Year of the Tiger (Changeling Sisters) (12 page)

“So no one won.” Rafael looked extremely disappointed.

“Then I choose!” I sang out. “Grab your coats, lady, gentlemen. I feel like some good old, spicy spam-and-ramyeon:
budaejjigae
.”

“That’s the army stew stuff, isn’t it?” Miguel asked as we left.

“It is. One of the only good things to come out of that time period. I don’t care if they load it up with MSG. Best blend of kimchi, noodles, and rice cake ever.” Rafael squeezed my arm. “Good choice.”

I looked up at him and saw that all of the coldness had evaporated from him. Sure, it might have been the spirits, but the way his eyes glowed made me feel warm and comfortable, as if the night were just beginning.

And I noticed my brother lagging behind with Una.

 “How many did you eat?” It was the most polite tone I’d heard him take all evening.

She shrugged. “I lost count.”

“Well, you certainly have some guts.”

“Guts?” She looked toward her stomach.

“I mean, you most definitely have some balls!”

“Balls? I don’t think I do…”

He reddened. “Uh, never mind. It’s a weird English saying. You are brave. That’s all.”

“Ah. Bravery.” She smiled. “
Tangshin-eun yonggam hae.
”

“
Tangshin
-what-ee?”

It was the first time I’d heard Miguel seriously attempt to speak Korean. I grinned, grabbed Rafael’s arm, and tugged him further ahead.

“Let’s go. This could take a while.”

So off we went into the frosty night, laughing as we skidded over ice patches, the tentacles in our bellies finally giving up the fight.

Chapter 15: The Draw

Rafael gave me a lift on his scooter to the next pack meeting. I clung tightly to the stiff folds of his black leather jacket as the winds whipped us raw. Frozen and teetering like an icicle, I lurched sideways off the bike and hobbled toward the unassuming doors of Building 324.

“Did you guys make it home okay last night?” Rafael asked innocently.

“Yeah. Miguel didn’t sleep too well. Thrashing around in the sheets and begging, ‘Get them off me!’ That is the
last
time I eat out with you, Rafael Dominguez. First
bibim naengmyeon
, and now, live octopus. Every time, Rafael. Every freakin’ time.”

He laughed; I punched him lightly in the shoulder.

Several girls from the goshawk flock were hanging around the doorway. They whispered amongst themselves, and I didn’t like the way their eyes narrowed on us.
Us.
It was definitely me walking side-by-side with Rafael that had them gossiping.

One followed us down the stairs, and then slipped away to Yu Li upon entering the conference room. Yu Li did seem to be surrounded by an alarming number of women from the other packs; Moon was sharing drinks with her, as were some clouded leopards and a pair of Naga women.

One tall, broad-shouldered woman from the werebears elbowed roughly past as I entered.

“You—steal your pack sister’s man?” she muttered in my ear. “Disgraceful.”

I could only utter a shaky nod, because she was five times my size. The more I looked around the room, the more I realized just how many eyes were darting my way. The men seemed extremely uncomfortable. But a lot of the women looked like they would have no problem setting an upstart eighteen-year-old in her place. My cheeks burned scarlet. What exactly had Yu Li been telling them?

I imagined my Declaration of Innocence speech: “I, did not have, sexual relations with this man… I only wanted to.”

And was that such a crime? I mean, jezus, look at him. I bet half of the women in this room were guilty of daydreaming about falling into bed with him… But if that were true, then why did I still feel so guilty?

Because on the night of their break-up, when I was cradling a crying Young Soo, I’d felt the smallest inkling of…joy. As if I’d thought this would change things. How could it? There was no proof that Rafael looked at me as anything other than a promising protégé. There was the age difference. And there was Yu Li, my “pack” sister. I’d never truly considered myself part of Jaehoon’s pack, but the way the werebear said the word made it synonymous with “family.” I’d be betraying the bitchy older sister I’d never asked for.

I thought of that snowy day in the park, when our brief wrestling match had turned into something liberating and carnal. When Rafael had finally pinned me in the snow…I’d thought he was going to kiss me. I could still see his fingers reaching to brush the stray strands of hair from my face. But that touch never came.

“Hey, Happy Birthday, kiddo!” Kaelan, thankfully, broke the hostile front. He offered me some dried squid, which I hastily declined. “Heard it was something of a…private affair.”

