Through her touch, Anya sensed her children's sudden fear by her declaration that something was wrong with their father, sensed their hearts fall into their stomachs and churn nauseatingly at the news, even as they withdrew and looked up at her with horrified expressions on their faces. She vaguely wondered if she should have shared that with them, let alone so dramatically, but she was drained from working on her husband, and she was shocked by what she had felt. It was like an infection, she dully realized, like germs had gotten deep down, all the way to Kuai Liang's soul, and infected it with something crimson...something like...blood. And it was festering.

"What do you mean, Annalise Sullivan?" Raiden now asked her, gazing at her sternly.

Anya swallowed hard and shook her head helplessly. "I don't know," she quietly replied. "His body is healed and he's sleeping right now because I gave him a dose of morphine. But there's just...there's just something wrong. His body and soul feel sick...misaligned. And he's angry. Very, very angry."

"I will examine him," the Thunder God reassured her.

The nurse nodded and led him as well as Tomas into the infirmary, straight to the only proper hospital bed there was in the Temple where Kuai Liang was resting. He was still on his back like she'd left him, breathing in slowly and deeply, an IV and a blood transfusion steadily trickling fluids into one arm, an automatic blood pressure cuff and pulse ox sensor attached to the other, his body cleaned of all the blood that had drenched him earlier. Several washcloths drying with clotted blood filled up the laundry basket full of bio-hazardous material nearby him, a testament to all that he'd lost. She'd had to yank off his pajama pants in order to bathe him, but she'd covered his nakedness with a sheet and green hospital blanket to preserve his modesty.

"He looks much better than he did, miláčku," Tomas remarked. Anya nodded but said nothing.

Raiden, meanwhile, leaned over Kuai Liang's bed and rested his palm on the Cryomancer's pale forehead. His sky blue eyes slowly closed. Occasionally, he wrenched his face into a mask of deep concentration, searching for something. To the Grandmaster's wife, it took hours for him to pull away, but at last he did and then set his hands on her shoulders reassuringly.

"I, too, sense what you described," he told her. "But I cannot find the source. Given that Reiko did this to him, and magic is Reiko's favorite weapon, I expected to find some sort of a spell wrapped around Sub-Zero's soul. But there is nothing, Annalise."

"Perhaps he's just really angry that Reiko defeated him in battle," Tomas offered, shrugging lightly.

"Not now, Tomas," Anya snapped at him.

"Annalise, there may be something to Smoke's theory," Raiden defended the cyber-ninja. "Since Reiko nearly killed your daughter, the Grandmaster has harbored very deep and very bitter resentment towards him. It is possible that he is angry that Reiko defeated him, yes, but also that he feels like he has failed to protect Olivia from him once again."

"That's just silly," she countered. "Olivia came home unharmed."

"But she was very upset when we found out Reiko was still alive," Tomas told her. "Kuai Liang was furious that his resurrection had opened many of her old scars."

That made sense to the nurse, and she shrugged in faint agreement. "This feels worse than anger, though," she told him.

"I agree," Raiden said. "However, you are no stranger to Sub-Zero's feelings of devotion to and protectiveness of his children. I expect that his current state of mind is linked to that, as well as the trauma of nearly dying in battle, and he will get better within a few days." Anya started to argue with him, but he quickly raised his hand to silence her and said, "But if he has not returned to normal in a week, I will re-evaluate his condition."

"I'll keep a close eye on him, then," she sighed, unhappy with the god's prognosis.

"Of this, I have no doubt," he smiled and then slid past her, leaving the infirmary. She and Tomas followed, and when they exited into the main hallway, Raiden looked at Olivia. "What happened in Outworld?" he asked her.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she replied. "Mischief and mayhem. Mostly mayhem." She shrugged and shifted her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"What did Reiko want?" he now demanded to know. "Why was he in Mòhé?"

"If I may, Lord Raiden," Xinyi now interrupted Olivia, stepping forward. "When we interrogated him, I used Seidan magic to compel him to confess. He told us that he was after Shinnok's amulet."

"He took Outworld's kamidogu," Jiayi quickly added, now glaring at his younger brother and crossing his arms.

