But for now—for this one stolen moment—I let myself rest in the arms of the woman who had saved me.
Tomorrow, the traps for the Fox would be laid out.
Tomorrow, thirty already imprisoned snakes would burn.
But tonight, the Dragon would sleep peacefully beside his Tiger queen.
Epilogue
Fucking through the Pain
Hiro
For the first time in weeks, I slept.
Not the shallow, restless half-sleep that had plagued me since Nura's death.
Not the fitful tossing that ended with her smile burned into my eyelids and my father's laughter echoing through my skull.
Real sleep.
Deep.
Relaxing.
Dreamless at first.
The prison and Kenji’s torturing should have followed me into sleep.
Sako’s and Mami’s screams.
The smell of their burning flesh.
Arata's mother reaching for sons who couldn't save her.
But my mind, starving for something other than death, found a different way of coping instead.
I stood in my brother's bedroom back in Tokyo. The room was bathed in candlelight. Shadows danced across the walls like living things.
I was positioned near the door with my back straight and my hands clasped in front of me like one of the Cum Guards.
And I watched like them too.
Kenji lay on the massive bed, his body stretched out like a king on his throne. His tattoos rippled with each breath, dragons and flames alive on his skin. His head was thrown back against the pillows, his jaw clenched, his hands gripping Nyomi’s ass.
She straddled him, her body rising and falling in a rhythm that made my mouth go dry. Her skin gleamed with sweat, dark brown and beautiful in the flickering candlelight.
She was magnificent.
A goddess riding a dragon.
I couldn't look away.
Didn't want to.
My gaze traced the curve of her spine, the flare of her hips, the way her thighs gripped my brother's waist like she was afraid he might disappear.
Her head fell back, exposing the column of her throat, and I saw the marks there—fresh bite wounds, still brownish-red, evidence of my brother’s savage hunger.
