by Maia Dylan
One hour, three phone calls, and a hefty donation to a local children’s charity later, they had the snippet of footage they needed. The first time they watched it, Cooper’s heart ached at the sight of Keiko leaning down to see them through the passenger window of his brother’s car. Although there was no sound, they clearly saw her lips moving as she spoke. All they needed now was to find someone who could read her lips and translate it for them.
This step took a lot longer. They ended up having to contact a school that specialized in teaching people who suffered from hearing loss how to sign in Japanese. The school was located in Kyoto, Japan, and as luck would have it, because of the time difference, it was a little after two in the afternoon there.
“If we send you this file,” Logan was saying to the female teacher’s aide they had been put in touch with, whose English was very good, “do you think you would be able to read her lips and tell us what she’s saying?”
“I can certainly try,” came the response over the speaker. “I won’t know until I have the file in front of me.” Logan e-mailed the file to the aide directly and Cooper wanted to scream at how long it was taking. Just as he was about to tear his hair out in frustration, the teacher’s voice came back.
“Okay, I have the file now, and I’m opening it.” There was a pause and Cooper heard a mouse being clicked and then the teacher inhaled sharply. “It’s very clear and I can see what she’s saying.” The teacher’s voice had turned slightly husky. “She said, hajimete ata tokikara sukidata. Watashi wa syourai anata ga eien ni inakunaru to samishi desu.”
Cooper and Logan shared a look. It was obvious that whatever this translated to was something the teacher found emotional. “And that means…?”
The teacher cleared her throat before she answered. “Basically, she is telling you both that she has been in love with you since the first moment that she saw you. And that she is going to miss you for the rest of her life.” Cooper’s heart stuttered within him. Those were not the words of a woman who thought she had made a mistake and was moving on. “I do not know you or this woman, but if someone loved me that much, I would move heaven and earth to do whatever I needed to do, to make them happy.”
“Arigatou gozaimashita, sensei,” Cooper used what little Japanese he did know to thank her. “All we want in life is to make her happy.”
“And you can rest assured,” Logan said in a voice filled with determination, “that we will be doing everything within our power to make that happen.” Cooper met his brother’s gaze, just as determined to do what needed to be done to get their mate back. Now all they had to do was find her.
* * * *
Keiko felt completely numb. She knelt beside her mother on the floor of their family haka. The tomb held the urns of their deceased ancestors, and now there was one more joining them here in death. She held a picture of Naoki in her arms. Her heart bled at the loss of her older brother, but she shed no tears. She had cried so much in the past two weeks, there was simply nothing left within her.
“What I am asking of you, no mother should have the right to do so,” her mother, Kanako, said quietly in Japanese. Keiko closed her eyes briefly against the grief, fear, and anxiety she could hear in her mother’s voice.
Keiko turned to face her mother and the anguish on her face was almost Keiko’s undoing. “It’s okay, Mother. You must know that there is nothing I would not do for my family. Naoki made mistakes, but I am certain that if he knew what the outcome would have been, he would have chosen a different path. But this is where we find ourselves now. We simply must live with it.”
A single tear slid down her mother’s cheek and Keiko wanted nothing more than to throw herself into her mother’s arms and scream and rage about how unfair life was. But she knew she wouldn’t do it. “Do not cry. We must be strong, for Naoki and Father.” Keiko stood up and reached down to help her mother to stand. They would head back to their house and share a meal, reminiscing about her brother, and then in two days’ time, she would drive up into the mountains, and give herself to Ken Shimoyama, the Ussuri Oyabun, the leader of the Ussuri clan who lived near the summit of Mount Kuro.
Ken was the head of one of the Yakuza sects in the Hokkaido prefecture, and it was said that he and his clansmen shared a hidden powerful skill that made them an almost unbeatable adversary. He and his men ran most things in the area, some illegal, some not. But it was the illegal operations that Naoki had found himself on the wrong side of. And once he was on the wrong side of the Ussuri, there was no place to hide.
Naoki was murdered, purely and simply, because of his naiveté. He’d believed that his business would be so small that it would never register with the Ussuri. Keiko was afraid that Naoki thought he was smarter than both Ken and his brother Hiroki, his wakagashira, or first lieutenant. But Naoki thought wrong. Then, as compensation for the perceived slight against them, Ken had demanded Keiko be given to their clan, or they would kill her father. Ken had been three years above her at the international school they were both enrolled in, and every time she passed him in the hallways, his leering gaze would make her skin crawl. Now she was going to have to call that man her husband, and that had her stomach turning.
“Come, let us leave this place and allow my brother to speak with our ancestors.” Keiko led her mother to the stone shelf near the door and lit three incense sticks before handing the matches to her mother and bowing her head in prayer. Once they both had made their last farewells, they left the tomb and thanked the priest, who locked it behind them. They exited the temple grounds and walked along the road that would lead them to their home. Both were dressed in the traditional black kimono for loved ones grieving. The wooden geta they wore on their feet made it slow going.
