Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Tingling Bones
Nyomi
Something was wrong.
I didn't know what.
I just knew it the same way I had known it as a little girl when my grandmother would go quiet at the kitchen table and start watching the front door—not looking at the door, just keeping it in her sightline.
Some part of her soul always heard bad news coming up the road that her ears couldn't have heard yet.
That was the feeling.
One minute I'd been on Hiroko's porch with Deja, Nika, the assistants, and a snoring Zo. Weed ran thick in the air. The next, Yoichi was in the doorway with my men and explained that we should leave now.
My cart was already running outside.
I got in. “Where’s Kenji?”
“I believe he is heading to take the DNA test with Hiro and Reo.”
“Then, what’s wrong?”
“I’ve just got a gut feeling that you should head back to the mansion. My bones are tingling. I’m hoping you will humor me on this. Will you?”
I studied Yoichi’s face, using my skills from interviewing politicians, predators, grieving mothers, liars, CEOs, escorts, cops, addicts, and billionaires.
I’d learned that the mouth lied first and the eyes lied second. Real truth lived in the seams between expressions.
In word timing.
In facial tension.
In what a person tried to suppress before emotion leaked through anyway.
Yoichi had always been one of the easiest men in Kenji’s world for me to read.
Loyalty saturated him so thoroughly it reshaped the structure of his face.
It existed in the stillness of him. In the way he positioned his body slightly between me and open spaces without seeming aware he was doing it.
In the way his gaze checked exits, windows, shadows, and reflections.
In the way he listened more than he spoke.
Everything about him communicated one thing with terrifying consistency: Protect the Dragon and what belongs to him.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’ll humor you.”
“Thanks for humoring my tingling bones. Worst case scenario will be that I have to apologize for interrupting your fun with your friends.” Yoichi climbed in beside me. “But, better safe than sorry. You’re important.”
“Thank you.”
The driver rushed us off.
I sat in the cart with my pulse climbing. "Do you always get these bone tinglings?"
"I do."
"And are they always right?"
"Yes." He turned his head slightly and scanned the trees. His fang charm caught the last of the sunlight.
"How are they always right?"
A small smile touched the corner of his mouth, but he kept his eyes on the path. "The world is older than people understand and layered in ways most never learn to see."
"But you see it?"
“I do, but others could. Human beings carry more than they understand. Their bodies know things the mind has not been told. A scent on the wind."
I smiled. “That’s funny.”
“What’s funny?”
“You say human beings like you’re not one.”
He snapped his view to me. “Did I?”
“Yes.”
“Just a simple mistake. Of course I’m a human being too.”
“Interesting.”
“What is interesting?”
“For some reason, I don’t think you make many mistakes.”
“I do.” He frowned. “Like just now.”
“Hmmm.”
He lowered his view to the soul pin that Reo had given me. “Now that’s even more interesting.”
I touched the pin. “Why is this more interesting?”
“When did Reo give you that?”
“Today.”
“And he told you what it represents?”
“His soul.”
“That’s an understatement.”
I parted my lips. “Then. . .what else does it represent.”
“When he was young, his mother died. He sat with her on the bed and held her hand and when she took her last breath, Reo took that pin from her dress and never let it out of his sight. All know this.”
“This is his mother’s pin?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t keep this.”
“He gave it to you.”
“But. . .this is too important to him.”
“Reo would never have that pin too far away which means he never plans for you to be too far away from him either.” Yoichi shrugged. “Look at it sort of like. . .the Roar marking you and telling everyone on this island that your voice is just as important as his roar.”
Holy shit.
I put my view on the path.
Well damn. I’ll have to honor that power.
I scanned the area around me. Even though Yoichi’s bones were tingling, the island was calm. The sun was sliding low. The golden warm light came at us sideways through the trees, slanting across the gravel in long patient stripes.
Birds called to one another in the branches overhead. Somewhere far off, a wind chime made of bamboo knocked itself together in a melodic lazy rhythm.
Many people were heading home.
A young mother walked along the side of the path with a small boy on her hip and a folded blanket draped over her shoulder. The boy had a half-eaten rice ball clutched in his fist. His cheek was smeared with it.
As we rolled past, the boy waved at me with sticky fingers.
I grinned and waved back.
The boy giggled.
Further up the path, an older man pushed a wooden cart loaded with vegetables—bright orange carrots, deep green spinach, and a few pale daikon laid across the top. His back was bent. His hands were calloused.
As we passed, he lifted a hand without looking up, and one of my guards waved.
I leaned back and let out a long sigh.
Two little girls in matching yellow dresses ran along a side trail, chasing each other with sticks. One had a flower crown slipping sideways off her head. The other shrieked with laughter when she caught up.
A woman called something to them from a porch I could not see and they both stopped and turned obediently back toward the voice.
We rounded the bend.
Three fishermen were walking up from the south path with their poles slung across their shoulders and a small cooler swinging between them. The shortest one was telling a story with his hands. The other two were laughing.
Minutes later, we arrived at the mansion, and Yoichi helped me off the cart.
When we entered the mansion, it was calm too.
We walked down the hallway and stopped in front of the elevator.
I think everything will be just fine.
Yoichi pressed the button. “Can you humor me some more?”
“Sure.”
“I love your dress, but I think you should change.”
“Change into what?”
“Something more comfortable.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like this won’t be a relaxing night. My. . .bones are tingling which always means that evil is on its way.”
I swallowed. “On its way here?”
“Yes, but that can always mean anything.”
The elevator doors opened.
Two of my men entered first, sweeping the small space with their eyes before settling at the back corners.
I stepped on.
Yoichi entered behind me. The rest of my guards filed in. The doors slid shut. The elevator began to rise.
I watched him. "Tingling bones warning of oncoming evil."
Yoichi nodded once. "It started about twenty minutes ago. A low hum along the marrow. I have learned not to ignore it. Most of the time, it means something bad is coming."
"This scares me."
"I don’t want to scare you, but I do want to have you prepared and protected." His eyes stayed on the doors. "My body has carried this warning system since I was very young. The trouble is. . .it does not always tell me what kind of danger is on the way. Only that danger is on the way."
"What do you mean?"
"My bones do not know the difference between a physical threat or an emotional one. For example, a bullet or a sentence."
“Ah.”
The elevator climbed past the second floor.
He continued, "This tingling however. . .was much stronger than usual which made me think. . .get the Tiger somewhere safe. Then handle whatever comes."
The elevator climbed past the second floor's halfway mark.
I directed my gaze to the doors too. “And just in case. . .you want me to dress for comfort?”
“And perhaps. . .dressed to run.”
My heart kicked against my ribs. “Then, that is what I will do.”
The elevator stopped at the third floor, and the doors slid open.
I stepped off.
Yoichi and two of my men followed. The rest peeled off—three at the elevator, two heading for the stairwell, one ducking into the back hall.
When we got to the bedroom, Yoichi opened the door and stepped in first. He swept the room with his eyes and then stepped aside. "All is well. I will be right outside."
"Thank you."
He closed the door behind me.
Dress to run. . .