Anya saw the Thunder God perceptibly tense at the declaration. "Did he stab Sub-Zero with it?" he now asked in concern.

"I don't believe so," Xinyi hastily said, cowering somewhat under his brother's gaze, she noticed. "Reiko killed the guards in the dungeon with a knife as well, long before he acquired the kamidogu from its hiding spot in the throne room." He inhaled deeply and now looked apologetically at Olivia. "He may have crafted a weapon somehow, and it aided him in his escape. Your father is lucky that he didn't meet the same fate as my men."

"If what you say is true, I must take my leave immediately and ensure that the amulet is still secure." He looked at the Cryomancer brothers. "I will return you to Outworld now if you wish."

"Thank you-" Jiayi began to say but was promptly interrupted by his younger brother.

"If Reiko means to steal Shinnok's amulet, Lord Raiden," Xinyi began, "then I will gladly stay and help fight him."

"We must return home," Jiayi hissed at him, his face now a scowl. "Our people need us."

"Tsai Bing has everything under control," the younger argued. "But we owe the Lin Kuei a debt for the sacrifice their Grandmaster made to us. And I repay all of my debts, as you well know, Brother."

"Our people need us more than the Lin Kuei do," he growled. "We must return to Mòhé."

Xinyi frowned and walked to his brother's side. He gestured as he spoke in hushed tones that the others could not hear. Anya, however, was just close enough to them to make out what the younger was saying. "I would stay close to Lady Olivia," she heard. The young prince's tone was urgent. "I am fond of her. And if Reiko wishes to exact revenge on her, she will need someone to protect her."

"You are not the person to protect her," Jiayi whispered back, his voice a soft snarl. "I expect you to return to Mòhé with me right this instant. You will be loyal to your people! You will be loyal to me!"

Xinyi furiously shook his head no. "I'm staying right here," he argued. "You're welcome to return if you like."

The Crown Prince's scowl deepened. "Then I'm staying as well," he replied. "Before the damage is irreparable." While Anya pondered what exactly he meant by that, he now took a step away from his brother and met Raiden's expectant gaze. "We have both decided it is prudent to stay to offer our assistance with Reiko," he told the Thunder God.

Raiden tilted his head in a slight nod before he lifted his right hand and summoned a branch of lightning into his body. It instantly whisked him away in a brilliant blue-white glow that blinded them all, leaving the Temple trembling with the clap of thunder in his absence. When Anya's sight returned, she cast her gaze onto Jiayi, whose face was a veritable storm cloud of rage not unlike Kuai Liang's when he was furious about something. Those piercing blue Cryomancer eyes stared at Olivia, who was now talking with Xinyi and her siblings, in such a way that it made the Hydromancer worry for her daughter.

"Tomas," she quietly said, summoning him to her side.

"What's wrong, miláčku?" he asked her as he joined her.

"I don't like the way that boy is looking at my daughter," she whispered, subtly pointing to Jiayi. "You know how the Cryomancers feel about her."

"Prince Xinyi said the younger generation wants those attitudes to change," he replied. "Still, I couldn't help but notice how eager Jiayi was to leave the Temple. He did not want to stay to help us fight Reiko."

"Then why the sudden change of heart?" she wondered. "Unless he wants to keep an eye on Olivia, and not to protect her like Xinyi just told him he wants to."

"It's possible," he agreed. "Maybe he wants to keep anything from happening between them. But it seems to me that he's a little too late for that."

Anya wrinkled her nose and brow. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, her voice lilting higher in curiosity.

Tomas smirked at her. "I'll have you know that I am an excellent matchmaker," he winked and now nodded at Olivia and Xinyi, both of whom were smiling and standing dangerously close to one another, in spite of the bad news hanging above their heads. Now he looked back to the nurse. "He's a prince, you know," he said as he crossed his arms proudly.

"So I gathered," she replied, faintly smiling.

"You're welcome," he said.

"My hero," she drily remarked but then looked up at him. "Tomas, promise me you'll help me keep an eye on that boy."

"He's not really a boy, Anya. He's like 10,000 years old-"

"Tomas."

"But yes," he replied, nodding his head. "I will keep two eyes on him."

