Chapter 20 The Hidden Island #2
Or had I just chosen not to see?
"They grew up serving you," Nyomi continued softly. "You gave them education, freedom, kindness—probably more than anyone else in their lives ever did. You protected them from your father's intentions. Gave them purpose."
She turned to look at me. "How could they not love you?"
The space between us charged with electricity, and I wasn't sure if that was good or not. This moment was damn sure new to me.
"I can see it from here," she said. "In the way Yuki stands exactly where you can see her first. In the way Mami can't stop fidgeting because you're close. In the way Hina looks like Christmas morning just because you're here."
I blinked.
She’s already remembered their names and is clocking their movements.
I cleared my throat. "Perhaps, what you see is a heightened level of undying loyalty. They've stayed with me for years. They would die for me. And I would burn the world for them." I leaned closer until my forehead nearly touched hers. "But they're not you, Tora. They never could be."
She studied my face for a long moment, and I let her see everything—the truth, the possessiveness, the stark honesty that I'd never given any woman before her.
Her voice came out lower. “This may make me sound super insecure, but I’m okay with that. . .”
“Then, say it.”
“I know they’re your personal Scales, but I don’t want to share you with them or any other women.” Her words trembled slightly at the edges, and I realized what it had cost her to say that.
To draw that line.
Her eyes held mine, and in them I saw fear wrapped in steel.
Fear that she wasn't enough.
Fear that being with the Dragon meant accepting a hoard that included other women.
Fear that her love was too much, not enough, or the wrong kind entirely.
But she said it anyway.
My brave, beautiful Tiger.
The words had also hit me like a physical blow—not pain, but impact.
Pure, undiluted claim.
My Tiger was staking her territory.
And fuck if that didn't make every possessive instinct in me roar to life.
Mmmm.
She wasn't asking permission.
She was drawing boundaries.
Staking her territory on my heart, my body, my future.
And I wanted to let her.
Wanted to watch her sink her claws in deep and never let go.
Good.
Because I'd already decided she would have all of me. Not just my body, my power, my protection.
But my last name.
My ring.
My children growing inside her.
I just had to survive this fucking war long enough to give them to her.
Therefore, I didn't respond with words. Instead, I captured that sexy mouth and let my tongue tell her how much I agreed with her claim.
My hand fisted in her soft, damp braids, holding her exactly where I wanted her while I showed her with my lips, tongue, and teeth that she had nothing to fear from these three women in garnet uniforms.
When I finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
Her lips moved against mine, and her arms wrapped around my neck as I pulled her closer. There was an urgency in her grip, a desperation that echoed my own need to claim her, to mark her in every way possible.
I drew back, needing to see her. The desire in her eyes matched the pulse of need inside me, a relentless rhythm that shouted, 'Mine! Mine! Mine!’
“Naughty Tiger.” A quiet, possessive growl rumbled deep in my chest. “You’re not sharing me, Tora, not with them, not with anyone. You own me. Completely.”
A beat passed.
"Which means, Tora, what's mine is yours to decide. Including them."
Confusion flickered across her face. "What does that mean?"
"Yuki, Mami, and Hina." I kept my voice steady, even though offering this felt like handing her a blade and exposing my throat. "If you want me to release them from service right now. . .I will. They'll be compensated. Protected. Set up with new lives far from here. I will never see them again."
Her eyes widened. "You would do that?"
"For you?" I traced the curve of her jaw. "I would do worse. I would kill them, if you asked.”
She shivered. “D-don’t say that.”
“Your comfort matters more than their lives. More than tradition. More than convenience. More than anything. You decide, Tora. Right. Now."
“Kenji—”
“Let me know and I’ll tell my men to take them away.”
Her bottom lip quivered as if she were suddenly realizing that she could end their lifelong employment with a word. I saw her processing that power, weighing it in her hands like something precious and dangerous.
Nyomi directed her gaze to them, and I followed it.
Outside, I could see Yuki subtly adjusting Mami's collar. Hina was still practically vibrating with restrained energy.
Nyomi remained quiet for a long moment, studying them through the window. Then finally she spoke, "Tell me about them."
