“Ah yes. I remember that.” I choked on a quiet laugh. “Shaw ripped it to tiny pieces and set them on fire after he found that pack of gold star stickers.”
“Yep.” She froze. “Look.”
A stream of black hair sailed above a thatch of high grass. I glimpsed a flash of yellow fur as Chiffon bounded behind her. His snarls carried to me. So did a duet of sharp barks from the kitsunes tailing them.
“Ryuu,” I called. Gen was already on the run with Hayashi kitsunes in pursuit. Stealth no longer mattered.
“I see them.” Climbing out of the stream, he shed his clothes and dropped them on the ground. He shifted in a ripple of magic that raised the hairs on my arms and then joined the chase.
I shook off the disorientation and charged into the water, Thierry sloshing beside me. The sounds of battle reached me before I got close enough to spot the kitsunes knotted in a ball of red fur and black feet. I hesitated then ran past them, leaving Thierry to untangle the males.
“Gen,” I growled. “Stop before someone gets hurt.”
The most likely someone being her.
My voice must not have been the one she expected to hear. She half-turned to glance back and stumbled, falling forward onto her hands and knees. I pushed for a burst of speed to reach her before she could stand, and Chiffon leapt between us, teeth bared and lips quivering.
Liquid eyes turned on me. “But Chiffon—”
“We’ve got bigger concerns than your dog right now. Your skulk is under attack.” I pressed forward. “You’re the reynard’s sister, and Ryuu would do anything to protect you.” I told her a hard truth. “You don’t want it to come down to you or me, brat. These guys don’t play, and even I might not be able to stop them.”
“Okay.” She grasped Chiffon’s collar, and as if she had given him the signal, his tail began swinging back and forth in wide arcs. “I—I think I want to go home now.”
“Good girl.” I stuck out my hand, and she clasped it. “Let’s get your brother.”
I led her back to where I’d left Thierry. I hadn’t paid much attention to the kitsunes pursuing Gen, but both had shifted. Ryuu had too. Good thing part of growing up a shifter meant nudity was no longer the distraction for me that it was for non-shifters. Otherwise I might have had trouble swallowing at the sight of Ryuu’s bare back clenched with tension that radiated off his skin. His hair, always kept tight in a braid, had come undone and fluttered around him, the ends brushing the curve of his buttocks, not that I allowed my gaze to linger over the flower-shaped birthmark on his left cheek or anything.
When I dragged my attention kicking and screaming to the kitsune sentries Thierry had secured, they were both examining me to ensure I was all right.
Itsuo inclined his head. “I trust you are well.”
“The Tanabe clan has treated me very well.” All things considered.
“Your father will be pleased to hear this,” Minoru added.
Gen’s grip tightened on my hand. I gave hers a comforting squeeze. “Where’s my father?”
“He waits for you at the den.” Itsuo stepped back as though expecting me to accompany him. “We are to bring you there now.”
Ignoring the subtle order, I shoved past them and began the hike back to town. “Right now what I need most is to be reassured these people will be unharmed.” Minoru hissed a sound of dissent. “They’re innocents, and they will not be harmed in their own home for actions beyond their control.”
“My apologies,” he murmured.
Yeah, the smirk spoke volumes about his level of sorry.
Thierry fell in step beside me, frown in place as she studied the girl between us. “You’re lucky Mai likes you. You could have gotten yourself and your brother into a lot of trouble tonight without her.”
“It’s her fault I left,” Gen spluttered.
“Huh. That’s weird.” Thierry pinched the brat’s earlobe between her fingers and tugged. “I don’t see a mind-control device.”
“Ryuu took my dog because of her. I had to leave.” She swatted Thierry’s hand aside. “Chiffon needs me.”
“No. Your family needs you.” She stared ahead. “You can’t run away every time things get hard. You have to accept responsibility for your actions, and that includes the fit you must have pitched to keep that dog in the first place. I’m not a kitsune, but I’ve been around the Hayashi skulk long enough to know how dangerous even good-hearted ones can be to kits.”
