Page 29 of Curses & Kitsune

Chapter 10

My relief at seeing Jinta only lasts seconds before rage heats my blood.

There’s cuts on his face, bruises marring his fair skin.

One of the hunters has a familiar scent I recognize from my ceremony. Akira, the bastard who threatened to put a sword through Jinta.

Akira shouts, “Attack! Now! Priestess, finish the damn ritual!”

The hunters draw their weapons, a mixture of pistols, silver baseball bats, and katana.

“I thought about showing some of you mercy,” I say, voice thickening to a low, furious growl as my body swells out of my clothes, black fur rippling over my skin. My head snaps side to side as my face reforms into a snout fitted with fangs. “But you hurt my mate. All bets are fucking off. You touch my mate, and you get the Wolf of fucking Asakusa!” My roar fills the warehouse, and I spread my arms wide to show my claws.

“Fuck you, Noboru!” Ishida shouts. His gun blasts again, and a bullet sears its way under my skin. It doesn’t hurt like I thought it would. No. Instead, my body heals rapidly, pushing the bullet out and cleansing the poison before it can spread through my blood. Guess this form is immune to what would normally kill my kind in minutes.

Akira draws a katana. “He can’t heal if he’s dead! Kill that fucking thing!”

Takada’s men have already started to shift. Takada’s eyes lock on mine. His knuckles are bloody, and Jinta’s cherry blossom scent is all over him. If I didn’t need his help, I’d shred him to pieces.

Howls echo from behind me, and my wolves charge toward the hunters in a wave of fang and claw, Ren’s white wolf leading the hunt. Gunfire blasts, wolves shriek in agony as bullets burn their flesh. The hunters clash with my pack and Takada’s wolves, cutting off my path to Jinta.

A snarl escapes me as Ishida turns and runs toward the back of the warehouse, leaving the wolves and hunters to fight it out. There’s no way to get to him. The coward escaped, but I won’t stop hunting until I’ve found him and made him answer for his betrayal.

With a bellow, Akira charges toward me. His sword swings through the air. I grab it in one huge claw. The silver burns my flesh like I’ve touched a hot branding iron, but it’s tolerable. I yank him in close and drive my fangs into his sword arm and crunch. His shrill scream is music to my damn ears as I bite down, fangs piercing the bone.

Akira lunges for another blade in his belt, the metal flashing as he stabs at me. The blade bites deep into my shoulder as I swerve my head at the last minute. He could have taken my eye out with that thing. I send him flying across the room, then rip out the blade and throw it somewhere else.

Hunters surround me, their blades slicing into my flesh. There’s too many of them. When I tear one off, another is on me. They cut at my ankles, making me stumble and fall. When I hit the ground, they swarm me, kicking, stabbing.

A sword tears across my forehead, and blood blinds me, staining the world in crimson hues.

The thread around my finger connecting me to Jinta thrums with terror.

“No, no, no! Raiden, hang on!” Jinta cries through the thread connecting us.

The thread vibrates and burns hot like it’s been set aflame. Fury pumps through our bond, bestial and raw.

“Don’t. Touch. Him.” The words are a furious snarl, barely recognizable as Jinta’s.

A roar shakes the warehouse to its foundation. The hunters attacking me freeze, stumbling off me in a panic as they shout in alarm. Wiping blood from my eyes with a furry fist, I whirl toward Jinta.

But Jinta is gone. In his place is a monstrosity of a fox as big as a damn horse, nothing even like Namikawa’s kitsune form or even Jinta’s regular form. His fur is pure white, with red markings that streak through his fur. His eyes blaze a furious crimson.

Jinta’s kitsune is beautiful and terrifying.

Snout wrinkled in a snarl, the kitsune hurls himself against the invisible barrier. Cracks appear in thin air, spreading through the barrier as Jinta smashes against the wards holding him again and again. Blood smears his forehead.

“What the hell…” Takada whispers, shooting me a shocked, furious look. “He’s a damn kitsune! When the fuck were you going to tell me?”

“It wasn’t your damned business!”

“The hell it isn’t!” Takada rounds on me, face twisted in fury. “That thing is going to kill us all!”

I shout, “Jinta, stop!”

The kitsune snarls, “Must. Protect. Fight. Kill!”

A chill runs down my spine. That isn’t Jinta’s voice. It’s the voice of a feral animal who will slaughter friend and foe alike to protect me.

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