His head snapped back and this time I saw it—a flicker of pain crossing his features before that mask slid back into place.
My shoulders burned. My jaw ached from clenching. I hadn't realized how hard I was breathing until the sound of it filled the hallway.
Kaoru stepped forward like he was going to intervene.
Satoshi caught his arm and yanked him back, shaking his head in a sharp warning. The ex-military man's grip was iron, his eyes carrying a message that needed no words:Don't. You'll die.
I looked at my Fang. “Do you have something to say?”
Kaoru's jaw worked, but he retreated. His hand fell away from his weapon.
I put my gaze back on Reo. "I told you to hide it from her. Putting it directly in front of her wasn't your decision to make."
"Someone had to make it."
For a heartbeat, I just looked at him. At that calm fucking face. At the certainty in his eyes.
Then I let go of his lapels and hit him.
Not a slam to the wall this time.
A punch.
My fist connected with his jaw and his head whipped to the side, blood spraying from his split lip onto the pristine wall. Thecopper scent hit me immediately. Sharp. Metallic. His blood in the air between us.
Behind me, Yoichi inhaled sharply—a sound I'd never heard from the man who made violence look beautiful. The sniper who quoted haikus while reloading was completely silent now, watching his Roar bleed with an expression that bordered on devastation.
Reo slowly turned his face back to mine and spat blood onto the floor between us. A thick, dark glob that splattered against the polished wood.
Then he looked at me like I hadn't touched him at all.
More blood ran down his chin, dripping onto his white collar, staining that impeccable suit.
And still—still—he didn't fight back.
"You want to keep her wrapped in silk." His voice was steady despite the blood. "Protected from every ugly truth. You want her to love you without ever seeing the Dragon. But that's not love, Kenji. That's a fantasy. And fantasies shatter."
"When did my Roar become suicidal?" I placed my hands on his throat.
I felt his pulse jump beneath my palm.
There.
Finally.
A crack in that composure. A flutter of something that might have been fear.
I squeezed.
Not enough to cut off air.
Just enough to remind him who he was talking to.
"She was shaking." I loosened up the grip and leaned in close. My lips were near his ear. "She looked at me like I was a monster. She told me not to touch her."
Reo's throat worked against my grip. "Maybe she needed to."
I squeezed harder, hoping to choke that fucking defiance out of him.