My head whipped about. “Wait, what did you hear?”

“You and Rafael had a private celebration.” Kaelan mistook the look on my whitening face. “Hey, if you two want my blessing, you’ve got it. Rafael broke up with Yu Li good and proper before going after you—”

“Who
said
that?” I hissed. “My brother was there, too! And my mother would have come—”

Kaelan looked at me calmly. “So an outing with just…Rafael and your family? You’ve gotta see how that’s gonna look to them, Citlalli.”

“I wasn’t trying to introduce them, not like that!” I protested. “It’s just…they’ve been giving Rafael a lot of crap for the lost finger, and I wanted to patch things up. I want him to be able to come around my apartment and not be in danger of getting his hand chopped off.”

He backed off, raising his hands. “Hey, it’s not me you’ve got to convince. Although I do demand an invitation to your mandatory make-up birthday party.”

“Thanks, Kae. You’ve got it. Now.” I folded my arms.
“Who said it was a private celebration?”

“Someone who’s not so fond of you.” Kaelan casually nodded toward Yu Li. “And you can rule out vampyres, although she is as cold as one.”

I don’t like it when people talk shit about me. Okay, maybe I’d let the Korean girls at Yongsan International School get away with “Poodle Girl” because my English attempts to straighten them out just slid right off their backs. But I would make Yu Li understand.

“Ahn Yu Li,” I said through gritted teeth, storming through the circle of admirers, “don’t you find it a tad trivial to be spreading false rumors about me while a freakin’ war is going on?”

The other women whispered amongst themselves. I caught: “Does not address older pack sister with proper respect.” Yeah, I was still working on that.

Yu Li deftly deflected the question: “I saved your life. You repay me by going out with my ex-boyfriend.”

“Do you usually take your older brother along on dates?” I demanded. “It was friends hanging out, nothing more!”

“Then why wouldn’t Rafael give you up?” she burst venomously. “The juin-nim
ordered
him to stand down as your teacher, and Rafael refused. Why not stand down? Do you realize how weak that makes us look as a pack?”

I blinked, startled. Then Rafael’s shadow fell over us both.

“Yu Li,” he said, “you can’t do this.”

“You promised me you would not fall for her!” she snarled. “I asked you, long time ago, not to fall for her. You promised!”

“Yu Li
-
a, when we broke up, it wasn’t over Citlalli and you know it,” Rafael maintained firmly. “What’s this really about?”

She put her hands on her hips. “If this isn’t over Citlalli, then how come you won’t admit you don’t care for her?”

Tense silence. Most people stared awkwardly into their coffee cups; others didn’t attempt to hide their interest. I stared numbly at the pack leaders’ door, praying it would open so Jaehoon could interrupt this mounting wall of expectation. I did not want to hear his answer.

Rafael tried, “Of course I care for her. She’s my protégé—”

“But do you
care
for her more? Beyond that?”

Another infinity of silence. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, I mean, she’s only eighteen—”

The door slammed open, and Xiang, followed by Jaehoon and the other pack leaders, filed in. I stared ahead, not really seeing anything. So. I was
only
eighteen. The truth at last. That was it, then. Yu Li wore a wolfish grin from ear to ear.

“The pack leader vote on whether or not to mount an attack on Seorak San shall now take place,” I heard the translator say. “Due to the…unusual show of evidence for Maya’s body to be hidden there, we shall allow one final argument from both sides.”

I didn’t look at Rafael as I stepped forward. I didn’t care what they thought of me, if they thought I was too young. This was my mission proposal. I would see it through.

“Dream-walking is real,” I said, nodding toward the tiger clan. “Spirit walkers have used it for ages to communicate with family in the North. My friend, Won Una, granddaughter of the famed professor Won Sujin-
nim
, can attest to that. We have much more to lose from not planning an attack around Maya’s invitation. When Lunar New Year falls, she will kill all the girls. Kill them, or turn them into soulless brides. And she will have successfully appeased the Dark Spirits, who everyone here seems too frightened to speak of.”

“But by your own information, Maya cannot die while Khyber lives,” Yu Li spoke up, stalking back and forth on the far side of the room.

“Khyber wants to die,” I said softly. “He will see this as his only chance.”

“If he has brothers’ souls,” a cloud leopard spoke up. “You fight hard for youngest prince soul. Will you really give it to enemy?”