Kuai Liang awoke with a labored, startled gasp, and as he sat upright, he realized he was panting hard. It was that dream, he decided. He'd been ice fishing again, but this time the lake below him was gone and had been replaced with festering, stinking, clotting blood. The Blue Dragon - Eidotheia - was curled weakly around him like a tired snake miserable from the cold, but her vibrant blue scales were dull gray. She gurgled as she breathed. Her eyes drooped. He thought she might have died had his dream continued much longer.

As his faculties gradually returned to him and he realized he was back home in the infirmary in the Temple in Arctika, there was fury in him - at what he did not know. It was like a scorching ember or a drop of acid flicked onto his knotted viscera, a slow burn. It radiated upward and through the emptiness of his chest, roaring through his veins and arteries, and finally setting his heart ablaze. Just pure, unadulterated anger.

And there was something else too. He could feel it climbing through him. He could feel it on its hands and knees inside him, rising up: hunger. No, not hunger, he argued with himself. Famine.

"Kuai Liang, you need to lay back down," Anya sternly told him as she now swept into the tiny room and went to the pump on his IV pole where multiple bags dripped fluids into his arm.

He blinked as she concentrated on it before innocently pressing some buttons, and he realized that she, with her gorgeous dark hair cascading over hourglass curves flattered by pink scrubs, was one of the many iterations of the hunger he was feeling. She was pure and maddeningly perfect, and worse, she knew it, played it, dripped it, teased it. She enjoyed letting him suffer for it too. The damnable part was that it always worked: he craved her. His desire for her was the kind of thing that devoured him alive and still left him feeling hungry.

"What are you smiling at?" Anya now asked him, and he finally noticed she'd quit fussing with the pump so she could look at him.

"You," he said, his predatory grin never leaving his face.

"Kuai Liang," she blushed and went about her routine, trying very hard to look like she was busy. "Honey, you've lost an awful lot of blood. That's why I made you an honorary vampire for the day." She now pointed to the bag of blood trickling into his arm through the IV.

"I want you," he said, completely uninterested in his own transfusion.

She smiled again and kissed him on the cheek and then gently on the lips. "Thank you for decoding that message for me," she drily remarked, now holding his hand. "But you're too weak for that-"

"You think I'm weak?" he now snarled at her as he ripped his hand away.

She recoiled in surprise. "Honey, of course I don't," she scoffed. "That's not what I meant. Babe, you were stabbed and-"

"So that makes me weak?" he snapped. "Reiko gets one lucky shot in, and you're calling me weak?"

Anya's eyes went wide. "Kuai Liang, what is the matter with you?" she demanded to know.

"You don't think I have a right to be angry?" he now hissed before he scoffed. "Oh, I forgot, only Anya is allowed to get angry at things."

"Obviously, that's not true," she countered. "But I'm not sure why you're angry now. I'm just trying to take care of you and help you get better."

"I don't need you to take care of me," he retorted. "Take this damn thing out of my arm right now."

"Absolutely not," she defied him. "You nearly died, Kuai Liang. Reiko came within a hair of killing you. If Tomas and Olivia hadn't have found you when they did, well…" Her face suddenly crumpled at that and she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to hide her pained expression.

"I'm not particularly surprised to find out that they can't do what they're told either," he coldly replied. "But you're my wife and you took a vow to obey me. So take this out of my arm. Now!"

"Honey," she began delicately, holding up her arms deferentially and stepping towards him. "Please listen to me. You suffered a lot of trauma to your body, and I think it's affecting your mood somehow. It's normal, but you need to rest if you want to get better. Give yourself time to heal. You'll be no good to your family or anyone if you don't."

God, he wanted to slap her right now.

"Reiko's on the loose - Reiko - but you think I should just stay in here and rest?" He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Why couldn't she understand? "You think I'm weak because I couldn't protect Olivia from him, and now you don't trust me to take care of my family, is that it?"

"Of course not, but-"

Kuai Liang was done talking. Impatiently, he curled his fist around the tubing threaded into his arm and yanked it out, tape and all. There was a twinge of pain as it exploded from his arm and began oozing huge globules of blood, and the blood transfusion and saline sprayed watery crimson fluid across the room, splashing Anya. She yelped in surprise by his actions, and when she rushed to stop him, he furiously pushed her away.

