Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
How far did you get, naughty Tiger?
I picked up the book carefully and placed it aside.
Then I reached into my pocket and set a small velvet box on the nightstand.
Her gift for saving my life tonight.
Tora, how will I ever thank you enough?
I slipped into bed beside her, and the mattress dipped beneath my weight. She stirred slightly but didn't wake—just shifted closer, her body instinctively seeking my warmth even in sleep.
Mami's hand had been trembling too, right before I set her on fire.
Reaching toward me.
Telling me how much she loved me.
I shoved that away and reached for one of Nyomi's braids, winding it around my finger. The texture was soft.
This is real. My Tiger is real. You are here, not there. It is over.
I let the braid slip free.
Wound it again.
And let it go.
That calmed me more than standing outside the door.
Oh, Tora. I will never let you leave me. Never. You are my protection. You are my pleasure. You are my peace. You are my love.
My lips found her shoulder.
I pressed a kiss there—soft, reverent, barely a brush of skin against skin.
I kissed her again.
And again.
I truly craved to bite her, but I couldn’t let her wake up to pain.
You’ll feel my teeth later.
I pressed my forehead against Nyomi's shoulder, breathing her in.
You saved me.
The thought settled into my bones.
You saved us all.
Thirty more snakes. Sako had managed the entire network. Recruited them. Trained them. Gave them their orders. Reported back to my father through a system so simple it was almost elegant.
They had a special way of messaging my father. Two spaces between the period and the last word of every sentence. That's all it took. That tiny signal told the Fox the text message was authentic, that it came from one of his snakes.
For so many years, that's how they'd communicated.
I kissed her shoulder again, harder this time.
Stop. She's safe. You found them in time. Because of her.
And I was going to spend the rest of my life making sure she knew what that meant.
Get some rest. Soon we will be hunting the Fox.
We were going to use Sako’s little text message system against our father. The hackers would wait for his response.
And if that didn’t work, then surely my hackers would track his call to the Butcher.
Soon. We’ll have our vengeance very fucking soon.
I closed my eyes and the darkness wrapped around my tortured soul, and I thought sleep might finally claim me.
Then my Tiger moved.
A small shift at first—her fingers tightening around mine, her breathing changing rhythm. I felt the moment consciousness returned to her body, the way her muscles tensed slightly before she recognized where she was and who she was with.
"Kenji?" Her voice was thick with sleep, soft and uncertain in the darkness.
I kept my eyes closed. "I'm here, Tora. Right here."
She turned in my arms.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, and even in the dim moonlight I could see her gaze searching my face.
Looking for something.
Damage, maybe.
Evidence of what I'd done tonight.
No. Don’t read me, Tora. Not tonight. Don’t assess. I don’t want you to truly see who I am. . .
Yet, she studied me.
She assessed.
And a minute later, I watched her expression shift as she found the horrors that I’d committed.
You shouldn’t have looked, Tora. Because if this scares you. . .if you want to run. . .I will trap you.
Her bottom lip quivered.
I didn't know what she saw exactly—the haunted look in my eyes, the tension in my jaw, the way I couldn't quite meet her gaze for more than a few seconds. But whatever it was, her face softened with something that looked like heartbreak.
She didn't ask if I was okay.
She already knew the answer.
Instead, her hand came up to touch my jaw, and her thumb traced the line of it.
Gentle.
Exploring.
Grounding.
Next, she whispered, “I love you, Kenji.”
I blinked.
Her words were soft, warm, and everything I didn't deserve after what I'd done tonight.
Still, so many emotions cracked behind my eyes.
No. Do not cry. She’s seen enough. You can’t. Not here. Not now. You are the Dragon. Don’t. . .
"You're shaking," she whispered.
I was.
I hadn't realized it until she said it, but my whole body was trembling—fine tremors running through my muscles like aftershocks from an earthquake I couldn't escape.
Her palm pressed flat against my chest, right over my heart. "Stay with me. Whatever you're seeing right now, you're not there anymore. You're here. With me. In our bed."
Our bed.
She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like we'd been sharing this space for years instead of days.
Like she belonged here.
Like I belonged here too.
Sadness cracked within the splinters of my heart.
"Tora. . ." Her name came out broken and so wrong. There was too much need bleeding through the syllables.
"Shh." She shifted closer, and slid her leg between mine. Then, she pressed her body along the length of me until there was no space left. No room for ghosts or the sounds of screams. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."