up behind her and wrapped my arms around her slender waist while my mouth tickled the sensitive spot behind her ear.
“You know, you always start speaking Korean halfway through,” I murmured.
She flipped over in bed and regarded me with those beautiful dark eyes framed by her raven-black hair. “There are some things English can’t say,” she said with a naughty grin, and I gave a low whistle, pressing closer.
“I hear that.”
She shoved my chest. “You know. You are different than your younger sisters. You always start speaking Spanish.”
I rubbed the stubble on my chin, not sure which way was safe to move when she trapped me in her huntress’s gaze like that. Her fingers brushed the tattooed image of Quetzalcoatl on my bicep.
“I am good at learning languages. I know many, but not yours.” Her sinfully sweet eyes drifted up to mine. “Teach me?”
I laughed. It was a low, throaty chuckle, and she knew she was in trouble because she attempted to squirm away, giggling. I let her try and then grabbed her from behind, my hands running down her curves to her hips.
“Ok, señorita,” I said huskily and then smoothly positioned myself so I could whisper more intently in her ear. I watched a deep flush darken her neck, and I grinned wolfishly.
Lucky man that I am, I got to demonstrate several times before she learned what that phrase meant.
Her scar gleamed at me from every turn. I had been seeing too many scars on the silken skin of my beautifully wild Alpha. There were scars on my sisters, on my friends, on Una.
This was the last straw for me. Next time, it would be my turn.
Chapter 58: Choosing Sides
~Citlalli~
I climbed the steps up to the Yongs’ lavish villa. Wolf’s ears picked up the bubbling of pools. The color-changing walls shifted to reflect a blood-orange sunset. However, the mansion felt uncharacteristically…empty. My heart shifted uneasily. Where were all of the serpent folk?
A lump rose in my throat when it was Sun Bin who answered the door instead of Nyssa. The eldest Yong looked me up and down. “Well, well, well. So you haven’t gone off on a crazy demon binge. I guess I should tell Ankor not to fire you.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time family’s let me go,” I grumbled but trailed her inside.
Sun Bin’s heels clipped briskly across the polished tile. “Look, we’re all tired after that bloody shapeshifting war against fanged conquistadors, but there are appearances to keep up. The board is breathing down my neck since Appa still hasn’t returned from ‘vacation.’” She scowled, and I knew Heesu hadn’t shared this mysterious secret that Raina had hinted about.
Heesu and Nyssa were sitting at the counter pouring over a pile of dusty dragon lore about the Yeouiju that made a standard book report look tame. I blinked at Nyssa and then glanced over at Sun, who was helping herself to a cup of blackberry lemonade from the fridge.
“No word from Master Yong yet, Miss Sun Bin?” Nyssa called. Sun stiffened at the formal dispassionate tone and slammed the fridge door a little harder than needed.
“Nope. You know who’ll come sniffing around if he stays missing.” Sun downed her lemonade in one gulp before asking if I wanted any.
Heesu ruffled through a thickset volume with a sigh. “The Golden Mane.”
I nearly choked. “Excuse me? Who’s that?”
“Some rich werelion from America. He’s heavily invested in Yong Enterprises going global and is an enormous pain in the ass.” Sun toasted Heesu. “Hey, since Appa will probably pass the company on to you now, he’s your problem.”
Heesu reached into her jacket pocket, and there it was: the Yeouiju. Demon hissed at the sight of it. I felt a weird lurch in my gut, as if I gazed at it for too long, then I would be sucked into its dense, otherworldly folds.
“No problem,” Heesu said, bouncing the Dragon’s Pearl up and down in her hand. “I’ll change him into something more agreeable.”
Her older sister laughed. “Maybe the Yeouiju did make the right choice after all.”
Nyssa tore her gaze away from the Dragon’s Pearl, seemingly as entranced with the magical orb as me. “How have you been holding up, Citlalli?” she asked kindly.
I tried a winning smile. “Well, I haven’t gone crazy yet. Heard getting back into the workforce helps.”
Nyssa chuckled and reached for another manuscript. “It doesn’t.”
Sun Bin snorted. “I knew you weren’t here to see me. My brother’s in his room. Go
beg for your job back. And tell Raina to quit being such a recluse.”
I saluted and approached the back hall twisting down to where Ankor’s bedroom was nestled snugly beneath the earth.
“Oh, and don’t forget to close the door behind you,” Sun Bin had the nerve to call out tauntingly before leaning on the kitchen table beside Nyssa.
I ducked into Ankor’s room, suddenly shy. Amidst the stacks of books teetering like leaning towers and piles of meticulously folded laundry, I saw the giant 96-inch Plasma LED TV that took up half of the wall currently vibrating with the violence of Warmongers IV. Ankor’s spiky-haired head was just visible above the large couch in front of it.
“You are such a nerd!” I declared, vaulting over the sofa and surprising him into accidentally firing off a few rounds of shots. “You have a pool and a pool table. I spotted a freakin’ dojang across the way from a meditation garden with waterfalls, and yet this is what you do all day? No wonder Sun is always able to kick your ass.”
“If memory serves,” Ankor replied coolly, jerking the controller left to try and save what was left of his dwindling life, “this nerd still defeated you in a fight.”
“By cheating,” I reminded him.
Ankor shrugged, his fingers flying across the buttons to execute a combo and kill the remaining snipers. “Nerds learn to be resourceful.”
I sighed as the enemy’s reinforcements arrived and backed Ankor into a corner. “Give it here, Scaly.”
The Autumn Dragon watched in amazement as I scored ten head shots in a row and then nailed the last guy through the window. I grinned, sinking back in the couch beside him and helping myself to a handful of shrimp chips. “Maybe I’m a little nerdy, too.”
“How did you do that last combo?” Ankor demanded.
I beamed, stretching the controller out of reach. “Miguel showed me. It’s an Alvarez family secret, and I’m not sharing.”
“Bullshit. We’re family.” Ankor’s eyes narrowed, and then to my utter shock, he lunged at me from across the couch. I shouted and tried to back up amidst the feathery fluffiness of the cushions before I realized that Ankor was tickling me.
Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3) Page 37