As they neared their home, there was a crowd of locals gathered outside it. Keiko’s heart began to pound. Had Ken decided not to give her the traditional time to mourn with her mother? Oh, God, was he here to take her now? Fear slammed through her and her breathing became erratic.
“Keiko-san, daijoubu desu ka?” Keiko heard her mother but didn’t know how to tell her that she was not okay. She was very not okay and on the verge of kicking off her geta and sprinting away as fast as she could. The only thing that kept her locked in place was the thought that her father was depending on her, and she would not risk him for anything in the world.
Steeling her resolve and clearing her face of all emotion, she gripped her mother’s hand and started toward the house. The crowd moved and a car came into view. It was a black Mercedes SUV, something that only Ken, Hiroki, or someone significant within their ranks could afford. It had to be them, and this was the end of her life as she knew it. Keiko was so intent on the car, she missed the fact that there were two men standing on her front step until they stepped down and their movement caught her attention.
At the sight of them, all the air in her lungs seemed to disappear. Her mind could not make the connection or seem to reconcile what she was seeing as being anything but a dream. How was this possible? She swayed as her body made it very clear that not breathing was bad. She watched as if from outside her body as she collapsed to the ground. The last thing she saw before the blessed relief of darkness engulfed her was Logan and Cooper sprinting in her direction.
Chapter 5
Keiko came awake slowly, opening her eyes and blinking a couple of times to clear her vision. She was on the futon in the bedroom she had as a child, and the light in the room was fading into darkness, which told her that the sun was setting. She frowned as she pushed off the last vestige of sleep and the memories of the events leading up to that day slammed into her, all ending with the image of Logan and Cooper sprinting for her as she fell to the road that led to her parents’ house. Obviously, it was a hallucination brought about by the increased anxiety and emotional roller coaster she had been on since she had returned to Japan.
But that didn’t mean that the tricks her mind played on her didn’t hurt. Tears gathered as she thought about Logan a
nd Cooper. Even seeing them so vividly in her mind had her heart aching. God, it even seemed like she could smell the expensive colognes the two men favored. On their own, the aftershaves had her mouth watering, but when the two were together and she caught both at the same time, her pussy would grow damp. Maybe she had gone insane? Perhaps the strain of losing her brother and the reality of what she faced tomorrow had completely shattered her mind.
Keiko rolled off her bed and stood for a moment in the middle of the room. Looking down, she realized that her mother must have helped her out of her kimono and slipped her into a pair of her comfortable pajamas. She felt weak and winced when she couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. She left the bedroom and made her way to the front of the house in search of food.
“Um, arigato, Mrs. Saito!” The sound of Cooper’s voice, louder than it should be, came through the door and had Keiko standing frozen in shock with her hand on the doorknob.
“Jesus, Cooper,” came Logan’s voice, as well, quieter than his brother’s, and had her heart pounding in her chest. “She’s Japanese, not deaf. Stop shouting at the poor woman.”
“I can’t help it! I tell myself before I’m about to say anything that I should just speak normally. Then something takes over and I end up shouting. Fuck it, I’m just not going to say anything from now on. You do it.” Cooper’s answer had her smiling and she gasped in shock. It felt strange to actually smile, and when she thought about why, she realized it was because the last time she’d actually smiled was the night she had spent in their arms. They had come to Japan for her. Somehow, they’d found out where she was and they had come for her. “Keiko,” Cooper growled low. As unlikely as it seemed, they both knew she was standing on the other side of the door.
Quietly she opened the door and stepped into their living room. Cooper and Logan were both sitting on the tatami on the floor with their long legs crossed in front of the dining table, their gaze locked on her. Her mother, changed from her kimono and wearing something more comfortable, was kneeling at the head of the table serving them dinner, looking between Keiko and the two men. Her mother saw something that she had obviously been looking for, because she smiled a knowing smile. It could have been the laser-like way the two men stared at her, or it could have been the flush of heat that had swept across Keiko’s face, but more likely it was a combination of both.
“Keiko, come and eat something,” her mother said in accented but perfectly understandable English. Keiko had to fight her laughter at the comical way both men’s jaws dropped and they spun to stare at her mother, who sat there looking serene and perfectly innocent.
“Holy shiitake mushrooms, Mrs. Saito,” Logan said with a shake of his head. “You could have told us you speak English.”
Her mother turned toward Logan and smiled. “Firstly, you never asked. You simply assumed that I did not.” Both men had the grace to look sheepish at that. “And secondly, by simply allowing you to believe I had no clue as to what you were saying, I was able to ascertain how strongly you feel about my daughter. Had I not seen and heard that for myself, I would never have allowed you into my home.” Keiko knew that if her mother viewed either of them as a threat to her, they never would have made it past the front step.
Cooper groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Aww, man. I was swearing like a sailor on shore leave when we thought you were really hurt, Keiko. That is so not the first impression I wanted to give your mother.” Keiko burst out laughing, her mother and Logan joining her shortly afterward. “I don’t know why you’re laughing like a lunatic, Logan. You dropped a couple of creative expletives yourself, you know.”
