Chapter 26 Black Water
Chapter twenty-six
Black Water
Kenji
In my dream, I stood naked in a lake of black water. Ink-dark. It came to my waist and clung to my skin like oil. Beneath the surface, I couldn't see my own body or the bottom.
Where am I?
Above me, the sky was a flat, suffocating gray that stretched in every direction. There was no sun, clouds, or horizon.
Cold silence pressed against my eardrums.
I turned and realized there was no shore or land in any direction. It was only black water meeting gray sky.
Something pressed against my hip.
I looked down and a white flower began to break the surface. Slowly, petals unfurled against the black like a fist opening.
It was a chrysanthemum.
More of them rose from the water, rippling the surface and blooming white above the black water until they surrounded me in a widening ring.
A sickening sweet scent hit me and coated the back of my throat. Beneath that sweetness came the taste of wet earth. The mineral tang of a fresh grave.
My stomach twisted.
The flowers kept coming. Petals pressed against my stomach. My forearms. The spaces between my fingers.
Pushing the air out of the space around me.
The water began to disappear under the flowers.
White swallowing black.
I tried to move and couldn't. Then, stems began to wind around my wrists and beneath the surface they tightened around my waist and ankles.
I pulled again and the flowers held me.
I was rooted to the center of all this white, black, and gray and I couldn't get free.
And the flowers climbed.
They rose past my stomach.
Past my chest.
Petals brushed the base of my throat and I felt them reaching, stretching toward my jaw like fingers. The sweetness was so thick now I was breathing it.
Swallowing it.
White filled my peripheral vision until I couldn't look down without seeing them pressing against my collarbone, blooming in the hollow of my throat, close enough that if I dropped my chin they would touch my lips.
Then the petals flattened against my skin and didn't stop.
They pressed into me.
It wasn't soft either.
They breached my flesh and pain ripped down my arms in long, hot lines—like being tattooed again except the needle was going deeper.
Past the ink.
Past the muscle.
The tattoos drank them in. Black lines split open like wounds and the white crawled inside, petal by petal, and every one that dissolved into my skin burned.
Stems threaded between my ribs.
I felt the first one punch through the gap and the pain was so sharp my vision cut to white.
Then the second.
The third.
Each one cracking through cartilage with a sound I heard from the inside—wet, structural, wrong. Roots burrowed down my spine and I felt every vertebra come apart, loosening like a chain being pulled from both ends.
They found my stomach, wrapped around it, and squeezed until my throat locked and the sweetness of chrysanthemum flooded the back of my mouth.
Then the roots reached my heart.
They twisted around it.
Slowly.
They merged in the organ.
Threading through the valves.
Slipping between the chambers.
And my heartbeat changed. It stuttered. Skipped. Beat once around the roots and the flowers pulsed with it, blooming in rhythm with my blood, feeding from the inside of my chest.
White petals unfolded from the splits in my skin, wet and perfect, and I understood.
The flowers weren't holding me.
They were replacing me.
“No!” My chest cracked open with newly blooming chrysanthemums. Then, a scream tore out of me before I knew it was coming. “Get out of me!!”
The sound carried across the water.
The gray sky devoured it.
The flowers didn't move.
No!
My eyes flew open.
I blinked several times and took in the stone ceiling above me.
It was a. . .dream. . .
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I looked down. Braids spilled across my chest. Brown skin pressed against mine. Nyomi's arm was draped over my stomach, her palm flat against my ribs, her fingers curled gently into the space between them.
I began to orient myself taking note that it was my Tiger’s fingers, not stems. Her lush brown skin, not white petals.
Just a dream.
I closed my eyes, exhaled a shaky breath, and thought about the type of flowers that had grown into me.
Chrysanthemums. The flower of grief.
Every autumn, my mother would place them on the altar for our ancestors.
My pulse wouldn't slow down.
Then I felt it, a shift in the air.
I opened my eyes and turned to the right.
Holding a thick blanket as well as two robes folded over his forearm, Reo headed in and his entrance was quiet.
Hiro stepped in next.
Huh?
I raised my eyebrows.
What happened?
Today, they wore all black—heavy boots laced tight, tactical pants with reinforced knees, and long-sleeve shirts.
I looked back at the boots and tensed.
A single white petal clung to the toe of Reo's boot. My chest seized as I stared at it. The petal was small and curved. It could have come from any flower on the island. However, my body didn't care as it remembered the dream.
No. That’s nothing.
I looked at my brother.
Hiro had a lollipop in his mouth, the stick tilted between his lips.
My hands went still.
Soon, they stopped by us.
Reo immediately covered my Tiger with a blanket, although not before Hiro got a quick glance at her bare ass.
Careful, brother.
Hiro smirked and pulled out the lollipop. It was black.
Fuck.
Nyomi stirred against my chest. Then her fingers flexed on my ribs and went still. I felt the shift in her breathing. She was waking up, but she wasn't moving yet. She was listening.
Smart.
I kept my eyes on Reo's face. His expression looked carved from stone, but I could see the tightness around his mouth. The way his jaw worked like he was biting back words.
He was definitely upset.
While he’d known I had talked to Hiroko, he never knew what the surprise was going to deal with.
Reo took in the space. The stone slab. The equipment in the corner. The scent of smoke and sex. His hand closed into a fist at his side. Then opened. I watched him swallow whatever he wanted to say.
The line of his jaw twitched.
