Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Nyomi's hands tightened around mine.
"But. . .when she passed, I hoped more than anything that it was true. All of it." My voice roughened. "Because if the shadows are made from her soul. . .then she's still with me. She never really left."
“Yes. That’s true.”
I lifted her hands to my lips, kissed her knuckles, and then held them there. "You've given me something tonight, Tora. Something greater than the spies you exposed. Greater even than your love."
She bit her bottom lip.
I looked into her eyes. "You've told me that my mother is still here with me."
Her eyes glistened. "Kenji. . ."
"What's it doing now?" I asked quietly. "The dragon-shadow?"
Nyomi's gaze moved over my shoulder again. And then something shifted in her expression.
"It's closer," she whispered. "Right beside you. And it's looking at me differently now."
"How?"
"Like. . ." She paused and then searched for the words. "Like it's grateful."
My chest cracked open.
All these years.
All these decades.
My dragon-shadow had walked beside me, behind me, within me. And no one had ever seen it besides my mother. No one had ever acknowledged its existence.
Until her.
"If you can see my shadow, then you'll be able to see our children's shadows too."
A nervous laugh escaped her. "Our children?"
The words hung in the air between us.
Heavy.
Loaded.
Full of a conversation we hadn't had yet.
We need to have that conversation. Soon. Very soon.
But not tonight.
Today had already been so deep.
So much.
I wouldn't pile more onto her shoulders.
Instead, I pulled Nyomi close and kissed her. Those lips were soft as silk against mine, tasting faintly of ice cream.
My hands cradled her face, and then moved down to her shoulder where my thumbs brushed across the bite marks I’d given her.
She shivered and then her fingers curled into my shirt, tugging me closer until I could feel her heartbeat against my chest.
Wild and perfect.
I brought my hands back up to her face and the kiss deepened, became a language of its own—each gentle press and parting a promise, a confession, a vow.
Time dissolved around us.
I kissed her deeper.
And the thoughts came crashing in.
Not the careful, strategic thoughts of the Dragon. Not war plans or power moves or the thousand decisions waiting for me tomorrow.
These were older.
More primal.
From a place beneath the throne.
She's more than mine.
Not my Tiger.
Not my Heart.
Not even the woman who exposed my father's and the Lion’s spies, proving herself invaluable to my empire.
She's my soul mate.
The word detonated inside my chest.
Soul mate.
My mother's stories were real. The shadow beasts were real. And if the shadow beasts were real, then everything else was too—the bonding, the choosing, the ancient recognition between two souls that were built to find each other.
This wasn't just love.
This was fate confirming what my blood had known from the moment I first inhaled her lush scent of black amber and ripe plum.
She will be my wife.
My hands tightened on her.
She will carry my children.
My mouth moved harder against hers.
Our children will have shadows of their own, and she'll see every single one of them.
The image hit me so hard my breath stuttered—Nyomi round with my child, her hand on her belly, laughing at something I'd said while a small shadow curled protectively around her like smoke.
Fuck.
I groaned against her mouth and pulled her closer until there was no air between us.
My hands slid from her face down the column of her throat, and I felt her pulse hammering beneath my palms.
Fuck. I want to be inside of her. Right now. Right here in this war room with Tokyo glowing at our feet.
I broke the kiss and let my mouth drag down her jaw.
Slow.
Along the side of her neck.
Tasting the salt on her skin.
Breathing her in, that scent that gave me peace, that made the dragon in my blood go quiet and ravenous at the same time.
My lips found the bite marks on her shoulder.
Fuck. I want to mark her some more.
I kissed the first one.
Felt her tremble underneath my mouth.
I kissed the second.
Moaning, she dug her fingers into my back.
Then I opened my mouth over fresh skin—right beside the marks I'd already left—and let my teeth graze the surface.
I didn’t bite.
Not yet.
But the promise of it was on the sharp points of my teeth as I slipped them along her flesh.
The threat.
The edge of what I wanted to do to this woman who had just changed the entire axis of my world.
Oh, Tora. Why would you tell me what you could see? I’m already unhinged with you.
Her breath hitched. Her head tilted back, giving me more of her neck.
Surrendering it.
Yes. That's it. Give me—
A sound cut through the war room.
No. Not yet. I need more time.
More noise sounded from the side.
Footsteps.
The creak of leather.
The soft murmur of voices.
The clearing of a throat.
Goddamn it. That’s okay. Soon. So soon.
I pulled back from her neck. Slowly. Let my teeth drag across her skin one last time before I straightened.