"God dammit, Kuai Liang!" she now yelled as he climbed from the hospital bed. "I don't think you're weak, but I'm beginning to think you're stupid," she then snarled at him.

Her venomous words prompted him to whirl around and point his finger at her. "I am the Grandmaster," he growled. "You are not. So it's time for you to learn your place."

"Oooh, you did not just say that to me, pal," she retorted, her lovely lavender eyes narrowing with contempt, her hands clenched into fists at her side.

He didn't answer her. Instead, he draped a robe around his naked body and left the infirmary, even as Anya got on the comm system and he vaguely heard her call for Tomas to help her. Let her. Tomas knew his place. And if he didn't, he was going to learn it quickly.

As Kuai Liang walked, his arm wept blood from the crook of his elbow onto the floor. Little drops like proverbial breadcrumbs marked his path to his living quarters, but he didn't care, just as he didn't care that his head swam a little while he moved. He was the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei. In spite of what his wife believed of him, he was not weak and he could protect his family.

"Kuai Liang, stop!" Tomas' voice called out close to his bedchamber. The Cryomancer turned to face him and saw him trotting towards him down the middle of the hallway.

"There's my incompetent second-in-command," he hissed at him.

"Incompetent?" the Enenra bristled in indignation as he stopped only a few feet from him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I gave you a direct order," he snapped. "I told you to help the Cryomancers, not chase after me. And I expected you to keep Olivia from following me as well. I didn't tell you that for my health. You know that Reiko poses a real threat to her. And you let her endanger herself anyway."

"Be thankful that she did follow you," Tomas snapped back. "If she hadn't come after you, you'd be dead now. She froze your wounds to slow the bleeding, and probably saved your life in the process."

"You and are going to have a discussion later to review your obedience and loyalty to me-"

"My loyalty?" he cut him off, his tone completely dumbfounded. "Since we were children, I have been nothing but loyal to you."

"Clearly, your definition of 'loyalty' and mine are two very different things."

Tomas immediately rattled off a string of Czech words that Kuai Liang recognized as curse words, and he was about to address his lieutenant's insubordination when suddenly, a familiar feminine voice broke through their argument. He quickly whirled around and saw Olivia, who was accompanied by Xinyi, Jiayi, and Morgan, approach him from the other direction.

"Dad?" Olivia gingerly asked, and when he looked at her, she grinned. "Oh, thank God you're okay!" she cried as she threw her arms around him and hugged him. "I was so worried about you."

But Kuai Liang was furious with her. Coldly, he pushed her away and growled, "When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it, Elite."

Immediately, her cheeks flushed red and she cast a bewildered look at Tomas, who was deeply scowling. She took a step backwards and looked up to meet his cold gaze. "Dad, I don't understand, I-"

"You are confined to the Temple until you learn to respect my commands," he snarled. "When I tell you not to follow me, Tundra, I expect you to obey me. I am not your father on the battlefield. I am your Grandmaster, and you will treat me accordingly."

"What did I do wrong?" she asked, her face a crushed, wounded mask fighting back tears.

"Everything that you could fail at, you did," he replied. "Namely, following after Reiko and I. Was one outing with him not enough for you? Perhaps you wanted another encounter with him to shame yourself and the Lin Kuei a second time."

"Kuai Liang, that's enough!" Anya snapped as Olivia started to cry. The nurse, who'd approached the group while he scolded their daughter, immediately went to her, hugged her, and glared daggers at her husband. "Stop this idiocy now. Get your ass back in bed. And apologize to your daughter."

"I give the orders around here, not you," he retorted, and now he looked at Tomas. "Get Cyrax and my other advisers. We need to figure out where Reiko will strike next."

"Your wife is right," the cyber-ninja tensely told him. "You need to rest. You're not yourself right now, and I think it's Reiko's fault."

"Gather my advisers," Kuai Liang repeated, his words coming out in a low growl in between angry snorts, and now a cold fog wreathed his hands in a dangerous halo. Blue energy rippled up his arms. "I won't say it again."

