Page 92 of Two Thousand Blades

Yet, before he could return the attack, Jiang Chong whirled toward Kai, grabbed him by the throat, and pulled him through an opening that swallowed them both in the blink of an eye.

“No!” Xiang screamed, and he lunged for the opening, only to fall flat on the cold, blood-streaked floor. They were gone in a heartbeat. Jiang Chong had stolen his mate. For a moment, it was as if his brain had stopped working and his soul had left his body, disappeared into the unknown with Jiang Chong. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think. There was just the screaming panic from this sudden void within his chest, demanding his dragon return to him. Centuries upon centuries of watching loved ones disappear from his life slammed into him, and he refused to allow Kai to join them.

“Find him! Find him now!” Xiang roared, pushing himself to his feet. He stood back-to-back with his brothers and shimei as they searched the throne room covered in dead bodies for the faintest ripple of where Jiang Chong had moved to next, but there was nothing. Had Jiang Chong dragged Kai off outside of the throne room? Had he slipped away, leaving his lover behind?

The thoughts had barely formed in his mind when a rip sliced through the air and Jiang Chong ran out at an alarming speed, his eyes wide and sword forgotten in his fist. The tear almost closed behind him, crushing Xiang’s heart. In a blink of an eye, the same opening exploded to fifty times its original size as a dragon’s golden head surged out.

Fuck, yes!

Kai had shifted into his dragon form the moment Jiang Chong stole him away. The old bastard had gotten far more than he bargained for with Kai.

Mei Lian thrust her arms into the air and squealed. “Kick his ass, Kai!”

There was one problem. A full-grown and very pissed off dragon could not fit inside of a building. The throne room was an enormous, two-story area that was plenty of space for elves and vampires, but not a dragon. Kai surged through the air, twisting his body as he chased after Jiang Chong, claws scraping and scrabbling on marble columns and even the ceiling. Chunks of plaster and stone crashed down, forcing them to dodge out of the way.

Jiang Chong cried out once, and it was a sound Xiang had been waiting his entire life to hear, but the asshole proved to be too sneaky. He dodged Kai’s snapping jaws and changed direction to run right at Rei and Trin as they continued to fight on the dais. The old vampire narrowly avoided Rei’s sword, grabbed Trin’s arm, and pulled him into an opening he made behind the elf. Aire noticed the chaos and managed to dive in after them as it closed.

Kai roared, shaking the entire castle and deafening them all, but Xiang could still hear the echo of Kai’s human voice in his mind.

My sword!

Xiang thought his heart was going to break. All this work and pain for that sword, and it still eluded Kai’s grasp. The dragon roared again and again, slamming into the walls and tearing the castle apart.

Rei and Yichen ran over to their gathering as they watched the dragon losing his mind. A wise person would get the hell out of there before Kai brought the entire building down on their heads. But Xiang couldn’t leave him. Not when he was in this kind of pain.

“Look!” Chen pointed at a faint blue glow that was barely more than a spot hovering in the air where Jiang Chong and the elves had disappeared.

Xiang took a hesitant step closer, only to stop as the sword in question burst into the human realm and shot across the throne room. Just before it could pierce his chest, the sword stopped and hung in the air at chest level with the point directed toward the ground, as if it were waiting for him to take it.

Sucking in a steadying breath, Xiang wrapped his fingers on the hilt. A buzz of energy entered his body, crackling along his arm to fill every inch of him. Whispers filled his head, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying. A heartbeat later, a rumble of thunder and the crash of waves on the shore drowned out the voices. This was the sword of a dragon who commanded the rains and rivers.

With the sword in hand, Xiang jogged to Kai, holding the weapon over his head. “Kai! I have it! I have your sword! Come back to me!”

The dragon’s head snapped around and those eyes remained narrowed on him as if he didn’t recognize him. That long carp mustache wriggled with a life of its own and his mane flowed about his body with a charge of lightning. As Xiang was questioning his own sanity, Kai’s golden eyes widened, and he could feel his mate’s joy.

Pushing off the wall, the massive creature rushed across the room, snatching up Xiang and the sword before busting through the opposite wall and into the night.

Xiang might have screamed in terror.

But the fear passed as Kai’s happiness washed through him. The dragon twirled over in the air as he flew above the clouds to be gilded in the bright moonlight.

“Kai! What about the clan? We have to help them escape!” Xiang shouted, hoping he could be heard over the wind.

I’ve already sent them all home with magic.

There was a bit of smugness to those words as they danced across Xiang’s brain. Yes, the dragon could do just about anything when he could use his magic. But right now, he wanted to celebrate, and that meant flying across the night sky with his mate in his arms.

“How did we get the sword back?” Xiang shouted.

Jiang Chong fears me. He threw the sword out of the dead realm rather than risk me coming after it.

“Can you?”

No. But he doesn’t know that.

Xiang tightened his fist on the hilt of the sword that had grown quiet since Kai had scooped him up. With his free hand, he reached out and caressed the ivory and gold scales closest to him, marveling at the beautiful soul that held him. How could he love someone so much?

When it came to Kai, the answer to that question was very easy.

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