Page 99 of Secrets & Sake

Takada huffs, a nasty smile twisting his face. “You should have joined up with me when I offered, Noboru. I would have gone easy on you.” Leaning in, he hisses in my ear. “I always get what’s owed to me.” With a low chuckle, he mashes his smoke beneath his shoe and walks away down the temple’s steps.

Ren comes to stand beside me, body tense, glaring holes in Takada’s back. “We won’t let him touch you,” she vows, then cracks a smile. “Boss.”

I sigh. “Hey. None of that from you.” I wish I could believe her about Takada, but the broken boy in me wonders if I’ll ever be safe from him.

My friend squeezes my arm. “Come on. Let’s make things official.”

As the hour arrives to celebrate my ascension to head of the Namikawa-kai, my pack piles into the temple for the ceremony. Other yakuza bosses from around the city have come to pay their respects. Fortunately, Takada stayed home.

I’m dressed in a traditional kimono, but I still feel like a kid playing dress up. I can’t afford to appear weak. There’s too much at stake. Takada will strike while we’re vulnerable during this transition of power. We’ll need to be ready.

Then there are the hunters, but to be honest, I’m not as concerned about them. Nobody’s seen them since I got shot. Maybe they’ve crawled back into their holes. I know they were probably itching to kill Namikawa, but they missed their chances. That must be demoralizing.

“Hey, boss.” Ren bumps her shoulder against mine. “You’re brooding.”

Scowling, I massage between my brows. “I know.”

“Try and relax, okay? Have some sake. Fawn over how cute Jinta looks in his suit.”

A smile makes my mouth twitch. He does look cute. I could barely keep my hands off him in the car on the way here.

“Where is he?”

Ren points to the east wing of the temple. “I saw him talking to some guy over there.”

“Who?”

She shrugs. “Don’t know. I didn’t recognize him, but we rarely gather like this, so I can’t know everybody.”

My stomach is a mess with nerves. Not sure what I have to worry about. We’ve been making preparations for weeks. All the hard stuff is almost over. All I need to do is drink from a cup and that’ll be that. Maybe seeing Jinta will calm my nerves.

I follow the scent of cherry blossoms that winds over the crowd until I glimpse him. I can’t see the face of whoever he is talking to. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, black hair slicked back. I can’t tell what he smells like, there’s too many different odors in the air. But it’s the unsettled expression on Jinta’s face that has me quickening my stride.

Before I can reach them, I’m cut off as a crowd of Namikawa-kai men walk past. In the seconds it takes for them to walk away, the man has disappeared from Jinta’s side. As soon as I’m within reach of him, I ask, “Who was that?”

Jinta frowns. “No idea. He didn’t introduce himself.”

I grip his wrist tight. “What did he want?”

He shrugs. “Nothing. Just to meet me. He said he had to see me for himself.”

What the hell? Maybe because Jinta is my mate? I guess word has spread fast among the pack.

“You look good,” Jinta says, giving me a heated, appreciative look from head to toe.

“It’s the kimono.”

“Nope. It’s the man in it.” He glides an appreciative hand over my chest.

My mate looks ravishing in the suit I bought him. Pulling him close, I press my lips to his ear. “Soon as we’re home, this suit comes off. Except for the tie. I’ll use that to bind your wrists so all you can do is lie there and let me have my way with you.”

Jinta shivers, sinking his teeth into his plump lower lip. “I like the sound of that…”

“You’ll like what I do to you even more. That’s a promise.” I drop a quick kiss to his lips.

“Who are they?” Jinta asks, motioning toward a crowd of older men who are gathered together and talking.

“The Namikawa-kai bosses of the different wards, and the higher-ups in the organization. Presidents, managing directors.”

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