I closed my eyes and tried to calm the panic clawing its way up my throat.
Was there an attack coming to the island?
Had something happened with the Fox?
Were we in danger right now?
Then huge hands wrapped around me from behind. Every nerve in my body fired at once. My weight shifted forward. My hands came off the tile.
I was half a second from swinging an elbow when the size and familiarity of those hands registered and those strong arms pulled me back against a solid muscular chest.
Kenji.
I still jumped a little.
His low chuckle rumbled against my ear, but his arms encircled me with such fierce possession that my breath caught. His muscles were coiled steel beneath hot skin, trembling with barely restrained power as if he'd tear apart anyone who dared try to separate us.
"My little scaredy cat." With his lips, he brushed the sensitive spot below my ear.
Mmmm.
As always, he was so fucking sexy. But today the playfulness was a veneer. Delicate silk wrapping over a samurai's blade.
My voice came out breathless. "I didn't even hear you come in the shower."
Kenji's mouth brushed the shell of my ear. "I wouldn't be the Dragon if you had heard me."
Slowly, I turned in his arms and looked up at him.
Oh shit. . .
Kenji’s eyes weren't human anymore. Black pupils had swallowed the warm brown irises I loved, leaving only obsidian pools that reflected nothing back.
The muscles in his jaw pulsed beneath his skin. His nostrils flared with each breath. This wasn't just anger or violence—this was bloodlust radiating from him in waves so thick I could taste metal on my tongue.
He wasn't just ready to hurt someone. He was already killing them in his mind.
And behind him, rising up through the steam, was the dragon shadow.
Holy shit.
My breath caught.
I'd seen the beastly shadow before. Felt its presence in the room when Kenji's emotions ran high. It usually looked wispy, faded, and similar to smoke.
But not now.
Today, the dragon-shadow was solid black.
Dark as ink.
It hovered over us and took up the entire back of the shower.
And its eyes. . .
They were red embers, glowing.
I'd never seen it like this.