Gen dropped my hand and forged ahead without us, leaving me to stare at her hunched shoulders.
“You were hard on her,” I said quietly.
“She’s a brat.” She reached over and tugged my hair. “Trust me. I know how to handle bratty kitsunes. She needs food for thought, and I just served up a heaping helping of reality. She’s what? Eight or nine?”
I put my hand on Thierry’s arm, knowing she was thinking of her own past and how quickly things had spiraled out of control when she hit thirteen, the dark pit of depression and anger she had wallowed in until I found her and forced her to pop her head out of her shell. Getting her to accept me as more than an annoyance had taken months of work. Earning her trust had taken years.
I hadn’t been half as worldly as Thierry when we met, but Gen had grown up even more isolated than I had, and her uber-bratty behavior illustrated that kind of peerless superiority kids learned from being the biggest fish in a teensy pond. Sure I had lived in Wink and attended the fae school there, but Dad had kept all of his daughters under his thumb, and Ryuu was applying the same pressure to Gen. If he didn’t lighten up soon—and socialize her—things were going to end badly for both of them.
The situation back in town was better than expected. The tightness in my chest I had carried since learning of Gen’s disappearance eased. The skulk had gathered in the town’s center, and Hayashi sentries in human form surrounded them. Calm acceptance wreathed the faces of the Tanabe skulk members. Cold resolve hardened the features of the Hayashi males.
I filled my lungs and pushed out a relieved breath. I didn’t scent blood. The containment had been peaceful. The Tanabes were all safe and corralled. Relief at that realization made me dizzy. These weren’t my people, and I wasn’t responsible for them, but I wanted—no, I needed—to believe my kin would do the right thing, and they had.
“Minoru.” I squared my shoulders. “I want you to take your men and return to my father with a message.”
Outrage purpled his face. “We swore to return you to your rightful place.”
I shook my head. “I’m still figuring out where that is.”
“What have you done to her?” Itsuo snarled.
Ryuu’s voice carried. “What she does is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”
Beside me, Thierry smirked. She stepped forward, and her presence commanded respect.
“I’ll stay behind and keep an eye on Mai.” A fragile spark of light burst at her fingertips to emphasize her point. “Some disturbing information has been brought to our attention, and it is within my rights to demand an inquest into the situation, considering Mai’s age at the time of the alleged crime.” The kitsunes shifted on their feet. “As I hold nothing but respect for the Hayashi skulk, I would prefer a peaceful—and private—resolution be met without conclave intervention.”
The threat hung there suspended, until I patted her arm. “Itsuo, tell my father I wish to speak to him in twenty-four hours. He may pick the spot, but I want neutral ground because Ryuu Tanabe will be accompanying me.”
The sentry’s skin rippled as the change attempted to overtake him. “I will convey your message.” He picked three men from his party. “I will also leave these sentries here to ensure your safety.”
“Not on my land,” Ryuu argued.
“You’re a rogue.” Itsuo didn’t even glance at Ryuu. “You have no land, no title and no authority to tell me or anyone else what we can or cannot do.”
“Stick to the perimeter of the town,” I told them. “If I ca
tch you disturbing the Tanabes, I’ll hand you over to her.” I hooked a thumb at Thierry. “She hasn’t eaten today, and trust me when I say you won’t like her when she’s hungry.”
The sentries paled, but each one nodded in agreement with the terms.
Itsuo and Minoru shifted, and the ones not assigned to Mai detail turned furry and headed home too. The remaining guards shuffled past the tents, leaving me and Thierry alone with Ryuu and Gen. Thierry placed a hand on my shoulder, and I covered hers with mine, squeezing her fingers.
“I’m going to stick to the woods. I want to be able to keep an eye on the skulk as well as the sentries.” She reached into her pocket and tossed me a plain black cellphone. “Call if you need help. I have another burner phone in my bag. The number’s programmed in already.” She spared Ryuu a withering glance. “Be thankful for whatever mercy she shows you and know that I have none where those who harm her are concerned.”
