Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Nyomi hadn’t heard her official title yet, and still she looked like a queen.
That made me think of something my mother would always say.
“Power doesn’t need to scream. It radiates.”
That being said. . .there was a threatening steel in my Tiger’s gaze. A warning behind the polish. A quiet snarl beneath the lipstick. And it all said, “Don’t fuck with me.”
Kiko hissed and then turned to me. A second later, her voice sliced through the silence, shrill and impatient. “I have been trying to talk to you all day, and your Roar would not let me enter.”
I didn’t answer right away because something dark had just coiled low in my stomach. That stare she gave Nyomi. That tight twitch in her wrist. That venom leaking out of her face before she even opened her mouth.
I didn’t know what happened between them in the hallway. Didn’t know what words were exchanged. What looks passed.
I doubted Kiko behaved herself. And that alone made my teeth grind.
Somehow, I kept my voice even. “Speak in English.”
“Why? Because she can’t even speak Japanese?” Her chin jerked toward Nyomi. “She is an outsider!”
Fast, I stood.
Cock no longer erect.
Mind no longer entertained.
Just done.
The shift in me was immediate. Physical. A pulse of danger that tightened every muscle in the space.
Kiko went silent. Her crew—those same cousins and assistants who had barked like feral dogs in the hallway—suddenly remembered how to shut the fuck up.
They didn’t run.
But they backed away almost five feet.
Maybe six.
Tet, the boldest of the bunch, took three extra steps and pressed himself to the wall like it could protect him from what I might do.
Even Nyomi inched away, her posture tightening like she’d felt the temperature drop ten degrees.
Slowly, I prowled over, stopped right in front of Kiko and looked down at her. I let her feel my height. My power. Let her breathe in the threat I wrapped around my violence. “How are the babies?”
Her bottom lip quivered.
Sighing, she touched her stomach. Her fingers were delicate and slow. One of my Ear’s most practiced moves. The kind she used when she wanted to look soft.
Fragile.
Untouchable.
But I’d seen this act before because being my Ear was never just about sex. It was about performance. Every word, every breath, every lowered lash was a weapon. Gaslighting wrapped in silk. Guilt packaged like loyalty. Sweetness sharpened into control. That was the craft. That was the power.
Kiko had turned the highest-ranking politicians in Japan with those tactics. Had made them fold, cry, apologize, send money, spill secrets.
She could make a man feel like a monster and a messiah in the same hour—and not remember how she’d done it.
But she wouldn’t win with me.
Because I was the one who had taught her how.
She spoke in that overly sweet, high-pitched voice—feminine to the point of infantilized. Like a little girl playing innocent in front of the executioner. “Your sons are fine.”
I frowned. “We don’t know if they’re mine.”
I knew those words cut her cleaner than a blade ever could. But I needed to say them. Not for Kiko, but for Nyomi.
Because truth mattered.
Sighing again, Kiko returned her voice to normal, telling me that I had knocked her off her little game. “These precious babies growing within my womb are yours. I feel this deep in my heart and soul.”
Hiro’s voice cut in from behind. “But they could be mine too.”
Like a bomb dropped, the whole room detonated into reactions. My Fangs and Claws snickered. Many Scales exchanged glances with others. It was clear this gossiped theory had reached many ears.
However, Kiko’s crew turned in unison—snapping their heads toward Hiro like a flock of startled birds. Even Tet, still backed against the wall and dripping sweat, blinked at him with disbelief.
Aww. She didn’t tell you that she fucked us both in the same week?
I checked my Tiger. Nyomi’s eyes had gone wide and her mouth was parted. For a few seconds, she flicked her attention between Hiro and Kiko, then over to me, and blinked.
I put my view back on my Ear, ready to end this conversation.
Kiko’s lips parted, but no sound came out. No denial. No scolding. Just a tight, stunned little breath that gave her away more than words ever could. And then she slowly turned toward him, eyes wide, fury and fear dancing in her lashes. “K-kenji. . .can we speak alone?”
“We cannot.”
Hiro chuckled. “As the possible father, I definitely think I should be present. In fact, should we call other men in this room too? There has to be at least three more guys that dropped a load in you that month.”
Kiko’s entire face crumbled into rage. “They’re not yours—”
“How do you know?” Hiro’s words were calm. “It was twice. Right?”
“They’re not yours. A woman knows.” Kiko jabbed her finger his way. “And you don’t get to talk to me that way!”