Raina trusts Khyber to some extent. So must I.
“Yes.”

Some murmurs from the onlookers. Posture was stiff with anticipation, but I sensed excitement stirring. The animalistic instinct for the hunt was taking over.

Yu Li fought back angrily. “This is the child who went against her juin-nim’s wishes! Who can’t control her own Were! Have you ever seen such a monstrosity? It’s a feral beast that can take over her mind at will!”

I ducked my head in shame. My relationship with Wolf was private.

“Yu Li,” Jaehoon reprimanded sternly, “as we are all beasts of the forest, you shall not judge another’s Were. They are reflections of our souls.”

“Then hers is twisted and ugly. Why won’t you show them?” Yu Li challenged me. “Go on. It’s nearly sun-down.”

Oh, she was testing me. I placed my feet firmly apart and looked her dead in the eye. “Ahn Yu Li. Remember: I am not the Omega anymore.”

“It’s a simple request, pack sister,” she goaded. “Come. All of us have shifted before each other. Why won’t you?”

“Ahn Yu Li. This is your last chance. Back off. Or I will do it!” I let the threat hover in the air like a darkening storm cloud. My other pack members looked confused. Well, I hadn’t expected her to explain to them why she’d stopped hounding me when I was a newborn—I’d threatened to tell her son what she was: a werewolf. All of the children remained ignorant, for their safety. And hell, I’d threatened to turn into my dangerously unpredictable Were in front of her son. She’d believed me, then.

Yu Li’s eyes burned the sapphire-blue of her inner Were. She deliberately stepped up to my face. “You whine and mewl like a newborn pup, but you will not do it. I know you. Now, stand
down
.”

I snapped. Before anyone could move, I bolted down the stairs, toward the nursery where Young Soo and the other pack children would be playing.

“Citlalli, no!”

I could hear her right on my heels, but I was faster. I beat her there. When Yu Li entered the nursery, she saw me rise from beside Young Soo. The boy looked shaken, but he was doing his best to conceal his shock.

“
Umma
, is it true?” he asked in Korean.

Yu Li was still panting, her pinned-back hair now disheveled and dangling around her shoulders.

“Young-a, don’t cry. It’s not so scary,” she whispered, crossing the room with arms wide open.

“Are we really going to Everland? And we’re going to stay in the castle?” Young Soo jabbered on, but I couldn’t catch it. “I want to ride on the roller coaster six times! And I need new swimsuit! Let’s go buy swimsuit
now
!”

Yu Li froze in the middle of her embrace. “You didn’t tell him.”

“No.” I sat exhaustedly on the barstool. “No. You called my bluff. I couldn’t do it.”

Yu Li gripped Young Soo tighter. Finally, he grew impatient and slipped out from under her arms, dashing off with chants of “Everland! EVERLAND!”

Yu Li stood like a woman frozen in time. In that second, all of the fear and hostile anger built up over her in a mountain of venomous ice. And then it shattered. Slowly, ever so slowly, she came to sit by my side. We watched the children play. Both of us were tired of fighting.

“I don’t know if I can ever tell him,” she said suddenly, and I was surprised to see tears threatening to fall. “His father is a vampyre. His mother is a werewolf. Back in those days, when I was a journalist, and he a politician, we thought the worst thing that could happen to us was death. Extremists opposed to my husband’s peace talks in Panmunjom. Assassination attempts from the North. Actually, he used to say the thing he feared most were my words,” she said, and a different sort of smile crossed her face. “That’s how we first met. I’d written rude articles about his lack of aid to refugees, and he wanted a real debate. He said it was easy to criticize, but much harder to propose a solution.”

“He sounds like quite a catch,” I offered.

“So many women wanted his attention, but he only looked at me. I should have been more worried. When Duck Young went missing in his monthly visit to Panmunjom, everyone thought North Korea was responsible. I knew different. But how could I tell anyone about the tall, pale woman who appeared in our bedchamber, who hushed me and left me unable to speak?” Yu Li choked out the words, gathering her legs to her chest. “But not unable to follow. I ran after him, desperate to save him from her. She set Dark Dogs on me. The evil things tore me apart and left me to die. But I didn’t. I survived for my son. I survived because even now, sometimes, I think this is all a dream.” She brushed a thinning strand of hair wearily from her eyes. “I think one morning I will wake up and my family will be back together again.”