Logan nodded, completely unrepentant. “I sure as hell did, but I’m the rough brother. You’re the nice one who has to win over the mother of the woman we love.” Keiko’s laughter died as her jaw dropped to the floor. “And just so we’re clear, when we’re married, it will be me that will get us in the doghouse on more than one occasion, and your job will be to get us out of it.”
Cooper was about to launch a counterargument, but must have caught sight of the look of shock on Keiko’s face. He leaped up and moved to stand in front of her, his hands cupping her shoulders. She could feel the heat of his hands through the fabric of her pajamas. “Keiko? Are you okay? Damn, you’re not going to keel over again, are you?”
“I think my daughter is more in shock about the statement your brother just made,” her mother said dryly, “rather than just being about to keel over, as you so rightly put it.”
Logan frowned as he stood, too. “What did I say that was so shocking? I didn’t curse, I know I didn’t curse.”
Her mother stood gracefully from the table. “No, Mr. Anderson, you did not”—she moved toward Keiko, and stopped to press her hand against Keiko’s cheek—“but you did just call her the woman that you loved, and I think that was rather surprising for my daughter. Now, I am going to see my brother, and will be spending the night there. I think there is a lot the three of you need to talk about.” The look her mother gave her was telling. She wanted Keiko to come clean to them about what was happening. Perhaps she thought they would be able to help.
A memory came flooding back that had Keiko’s heart pounding. “Where did Ken go?”
“Who?” Logan and Cooper asked in unison.
“The man in the black SUV,” Keiko said as she moved to the window, lifting the curtain so she could look out on the street. “That one there! Do you think he is still out there?”
She turned around frantically to look at the others standing in the living room.
Logan frowned in confusion. “No, baby, that’s our truck. We hired it at the airport yesterday.”
Keiko’s relief was immediate and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, both Logan and Cooper were looking at her quizzically, and her mother had that look on her face that mothers perfected naturally. It was the one that said, You know better, and you need to make things right.
Her mother walked to the entrance and slipped on her outdoor shoes, slid open the front door, then turned to face them before she walked out. “What my daughter has to tell you may make it seem like we are a selfish family, but please know that her father and I did everything we could to raise our children as best we could. Now, my daughter has not eaten for almost an entire day, gentlemen. I would appreciate it if you made sure she has something to eat.”
With that, her mother left and slid the door closed behind her, leaving Keiko with two men who had no idea what they had walked into and a mountain of explaining to do. She started to wring her hands together, unsure of where or how to start. How did she even begin to explain why she left? What on earth would they think of her?
Cooper reached out and placed his hand over hers. “Don’t fret, love. Just come and eat something, and let us take care of you. We aren’t going anywhere, and we have time to hear everything we need to. But for now, just sit with us and eat.”
Keiko nodded and walked to the table, kneeling at the place set between Logan and Cooper. Logan reached out and gripped her hand with his, and when she met his gaze her heart ached at the pain she encountered there. “We’ve missed you, baby.” Logan’s voice was hoarse with emotion. “So damn much.”
Keiko lifted his hand to her mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I’ve missed you, too.”
Some of the hurt and tension around Logan’s eyes eased, and he smiled at her. “That’s good to hear, baby. Now, let’s get to eating this amazing dinner your mother whipped up in no time at all. Then we can sit and talk.”
Keiko nodded, feeling lighter and more hopeful than she had in days. Reaching for her chopsticks, she started to take over for her mother and serve dinner.
“This all looks lovely,” Cooper said once their plates were laden with rice, pickles, fish, chicken, and a bowl of miso for each of them. “But please, love, tell me your mother has a fork.”
* * * *
Throughout the meal, Logan kept sneaking glances
of their mate. Despite the fact that it had only been a couple of weeks since they had last seen her, she had lost weight and there was a shadow beneath her eyes that had never been there before. That alone told him she was fatigued. He couldn’t wait to hear what had happened to drive her from their arms to the other side of the world, but he had a feeling it was something major. Her mother’s words had reinforced that.
After they had finished their dinner, the three of them cleaned up the table and the kitchen. There wasn’t a whole lot of room to move in the kitchen and there were a few delicious moments when her Keiko’s would slide up against Logan, and he would hear her sharp intake of breath. Soon, her arousal perfumed the air around them and his bear roared within him. He wanted to take their mate, claim her now, and say to hell with the consequences. Although for Logan that approach definitely had merit, he knew his mate too well.
Once every dish was clean and put away, they went back to the living area and sat down on the couch that was pushed into one corner. He and Cooper each took one side of Keiko and sat forward so that they could see her face and she could see both of theirs at the same time.
“Okay, baby.” Logan reached for her hand and held it in his, pressed against his thigh. Cooper mirrored the move on her opposite side. “It’s time to clear the air. You have something you need to tell us, and we have something we want to share with you, too.” There was no missing the surprise that crossed her face. “Yep, that’s right, we have something for show and tell today, as well. But later, because Cooper and I really need to hear what we did that drove you to leave us.”