“Duly noted,” he said with cool detachment.
As she faded into the darkness, I spun on Ryuu, who had gestured Katsuo forward, and bared my teeth. “If you tell him to take me to my room, I will claw your eyes out.”
A slow grin threatened to break the hard line of his mouth. “Take her to my tent.”
Maybe I had spoken too soon.
Chapter 6
Retreating to the patchwork tent gave me time to steel myself against what was to come. I had questions lined up and ready to fire, when Katsuo lifted the flap and guided me inside the main living area.
“Wow.” It was the only word to cover the scope of what they had done. The odd pattern of material on the exterior made sudden, perfect sense. They had incorporated one long tent as the center of their home then sewn multiple others to it in order to give the structure individual bedrooms and other amenities. Mismatched carpets covered the floors, and thin fabric tubes hid wires that ran from their few electronics out to one of the communal generators. I picked out spots that had been patched with precise handsewn slip stitches and made a guess. “This is your work.”
He glanced around, a faint smile lifting his mouth. “This is the real reason my Inuyasha has improved. I’ve had a lot of practice mending tears and expanding living quarters as our families grow. I’ve achieved transcendence with my sewing machine. I’m no slouch with hand sewing, either.”
“You’ve carved out a good life here,” I observed.
“For now.” He guided me down a narrow hall and into a sparse bedroom. “We’ve only been in the area for six weeks. Our previous address lasted longer than most. We managed six months before the local skulks chased us off the property.”
“I thought—” Apparently I had thought wrong. “You’ve been moving around this whole time?”
“Yes.” He dropped onto a cushion in a small seating area without waiting for me. I chose the one opposite him and sank into the plush material. “If things go poorly tomorrow, we’ll be looking to relocate again. Now that your skulk knows where we are, we won’t have a choice.”
I bristled. “You make it sound like this is my fault.”
“It isn’t your fault,” a deeper voice said. “I would like to speak with Mai alone.”
Katsuo pushed to his feet and left the tent through a slit in the wall separating the bedrooms. Ryuu claimed his brother’s position, their postures almost identical.
He regarded me through somber eyes, and I regretted that he had already tied back his hair. I wondered if the ends would brush the floor if he hadn’t. “Thank you for what you did tonight.”
Thanking a fae was never a good idea. It’s like giving someone a free pass they can cash in for the favor of their choosing. Not a smart situation for him to put himself into when the logical favor I would ask was to be set free.
“Helping was the right thing to do” seemed like a vague enough response.
“I see now that I should have gone about this differently.” He linked his fingers. “I was…angry…and not thinking clearly when I captured you.”
“Eight years is a long time to hold on to your anger.” I wasn’t sure I could write him a pass because he’d finally snapped almost a decade later.
“Six weeks.”
“Isn’t that how long you’ve been—” don’t say squatting, “—squatting here?”
“It is.” He sank so far into the chair his knees were almost as high as his chest. “Our parents passed away six weeks ago.” He rubbed at a stain on his jeans. “I was on a job in town, and Katsuo had gone on a supply run with Shinji. The local skulk hadn’t made contact. We thought we were flying under the radar, but it was a ploy. They waited until we left and confronted our parents.” He rubbed harder. “We don’t have any trained fighters. Our sentries are volunteers. Their reynard issued an order to slaughter all the males and females past their fertile time. That included Mom, and Dad couldn’t let the insult stand. He killed the reynard, but his injuries… He died in that field. Mom was heartbroken. She retreated to their bedroom to grieve.” He blinked hard. “Two days later Shinji brought her breakfast, and she was gone.”
A pang ricocheted through my chest. That explained why Gen didn’t want to talk about her parents and why no one had remarked on their absence. “I’m sorry.” I leaned forward, fingers brushing his kneecap, the only part of him in easy reach. “I didn’t know.”
