Page 94 of Secrets & Sake
“You saved me, Sunshine,” I whisper into his hair. “The moment we met, you saved me.”
He doesn’t say anything. The red thread around my finger unravels strand by strand, and his heart begins to slow.
No. No, no, no. Panting, I yank off my necklace and press the five-yen coin into his warm hand. “Take it back. Please. I want you to have it. Only you.” His fingers won’t close around the coin. Those sweet brown eyes close, and Jinta’s head flops to the side as he loses consciousness. A strangled noise escapes me. “Jinta,” I croak. My face is wet. I can’t get a full breath. My heart is in pieces in my chest. “Don’t do this to me, Sunshine. You can’t!”
“Raiden…” Hideyoshi’s voice is barely a whisper. “Bring him here. Now. Hurry.”
Sniffing, I lift Jinta’s limp body and carry him to my grandfather.
“I don’t have much time,” Hideyoshi says, coughing wetly. His eyes roll back, but he forces them open again. “I am beyond even the kitsune’s healing abilities. But Jinta isn’t.”
My breath catches. “You can save him?”
“The kitsune can. But you know what that means, don’t you? He will live, but he will become the kitsune’s host, susceptible to her corruption. If you cannot find a way to lift the curse, then she will consume him as she consumed Namikawa.”
I hesitate, but only for a second. “He has to live. Please.”
I don’t care what comes next. Jinta and I will face it together.
Hideyoshi nods weakly and holds out his hand.
I lift Jinta’s limp, cold one, kiss his fingers, then place his hand in my grandfather’s.
Black smoke crawls from Hideyoshi’s eyes and mouth. The blackness crawls up his arm and wraps around Jinta, creeping up his skin.
The smoke crawls down his mouth, seeps beneath his eyelids, trickles into his ears. His skin ripples, veins running black. Fear grips me until slowly, color returns to his deathly pale skin and the hideous burns begin to heal.
The severed strands of the red thread of fate reach for each other and reconnect, glowing warm against my skin. Jinta’s heartbeat kicks, stutters, and restarts, pumping rhythmically in my ears.
A relieved sob escapes me as I lean down, capturing his lips with mine.
He’s alive. That’s all that matters.
Slowly, the Namikawa-kai emerge from the woods, surveying the devastation with wide eyes. Ren fights her way through the crowd and freezes, one hand going to her mouth.
“Namikawa is dead,” one of the men says, face pale and eyes wide. “The boss was… a kitsune? I can’t believe it.”
I nod. “Yeah. Namikawa’s gone, and so is Hideyoshi.” I don’t know how to feel. Before tonight, I would have been devastated. Instead, I feel… not nothing. It’s a mix of different things. Anger for his deception. Disgust at the lives he stole from this world. Sadness, but I’m not allowed to be sad. Not after what he did in my name.
Clearing my throat I say, “Not sure how much you lot understood, but Namikawa wanted to pass the kitsune curse onto Hideyoshi, and he passed it onto my mate. As long as the kitsune has a host, we can control it. For a time, anyway.”
There are confused whispers. “Who will lead us?” someone asks.
The answer is obvious. Hideyoshi was meant to succeed Namikawa, and he’s gone. As his grandson, as a yakuza renowned throughout Tokyo, the duty is mine. If no one opposes it.
“I will,” I say, putting one knee beneath me and rising, cradling Jinta in my arms. “Our bond has made me strong. Stronger than anyone here. You all saw what I became. The Namikawa-kai can’t afford to be weak, not now. Not with hunters invading our territory, not when the Takada-kai has promised war. On my honor, I will lead us to victory. Do you stand with me?”
It isn’t what I want, not at all, but it’s what has to happen. Takada will never give me a moment of peace until he’s dead, and I can’t face him and his pack alone. Not if I want a future with Jinta. The Namikawa-kai must remain a force to be reckoned with.
Silence answers me. My breath hitches, heart racing as I wait for them to turn their backs.
Ren moves first, shoving her way to the front of the crowd. She folds at the waist, bowing—acknowledging me as alpha. The crowd ripples as one after another, all bow before me. My heart thunders in my chest. Jinta stirs in my arms, as if even he feels a change in the wind.
The Wolf of Asakusa is no more.
I am Alpha of the Namikawa-kai.
Chapter 26