Tiger Roaring: MM Paranormal Romance (Sanang Book 2) Read online

  Tiger Roaring

  Sanang Book Two

  ARIAN WILLIAMS

  Tiger Roaring: Sanang Book Two

  Copyright © 2022 by Arian Williams

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  Cover Design: Natasha Snow Designs

  Editing: Amy Pittel

  Proofreading: Karen Meeus

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  All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, or distributed in any format without permission, except for brief quotations in reviews or articles.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and situations are products of the author’s imagination. References to real people, places, organizations, and locations are only used for fictitious purposes. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

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  WARNING. This book is intended for an adult audience. It contains language and sexually explicit material that is only suitable for mature readers.

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  www.arianwilliamsauthor.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1. Saem

  Chapter 2. Wyn

  Chapter 3. Saem

  Chapter 4. Wyn

  Chapter 5. Saem

  Chapter 6. Wyn

  Chapter 7. Saem

  Chapter 8. Wyn

  Chapter 9. Saem

  Chapter 10. Saem

  Chapter 11. Wyn

  Chapter 12. Wyn

  Chapter 13. Saem

  Chapter 14. Wyn

  Chapter 15. Wyn

  Chapter 16. Wyn

  Chapter 17. Saem

  Chapter 18. Saem

  Chapter 19. Saem

  Chapter 20. Wyn

  Chapter 21. Saem

  Chapter 22. Wyn

  Chapter 23. Saem

  Chapter 24. Wyn

  Chapter 25. Saem

  Chapter 26. Saem

  Chapter 27. Wyn

  Characters & Abilities

  Glossary

  Acknowledgements

  My partner

  Always with love

  Janet, Lisa, & Tanya

  Thank you my best best people!

  Kuba

  Thank you as always

  Chapter 1. Saem

  Whoa!

  Jumping and landing on one foot, I simultaneously twisted to the right in a smooth turn. My body moved on its own to the loud music, the reflection in the mirror showing five bodies moving in sync with each other, like a single organism. Sweat drenched our T-shirts and training pants. I pushed my left shoulder back and gave the mirror in front of me a side glance. As the music climaxed, I jumped into the air and, after turning and kicking my leg high, sank into a smooth crouch. My breath came out fast, but instead of fatigued, I was exhilarated. I was riding high; I wanted to keep moving, but the music ended at that moment.

  “Wow, Saem!” Bin’s face projected awe.

  I grinned and slowly rose, feeling the ache in my tired legs. His usual impeccable look was gone for the moment, his sweaty face partially covered by his disheveled, medium-length dark hair. He ran his hand through it, revealing dark-brown eyes with long lashes. Bin was almost delicately beautiful, but there was still strength in every line of his body.

  “I don’t think anyone else could have pulled that move off.”

  Hwa whistled as he ran his hands through his dark hair, the abundant auburn highlights flowing easily through his fingers. Everyone, aside from our manager, Mr. Nam, and our team, thought he artificially highlighted his hair auburn, but we knew the truth. He actually dyed his hair blacker to hide the natural dark red.

  Sanang was a five-member K-pop group. The name was a little play on words, originating from the Korean word sanyang, meaning hunt. It was also a cover identity for the five of us; we’d been born to fight against the dark creatures. We were descendants of five of the seven families who’d been protecting the lands within and surrounding Korea for thousands of years. Mr. Nam thought our living and training together and frequently traveling abroad would arouse less suspicion if we posed as a K-pop group. We’d never thought we’d become famous. Unfortunately, we were now struggling to juggle hunting and being idols at the same time.

  “Any of you could have done the move, but you were all too lazy and volunteered me for it.”

  Hwa plopped down on the studio floor where he’d been standing moments ago. “But you’ve got that special tiger strength and agility and your oh so tall stature.”

  I shrugged. “Well, Jin’s got dragon strength. Bin can probably float through the whole act, and Jee can defy gravity. I rest my case.”

