Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
"For everyone. Two hundred masks. Oni faces."
"We walk into the Dragon King's palace wearing demon faces." A dangerous smile slowly spread across Hiro’s face. The lollipop clicked against his teeth. “That sounds delightful.”
Reo made more notes. “We’ll make sure that we understand the masks. Certain ones for the Scales taking the kitchen, garden, and stairs.”
Yoichi nodded. “The Fangs have their own masks with the same color.”
“The Claws have theirs,” Kaede added.
Hiro gestured to me and Reo. “And we three have unique ones so that you all know where we are throughout the battle.”
“Everyone understand this mission? The time to party is over. Now, it is time to kill and survive.” I stared at them. “Get some rest. Sober up. Be ready tomorrow night. There is no other option. We bury the Fox or our loved ones bury us."
Chapter twenty-four
Feminine Magic
Nyomi
After Kenji left, I showered, dried off, and chose what I would wear today carefully. The blushing pink dress was made of this breezy island linen that rippled when I moved and didn't apologize for my curves underneath. It was also sleeveless and had a heart-shaped neckline.
It was the kind of dress Hiroko would have nodded at.
Sexy.
Confident.
Comfortable.
When I looked in the mirror, I imagined what she would say, “That's a woman who knows her own power.”
Minutes later, I waited for the elevator.
My armed men surrounded me.
My eyes drifted to the elevator doors and my whole body went tight.
Last night.
Right on that elevator.
Kenji had pinned me to this wall after the party. The Dragon had been all over me. His mouth had been at my throat, his hand around the front of it, his thigh between mine, my dress shoved up to my hips and my heels hooked at the small of his back. He had fucked me hard.
One hand at my neck, squeezing in that careful brutal way only he knew how to do, the other gripping the meat of my thigh. He bounced me on his big pierced cock until I came with my own pulse drumming against his palm.
Fuck. We have to do that again.
I licked my lips.
The heat of him rose along my skin.
I pressed my thighs together inside the linen of the dress.
But we’ll have other things to do tonight.
This evening, the Dragon would lay me down on lotus blossoms inside a hole in the earth. Under a full moon, with soil under my back and his blood mixing with mine, he would push inside me again and the old magic of his mother's bloodline would witness it.
I let out a slow breath.
Kenji had framed the Burial Ritual as a sacrifice, but the more I thought of it. . .I saw the moment as my claiming him. Our blood united. His body inside mine. All focused on old magic that women in his bloodline had used long before either of us was born.
It all screamed feminine magic to me.
I thought about all the times we’d had sex and toyed with power dynamics.
Each time Kenji and I had broken each other open, a specific element had been in the space with us.
Water Play had occurred when I'd had him in the huge bathtub, bound and at my mercy, and I'd played with his breath—slow dunks under the water, holding him there until his hands flexed against the binds and then pulling him up to gasp.
I'd watched the Dragon learn what it felt like to belong to me for the length of one held breath at a time.
Then Fire Play. That one he had asked for. I'd placed careful flames along his skin and watched him lose his mind from the burn. The man who frightened entire syndicates had laid himself down on a slab and let me write heat across his chest like I was signing my name on a deed.
Even last night, in the elevator, we'd played with air. His hand at the front of my throat. My pulse drumming against his palm. The way he had timed every thrust to the rhythm of the breaths he was rationing me. The Dragon controlled the air in the room when he wanted to, and last night he'd controlled the air in my lungs.
Three different moments involving three elements.
Tonight. . .we’ll basically be exploring the fourth element. . .Earth Play. . .Is that even a real kink?
I made a note to ask Hiroko’s assistants today.
Hmmm.
The elevator arrived.
One man entered, scanned the space, and then gestured for us to enter.
I stepped onto the elevator.
The rest of my men followed.
The doors slid shut, and the elevator began its quiet descent.
I slid my hand into the pocket of the dress, pulled out Reo's card, and read it for the fourth time today.
Tora.
I offered my soul for macaroni and cheese, and you delivered at the party. Therefore, I cut out my soul this morning and sent it to you.