In the corners, three men stood with their hands clasped behind their backs. At their feet—fire extinguishers.
Red.
Industrial.
Ready.
My stomach dropped.
On a side table near the wall, instruments were laid out in neat rows. Metal rods with wrapped ends. Glass containers filled with clear liquid. Small bundles of white cotton. Wet towels stacked in a pile.
And in the center of the room. . .
Kenji.
He leaned against a stone slab, watching me enter.
Oh shit.
His hair was pulled back from his face, exposing the sharp lines of his jaw, the column of his throat. He wore leather shorts—almost bikini cut. The fabric hugged his muscular thighs like a second skin. The kind of shorts that left nothing to imagination.
Every tattoo on his body was visible.
Tonight, in the candlelight, with hundreds of flames painting his skin in shifting gold and shadow—those tattoos moved.
The dragons coiled across his chest breathed. Their scales caught the light and rippled, dark red bleeding into black, those vicious mouths opening wider every time a flame surged.
The hydra wrapped around his ribs tightened with each breath he took.
The oni demon on his shoulder twisted in the shadows, its face shifting between rage and hunger depending on which candle burned brightest.
And that katana inked along his abs—the one that pointed down past his waistline like a threat and a promise—it fucking gleamed. The blade's edge caught every flicker in the room and threw it back at me.
God, this man is so deliciously sexy. I might bite him tonight.
When his eyes found mine, his expression shifted. His lips parted. His nostrils flared. A hunger crossed his face—wild, primal, barely contained.
The same look he'd had when he bit me.
I understood now. The clean skin. The hair pulled back. The fire extinguishers in the corners.
We are definitely playing with fire tonight.
Hiroko stepped in behind me and slid the door closed. Her assistants nearby.
“Fire?” I turned to her. "We are not doing this."
Her face remained calm. "We are."
"Fire. . .are you serious?"
"Yes." She moved to stand beside me. "This is dangerous. But this is what the Dragon wants."
My heart pounded against my ribs. “So. . .how are we going to do this?”
"He wantsyouto wield the fire tonight, Nyomi."
I stared at her. Then I looked back at Kenji. At the slab. At the restraint points I could now see clearly—metal loops for wrists and ankles, bolted into the stone.