Tomas inhaled deeply, the scowl on his face never fading, but at long last, he nodded in deference. "Very well," he agreed. "I'll gather them." He started to walk away, but Kuai Liang stopped him.

"And Smoke?" he called, prompting the Enenra to stop in his tracks. He looked at the Czech man. "If you ever presume to challenge my authority again, I will make Cyrax my second-in-command and you will go into exile."

A smart remark hovered on the tip of the cyber-ninja's tongue, and Kuai Liang practically dared Tomas to say it. But at long last, he thought better of it and went about his business without speaking another word to anyone. The Grandmaster, however, glared at the man as he watched him go. It was ridiculous that it took this long for his old friend to learn some discipline, and when this was all said and done, he'd be setting everyone straight, starting with him.

When Kuai Liang was satisfied that Tomas was going to obey him, he wordlessly stormed towards his quarters again, blessedly alone this time, and replaced his hospital robe with black training robes. He wondered if anyone had thought of bringing back his clothes - namely his Dragon Medallion - from Outworld, and then angrily dismissed the thought. They probably hadn't, this dull, complacent lot. He scoffed in irritation. If the trouble in Mòhé had proven anything to him, it was how much his warriors left to be desired. Once this business with Reiko had been settled, he would personally oversee their grueling re-training, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the days of Oniro. Fun-time, he told himself, was over.

Once dressed, Kuai Liang stomped towards the kitchens and startled the Elites who were overseeing the children that were cooking lunch for the Temple. "Grandmaster, this is a surprise," Bay, Kailyn and Anya's much younger half-brother, said as he joined the Cryomancer's side and followed him through the maze of tables and appliances. "What do you need?"

"Why do people generally come to a kitchen, Whitewater?" he snapped.

Bay raised his eyebrow in confusion. "For food?" he cautiously asked.

"For food," Kuai Liang repeated in agitation. "So I'll thank you to refrain from asking idiotic questions from now on, Elite."

The Hydromancer bristled and blushed in embarrassment, but he remained quiet as the Grandmaster now yanked an entire roasted chicken from Li-ling, a fourteen-year-old who was carving the meat off the bone for the huge pots of egg drop soup. She, too, was bewildered but she said nothing, only bowed her head respectfully as he put his chicken on a plate with a heaping pile of vegetables and several biscuits that he slathered with butter and honey. When his plate was full, Kuai Liang wordlessly left them and marched to his office where he planned to eat his lunch while working through this Reiko issue.

He was glad to see that Tomas had actually obeyed him and gathered the Masters to his office, and all of them were waiting for him to arrive. They respectfully got to their feet as he entered, and he quickly surveyed them all. Tomas, Bomani, and Shen were there along with Finn and Blaze. Everyone was there, including an addition he hadn't asked for and wasn't particularly thrilled to see right now. The same dark hair, blue eyes, and strong stature could've marked him as - at least at a distance - Kuai Liang's twin.

"What are you doing here, Bi-han?" he demanded to know as he set his plate on his desk and sat down. On cue, everyone else sat down as well, and he began digging into his food with his fingers with no more grace and manners than a starving man.

"I'm glad to see you as well, Little Brother," he calmly retorted.

"Did Anya call you?" he asked with scorn before he ripped a chunk out of the breast and devoured it without hardly chewing. His wife was so meddlesome sometimes, and he didn't appreciate her calling his brother to tattle on him for not staying in bed. As if Bi-han could make him do anything.

But to his surprise, the older Cryomancer gently shook his head no, his face a calm mask betraying no emotion or indication as to what he was thinking. "Actually," he began, "Tomas called me. He said you had been badly wounded in battle and that I should get here quickly. He's already briefed me of the situation."

Kuai Liang raised his eyebrow. "Oh, he did, did he?" He glared at the Enenra before looking back to his brother. "Smoke tends to overstep his bounds a lot. It can be downright mutinous at times."

As Tomas noticeably tensed at the comment, a glimmering hint of surprise crossed Bi-han's face, but it disappeared as abruptly as it appeared. He then shifted in his seat and said, "I will stay to offer my assistance, Kuai Liang. If Reiko is truly after Shinnok's amulet, I will do everything in my power to stop him."