  “That was a showstopper. I can’t top that act no matter how hard I try,” Jee piped up.

  I sighed. “And with that, I think I’m done. I need a good soaking and sleep so I can actually function tomorrow.”

  “No dinner? I’m starving.” There was a tinge of whininess to Hwa’s tone.

  “We’re sweaty messes. Can we shower before we eat?” Bin was by far the tidiest of us all and didn’t like to stew in sweat.

  “Ugh. You’re young, so you don’t know the pain of having no energy from hunger.”

  Bin gave Hwa a side glare. “You’re less than two years older than me.”

  “That’s still older.” Hwa stuck out his tongue.

  “Saem, tell them to stop bickering. If we’re done practicing, I have plans with Sen, so I’m out.” Jin was leaning against the wall, his face showing his fatigue.

  Worried, I frowned at him. It’d only been a week since we’d rescued him from the dark Imugi who’d kidnapped him. Imugi had badly hurt his dragon, and the dragon had yet to emerge from its recovery deep within him. That meant Jin didn’t have his dragon’s strength to draw from. He’d been the strongest among us before, both in power and stamina, but now he tired more easily than any of us. No one said anything, but we were all worried about him.

  When Mr. Nam had forbidden him to go on more difficult hunts, Jin reluctantly agreed, although he wasn’t happy about it. He had never known his father and lost his mother shortly after he joined Sanang, so the group was everything to him. I knew being partly on the sidelines couldn’t be easy for him. Despite all that, I was glad he still seemed to be in good spirits. I suspected it had something to do with finding his life mate, Sen. He’d yet to tell us the full story of how they ended up together. I hoped someday he’d share how a dragon who hunted dark creatures had ended up with a living vampire.

  “I think we’re done for today. Why don’t you get some rest?” I walked over to him and squeezed his shoulder.

  He nodded at me with a tired smile and disappeared through the door after grabbing a towel from a shelf in the back of the room.

  “Do you think he’s OK?” Bin asked, his tone full of concern.

  “I think so. His dragon is recovering, and Sen is taking good care of him.” I ruffled Bin’s sweaty hair, and one of the wet locks fell into his eye. With a tiny grimace, he shook his head to push it to the side. Of course, I wasn’t really sure if Jin was doing well. I spoke with more certainty than I actually felt because Bin, our maknae, the youngest member of our group, worried too much.

  Bin sighed and shuffled over to grab his own towel. “I’m going to take a shower. If you end up figuring out what to eat, you can just order some for me. You all know what I like.” With that, he also disappeared out the door.

  “So, dinner?” Hwa leaned backward, supporting some of his weight with his hands and arm propped on the floor, and straightened his legs. “What about that gamjatang place?” He shook his legs for a few seconds and lay down to stretch.

  “You know Bin can’t eat spicy stuff. Gamjatang is essentially potatoes in spicy stew.” Jee’s voice was muffled by the towel he was wiping his face with, but his disapproving tone came through clear enough.

  As a fire snake, Hwa loved everything hot, including spicy food, but Bin could barely handle medium-level heat. It was unfortunate for Hwa since we usually sided with Bin. He was our youngest, after all.

  “Ugh!” Hwa stood up. “Fine. Fine. Why don’t you two pick and order enough for everyone?” he said as he headed toward the door, then paused, and looked back. “Um. What about the others? I totally forgot about... you know. They were discussing something with Mr. Nam, right?”

  “Yes. Logistics for how our two teams are going to merge.”

  Jee got up. “Well. I’m going to shower if we’re all dining together. Pick something to eat with Hwa.” Then he was gone.

  Hwa backed toward the door with a tiny smile on his face. “Um. Well. If we’re having dinner with others, I think I want a shower too. Maybe you can arrange the dinner situation?” he asked, running out the door without waiting to hear my response.

  I sighed and grabbed a towel. After turning off the lights, I left the studio. I was the oldest and sort of de facto leader of our group. Unfortunately, that meant I usually ended up with the task of organizing and coordinating.