“Always a journalist.” I grinned. “What do you want to know?”
“Well. . .I want to get an idea of who they are before I make such a big decision.”
I traced circles on her palm. "Yuki reads philosophy and poetry. She typically collects first editions when we travel. She's learning Italian because she fell in love with opera three years ago when Reo bought them tickets."
"And Mami?"
"She paints. She has a small studio in the east wing of my mansion in Tokyo. This year, she began selling her work under a pseudonym at galleries in Tokyo and Paris. Most people don't know the artist is one of my Scales."
Nyomi's thumb resumed its gentle circles on my palm. "Hina?"
"The youngest. She's studying architecture remotely through a university in London. Wants to design sustainable housing for displaced communities."
"And you fund her education?”
“I do.”
Nyomi turned to look at me. "They have whole lives."
"Yes."
"But. . .they’ve also. . .built their lives around you?"
“Ever since they were kids.”
"If you released them. . ." She parted her lips. "What would happen to them?"
"They would be compensated. Protected. I'd make sure they had everything they needed."
"Money isn't the same as purpose." She pulled back enough to face me fully.
"They've served you since they were girls. Their identities are probably wrapped up in being your Scales. In belonging to you—even if you never touched them, even if you gave them freedom, they may still choose to stay. Or. . .they may harm themselves if they’re forced to go. "
The helicopter cabin felt smaller suddenly.
“Tora. . .but what do you want to do?”
"If you sent them away," she continued, her voice dropping, "even with the best intentions, even with money and protection. . .wouldn't that break something in them?"
I thought she would simply tell me to get rid of them.
I hadn't expected this.
Hadn't expected her to think beyond her own comfort to theirs.
I tilted my head to the side. "You're worried about them?"
"I'm worried about what it would do to them.
" She glanced back outside where the three women waited.
"They didn't choose this life initially.
Your father chose it for them. But they stayed.
They built their whole existence around you.
And now I show up and—" She made a frustrated sound. "God, this is so complicated."
"It is." I agreed quietly.
"Part of me wants them gone," she admitted, her honesty cutting clean and sharp. "The jealous part. The part that wants you completely to myself. No shadows of what your father intended, no pretty women who look at you like you hung the moon."
"And the other part?"
"The other part sees three women whose entire lives would be upended because I felt.
. .insecure." She met my eyes. "Now that I know you love me—really know it, feel it—I can't shake the feeling that sending them away would be cruel.
That it would hurt them more than keeping them could ever hurt me. "
“Hmmm.” I pulled her close, pressing my lips to her forehead while my mind spun with something I couldn't quite name.
Admiration?
Confusion?
Awe?
I didn't understand this. Didn't understand her ability to see beyond her own feelings to the lives of three women who posed a threat—however small—to what we had.
The empathy it took to weigh their futures against her comfort.
The strength it took to even consider keeping them when every possessive instinct probably screamed to eliminate the competition.
If the situation were reversed—if she had three men who'd served her since childhood, who looked at her with devotion and barely concealed want—I wouldn't be sitting here calmly discussing their lives and futures.
I'd have killed them.
Right in front of her.
Without hesitation.
Without mercy.
Without a single fucking thought about their hopes, dreams, or the lives they'd built.
The image flashed through my mind with crystalline clarity: three male bodies at her feet, blood pooling on expensive flooring, my hands still wet with their blood while I told her they were gone and would never look at her again.
That was who I was.
That was the Dragon she'd claimed.
But here she sat, worrying about breaking them. Trying to navigate an impossible situation with both strength and grace. Thinking about people who weren't her, who might want what was hers, and still considering their humanity.
I don’t understand but. . .maybe she can teach me something I've never learned.
This woman—with her impossible kindness and steel spine—was going to be the mother of my children.
She’ll be an amazing mother. Kind and loving like mine.
The thought settled into my chest like a hot coal.
She didn't know it yet. Didn't know that I'd already chosen her for forever. That I was just waiting for the right moment to make her understand that she wasn't just my Tiger.
My Heart.
She was going to be my wife.
I smiled.
She sighed. “I don’t want to make the decision right now.”
“Okay.”
“But. . .I would like our moment right now to be private.”