Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
He pressed the flat of the blade against the man’s cheek. “I’ll make your soul bleed first.”
They all stirred.
“However. . .” Reo raised one finger. “Let’s take a short break.”
One widened their eyes as if terrified that the break meant a crack to their legs.
I held in my chuckle.
Reo turned around, walked over to me, and kept his voice low. “I hoped to get rid of everyone and gather the necessary information without disturbing you.”
“Yet, I was disturbed. Mid-thrust. Mid-moan. Do you know how hard it is to walk away from a woman who’s still trembling from your cock?”
Reo gave me a sad smile. “Violence always comes after ecstasy. That’s the rule of men like us.”
“Is it?”
“Pleasure awakens the gods in us. Pain keeps them fed.” He adjusted the blade between his fingers like it was a pen. “If it helps, I plan to put at least two of these men in your bamboo room.”
“I would rather make them bleed personally for interrupting me.”
Reo had always carved cleaner.
But I made them scream longer.
I put my view back on the five bound men. “Who do you think the traitor is?”
“Not sure, but I have my suspects in a separate dungeon on the next level.”
I snapped my gaze to him. “Who is in there?”
“Hiroko, her two assistants, the chef, the jazz band. One of them assisted this group, and I will find out this evening.”
I looked away, jaw tight. “I don’t want the traitor to be Hiroko.”
Reo nodded solemnly. “If it is, I will kill her for you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I must do it myself.”
Reo raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps a compromise could be to put her in the bamboo room also. Then, her blood isn’t on your hands.”
“Hiroko in the bamboo room? And have my Tiger hear her screams for days?” My voice dropped. “No.”
Reo blinked slowly. “Your Tiger will be on the property?”
“Where else would she be?”
“Then, she said yes?”
“To what?”
“To your asking her to come back to your place.”
I frowned. “She’s mine. Why would I have to ask?”
Reo’s gaze softened. “Kenji. . .”
“What?”
He let out a long breath. “I like her.”
“You’ve told me.”
“Please. . .ask her to come back with you. Do not tell her. She is not one of your men, even though she now has a title.”
“A title?”
“She is the Dragon’s Heart.”
That made my chest warm.
I cleared my throat. “I will ask her.”
“Nicely?”
“Yes. As nice as I can be.”
“Thank you.” At that, Reo smirked and tilted his chin. “Satoshi, go get that box and give it to Kenji.”
What box?
Seconds later, Satoshi emerged from the shadows, holding something behind his back. He stepped forward and revealed a long, slender box covered in thick black wrapping paper with a pink bow on top.
My chest clenched.
I never gave Nyomi her present.
Blood roared behind my ears.
Reo caught the change in my expression. “Don’t worry. The box is clean.”
“I don’t want to get blood on it,” I muttered. “Keep it until I am done torturing—”
“You will not be torturing anyone this evening.”
I glared at him. “What did you say?”
Reo pointed at the ceiling. “A helicopter is on the roof. Waiting for you and your Tiger.”
“I should be here—”
“Time bends for many things, but never for the woman who makes your blood burn and your soul still.”
I gave him a look, but he just smiled faintly and folded his arms behind his back like the ever-loyal soldier he was.
I stepped toward him with my fists clenched. “I should be the one here, slicing them apart. This threat. This betrayal. It’s mine to end.”
Reo wore the expression of a professor tolerating a stubborn pupil. “I am the Dragon’s Roar.”
“I am aware of that.”
“They are the Eyes and Fangs,” Reo gestured toward the men around us—Kaoru standing like a statue, Yoichi calm and coiled, Satoshi still holding the gift. “We were built to execute. To protect.”
“Get on with it,” I snapped.
Reo pointed at me. “And you? Well. . .you are the Dragon. The only reason why we are here. The only reason any of this exists.”
My jaw tensed. “This attack is war. Do you agree?”
“I agree, and if you fall, they win. Do you agree?”
I groaned. “Yes. I agree.”
Reo stepped closer, and kept his voice even lower to barely a whisper. “If you fall, we become nothing but ashes with sharp teeth. Teeth that snap until they break and without you. . .we will break.”
“Reo, they fucking came in here to kill me—”
“And I will handle it. You are not just our fire, Kenji. You are the spine of this entire empire, so please. . .get your Tiger and then get in the helicopter.”
“I don’t like running.”
“This isn’t running. It’s surviving. Strategizing. Living long enough to make every single one of these bastards regret breathing.”
My silence stretched.
I hated how right he was.
Reo nodded once. “Go to her. Guard her like the last flame in winter. Because if they are after you, they will reach for her next.”