Page 32 of Dragon 7

I couldn't even think about the possibility of Nyomi being harmed. Anytime my mind tried, my heart immediately shut the door.

Because if I let myself follow the thought to the end. . .Nyomi as a ghost. . .haunting me. . .her standing in a corner with a wound she shouldn't have, smiling a too-wide smile and waiting for me to notice her.

No.

My hand went to my vest, and I pulled out the locket and squeezed it. “When we get to our Tiger, I’m going to let you do whatever this ritual is and then I’m personally making sure she gets off this island.”

“I’m already steps ahead of you on that thought. I’m making sure she gets off after this.”

“Then, we’ll do it together.”

“No. You will give her a hug, then go off to Reo and I will do the ritual and make sure—”

“We will do everything together. Tonight, brother, I am your shadow. I am the cold breeze against your neck. I am the fucking—”

“Annoying ass little brother that won’t let me think.”

“That too.” I nodded.

Kenji smiled and gazed at the road ahead. “Hurry up, Yoichi. We don’t have much time.”

“Yes, sir.” Yoichi increased the speed.

The cart shook.

Stay alive, my Tiger. Just stay alive, and I'll carry you off this island myself.

I looked over at my brother again.

Kenji watched the road, but I knew he wasn't really seeing the path ahead. His jaw was too tight, and his thumb moved slow along the silver guard of his gun, back and forth.

He’s afraid for her too.

In all the years I had known my brother, through every battle, war, and the piling up of dead bodies, I had never once watched a woman put that look on his face.

Women came and went from the Dragon's life like weather. Most arrived on warm winds and departed with the changing seasons, though each believed herself destined to linger.

Some drifted through like spring rain, gentle, forgettable, and leaving behind little more than the scent of flowers and damp earth.

Others arrived as summer storms, fierce and dazzling, all lightning smiles and thunderous promises, only to vanish before the skies had fully cleared.

There were the small few that struck like typhoons against the shores of his empire, certain they could reshape my brother through force, devotion, or desire.

None ever succeeded.

The Dragon endured.

The weather moved on.

Perhaps our Tiger was a hurricane. Surely, she tore through his carefully ordered world and uprooted so many pieces of him he never intended to surrender.

Shit. She uprooted so many pieces of. . .us.

I slipped my finger along the locket, and suddenly I heard the sound of a loud engine, higher and farther off.

Huh?

I turned that way. “Do you hear that?”