Page 44 of Secrets & Sake

With a pounce, my paws leave the ground and slam into Hiro’s back. Hiro crashes to the dirt with a breathless cry. He gazes up at me, my snout inches from his face, paws on either side of his head. I drag my tongue up his neck, to bite his ear. A pleased rumble escapes me as I focus on covering him in my scent. If he smells like me, the pack will know he’s mine. They won’t be able to smell him or hurt him. But there’s only so much I can do in this form. Besides, I don’t think he’d like it if I just started humping him.

I pull back my shift, but it’s hard to go back to being human. The shift fights against me, wants to keep me on all fours. With a snarl, I tear free from my shift. Mostly. I’m still wreathed in fur that covers my lower body. But I have hands, clawed as they are, and a mouthful of fangs.

“R-Raiden?” Hiro whispers, eyes wide and full as the moon.

“Sunshine,” I say, my voice practically a growl.

“What the… hell are you?” He’s breathing harshly, and he squirms beneath me.

I seize his shirt in my clawed grip. “You can’t move. I… I’m still caught in my shift. My instincts are hard to control. If you run, I’ll chase you.”

“S-shift?” Hiro echoes, throat bobbing when he swallows. My eyes latch onto the movement. Fuck. I want to put my teeth in him. Want to bite down while I slam in his writhing, willing body. Spill inside him as his blood fills my mouth.

“Yes,” I snap out. “I’m a werewolf.”

Hiro’s chest hitches. “A… a fucking werewolf.”

I nod.

A sound escapes Hiro. I realize it’s laughter. He’s… laughing at me.

“Of course you’re a fucking werewolf!” Hiro wheezes, head thrown back as he laughs. “Nothing in this world makes any damn sense anymore.” Tears gather in his eyes, chest hitching as he starts to… cry? Laugh? I can’t tell.

Shit. He’s having a mental break or something.

“Hey,” I growl, patting his cheek hard. “Stay with me here. Yes. I’m a werewolf. Werewolves are real. Humans hunted our kind to near extinction back in the 1900s. We went underground, fell in with gangs to survive, and rebuilt our numbers.”

Hiro’s lower lip quivers. “You were hunting those people. Raiden. I saw you. You were going to kill them, weren’t you?”

Ah, shit. I close my eyes tight, willing my panic to go away. “I can explain that.”

“Save it!” Hiro shouts, voice breaking. “You’re… you’re a fucking monster. I knew this about you, but I thought… Fuck! I thought—”

He shoves at me. He’s trying to run. To leave me.

A furious snarl escapes me. I grab his wrists and slam them above his head, pin his hips down with mine.

“You’re right. I am a monster. But I’m the monster other monsters fear. Those prisoners? They were fucking scumbags who escaped the justice system. Or enemies from rival gangs. Scum nobody is going to fucking miss.”

“Yeah, right,” Hiro spits. “Your clan, or pack, or whatever, is behind all those disappearances!” Huh? What’s he talking about? A tear leaves a track down Hiro’s cheek. “I… I can’t believe I actually thought you were different.”

“Hiro, listen!” I snarl, horrified that he’d think that. “Listen to me!” I grip his jaw in my other hand, mindful of my claws. “I couldn’t tell you what I was.” I wipe away the tear on his cheek. “Whatever you want to know, I’ll answer it.”

Hiro swallows hard. “Those people… they’re really not innocent?”

I scowl. “Far from it. You saw the tattoos. They’re from rival gangs, criminals the world won’t miss. The others are fucking pedos. Rapists. Murderers. People who have harmed civilians in our territory or raped the women at our host clubs and bars. We’re doing the world a service, trust me.”

“I’m just supposed to believe you?”

Scowling, I straighten up as the sound of frantic footsteps approaches. The tattooed man screams at the sight of me, then I grab him by the throat and force him onto his knees. “Look at him and tell him what you did.”

“Wha—”

“Do it!” I snap.

Whimpering, the tattooed man looks down at Hiro. “I… I r-raped one of the bitches at the hostess club. Namikawa found out and b-banished me from the clan.”

Hiro’s face twists in disgust.

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