Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Rage rose within me, but I could not bruise my Roar’s ribs this evening.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t give a fuck if Yoichi is answering or not, find out where she is. Now."
“Of course.” Reo reached for his earpiece.
My phone rang.
I pulled it from my vest with one motion, looked at the screen, and pressed it against my ear. "Tora, where the fuck are you?"
"Please, don’t be mad, but I'm on the island in the forest —"
"Get off the fucking island—"
"I found an advantage—"
"I don't care about that, I want you safe —"
"I'm with your mother's people. I'm safer than anyone can be."
I stopped breathing. My mind spun. I had to shake my head to get it back in order. "What?"
"I'm with your mother’s people, and we have started a new ritual that will give you control of your dragon-shadow. We just need you here to finish it. This won't take too long. Yoichi is outside in the back waiting for you. He’ll bring you to me and then I’ll leave the island."
What the fuck?
The corridor blurred at the edges of my vision.
My mother's people.
"Tora. . ."
"Do you trust me?"
I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second. "Yes."
"Then, hurry so you can win this war."
The line clicked dead.
I opened my eyes, lowered the phone, and gripped it against my thigh hard enough that the casing creaked.
Everyone surrounded me.
Hiro watched my face. Reo watched my hand on the phone. The Claws and the Fangs stood in their positions and did not speak.
I let out a breath through my teeth. "Everyone get into position. I have to go with Yoichi. He’s outside waiting for me."
Reo's eyebrows came together. "Kenji—"
"Take the men. Set up where we have planned. I’ll be there." I pointed to Ichiro. “Take Totoro and go with them too.”
Reo gave me one long look that told me he was not pleased at all. Then, he headed off. “Let’s go, guys.”
The Fangs dutifully walked off with him.
Hiro and the Claws remained.
I sneered. “Go with Reo.”
Hiro crossed his arms over his chest. “Where’s Nyomi?”
“I’m going to meet her.”
Hiro gave a hand gesture to the Claws. A few sighed in annoyance, but all went in Reo’s direction.
I turned to head for the back entrance.
Then, Hiro fell into step beside me.
I glanced at him. “What are you doing?”
"Is something wrong with Nyomi?"
"No. She may have an advantage."
"I'm coming with you."
"You're not."
"I am." Hiro kept my pace.
“She’s with my mother’s people.”
“The Silent Ones?”
I smiled at his nickname. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Go with Reo. He’ll need you.”
"Tonight, I'm not leaving your side." His mouth twitched. "I just. . .can't. I need to make sure you are always safe."
“I’ll be fine.”
“Because I’m next to you.”
I sighed.
Hiro held up a finger. “And I should say goodbye to our Tiger. I’m sure she’s nervous about not hearing from me.”
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure that’s exactly what she’s been thinking about this whole time.”
“I’m going to give her a long hug.”
“You’re going to fucking behave as we do this ritual.”
“Ritual? What?”
“Just watch and stay silent. I don’t know what she has me about to do but. . .I fucking trust her more than I want to admit.”
“I trust her too.”
Silent, we moved through the emptied corridor side by side. Our masks remained in our hands at our sides.
My boots ate the floor. Hiro matched me stride for stride.
I didn't know what Nyomi was doing out there with my mother’s people.
What sort of fucking ritual? How different is it from the Burial Ritual? And what is the cost?
Chapter five
Now Comes the Pain
Nyomi
I sat on a stone gray slab in a thin red robe with my legs open to the night air. I’d placed Reo’s soul pin on the front of the robe, just to keep me balanced and because it was so important.
I was naked under the robe. Most of it covered the space between my legs.
Still, cold climbed through the fabric, settled into my spine and the backs of my thighs. Into every place the robe left bare. Goosebumps ran up my arms. My nipples ached against the silk. Each breath came shallow and thin, like my body refused to give the cold any more of me than it already had.
Or perhaps it wasn’t the cold at all.
Maybe, it was my unwavering decision to make this sacrifice.
Am I doing the right thing?
The Silent Ones surrounded me. Over thirty. They wore long, deep red robes with deep red hoods. Most of the fabric pooled at their feet in the dirt and the dead leaves.
I couldn’t see their faces. Shadow filled the hood where each face should sit, and the flame refused to enter it.
Four torches stood planted in the dirt at the outline of the circle, and their flames bent sideways in a wind I could feel nowhere on my skin. Yet, their fragrant smoke came to me in threads—pitch, resin, and burnt oil—and under those smells, the wet rot of dead leaves and turned earth.