"I don't recall asking for or needing your help," the Grandmaster hissed, suspicious of his brother. He hated the Lin Kuei, and he'd made it known several times since his rescue from Netherrealm that he wanted nothing to do with fighting anymore. Deep down, he knew Bi-han was only here to babysit him at Anya's request.

"And I don't recall asking for your permission," the eldest brother snapped back. "The last time Reiko reared his ugly head, he nearly killed you and Olivia, and in that debacle, I came to the conclusion that I had failed my family. I will not fail it again. Come what may, I will protect you this time."

"Do you think me weak?" he snarled back. "That I can't lead my family and my warriors without you stepping in?"

"I think Reiko is bigger than all of us," he calmly retorted. "And Shinnok is bigger than him. It will take all of us - Lin Kuei, Shirai Ryu, Special Forces, and the Shaolin - to stop this madness. It is not weak to admit this. It is prudent." Bi-han now leaned back in his chair and quietly watched Kuai Liang wolf down his lunch.

"If we are to figure out how to stop Reiko, we must first determine his plan," Bomani now said.

"I agree," Finn said in a thick Irish brogue. "Why did he attack Mòhé in the first place?"

"He was after Outworld's kamidogu, which was hidden in Mòhé in Prince Jiayi's care," Tomas told him and then shook his head.

"How did he infiltrate Mòhé?" Bi-han asked.

"He didn't," the Enenra shrugged. "His Tarkatan army attacked it directly, but the Cryomancers defeated them and took him prisoner. But somebody let him loose. Prince Xinyi had him wrapped up tightly in Seidan restraints, and he told us that there was no way Reiko was able to break those bonds on his own."

"I don't wager many people in Mòhé have the power to set him free of those," Blaze mused from his chair. "And the list of those with access is even shorter."

"This whole situation is incredibly suspicious," Bi-han declared. "Reiko's not a fool, but attacking Mòhé is a foolish move. He looked at Kuai Liang. "Did it never occur to you that he was playing you?"

"Of course it occurred to me," the Grandmaster hissed. "Unlike you, I'm personally familiar with his work."

"I know him just as well as you do, Brother, from a much darker time in my life," he retorted, and then he inhaled deeply. "I think he took a small contingent of Tarkatans to attack Mòhé to throw everyone off the scent. He knew there was no way to breech it with brute force, just as he knew the Cryomancers would kill all the Tarkatans before they had a chance to reach the city. Then he allowed them to take him prisoner, probably because he knew he could escape before they executed him."

"Because there's a traitor in their midst," Shen deduced.

"Yes," Bi-han agreed. "Reiko knew that someone in the city had the power and the means to break him loose so that he could retrieve the kamidogu. The question is, who would have the means?"

"Tsai Bing, Jiayi, and Xinyi," Tomas told him. "There may be others but those three are definitely powerful men in Mòhé."

"What does he want with the kamidogu?" Bomani now asked. "He risked a lot to steal that one. Is there something special about Outworld's?" He looked back to the cyber-ninja, who nodded no.

"All the files I have on the kamidogu don't suggest there are any differences between them apart from each Realm's essence," he explained. "They're tied to each Realm's life force."

"He's not just after one of the kamidogu," Bi-han declared. "He's after all of them."

"And how do you know that?" Kuai Liang now asked, glaring at his brother, irritated that he'd taken charge of this discussion.

"Because of my time in the Netherrealm, I have unique insight into this present situation," he shot back. "There is a spell that Quan Chi studied often during my tenure as his slave, a spell that could break the bonds that hold Shinnok. He said it was a very old and very difficult spell, one that would require someone extremely adept at sorcery. Reiko is certainly adept enough to carry it out." He looked at all the men present. "It requires the kamidogu. All of them."

"Last time he went after Shinnok's amulet, he was working with a Chaosrealm agent named Havik who disappeared when Olivia killed Reiko in battle," Bomani reminded them all. "I think we should proceed as if they are working together again."

"Agreed," Kuai Liang replied. "We should also assume that he has Chaosrealm's kamidogu."

"It would probably be safe to assume he has Edenia's as well," Tomas added.

"Why should we assume that?" the Grandmaster coldly spat at him.

