“You wish us to be lovers? I would love that more than anything, but I am a student here for another twenty months. After that, I will work in high industry for as much money as I can find. And you, where will you go to be a stockbroker? It will not be here.”
“I still have to go to school! We’ll figure out—”
He didn’t wait for her thoughts. “And what of your college dreams? Do you intend to go to school here?”
She bit her lip. She’d been thinking of a different school. One in New York. “I don’t have to be a stockbroker,” she said softly.
“And then what? Will we marry? Will you leave everything you have to go with me?”
Her breath hitched in her chest. “Marry?” she squeaked. “Isn’t that jumping the gun a bit?”
“So you would give yourself nightly to a man when there was no future in it?”
She straightened, twisting around to face him. “Now just a minute here! Why wouldn’t there be a future—”
“Our lives are in flux right now. It is irresponsible to enter a relationship that cannot work out in the long term.”
“Irresponsible?” Her voice started to rise, but she controlled it, her mind working fast for all that she’d just woken up. “Listen to me, buster, I’ve had boyfriends before. Irresponsible, my ass. You’re turning tail and running. I want to know why.”
“Dragons do not run!” he said in his most stiffly formal tone.
“Well, I’ve got a pretty clear picture of your backside right now,” she snapped. “And it looks like you’re running scared.”
His eyes narrowed. He rose up from his desk, his motions smooth and infinitely powerful. He was like a god rising from the depths and she hadn’t even realized she was talking to one. And worse, he was angry. Tracy took an instinctive step backward but he pursued her. His words were low—almost hissed—but she felt every syllable all the way through to her soul.
“You are a tigress. I am a dragon.”
She threw up her hands, but the motion was weak and trembly. “Tigress smigress. I don’t even know what that means.”
He took another step forward, his words growing softer and more potent with every step. “It means you belong in the temple, tigress.”
“Me in Hong Kong.” She folded her arms. “Not gonna happen.”
“In Hong Kong,” he repeated, his voice cold and hard. “There, you will study with the best. You will become divine and will gift many others with your wisdom. It is what tigresses do,” he pressed. “Whether they wish it or not, whether they understand it or not, they all end up there.”
She planted her hands on her hips. “I’m not going to Hong Kong!”
He straightened, and for a moment his eyes flashed understanding, even regret. “Yes,” he said softly. “You will. You will not be able to avoid it.”
“Bull—”
“Then how will you balance your energies again? You have gone beyond what I can give.”
She swallowed, her mind zipping back to her last week. She didn’t want to repeat last week ever again. She did not want to lust after her brother’s friends or hunger desperately for someone to satisfy her cravings. “You’re lying,” she said, but she feared what he said was true. “You’re a dragon. You can satisfy a tigress.”
Nathan shook his head. “I can—for a time—but you need training. And I do not have the time to spend on you right now.” He glanced at his books. “I have already told you how hard it is for me to read English books. I am here for an education, not to train you.”
She took a deep breath, the truth slowly slipping into her consciousness. “I was right. All along, I was right.”
He frowned, obviously confused by her abrupt change of tone.
“This was a scam, wasn’t it? You get a woman into your bed. You do…You do stuff to her. And then, wham, you dump her. Does it give you a feeling of power to have her beg?” Tracy swallowed back her tears. She was not, not, not going to cry.
She spun around, searching for her clothing. It was too dark. She couldn’t see a damn thing through the tears she refused to let fall. But she heard. She heard him curse again in Chinese, the words low and primal. It sent a shiver up her spine and she felt another stirring in her belly. Oh, god. She couldn’t be getting horny. Not now. Not again. What the hell is wrong with me?
She heard him sigh. The sound came from deep within him—all short and harsh and very male. He was frustrated. Well, so was she. And yet, for a moment she stopped just to hear it again. Did he really feel as bad as she did?
Then she felt him. His hands settled on her shoulders. It shocked her that while she was blindly searching through his apartment for her clothes, he could step up silently behind her and touch her. She shivered, his warmth sliding deep into her body, calming her shattered nerves. It was like that first time in the hallway when he’d taken her hands. All the chaotic emotions slowly calmed. She was still angry and close to tears, but inside, she was quieter. And because she was quiet, she could hear his words.
“You are a tigress. Whether you understand it or not, you are. Your place is at the temple, learning to understand and control your power.”
“My horniness,” she corrected.
“That is part of your power, yes, but you are so much more.” He pressed a kiss at the top of her shoulder and she gasped in reaction. Lord, one touch from him and she was shivering in delight. “Why do you fight this? Don’t you want to know what you can do?”
“Of course, I do,” she whispered. “But what about love? Nathan, could you love me?” She knew for damn sure that she could love him.
He stepped backward, taking away his touch, removing his heat, and she shivered at the loss. “Would you choose love over immortality, Tracy? Imagine for a moment that you could become a goddess.”
She spun around to face him. “Don’t be ridiculous—”
“That you could heal with a touch, impart the secrets of immortality, that you could walk among the divine. Would you give that up for love?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s not possible.”
“It is possible,” he countered firmly. “And you have the talent. Can you really walk away from that? Without exploring further, could you simply turn your back on it for a love that might never be? You do not even know me well. We might hate each other in a few days’ time.”
Put like that, of course not. “Why do I have to choose right now? Why can’t I explore both?”
Nathan sighed and gestured to his textbook. “I have a goal. It does not include a girlfriend.” He looked up, an apology in his eyes. “And you have more than you can handle right now. Tigress teachings, your education, and a brother about to graduate from high school. Why would you stop moving forward now to play with a boyfriend?”
She didn’t answer. She simply looked at him long and hard and forced herself to see the message behind his words. His reasons didn’t matter. He didn’t want a relationship with her. “So it’s over before it ever begins.”
He shrugged. “Why begin a path when you already know the ending will be bad? You don’t understand it right now, but I have seen it dozens of time. You are a woman now with human loves and concerns. But the more your tigress awakes, the more your mind will be on immortality. Right now you think you want me. In another week, I will be a fond memory. And within a year…” He shook his head. “I will be nothing to you.”
She bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears. “You must think I’m a horrible person. Why would you think I’m like that?”
He lifted his chin. “I know tigresses, Tracy. And you…” He looked at her, adoration in every line of his face and body. “You are one of the best. Even without training, you are beyond my imagination.”
She turned, spotting her clothing neatly folded in a corner near his bed. “Then you have a very limited imagination.”