  I trudged up the short flight of stairs, grimacing when the muscle on my right thigh twitched. Our large practice room was half underground, one wall lined with glass windows to let in plenty of natural light, but we could also lower the blinds to turn it pitch-black inside. Lights were set up around the room to simulate an actual performance stage, and mirrors covered the other walls for us to practice our moves. At the back of the room, we had a large sound system that connected to the strategically plac
ed speakers. The room functioned both as studio space for our K-pop work and sparring space for training.

  I limped slightly as I dragged myself toward the small conference room upstairs, which also served as an office and a place for occasional live streaming. Being a pop idol was exhausting. There was a constant need for us to connect with our fans, including random live broadcasts several times a month, commenting and posting pictures on social media platforms, and seemingly never-ending photoshoots and world tours. Our media manager could do some of that, but we were the only ones who could stream anything that happened inside the Sanang House, like ‘Wake Up with Sanang Live.’ We didn’t let any outsiders into our house for good reason.

  I paused outside the door, rubbing my thigh, hoping to get rid of the annoying muscle twitch. I should have stretched more, but I hadn’t been in the mood. The sooner I squared away the dinner plans, the sooner we could eat, and I could sneak out to Bukhan Mountain for a couple of hours. My tiger was itching for a run. Although it was dangerous to be in my tiger form so close to the city, I was going to risk it. I was too restless. Sanang House had a secret underground tunnel that exited onto a secluded street. We often snuck out that way, but we had to be careful not to go en masse lest someone discover our secret.

  The door to the conference room popped open, almost hitting me in the head, and Wyn burst through, harrumphing as he stomped away. A smile blossomed on my face as I straightened and took a few steps toward him, only to falter and fall to my knees at a twinge of pain in my upper thigh.

  “Shit.” The automatic expletive burst from my lips as I rubbed the angry muscle.

  “Saem?” Wyn turned, his eyes widening in surprise.

  Seeing me on the floor, he immediately rushed over. “Are you OK?”

  I raised my eyes and fell into his midnight-blue ones. “Uh... ” I gulped and nodded. No other words would leave my lips.

  Was it possible for any human being to be so beautiful?

  I recalled the first time we’d met. We’d been in the middle of a crisis. Miri, our nemesis Imugi—an evil pre-dragon—had kidnapped Jin. Unfortunately, instead of completely focusing on rescuing my friend, I’d been distracted by Wyn. Something deep inside me had responded to him when we’d met, and it hadn’t helped that he’d kept staring at me too. I later discovered he was a fan, and that’s why he’d been gawking. That should have cooled my interest, if nothing else, but somehow, even that hadn’t stopped my heart from speeding up whenever he looked at me, which was way the heck too often. His eyes literally sparkled. How could I resist that? And he smelled divine.

  “Saem?” He lifted an eyebrow.

  I’d been staring. I cleared my throat. “Just a little muscle twitch.”

  His brows furrowed slightly. “Then you’re not well.”

  “No. No. I’m OK. It happens after a long practice, especially when I get lazy and forget to stretch.”

  Of course, I didn’t tell him the real reason for my muscle issue was the tiger caged within me. He liked to give me trouble when he was in one of his moods and wanted to roam free. Wyn’s lips tilted upward slightly as he bent his head closer. He was at least a head shorter than me, but I was on my knees, and for once, he was looking down at me. Lost in his eyes and fragrance, I couldn’t move. He reached over and ran his hand through my hair. A rush of breath whooshed from my lungs. His touch was tentative at first, just barely there, then his fingers lingered and tugged gently.

  Wyn’s eyes widened as my tiger lifted his head in interest. Me and my tiger, we were one being, but we also had our own personalities. I often envisioned him sitting inside of me, mostly snoozing like a lazy cat.

  My tiger huffed. I’m not a cat.

  Yes, you are. A very large one, but definitely a cat.

  Like Hwa had done earlier, I sensed my tiger sticking his tongue out at me before quickly turning his head to appraise Wyn.