The cyber-ninja tensed again, scoffed, and bit his lip to hold back the stinging barbs hovering on his tongue. Sighing, he said, "Because he's Edenian. It makes sense to me that he'd go find his homeland's kamidogu before the others."

"I agree with your logic, Smoke," Bomani said to him. "That leaves Seido, Netherrealm, and Earthrealm's kamidogu."

"How can we know which one he'll try for next?" Shen wondered.

"We can't," Kuai Liang told him. "We're going to have to prepare for any of them to be attacked next." He now looked at Tomas and Bomani. "Smoke, Cyrax, I want you to collaborate with General Blade. Perhaps she has the means to track his movement or predict his next target." Then he looked at the rest of them. "As for you all, prepare the Elites for battle."

That evening, after business had finished and he'd eaten alone like a pig in the Everest Room before spending a solid hour with the punching bag, Kuai Liang stomped to his bedchamber. The dark fire that burned inside of him like a hellish inferno had long since forgotten Anya's transgressions against him, and reminded him that he was still hungry for her. He found her there like he knew he would, standing at their bookcase beside the roaring hearth, looking for something to read. She had changed clothes by now, trading her pink scrubs in for a pair of gray sweatpants and a white tank top stretched tightly over her body. She clearly had plans to go to bed early, but when the Grandmaster spotted her, his already searing lust changed those plans for her. He made a beeline for her, growing hot and stiff just thinking about all that he wanted to do to her.

Anya didn't notice him until he was almost to her, but as she slid her chosen book from its spot on the shelf, she caught sight of him from the corner of her eye and turned to look at him. Timidly, she gazed at him and said, "Are you feeling better now, honey? What-"

Kuai Liang didn't let her finish her thought. Immediately, he grabbed her and shoved her gently against the bookcase as his mouth met hers. His hands burrowed deeply into her long, silky hair as he anxiously sucked on her lips, not understanding or particularly caring why he felt so ravenous for her. He just knew he wanted to touch her like he owned her, to take every inch of her repeatedly like there would never be another chance.

At first, she responded to his advances with stunned shock, clutching her book protectively to her chest until she realized what he was doing. But then, she distractedly dropped it on the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tip-toes to reach his mouth better, kissing him just as passionately as he was kissing her. A groan escaped him as he pulled his mouth from Anya's, gripped her tank top with his hands, and carelessly yanked it over her head. He barely noticed how he accidentally snapped the back of her head into one of the shelves; his attention was instead fixed on her soft curves slipping like satin beneath his calloused hands.

"Ow!" she yelped but he abruptly silenced her with another kiss. She allowed him to probe her mouth with his tongue for a moment, but when she pulled away for a breath of air, she gasped, "What has gotten into you today?" she wondered.

"Do I need a reason to want you?" he challenged her, the ache in his groin building as he nibbled a path from her ear to her shoulder.

"I'm just worried that you're trying to do too much too soon," she argued, closing her eyes and sighing. "You lost so much blood."

"You healed me Anya," he protested. "I'm fine. Stop ruining this with all the talking." With that, he grabbed her sweatpants and underwear as one before violently yanking them down. That fire inside of him burned even brighter.

Kuai Liang briefly admired her naked body before he scooped her into his arms and carried her to their bed where he dropped her onto it. She bounced with a little yelp while he quickly stripped as well. She had barely pushed her now-messy hair from her face before he had tackled her with an animal-like growl, pinned her outstretched arms to their comforter, and thrust into her body.

He rode her as fiercely as he ever had, drowning in her cries of pleasure, savoring the way she called his name as if no one could hear her. Hungrily, he wrapped his arms beneath the small of her back and pulled her harder into him, his love and lust for her blending into one indistinguishable feeling now, quickening with every second, somehow drawing out even longer than it normally would. But when that moment of pleasure finally came, he and she reached it together.

Kuai Liang stayed on top of her like that for a long moment as he caught his breath, but tired and satiated for now, he soon pulled away and rolled onto his side on the bed next to her, this time kissing her more gently than he had earlier. After making out for a few more minutes, she finally rested her hand on his shoulder and pushed him back so she could look him in the eye. Her expression was half-serious, half-mirthful as she studied his face.

