Page 36 of Curses & Kitsune

“Stay.” Keeping low, Raiden creeps to the window and peers out. “Shit.”

“What is it?” I lower my voice instinctively, get down on all fours, and crawl to the window. Who in the hell would be out here at Namikawa’s old house, and why? Mouth dry, I peek my head up just high enough to peer over the window ledge.

There’s a big black car in the driveway. My pulse races as the doors open and shut. Four men climb out and march toward the house, their voices loud and disgruntled. Their bodies are tense, faces full of anger.

“Those aren’t my guys.” Raiden ducks down out of sight, claws scraping the floorboards.

“Takada-kai,” I whisper, fear making my stomach churn.

“Hey, Noboru!” One of the men booms, voice echoing through the countryside. “You in there with the monster that slaughtered our comrades? Come the hell out!”

Fuck. Chills break out over my skin. They’re here because of me. Because of what I did. They aren’t here to talk. That much is clear. If Raiden gets hurt because of me—oh god. Will I lose control again? Somehow, I’ve got to de-escalate things.

The porch creaks, and I jump when a heavy fist slams into the door. “Open up! We can smell you inside!”

Raiden growls. “Hide.”

I grab his arm. “No, I’m not leaving you!”

“Just do it. I don’t want you losing control and blaming yourself for what you do!” he hisses, shoving me toward the stairs.

“If you don’t leave, neither do I!” I snap, then I bolt the door. Grabbing his hand, I tug him up and toward the back of the house. Kicks hit the door behind us. We slip out the back door just as the yakuza storm into the house.

“They’re trying to escape, don’t let them!” Furious snarls pursue us, claws scrabbling over wood floors.

Gripping Raiden’s hand, I try to steer him toward the front of the house. “We need to get to their car!” We can get away without even engaging them in a fight. Raiden tugs me around the side of the house toward the vehicle. The back door crashes open, and wolves pelt after us, claws kicking up dirt as they rush toward us.

“Go ahead and get the car started. I’ll hold them off!” Raiden shoves me ahead before I can protest. His black wolf bursts from his clothes and charges toward the four wolves pursuing us. Panic tries to freeze me, every instinct screaming to help him.

Behind us, another car swerves into the driveway. Shit. They brought reinforcements. Four more men storm from the car and rush toward us.

“Got’cha!” A weight comes crashing down on top of me. A rough hand seizes my neck and pulls hard. “Where’s that big monstrous form of yours now?” The yakuza sneers in my face before he swings me around and hurls me into a tree. My vision whites out as my skull strikes the bark, and pain spasms through my back. The four of them close in on me.

“This is for every comrade you fucking slaughtered!” The toe of a boot slams into my stomach, sending the contents burning up my throat and out my mouth in a sour rush. I cough, choking on foul bile, and I yelp as a kick cracks across my face. My lip splits, nose crunching, blood gushing down the back of my throat.

All I can do is curl into a ball, so racked by pain that I can’t move. Blood pools beneath me from my nose. My eyes roll when I’m kicked onto my back. A man straddles me, drawing back his fist. I sluggishly lift my arm, but his punch snaps my head back. When he wraps clawed hands around my neck and squeezes, panic tightens my chest. My air is cut off, and no matter how much I kick and thrash, I can’t get this asshole off of me.

“Jinta, no!” Raiden screams. “Get off him! Get the fuck off him!”

“Watch, Noboru, watch as we kill your precious little mate!”

“Get off me! Jinta, hang on, I—” Raiden yelps in pain. The scent of his blood scorches my nose.

A tide of fury rises in me, eclipsing even the pain.

No, fuck, no. I need to get to the car. I don’t want to fight or kill anyone… but the kitsune does. Fur ripples over my arms. My fangs sharpen. Claws pierce my palms. They hurt my mate. Made him bleed. They will fucking pay for it!

The kitsune roars within my soul. My body grows, tails sprouting from my spine. A growl swells in my throat, rumbling like thunder. The wolves attacking Raiden whirl around, furious snarls dying to whimpers. One of them has Raiden’s ankle between their fangs. Another has their paw on his skull.

Mate. Must protect him. Must kill.

They spilled his blood. I will spill theirs!

I spring, soaring through the air toward the wolves clustered around my mate. A swipe from my claws bowls two off their feet and sends them flying. Snapping my jaws, I grab another between my teeth and crunch down, breaking his neck between my jaws. I hurl the corpse into his friend, leaving him prone beneath the body of his comrade.

The two I threw off charge at me in a blur of fur and fangs. Their teeth pierce my flesh, but it feels like the bite of little needles. It’s laughable. With a snarl, Raiden leaps on one of the wolves and wrestles him away from me, tackling him.

I swipe, claws flaying away the flesh on a white wolf’s snout and staining his fur crimson. Yelping, he paws at the blood blinding him, and I attack. As I will it, a geyser of foxfire erupts beneath his paws. The wolf screams as his flesh and fur burns off his bones.

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