1. A Language of Pain #2
“However. . .” Reo raised one finger. “Let’s take a short break.”
One widened their eyes as if terrified that the break meant a crack to their legs.
I held in my chuckle.
Reo turned around, walked over to me, and kept his voice low. “I hoped to get rid of everyone and gather the necessary information without disturbing you.”
“Yet, I was disturbed. Mid-thrust. Mid-moan. Do you know how hard it is to walk away from a woman who’s still trembling from your cock?”
Reo gave me a sad smile. “Violence always comes after ecstasy. That’s the rule of men like us.”
“Is it?”
“Pleasure awakens the gods in us. Pain keeps them fed.” He adjusted the blade between his fingers like it was a pen. “If it helps, I plan to put at least two of these men in your bamboo room.”
“I would rather make them bleed personally for interrupting me.”
Reo had always carved cleaner.
But I made them scream longer.
I put my view back on the five bound men. “Who do you think the traitor is?”
“Not sure, but I have my suspects in a separate dungeon on the next level.”
I snapped my gaze to him. “Who is in there?”
“Hiroko, her two assistants, the chef, the jazz band. One of them assisted this group, and I will find out this evening.”
I looked away, jaw tight. “I don’t want the traitor to be Hiroko.”
Reo nodded solemnly. “If it is, I will kill her for you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I must do it myself.”
Reo raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps a compromise could be to put her in the bamboo room also. Then, her blood isn’t on your hands.”
“Hiroko in the bamboo room? And have my Tiger hear her screams for days?” My voice dropped. “No.”
Reo blinked slowly. “Your Tiger will be on the property?”
“Where else would she be?”
“Then, she said yes?”
“To what?”
“To your asking her to come back to your place.”
I frowned. “She’s mine. Why would I have to ask?”
Reo’s gaze softened. “Kenji. . .”
“What?”
He let out a long breath. “I like her.”
“You’ve told me.”
“Please. . . ask her to come back with you. Do not tell her. She is not one of your men, even though she now has a title.”
“A title?”
“She is the Dragon’s Heart.”
That made my chest warm.
I cleared my throat. “I will ask her.”
“Nicely?”
“Yes. As nice as I can be.”
“Thank you.” At that, Reo smirked and tilted his chin. “Satoshi, go get that box and give it to Kenji.”
What box?
Seconds later, Satoshi emerged from the shadows, holding something behind his back. He stepped forward and revealed a long, slender box covered in thick black wrapping paper with a pink bow on top.
My chest clenched.
I never gave Nyomi her present.
Blood roared behind my ears.
Reo caught the change in my expression. “Don’t worry. The box is clean.”
“I don’t want to get blood on it,” I muttered. “Keep it until I am done torturing—”
“ You will not be torturing anyone this evening.”
I glared at him. “What did you say?”
Reo pointed at the ceiling. “A helicopter is on the roof. Waiting for you and your Tiger.”
“I should be here—”
“Time bends for many things, but never for the woman who makes your blood burn and your soul still.”
I gave him a look, but he just smiled faintly and folded his arms behind his back like the ever-loyal soldier he was.
I stepped toward him with my fists clenched. “I should be the one here, slicing them apart. This threat. This betrayal. It’s mine to end.”
Reo wore the expression of a professor tolerating a stubborn pupil. “I am the Dragon’s Roar.”
“I am aware of that.”
“They are the Eyes and Fangs,” Reo gestured toward the men around us—Kaoru standing like a statue, Yoichi calm and coiled, Satoshi still holding the gift. “We were built to execute. To protect.”
“Get on with it,” I snapped.
Reo pointed at me. “And you? Well. . .you are the Dragon. The only reason why we are here. The only reason any of this exists.”
My jaw tensed. “This attack is war. Do you agree?”
“I agree, and if you fall, they win. Do you agree?”
I groaned. “Yes. I agree.”
Reo stepped closer, and kept his voice even lower to barely a whisper. “If you fall, we become nothing but ashes with sharp teeth. Teeth that snap until they break and without you. . .we will break.”
“Reo, they fucking came in here to kill me—”
“And I will handle it. You are not just our fire, Kenji. You are the spine of this entire empire, so please. . .get your Tiger and then get in the helicopter.”
“I don’t like running.”
“This isn’t running. It’s surviving. Strategizing. Living long enough to make every single one of these bastards regret breathing.”
My silence stretched.
I hated how right he was.
Reo nodded once. “Go to her. Guard her like the last flame in winter. Because if they are after you, they will reach for her next.”
Impossible rage roared within my chest.
He turned his back to me and faced the trembling assassins.
Annoyance hit me. “As soon as you know who the traitor is, I want that information.”
“You will have it, but more important, we must also get you out of this building before Hiro finds out what is happening.”
Oh yes. . .my brother. . .
A satisfied smile crept across my face, dark and slow. As always, my Roar moved like my shadow. He didn’t just understand me, he anticipated me, cutting where I would have cut, hurting where I would have hurt.
Suddenly, gunfire blasting racked outside.
Followed by a scream and boots pounding marble.
I frowned. “When will you go?”
Reo kept his back to me. “Soon.”
“You’re to get out of here safely.”
“I will. There are several helicopters on the roof. More are enroute from Nara, Kobe, and Yokohama. All carrying men trained for war. All loyal. All willing to die for the Dragon.”
Gunfire cracked again in the distance—closer now.
I let the sounds settle and the moment breathe.
Then I spoke, “This isn’t retaliation anymore.”
Reo glanced over his shoulders and watched me.
My jaw tightened. “This is war. I want everyone at the safe spot by dawn, and then we trigger the bombs.”
“We planned to unleash the bombs days later.”
“And then my father attacked.”
“I understand, but there is no clear confirmation that this was the Fox.”
“Yet, I see my father’s fingerprints all over this.”
Reo nodded. “Then we will put Plan A into action tonight.”
“Yes, but first interrogate these fucking bastards. Get me names. Get me fucking details. Get me blood. Then, get to the safe spot so we can set off the bombs.”
“I will.”
“This morning, Tokyo will wake up to the Dragon’s fire.”
Reo nodded. “And the Fox won’t know what bled through him until he’s already drowning.”
I let Reo’s promise settle in my bones.
Gunfire cracked again—closer this time. Muffled screams echoed up the stairwell. The air had shifted. The building itself braced.
We were almost out of time.
I took the present from Satoshi and headed off.
My Eyes followed.
Reo said some words of encouragement, but I barely heard them, because everything inside me was already moving ahead of my body—rushing toward her scent, her voice, her softness, her heart.