I yawned and then kissed my Tiger’s forehead. “Wake up, Tora. We have company.”
She stirred a little and then lifted her head. Her thick braids slid across my shoulder as she looked at Reo, then Hiro, and then back to me. Her body tensed against mine. She was reading their posture, assessing their hands, and taking in the combat gear.
As always, my Tiger is smart.
Pride moved through my chest. She was definitely learning our world.
Reo's expression softened slightly when he looked at her. "Good morning, Nyomi."
My Roar’s voice remained gentle and professional. "The movie theater is being prepared for you and the island today. The popcorn machine is running. Your breakfast will be delivered there when you're done changing."
She yawned. “Okay.”
"Your hairstylist and her cousin will be waiting for you in the theater’s VIP section." Reo checked his watch. “Soon.”
In other words, there was serious business that needed to occur and he thought that she should not be present.
Silence stretched between them.
I felt Nyomi's pulse against my ribs.
Thankfully, she wasn't demanding explanations or throwing questions at them. She simply read the situation and chose her response carefully.
Finally, she nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Reo. I’ll head out."
“Perfect. Your men are waiting outside next to a cart to take you back to the house.” My Roar stepped forward, extended a bathrobe toward her, and held it out with one hand. Next, he turned his head to give her privacy.
Meanwhile, Hiro just remained there with the lollipop between his teeth, watching as Nyomi covered her breasts and shifted to sit up.
I frowned at him. "Turn around."
Hiro shrugged. “But, we’re all family.”
I sneered.
Hiro's smirk widened and then he slowly turned his head toward the wall.
“Thank you.” Nyomi climbed off the stone slab and took the robe from Reo’s outstretched hand. The blanket fell away.
My cock jumped.
I would have rather had more time with her, consuming that sexy body, but I knew something had happened to cause my brother and Roar to interrupt our morning.
She slipped it on and tied the belt with quick movements.
Yawning again, I sat up and stretched my arms.
When she was covered, she crossed to me and leaned down. Her hands framed my face, and then her mouth was on mine. Her tongue slipped past my lips, tasting and claiming me.
Oh, Tora.
Heat rolled through my body. My cock stirred beneath the blanket. My hands came up to grip her waist, pulling her closer even though I knew we had an audience.
Reo and Hiro had turned back around by now.
Still, the kiss deepened.
She took my bottom lip between her teeth and bit down gently before releasing it.
I groaned into her mouth.
Naughty, Tiger.
My whole body was waking up now. Every nerve ending firing. I wanted her. Wanted to pull her back onto the slab and bury my cock inside her and forget about Reo and Hiro and whatever the hell had brought them here.
But she pulled back. Her hands were still on my face. I felt the faintest tremor in her fingers before she steadied them. Her eyes searched mine. "Whatever you're going to do. . .please be careful. And let me know if you leave this island."
My eyes widened.
Very smart, Tora.
She'd read the combat gear and Hiro's presence and she'd put it together without anyone telling her a damn thing.
"You’ll be the first to know, Tora."
She nodded once, turned, and walked toward the door.
When she opened it, two of Reo’s men appeared and fell into step behind her.
She left without looking back.
The door closed.
Silence settled over the room.
I glanced at Hiro. The smirk was gone. He pulled the lollipop from his mouth and rolled the stick between his fingers. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the door Nyomi had just walked through, and he wasn't smiling anymore.
Reo extended the second bathrobe toward me.
I pulled the blanket off me and stood. Hiro and Reo had seen me naked a hundred times—there was no need to hide my nudity.
But something made Reo's eyes widen. His gaze locked onto a spot near my neck and shoulder, and for the first time since he'd entered the room, his professional mask cracked completely.
His lips parted. No sound came out. He blinked twice, rapidly, like his brain was trying to reject what his eyes were showing him.
I frowned and glanced down.
Oh.
My Tiger’s teeth marks. Deep ones. A perfect crescent bitten into the skin, bruised dark around the edges, the impression of each individual tooth still visible.
Heat crawled up my neck and spread across my face before I could stop it.
Fuck, Tora.
I swallowed and lifted my view back to them.
“Hmm.” Hiro tilted his head slowly and his eyes found the mark, traced its shape, and then a grin split across his face—wicked, delighted, and utterly without shame.
I frowned.
He pulled the lollipop from his mouth and pointed it at the bite. "The Tiger has fangs too."
My face burned hotter. I could feel the blush reaching my ears now and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I was the Dragon. I ran an empire. I had killed men with my bare hands. And I was standing here blushing because my woman had bitten me hard enough to leave a bruise.
Reo closed his mouth. Opened it. Closed it again. Then he handed the bathrobe toward me with a stiff arm, deciding to not make a comment.
Meanwhile, Hiro was still grinning. "She marked you."
I took the robe and shrugged it on, tying the belt with more force than necessary.
"I like her more every day.” Hiro chuckled and put the lollipop back in his mouth.
I cracked the side of my neck and rolled my shoulder. "What's going on?"
Reo's jaw tightened. His eyes moved around the room for a second. Taking in the stone slab, the remnants of fire play equipment still visible in the corner, as well as the scent of smoke and sex that clung to the air.
He didn't speak about it. But I saw the anger there, simmering beneath his professional mask.
Finally, Reo spoke. His voice was flat and operational like he'd already moved past the shock and into the plan. "We have the Fox's location."
The words slammed into me.
My breath stopped. The air turned sharp and cold as I dragged it into my lungs.
Finally.