Red Phoenix

work lately and letting the physical training fall beside the way. You are even becoming slightly soft in the middle.’
    I looked down at myself. He was right.
    He threw the covers open. ‘Come back to bed.’
    He was teasing me. He’d deliberately thrown the covers off so that I could see him. He was magnificent. His long black hair had come completely loose and fell over his shoulders and neck in wonderful disarray. He was solid muscle under smooth golden skin, shining in the moonlight.
    ‘You really need to go to Paris,’ I said. ‘You look nearly fifty years old yourself.’
    He laughed softly. ‘I’m an old man.’
    I climbed back into bed and he pulled the covers over us; the desert night was cold. I snuggled next to him and ran my hands over his strong back. He wrapped his arms around me and I felt the muscles of his back move beneath my fingers. His hands were cool, but his chest was warm. I stuck my face under his chin and he nuzzled the top of my head.
    ‘Not where it counts.’
    It became very warm under the covers. One of his hands trailed up my back and buried itself in my hair. He gently rolled me so that I was on my back and he was above me. He lowered his face to mine.
    I could tell his eyes didn’t go black, even though I couldn’t see them. He took his time.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    W e didn’t shift our eyes from each other as we ate our noodles in the shade of the pavilion. The Tiger lounged under the table and noisily tore apart the haunch of a large ungulate. The fountain splashed next to us and the breeze wafted cool, moist air off the water.
    The clothes the Tiger had given me were much too elaborate for me to be at ease. The flowing golden yellow cotton pants and Indian-style long top with black embroidery had been in the way when John and I had practised some hand-to-hand that morning. But the silk slippers were delightfully comfortable, and I wondered if he could bring me some to Hong Kong later.
    The Tiger had provided John with his usual black training gear: a pair of cotton pants and jacket similar to what the Tiger himself wore in human form.
    ‘Did you destroy Wong?’ I asked John. ‘Tell me it’s gone.’
    ‘It ran, as it usually does, as soon as it saw I was winning,’ John said. ‘It really is the most tremendous coward.’
    ‘Damn,’ I said quietly into my food.
    The Tiger crunched the bones under the table.
    ‘Must you do that, Bai Hu?’ I said patiently. ‘It sounds revolting, and I’m trying to eat here.’
    ‘Sorry, my Lady.’ He picked up the remains of his meal in his mouth and carried it, exactly as a cat would, a short distance away from us. He dropped it and lounged next to it. ‘Is this okay?’
    ‘Whatever,’ John said. ‘As long as we don’t have to look at you.’
    ‘Good coming from you,’ Bai Hu said, amused. ‘You should see him eat in True Form, Lady Emma, it is a sight to behold.’
    ‘Turtles are cute when they eat,’ I said, smiling into John’s eyes. ‘I would love to see that.’
    ‘I’m not talking about the Turtle, I’m talking about the Serpent,’ the Tiger said. ‘It eats pigs whole, and takes its sweet delicious time about it.’
    John’s head shot up. ‘Have you seen it?’
    ‘No, my friend, and nobody else has either. I wonder what happened to it.’ The Tiger glanced up from the carnage of his meal. ‘It has been gone for a very long time. Does it answer when you call?’
    ‘No,’ John said quietly.
    ‘You are a very strange creature, Xuan Wu.’
    ‘I know,’ John said, still very quietly.
    Bai Hu returned to crunching the bones.
    ‘We need to go back tomorrow,’ John said. ‘There are things we need to do, and I don’t want to leave Simone alone for too long.’
    ‘I understand, John. This was more than I could have asked for. It’s more than I ever expected.’ I took his hand. He put his other hand on top. I became lost in his eyes. ‘Thank you so much, Tiger.’
    The Tiger said something unintelligible through the meat.
    ‘Charlie wasn’t too upset?’ I said.
    John stiffened and his face went expressionless. The Tiger stopped crunching the bones.
    I ripped my hands away. ‘That bastard ! You said the word of a Demon Prince was good !
    ‘That demon is one of the most disgusting pieces of scum it has ever been my misfortune to encounter,’ John said evenly, ‘and I have seen some fine pieces of work over the past two thousand years or so. He killed her the minute he knew he would