Chapter 30
Chapter thirty
Not the Dragon
Nyomi
I crossed the bedroom and pushed open the door to the walk-in closet.
The space lit up as I stepped inside. Designer dresses hung in color-graded rows along the longest wall. Cashmere sweaters were folded in stacks on open shelving.
Kenji’s clothes were on the other side.
I hope Yoichi’s bone tingling means something else.
The last thing I wanted to do was run tonight. We already had the Burial Ritual planned where we were threading our souls together. That was enough danger for any evening.
Still, I trusted Yoichi’s senses for some reason that I couldn’t even articulate. And as he’d even said. . .better safe than sorry.
If I had to run, I damned sure wanted to be dressed for it.
And if I didn’t need to run after all, so what? At least I was comfortable.
I walked to the far corner where the few things I had brought from New York were hung up in the back. I rummaged through them and pulled out several items—sports bra, dark jeans, a black tank top, a black hoodie, and black sneakers.
Seconds later, I pulled the dress over my head carefully.
Reo’s soul pin grabbed my attention.
I can’t forget that.
Smiling, I unclasped it and placed it right onto the hoodie.
You're coming with me.
I dressed fast and double knotted the laces on my sneakers.
Once done, I left the bedroom and stood in front of Yoichi.
His eyes swept me once. “You’re ready to run if necessary.”
“Damn right I am. You tell a sista to prepare for bad shit and you will see her not only geared up, but honestly she’s probably already run two miles away.” I chuckled.
He laughed.
My phone rang.
I picked it up on the second ring and saw the Dragon's name on the screen. "Hey, baby."
Kenji’s voice came out scraped raw at the edges. "Tora."
Tension gathered in my shoulders.
It was the voice of a man trying to hold something together with his bare hands while it broke against his palms.
"Yes, baby.” I tightened my grip on the phone. “What is it?"
"We're evacuating everyone off the island."
WHAT?!
A thousand questions rose up inside me at once. Why? How? When? What happened? Are you hurt? Where are Hiro and Reo? What happened with the DNA test?
I held every one of them inside my mouth.
This was not the time for questions.
"You need to be off this island in ten minutes, Tora. My father is coming."
"No." I widened my eyes.
Horror detonated through my body so violently it almost felt physical. My stomach dropped. Then everything inside me seized. Heat vanished from my skin, causing my fingers to go cold around the phone.
Yoichi watched me intently as if he could hear the Dragon’s voice on the line too, and I caught my reflection in Yoichi's eyes.
They had gone flat like still water right before a storm hits the surface.
Yoichi watched the news land on my face and he was already adjusting his body—squaring his shoulders, shifting his weight, planting himself between me and my guards.
My horror had already become his orders.
Kenji continued, "Reo is preparing a statement to be delivered to everyone on the island. Yoichi is with you? Right?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll get the message and explain everything as you both are going off. I want him next to you until you’re safe.”
“Okay.”
“I fucking love you, Tora.”
My eyes watered. “Kenji. . .I love you too.”
“Your only focus is to get off this island. Do you understand, Tora?”
“Yes, but what are you going to do?”
“Fight.”
I shivered. “Do you need my blood for your weapons? Or can we do the Burial Ritual very quickly?”
In front of me, Yoichi opened his mouth in shock and stepped back.
I quirked my brows.
Yoichi looked away.
“There’s no time for the ritual. I don’t want to rush threading our souls. That seems wrong and dangerous. And besides, my brother and father might arrive right in the middle—” His voice cracked and then he stopped speaking.
I heard him breathing through whatever he was trying to hold together.
For a few seconds, he didn't speak.
I pressed the phone harder against my ear, hard enough that it hurt, hard enough that I could feel my own pulse drumming against the speaker. I needed him closer. I needed the distance to be gone between us.
Plastic, signal, and voice were not enough.
Then, he cleared his throat. ". . .I don't want you here when they come."
“But you all need an advantage.”
I could hear shouting in the background on his side. Men yelling. A door slamming. Then his voice again, lower.
His breath shook on the other end.
I could hear him swallow.
"I need you off this island so I can concentrate and not worry about my Tiger. Do you understand me?"
My heart squeezed in my chest until I could feel it pressing against my ribs. "Then I'll be off the island and safe."
"You’re my everything. My Heart. My Soul. The only reason I have to survive this battle. The very reason we are fighting this war. If you are safe, then all I need to do is concentrate on our victory."
“You will win because you are the Dragon and you have your mother’s blood running through your veins.
You come from a bloodline of supernatural hunters.
Your brother and father are mere mortals next to you.
And. . .you have a spirit beast hovering over your enemies.
A dragon-shadow. You don’t see him, but he’s there and.
. .ritual or not he’s weakening your enemies. ”
“Tora. . .I'm going to carry those words with me. I’m going to think of them as I kill every man and rip his heart out."
“Good.” I sneered. “And burn them alive too. Where’s Totoro?”
“She’s being brought to me.”
“Perfect. And don’t forget that Reo will guide you. Hiro will have your back. The Claws and Fangs are loyal and strong.” A tear left my eye. “Tell them I love them and that I want them to be safe. Okay?”
“I’ll tell all of them.”
“Good.”
He went silent again.
We both knew he needed to get off this phone, but neither one of us wanted this conversation to end.
He spoke, “This morning. . .”
I swallowed.
“I haven’t. . .had one like that before. . .holding you. . .talking. . .laughing. . .kissing. . .”
I wiped my tears.
“We should have made love. I thought I had more time.”
“It’s okay. We’ll make love later.”
“We will.” But his words didn’t have the same confidence as always. These were laced with fearful doubt.
I frowned. “I will see you again.”
“You will because. . .I’m not afraid of dying. I’ve never been. Death seems. . .almost comforting in some way.”
I widened my eyes.
“But I am afraid of not seeing you again and because of that. . .I will fucking survive.”
I had to hold in a sob.
"One more thing, Tora.”
I wiped away more tears. “Yes, baby.”
“In the nightstand on the right side of the bed and in the bottom drawer. . .there's a letter in a sealed envelope.”
I tensed.
“If I don't. . .make it by morning. . .read it.”
More tears spilled from my eyes.
“If I survive, Tora, then we'll burn the letter together in the morning."
My bottom lip quivered. “Then, I plan to burn it.”
“Tora. . .”
“Yes, baby.”
“Say my name one more time before we hang up. Not Dragon. Not baby. My name."
"Kenji."
He let out a long heavy exhale that vibrated through the phone and slipped over me.
And I wondered why he wanted me to say his real name instead of title or a term of endearment. Was it the idea that he wanted to be reminded of being a man? Was it because his mother probably only referred to him by his name?
Or was it something else deeper within his heart?
Or was it truly the idea that all knew him as the Dragon, but I had fallen in love with Kenji and merely accepted the Dragon?
Next, he whispered, “Thank you, Tora.”
Click.
I stared at the phone in my hand and shivered at the silence on the other end where his voice had just been.
My thumb was still pressing the screen as if I could hold him there.
Fuck. . .what’s going to happen now?