Chapter 22 #2
Sure you did. You probably decided this after swallowing that first Roar Bite.
I rolled my eyes and headed off.
Hiro snickered again.
We continued forward and then turned the corner.
Far ahead of us, the Claws and Fangs surrounded a building taller than my men by a foot.
The Fangs leaned against other structures.
The Claws sat in chairs they had dragged over.
Kaoru and Yoichi were holding coffee. Toma had his head pressed against a bag of ice like he had the worst headache of his life.
While they looked clearly exhausted, they had smiles on their faces and a few wildly chatted with their hands in the air. They were the happiest exhausted men I had ever seen in my life.
A few Fangs straightened up when they spotted me.
The Claws didn't even bother.
My Tiger has turned my men into an entire army of degenerates.
Then I saw Rin and almost tripped over my own feet.
What the hell?
He was standing at the end of the line near the building.
Not slumped.
Not bored.
Not staring through the wall at nothing the way he usually did.
In fact, he was fucking smiling.
Oh no.
I tensed in horror.
He’s fucking blushing.
The twins were in chairs on either side of him. They each held a cup of coffee, pointed at his neck, and laughed.
Concerned, I put my gaze on his neck.
What?
One dark bruise bloomed under his jaw. Another was on the side of his throat where it met his collarbone.
A smaller one was just below that. A cluster lower still, dipping into his clavicle.
Each one was purple at the center and edged in a deep wine red, the kind of marks left by a mouth that knew exactly how long to stay in one place.
They weren't subtle.
They weren't hidden.
They were displayed.
Because Rin was wearing a goddamn red shirt with it completely unbuttoned and opened. He even had on designer gray slacks with no belt.
Is this really Rin? There’s no way he’s changed THIS much.
I had known Rin for years. I had seen him in white at funerals, in white at temples, in white at midnight battles on rooftops, in white in the rain, in white standing over bleeding bodies. I had never once seen him in any other color.
I had assumed white was his religion.
The hairstylist must be stopped.
I frowned. And to add more insanity to the view, I lifted my view to his hair.
What is that?
The top of his head was braided in tight, swirled cornrows that wound back along his scalp in a lovely pattern. I swore I saw a few hearts. The rest of his hair fell from those braids in long thin braids that spilled past his shoulders and down his back.
There was no way his usual helpers did his hair. This kind of braiding took hours and patient hands. And there was a loving feminine quality to it.
When the hell did she have time to do that? Wasn’t she already busy bruising my Fang’s body and making him walk around like a dog?
I gritted my teeth.
At least on Rin, the style was masculine in a way like a sword that had been polished by a woman's hands and was somehow more dangerous for it.
Still, I almost came to a full stop.
Hiro let out a low whistle. "This hairstylist, Deja, is quite the femme fatale."
I stiffened.
Hiro whistled again. "And if she sucked on his neck. . .then she had no bag on her head. Is that good or bad?"
"I don't know."
"You think he fucked her yet?"
"I'm not sure."
"With her body. . .I doubt he would be standing so strong this morning, if he fucked her. Not with her ass."
I scowled at him.
Hiro shrugged. "Eh. Her body is dangerous. That's all I'm saying. I'm just glad he met her first. She might have been the death of me."
I shook my head.
Hiro tilted his. "Look at him though. He's blushing."
“He’s not blushing.”
“Your Fang looks like he’s about to fucking write a poem about love.”
“Shut up.”
“What is he going to do in the battle now? Give all the enemies hugs.”
“He’s fine.”
Hiro chuckled.
One of the twins pointed again at the hickey on his throat and said something.
The other twin lost it.
The Claws followed along.
I let out a long sigh.
“Hmmm.” Reo studied Rin. "His hair will need to be retied before battle. The length is a liability. I’ll talk to her about that."
Of course that's what the Roar noticed. Not the fact she’s weakening my Fang.
I rolled my eyes. "Tell him after the briefing."
"I will."
A new thought hit me that made me slow my steps a little.
Should I tell him about the Burial Ritual?
The question landed before I had time to push it away. The book was still under my arm. The weight of it pressed against my ribs.
Rin had a serpent-shadow. Deja could see it. The same way Tora could see my dragon. Our bloodlines went deeper than I had time to fully map out before this upcoming battle. If the rite worked for me, there was a chance—a real chance—it would work for Rin.
That meant his serpent-shadow on the battlefield with my dragon-shadow. That was an advantage I could not ignore.
Two beasts in the field instead of one. Two warriors with Death-sight instead of one. Two minutes of warning, doubled, layered, overlapping across two sets of eyes that loved their women enough to braid their souls into the dirt for them.
We could win this war faster and come home faster.
But. . .
I watched Rin laugh with the twins. Watched the way his shoulders had finally come down from his ears. Watched the braids swing across his back as he tipped his head back in bold laughter and let Toma join the teasing.
He had met Deja a few days ago. For the first time, I believe he was still learning what it felt like to be seen by a woman without a silk bag between them.
He was still figuring out how to wear color.
He was still figuring out how to laugh in front of other men.
He was still figuring out that he was allowed to be a person.
And I was about to ask him to braid his soul to hers in a hole in the ground under a full moon.
Is that fair to ask of a man who just learned how to smile in public?
The other side of my brain answered immediately.
Is it fair not to tell him?
Because this wasn't only my decision. It was his. And it was Deja's. If I sat on this and didn't tell him, and then I walked into Tokyo with two beasts' worth of advantages he could have shared, and one of our men died because Rin couldn't see the death coming—that would be on me.
I would carry that.
The same way I already carried too many things.
He deserved the choice, and she did too. The fact that they had only been together for a handful of days was their information to weigh, not mine.
I’ll tell him after the briefing. Privately. Lay it out clean. The gifts. The cost. The full moon tonight. Let him take it to her. Let them decide together the way Tora and I decided together.
The decision settled into my chest.
We got to them and Reo began immediately with his announcement.
"The hackers went through Akiro's phone.
Once inside, they were able to connect to associated devices.
Other phones. Tablets. From there, they mapped hotspot activity—every location where Akiro's phone had been active in significant concentrations. "
Reo got in front of us all and stood next to a building I recognized.
Really, father?
"One location dominated.” Reo pointed at it. “Repeated visits over weeks. Long durations. The phone stayed active there for hours at a time, always overnight."
I frowned. “Hotel Gajoen."
The Palace of the Dragon King.