Page 24 of Curses & Kitsune

Fuck. Fury mixes with terror. It’s been six hours since Ren overheard Jinta being attacked. What’s happened to him? Where could he have gone, and which one of my countless fucking enemies has him? I’ve got my pick of the damn litter. Hunters, Takada-kai, Ishida.

“Call me the minute you hear anything!” I end the call and toss my phone onto the sofa. “Fuck!”

I shouldn’t have lost my cool this morning. Should have run after him and told him I was sorry, that I’d do whatever he wants, even if it meant seeing my father again. Blowing out a breath, I knock my forehead against the cool glass. The city sprawls below me, a labyrinth of places to hide. Jinta could be anywhere, and I have no idea where to start. A knot forms in my throat.

“I’m so sorry, Sunshine.”

My phone vibrates, and my heart leaps, but my hope fades when it isn’t Jinta, Ren, or anyone else I know messaging me. An unknown number texted me and sent a couple of pictures. The message reads,

Unknown: Wolf. Come to the spot in the picture below.

It’s a satellite image from a maps app, showing the piers in the Minato area, with the exact address visible in the search bar.

Unknown: Hurry. Your mate is lonely without you. -A

Akira. It’s him. Has to be. Ishida kidnapped my mate and gave him to the damn hunters. Tasting sour bile, I worry I’ll be sick as my stomach cramps. There’s another picture, and my heart speeds up.

In the image, Jinta lies on the ground, a boot pressing into his cheek and grinding his head into the pavement. A trickle of blood runs from one nostril, and there’s a cut above his brow, and his lip is split. The phone shakes in my grip, and I can’t look away from his wide brown eyes. They’re full of pain… and fear.

A snarl builds in my chest. My fangs lengthen. Fur sprouts on my arms and cheeks, ears tapering into points.

These bastards put their hands on my mate. Made him bleed.

I will burn their world to the ground.

They want a war? They fucking have it.

My roar of fury rattles the windows. In seconds, dozens of my pack members have filled the vast office. I brace my hands on my desk. A photograph of Namikawa looms over my head. No matter what I do, I feel like a pretender.

“The hunters have Jinta.” Whispers spread among my pack. “Ishida betrayed us yet again.” I can’t keep the fury out of my voice. My claws scrape into the wooden surface of the desk. “Ishida needs to pay for what he’s done. This is the chance we’ve been waiting for to run the hunters out of our city.”

“Boss, you want us to risk our lives for a human?”

“Humans have been nothing but trouble!” another shouts.

My pack exchange looks full of apprehension and downright reluctance. They barely know Jinta, but they do know Ishida. Why should they risk their lives to help save a stranger, especially when it means turning on one of their own? Desperation claws at me. I can’t do this by myself. Blowing out a breath, I add, “If the hunters aren’t stopped tonight, they’ll drive us out of the city. If you won’t do this for my mate, then do this for your families, for everything you’ve built here in Tokyo.”

That finally seems to get through to them. Determination lights up eyes, and low growls rumble in the air. But a handful of others step away from the group. One of them says, “Namikawa never would have gotten us into a war with hunters or asked us to sacrifice ourselves for a human.”

It’s like I’ve been slapped. Curling my lip, I snap, “Leave if you want, but don’t think about showing your faces here again. You’ll be exiled. Anyone who takes you in will become an enemy of this pack.”

One of them rips his Namikawa-kai pin from his lapel and chucks it on the floor. “You’ve disgraced this pack, Noboru. You’ll never be worthy of Namikawa’s legacy.”

“Then get out,” I bite out the words as my hands curl on the desk.

One storms out, then another, and another. Fifteen, in total, turn their backs on me, leaving a sizable gap in the room. Fury boils my blood, but I make myself breathe in and out. I should’ve expected this. Being with Jinta was always going to be controversial, even though it shouldn’t be at all.

“Boss?” Ren grips my arm. Her expression is grim, eyes blazing. “What do we do?”

I clear my mind of the cowards who turned their backs on me. They don’t matter. The only one who matters is Jinta, but with my pack divided, we don’t stand a chance against the hunters.

“We need backup.”

“Who can we go to?” she asks. “The Atsushi-kai are allies, but they’re scattered after Atsushi was killed.”

It still makes no sense to me that the hunters targeted them. The Atsushi-kai aren’t werewolves. So why attack them?

It doesn’t matter right now. There’s only one other person who could help us—but not without a price.

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