"Li Dai Lu!" screamed Chen Zi Han as he woke up to realize that she was no longer in his arms. He frantically looked around, but all he could see was an empty hallway with red carpeting running down the length and beige walls. "Li Dai Lu!" he screamed again as he quickly got to his feet.
"Chen Zi Han!" yelled a voice beside him and someone grabbed his arm to calm him down. Flinging the offending hand away, he spun around to see who would dare keep him from his woman. It took him a second to recognize Liu Yu Zeng and even longer to notice that his hands were up, his palms visible in surrender.
"You need to calm down," said Liu Yu Zeng in a soft voice. "She is fine."
"Where is she?" Chen Zi Han demanded, not taking a step towards his friend but also not willing to step back either. With his hand still up, Liu Yu Zeng pointed to the opened door diagonally from them.
With thundering footsteps he entered the room, quick to push away anyone that was standing between him and his princess. The combative part of his brain saw that there were nine unknown people in the room, but because they were not close to Li Dai Lu, he would not kill them.
Yet.
He remembered his promise to her. He would let them all die if they tried to come between the two of them, but as always, she had the final say. Searching the room, he saw Liu Wei kneeling in front of a couch, his frame blocking whoever was on it, but Chen Zi Han knew.
His Li Dai Lu was unconscious on the couch and there were people standing between him and her. Letting out a roar that caused more than a few people to cringe away in fear, he stomped towards where Liu Wei still knelt.
"Out of my way," he growled, knowing that she would not be happy if he started a fight with one of her men, but he didn't think he could possibly go back to normal until he held her in his arms. That dream, whatever it was, wherever it was, had shaken him to the core. He wanted to talk about it with the other guys, but at the same time, he wanted and needed to keep it to himself at the same time.
Liu Wei looked up at him from his position on the floor, running his fingers through her hair. Chen Zi Han took a deep breath and tried to push down his fear, rage, and relief in order to talk to one of the people he considered his brothers. "I need to hold her," he said through gritted teeth.
Taking one look at the man that seemed to be holding on by a thread, Liu Wei slowly got up and backed away from Li Dai Lu. But he refused to back so far away that he could not save her if Chen Zi Han did something unforgivable to her.
Not caring what was on Liu Wei's mind, Chen Zi Han rushed to Li Dai Lu's side and gently picked her up. Unconcerned about the dripping energy drink or the part of the couch that was still soaked as a result, Chen Zi Han pulled her into his arms and sat down.
"I am here," he whispered in her ear, making sure that no one other than her heard what he was saying. "I am not leaving. You are mine and I am yours, forever and always," he continued, repeating the words he spoke to her in his dream. "And if anyone comes between us, then let them all die." As soon as he spoke his last word, Li Dai Lu's eyes fluttered open.
"Chen Zi Han?" she asked confused. "What happened?" Seeing the same blank look that she had on her face after she woke up the next morning from her dream, Chen Zi Han realized that she didn't remember anything that happened in his dream.
If that was the case, then did he just imagine it? Was it only a dream and he was putting too much stalk into it? Was he the only one to experience it?
Fears and doubts filled his brain, leaving nothing but confusion in its wake. Tightening his arms around the woman that meant more than anything to him, he bent his head until his cheek was resting on the top of her head.
'Are you okay?' came a soft, tentative voice inside his head. Stunned, he froze, unable to move. 'Chen Zi Han? Can you hear me? I can feel you inside me… how did that happen?"
The voice was real! Li Dai Lu was inside of his head and she could feel him. Taking in a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, he searched inside his body, trying to feel if she was inside of him like he was inside of her.
There she was! A blue flame flickered deep down inside of him, as clear as if he was looking at it with his own two eyes. 'I can see you,' he breathed inside of his head, hoping that he was doing it right. Whenever they spoke mind to mind with Wang Chao, it felt different than this. This felt like they were one soul inside of two bodies.
'I can see you too,' came the shy response. 'You are this beautiful black flame burning inside of my heart. How did this happen?'
That innocent question completely stunned Chen Zi Han. How did he respond? Did he tell her what happened even if she couldn't remember anything? 'You are mine and I am yours. Is it really that weird that we are now connected this way?' he asked, telling the truth but leaving some parts out.
There was a brief silence before he felt her smile inside his mind. It seemed to light up everything that was inside of him. 'No, it's not too weird. I like it,' she admitted.
"Come on, Princess," said Chen Zi Han out loud as he gently rubbed her back. He didn't want to let her out of his arms, but this was also not the place to figure everything out. "Let's get this shit done so we can go home for some dinner."
He felt more than saw her nod of acceptance, but as soon as she was out of his arms, he felt completely hollow, like his heart was being ripped out of his chest with every step she took. Resisting the urge to pull her back into his embrace, he followed closely behind her as she came to a stop beside Wang Chao.
Ignoring the looks of the other three men, he stood silently behind her, ready to be anything and everything that she needed.
----
I might have been so tired that I passed out, but it seemed to be just what the doctor ordered because as soon as I woke up in Chen Zi Han's arms, I felt refreshed and ready to deal with the shit before us. But there was one thing that I couldn't deny. I loved the feeling of Chen Zi Han inside of me right now, like a dark shadow that filled me up in a way that I didn't realize that I needed.
"So, you guys all know each other," I said clearly stating the obvious. Chen Zi Han and I could figure things out later, but for right now, we had to deal with these soldiers.
Wang Chao grunted before he wrapped his arm around my side and gave me a kiss on my cheek. 'We will be talking about this later,' he whispered in my mind. "I was their commanding officer while I was still in the Navy," he said out loud, answering my question.
"Does that make us all friends now?" I asked. The urge to crack my neck with the amount of stress that I was feeling was almost unbearable. We had 301 people, including ourselves, to look after and what? We were adding another nine just for the Hell of it?
"Yes," said Wang Chao as if that was a given. Like I said, once a soldier, always a soldier. "We don't leave our own behind."
Yes, yes, I understood that concept. I even admired it in my first and second lives, but now…. Not so much. These were grown-ass men that had no problems shooting at us, but now we were going to take them into our fold?
With what fucking supplies?!?
Did I make things too easy on this man that he didn't realize what was actually waiting for us out there once the snow melted? Did he not understand just how much food alone we would need for just us, let alone another 310 men?!?
This was the lull before the storm, and we needed to prepare and hunker down if we were going to have any chance at surviving it.
I could feel my temper slipping the more that I thought about it, but just as I was spiraling down, I heard the footsteps of even more people.
"Great! Now that we are all here, let's figure out our next step," said the man that I had completely engulfed in flames not five minutes ago.
Really? OUR next step? What the fuck is that supposed to mean, 'our'?
'Kill them all,' hissed the voice that managed to break through the ice that I had encased it in. I had discovered a direct link between the voice and my temper, but that didn't mean it wasn't right.
I felt a shifting beside me. Turning to look at Chen Zi Han behind me, I noticed that he had taken out his leather gloves and was meticulously putting them on.
"There is no 'us' unless she says that there is an 'us'," he said very slowly as if he was measuring out every word out of his mouth.
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