  Hmm. I like this one.

  He purred as Wyn continued to caress my hair.

  “I can feel your tiger,” Wyn whispered.

  Energy flowed from Wyn’s fingertips and seeped into my scalp. From the edges of my being, warmth flowed in and enfolded me in an irresistible web. I gasped. My lips were slightly open, breath coming out in small puffs as something deep inside me wove itself around the warm energy surrounding me. It was his turn to gasp.

  “I... ” His eyes widened even further. “You are... ”

  He cupped my face with his hands and lowered his head to touch his lips softly to mine.

  Chapter 2. Wyn

  Saem was my familiar.

  His energy flowed into me, cocooning me in warmth. Was this incredible feeling what other wizards felt toward their familiars? But that couldn’t be. I hadn’t known too many true wizards, but the ones I knew all had animal familiars. A cat, an owl, and even a snake. During my lifetime, I’d never heard of a wizard having a tiger shifter for a familiar. What we had between us had to be special.

  Perhaps the fates were granting me a boon after so many years of loneliness. To have a familiar who I could love and cherish as a partner. Not that I’d spent the last several hundred years on my own. I’d had lovers, even one I’d thought was the love of my life. But my familiar would never betray and leave me as my lover had. He would always be a part of me, and I, a part of him.

  Still... I hadn’t meant to kiss him.

  I really hadn’t.

  Unfortunately, I’d moved instinctually, my lips covering Saem’s before I knew what was happening. And once we touched, I couldn’t let go. It was just the innocent touch of lips at first, then our energy melded, and the tide of feelings pushed me forward. At the touch of my lips, his whole body startled, then froze beneath me. I was the older, experienced one. Mauling this innocent, beautiful man was bad. I knew I should stop, but the pull was irresistible.

  How could I resist?

  Saem let out a soft sigh as I touched his lips with my tongue and licked them, savoring their softness. The more we touched, the more I was certain of how compatible we were. Even though we had not bonded yet, his feelings flowed into me through our connected energy. Bewilderment. Contentment. His tiger purred inside as he melted under my touch. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed closer. Breathing was optional.

  “Ahem.”

  Saem and I jumped apart. My feet slid forward, and I fell backward. In slow motion, I saw myself wildly waving my arms in the air as I called upon my magic to cushion my fall. What to conjure? Air? Pillow? My indecision cost me a few seconds, and my head would have hit the ground if it hadn’t been for the strong arms that caught me only an inch above the hard floor.

  Saem’s wide amber-brown eyes peered into mine. “Are you OK?”

  I didn’t respond or make any movement. It felt so good to be in his arms. They were firm, strong, yet gentle.

  “Wyn?”

  I slid my eyes sideways with a slight grimace at Menes’s half-questioning, half-mocking tone. He raised an eyebrow, and I suppressed the urge to stick my tongue out at him. I glared at him with all the defiance I could muster. And yes, I was feeling defensive. I’d stolen a kiss from an innocent boy many hundreds of years my junior, without consent. But I refused to feel bad. I had my reasons! Menes’s eyebrow skyrocketed as his gaze flicked between me and Saem. I’d somehow become cocooned in his arms, like a baby. And I was not planning to budge. Darn it!

  Still holding me, Saem threw Menes a quick smile. “We wanted to know if you’re all going to join us for dinner. I was coming to ask.”

  He said “we,” but no one else in Sanang was with him. Not the first time they’d left him to make all the arrangements. He was a big brother who never said no. Everyone else in Sanang assumed he’d organize things. Even Hosin, the group’s manager, thought nothing of all the extra chores he did, like making plans for dinner, taking on the brunt of organizing their social calendar, and managing media appearances.

  But I noticed.

  Angry on his behalf, I stood, steadying myself on my feet before firmly taking his hand in mine.

  He shifted his gaze toward me in question.

  “You will not spend the next hour arranging everyone’s dinner plans,” I said.