Page 27 of Curses & Kitsune

“Really? I hadn’t thought about that!” I mutter.

“That priestess will do a purification ritual. The ritual will tear me from your body. The damage to your soul will be too great to withstand. You will die, and I will be at the whims of the hunters in my spirit form.”

“You don’t think they’ll purify you?”

She scoffs. “If Akira stoops low enough to work with werewolves, then who is to say he won’t covet my powers for himself?”

That’s a nasty thought. The last thing Raiden and the pack need is an overpowered hunter.

I swallow hard with apprehension, though my throat is so dry it feels like it’s full of sand. There’s a hole in the ceiling, revealing the overcast sky. Moonlight illuminates the edges of the clouds. Outside, tires crunch as a car pulls up to the warehouse. The hunters throw open the warehouse doors, and a priestess enters, hair tied back with a red ribbon, red hakama swishing around her legs. She’s armed with a staff, paper streamers swaying as she marches toward us.

Tamano shivers beside me, hissing, “You must delay the ritual or you will die, and my fate will be in Akira’s hands.”

“How?” I snap, panic-stricken.

“Must I hold your hand? Do you want to see your mate again, or not? Then fight back!”

Through the open doors, another car arrives in the yard. One that I recognize. Saito Takada slams the door and marches toward the warehouse. More cars pull up, and groups of Takada-kai file out and join their alpha. As Takada’s dark eyes find mine, his lip curls in contempt, but he ignores me and goes straight to Akira.

“Get out of here, Takada,” Akira says, as if he’s waving away a fly. “This has nothing to do with you!”

Huh? How do they know each other?

“Except it does. You’re operating in my ward, after all. Nothing happens in Minato without my say-so. I see you have Noboru’s little human pet. Is Noboru coming?” Takada asks, lighting up a cigarette.

Akira clenches his jaw. “Yes,” he grits out. “He’ll be here soon.” Akira throws me a snide smile. “Wolves are nothing if not predictable creatures. Threaten their mates, and they become careless with rage.”

Takada grunts around his cigarette, not sounding convinced. “He won’t be an easy kill. I’m more than happy to lend my assistance. Noboru and I have… history.”

My heart sinks. Shit. How will Raiden and his pack stand against both Takada and the hunters?

Akira’s brow twitches, then he huffs. “Very well. But save me the killing blow, Takada.” Akira chuckles, touching the pistol in his belt.

This is bizarre. Akira is awfully agreeable with Takada.

Takada’s gaze snaps to me and he approaches. “Not looking so hot, human. Will Noboru still fawn over you when he sees that fucked-up face of yours?”

Rage heats my blood as I glare at the man who broke Raiden’s trust when he was only a kid. Takada groomed him, made him think his twisted abuse was love, then dumped Raiden when he wouldn’t be the monster Takada wanted.

I grin despite the stinging split in my lip, because fuck him. “Sure he will. But he’ll completely rearrange yours. You won’t be able to stop him. We both know he’s stronger than you.”

A muscle jumps in Takada’s jaw. I think I’ve found a way to bide time. It’ll hurt, but dying will hurt worse. Lip curling above his cigarette, Takada squats down to my level and peers down his nose at me. “He’s strong because I made him strong. But you… everyday he spends with you, he gets softer, weaker. Once you’re dead, he’ll realize you were nothing but a burden to him.”

A scoff escapes me. Behind my back, I grow my nail out to a claw and begin sawing at the zip ties binding my wrists. “And, what? You really think he’ll go back to you? He’s not a child you can manipulate anymore. He’s a grown man, and he knows what real love looks like.”

“Noboru doesn’t know the first thing about love. Men like him and me, we can’t love. Any love we have is for clan and pack, and that will always come first, human.” An ugly grin splits Takada’s narrow face. His teeth are sharp and yellow from nicotine. “He doesn’t know how to love, but he sure knows how to fuck. I taught him that, you know?”

A red haze descends over my eyes as my stomach roils in disgust.

“Has he ever let you fuck him, human?” When I don’t reply, he laughs. “Of course not. But he let me. Does it burn you up, human? Knowing I was his first? That I’ve burrowed in under his skin before you ever could and ruined him for any other man? He begged me for it. Sometimes, I still remember the way he screamed when I made him bleed. Gets me off every single time.”

My hands shake as I fist them, nails digging into my palms. Yeah. It does burn me up. I wish I had been his first. I wish this disgusting man had never put his hands on Raiden, never hurt him so terribly.

But if I have my way, Takada will never hurt Raiden again.

Takada huffs with satisfaction. “Face it, you never would have been enough for him. He would’ve grown sick of you eventually. Raiden needs the thrill that comes with this way of life. You never could have made him happy.”

Over Takada’s shoulder, the priestess comes toward me. “Step aside, please. We must begin the ritual,” she says.

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