"So that was different," she said, now tracing his scar on his eye with her fingernail.

Kuai Liang wrinkled his nose and cocked his head. "What do you mean?" he demanded to know.

Her smile fell. "I'm not complaining," she quickly said. "It's just that...you've never jumped my bones like that before."

"It sounds an awful lot like complaining," he coldly replied. "It's the one thing you're very good at."

Anya's eyes suddenly took on a wounded expression. She sat up and crossed her arms insecurely before she grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her. "Why are you being so hateful and mean today?" she quietly asked, her tone now shaded with irritation. "I just wondered what about me got you so riled up."

"Did it please you?" he irately asked her.

"What?"

"Did it please you?" he repeated. "Did I please you?"

Anya cocked her head, clearly bewildered. "Of course you did," she answered. "You always do."

"Then what's the problem?"

"What is the matter with you?" she asked, her eyes now glossy with tears. "Why are you acting this way, Kuai Liang? Would you please just talk to me? Tell me what's bothering you so much."

"What's bothering me?" he scoffed, now bitterly chuckling. "I'm tired of my wife's persistent need to create drama where there is none," he replied before he exhaled in exasperation.

Anya burst into tears. But he didn't want to hear her cry. She could just relax and not question his desire for her, and she could appreciate the fact that he'd acted so spontaneously, but instead she opted to make an issue of it. Just like she'd made an issue this morning about him staying in bed because he was too weak to handle his business, and just like she'd made an issue of bringing Bi-han to the Temple to babysit his brother. He'd tried to let these transgressions against him go, but he was done with her theatrics.

"I'm going to sleep in my office tonight," he declared as he slid off their bed and started to pull on his clothes again.

"But Kuai Liang, I can't sleep without you," she whimpered through heavy tears. "Please don't go. Stay here and hold me. Let me hold you. This doesn't have to be a fight."

Ordinarily, a statement like that would've melted his heart and he'd give in to her request. But tonight, he just felt too damn angry at her. The blazing inferno within him still raged, but it was no longer lust that drove him. Now it was fury at the world and everything in it, for reasons unknown even to him. His anger threatened to burn it all to ash.

Now he looked at his wife again. "I suppose you should've thought about that before you decided to open your big mouth," he hissed at her. "Good night," he said as he got to his feet and stormed out of their bedchamber just as sternly as he'd arrived. He wasn't even moved by the sound of Anya noticeably crying in their bed.

MKDemigodZ-Warrior, I concur.

Obelisk of Light, thanks, I was kind of proud of myself for the "fortune cookie kernels of wisdom" bit LOL I know you have reservations about the dragon, but it just feels like a fun thing to do. As for my interpretation of possessed Kuai Liang, well...I just hope it hits readers in the feels.

Daniel Barga, aw, thanks! I appreciate your enthusiasm. As with all my stories, it's going to get worse before it gets better. ;) I'm having fun depicting life in the Lin Kuei Temple a bit more than I usually do, and for the reasons you cited - I can show a behind-the-scenes look at their lives when they're not going all ninja warrior on people.

Sub-Pion, yeah, I agree, if things went right, that would make for a boring story. So I've got to put my characters through hell once again. *sigh* It's exhausting being evil. :D And my goal with Reiko in this one is to show his penchant for strategy and warfare, so definitely expect a road full of twists and turns. I want to tell people so much what I've got planned, but with this story, if I tell one little piece, it'll spoil the whole shebang.

The Titan's Shadow, I've been thinking about Frost a lot, and I think she's definitely the victim of bullying, I agree. That's the thing, though. I kind of have to go overboard with both characters at first so that as their characters grow and change, it'll feel more gratifying to the reader.

Westcoast Witchdoctor, oh, you know me and my penchant for turning up the heat! I really want to showcase Subby's younger kids more in-depth in this story than I did in the last one, so be prepared to see more of them alongside Livy. I hope to invoke the feels. All the feels!

ROCuevas, hopefully it will be!

iceangelmkx, my friend! I'm glad to see you! *hugs* No apologies necessary, I am just happy that you're back :D I agree - fuck Reiko. But not before he does some really heinous crap. There will be blood, and not just because of blood magik ;)