Page 11 of Secrets & Sake

He’s the opposite of any guy I’ve been attracted to. Short and slender instead of big and tanky, face soft and boyish. He looks so delicate, and I want to protect him from anything that might break him—including myself.

He's shy, but he’s easy to talk to. Most people piss me off, but something about him makes it easy to open up, and that’s just bizarre.

I told myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t do the boyfriend thing. Relationships are a headache. Sex is simple. No feelings necessary. Just a moment of explosive passion, intense connection, and then the spark fizzles out. It’s enough.

So can someone tell me why I took this man I just met out on a date? He’s a human. He can’t be anything but trouble. Yet since the second he smiled like a pure ray of fucking sunshine and I caught his cherry blossom scent, I’ve already broken my no-dating rule… and I want to break more.

I never sleep with the same person twice. But if I had Hiro under me, his face flushed, his hair tousled, if I made him moan my name, I don’t think once would be enough. I think I’d be hooked. And that… that’s a problem I just don’t need.

Damn it. What’s wrong with me?

And that’s when chaos erupts in the restaurant. Four thugs storm in through the front door, shouting like idiots, aggressively rolling their Rs like yakuza from a bad movie as they sneer and mock people in the restaurant. They smell like wolves and Takada-kai. Guess the fucker sent these clowns to make the Namikawa-kai look bad. Enemy wolves in our territory brings out my fangs and claws as I lurch to my feet.

A woman screams as one of the Takada-kai thugs knocks plates of food from the table that she and her friends are sitting at. Another rips a painting off the wall and smashes it over his knee. The third and fourth thugs wrestle customers out of their seats.

“Stop this, please!” Tenko shouts from behind the bar, but he’s forced to hide as a thug throws a mug of beer at him.

A Takada-kai with a bald head tries to stomp on a man he hurled on the floor. I seize Baldie by his thick neck and yank him away from the prone man. “Get the hell out of Namikawa-kai territory, you piece of shit!” I snarl.

“You see, people?” A Takada-kai leers, baring yellow teeth. “The Namikawa-kai are so incompetent, they let us disturb your meal. If Saito Takada were in charge, the Namikawa-kai wouldn’t have been allowed to put one foot in the door!”

Grabbing a glass mug off a nearby table, I hurl it at Yellow Teeth. He yelps as the glass explodes against the side of his head. People run out the door, leaving behind partially eaten food in their haste to escape the chaos.

Yellow Teeth, Baldie, and the two others advance on me. Their growls rumble like thunder in the air, nails sharpening into claws. I roll out my neck and put my fists up. “Come on!” I bark through my fangs, my blood boiling for a fight.

Baldie charges and swings. I grab his fist and slam my hand down on his elbow. The bone cracks, but he barely has time to scream before I swing him around and hurl him into the wall. Yellow Teeth roars in fury and rushes at me. He’s faster than Baldie, and I take a hit to the stomach that folds me in half. The wind gets punched out of me, and my stomach tries to heave up what I just ate.

Taking advantage of his proximity, I wrap my arms around him and haul him in close, slamming him into the bar and pinning him there. With a swing, my fist connects with his face once, twice, and then he crumples to the ground.

“Watch out!” It’s Hiro’s voice.

I spin around in time to be knocked on my back by the third Takada-kai member with a crooked nose that looks like it’s been broken twice. Crooked Nose draws back his foot. I pull up my knees and absorb the hit that would have gone into my stomach, but the fourth guy plows his foot into the back of my head. Stars explode before my eyes.

“Leave him alone!” Hiro shouts, and something shatters against Crooked Nose’s back, making him yelp.

Distracted, he and his friend storm around me and go straight for Hiro. “You wanna fucking go, pretty boy?” He bellows and lunges, grabbing hold of Hiro’s arm and squeezing. Hiro yelps as Crooked Nose tugs him close.

My wolf roars to life within me, and a red haze clouds my eyes as fury like nothing else I’ve felt before possesses me.

Mine, the wolf snarls.

In seconds, I’m on my feet. I seize Crooked Nose and his buddy by the backs of their necks and tug them away from Hiro. They stiffen as my claws dig into the skin of their necks. “Put your hands on him again, and I’ll fucking kill you,” I growl. The scent of their fear and sweat makes my mouth water to taste their flesh.

I yank them apart and then together, cracking their skulls against each other. Groaning, both men flop to the floor at my feet. Hiro stumbles back, clutching his arm to his chest. Is he hurt? Can’t be hurt. Have to make sure he’s okay. Scent him. Lick his wound. Make him smell like me and mine so no other wolf can touch him.

“Are you okay?” I ask, my voice barely more than a growl.

Hiro nods, but I grab his arm anyway and tug up the sleeve. There’ll be a bruise, I can already tell. The fuckers. They dared to come into my pack’s territory. They dared to touch what’s mine—I give my head a shake. Seriously, what’s with my wolf tonight? He’s never this possessive of anyone.

“Get out, both of you!” Tenko suddenly snaps. He slams his hands down on the bar.

“Tenko—”

“What the hell is the point in paying your damn protection fees if you let those Takada-kai thugs do whatever they want? First you let them kill Aida, then you allow them to abduct people, and now this! Out!”

Shit. This is the last thing our organization needs. If the people under our protection question us, we can lose face.

Gnashing my teeth, I throw some bills on the bar to cover our meal. “Sorry for the trouble.”

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