“I haven’t exactly made an attempt to enlighten you.” He captured my hand in his. “I’m sorry for that, for all of this.” He linked our fingers. “I’m not sorry it pushed me to find you. Of all the things I would change, that’s not one of them.”
Prickles crept up my nape, stinging in their intensity from being the focus of his attention.
“I need you to level with me here.” Focus was hard with him touching me. Whatever his faults, Ryuu was electric. His skin was a live wire jolting mine. “When I face my father tomorrow, I want all of the facts.” I steadied myself. “Tell me your story. I want to know what happened. I want to know it all.”
He leaned back in the chair, releasing my hand and tipping his head so he stared up at the poles supporting the tent. “You were six the first time I saw you. Katsuo had dragged you home after school, and you two were eating peanut butter cookies at the kitchen table together. Even then I sensed there was something special about you. I was ten, and you were a girl, so I didn’t examine the feeling too closely.”
I settled in to listen, straining to grasp a fiber of those same memories and falling short.
“Your father didn’t mind your friendship with Katsuo. He was close to our father at the time, and I think he believed it would strengthen our ties to the skulk, which would keep Father loyal to him.” Ryuu chuckled darkly. “Your father always was a numbers man, and he wanted as few people to know his business as possible. He wanted to protect his fortune, but there was something he wanted to protect even more.”
His legacy, his family, and by extension…me.
“You and I…” He lifted his head, rubbing the base of his skull. “The pull I felt when I was around you got worse as we got older. You were my little brother’s best friend. You practically lived at our house. You were this whiny brat who bossed me around and tattled on me when I didn’t do your bidding.” The sheepish grin he shot me would have melted my knees had I been standing. “Needless to say, I avoided you as much as possible.”
I caught myself leaning forward and adjusted like it was what I had intended all along.
“I still didn’t get it.” He drummed his fingers on his kneecap. “It wasn’t until you were twelve and your mother gave you The Talk that things changed. You learned about the shiren, how female kitsunes test their suitors to find their one true mate.” Another chuckle. “That day you marched upstairs to my room, knocked on the door and declared the right of shiren. I laughed it off, but decided to be a good sport. I was kind of flattered, actually. By then I knew letting you get it out of your system was the fastest way to get rid of you.”
A flush warmed my cheeks. “You make me
sound like a tyrant.”
“You wore one of those sparkly crown things on your head everywhere you went for the first ten years of your life.” He spread his hands wide. “If the tiara fits…”
Flames smoldered in my face. And I thought Gen was bad.
“You asked me a trivia question, and I answered it.” He clapped his hands together, and I jumped. “It was like two magnets snapping together. I felt the rightness of it, and so did you.” He shook his head. “You were so damn smug, said you had known it all along. You went straight to your mother, even though I begged you to keep it a secret.”
Referencing my particular choice for the shiren drew an inward groan from me. Trivia about my favorite movie had seemed like a good idea to my twelve-year-old mind. Picturing the scene as he described it was so simple I almost wondered if the faded image wasn’t a long-buried memory.
I climbed the stairs two at a time and blasted through the door to Ryuu’s bedroom without knocking. I spotted him standing at the foot of his bed, peeling off a sweaty T-shirt, and boxed him in by gripping the door casing with my hands and spreading my feet the width of the threshold. Heart pounding, I made an X of gangly limbs in the doorway before he could escape. “Ryuu.”
“Look, brat, I’m kind of busy here.” He tugged on a clean shirt while I gawked at his abs. “I have baseball practice in twenty, and I still have to put up my weights.”
“I declare the right of shiren,” I announced.
“Do you now?” He smirked and patted his face dry with the dirty shirt. “All right. Do your worst.”
Fingers biting into the wood, paint chips wedging under my nails, I wet my lips. “How many crystal balls did David Bowie juggle during the filming of Labyrinth?”
“None.” Ryuu smirked at me with all the superiority of his sixteen years. “The contact juggling was performed by Michael Moschen. He crouched behind Bowie and performed the tricks blind.”
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