Page 47 of Dragon 7

“That’s all I can say.”

“That’s not good enough—”

“Your only concern tonight is to get control of your dragon-shadow.”

I tensed.

He knows. . .

“Once you get control of the dragon-shadow, the war will lean in your favor.” Yoichi pushed the cart faster, and the engine climbed, and the trees rushed by closer now, branches whipping at the edges of the light.

I shivered. “How will I get control?”

“The Soul Bond.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“A lot, Kenji. So much that when you get there. . .simply do what you’re told.”

I sneered. “Nyomi and Hiro better be safe.”

“They are.” Yoichi turned the wheel hard.

The cart swung off the gravel and onto a narrow dirt path that cut straight into the forest, and the trees swallowed us.

The canopy closed overhead and blotted out the moon.

The cart’s headlights shrank to two thin beams swallowed almost as fast as they reached.

Branches clawed at the cart's frame on both sides, scraping the metal, raining leaves down over us, and the dark pressed in so close I could have reached out and put my hand through it.

Next, the cart lurched to a stop.

Yoichi turned off the engine and jumped out. "We have to go on foot from here."

My guns were out before my boots hit the dirt. "This is only fucking woods. Where are Nyomi and my brother?"

"Kenji, trust me." Yoichi got ahead of me. "There is no threat to your brother or your Tiger—"

"I'll fucking decide that." I rushed after him through the dark.

"These are your people. Our people. Their only life purpose is to protect you."

So deep in the forest, low branches raked my arms. Huge roots grabbed at my boots.

If they touched her. . .

I let the rage finish the thought.

I had buried my mother. I had buried Jobon. The ground of this world had already swallowed too much of what belonged to me, and tonight I would not let it have Nyomi.

If my mother's people had laid a single hand on Nyomi, I would empty both guns into every person in this forest.

I did not care whose blood ran in their veins.

I did not care that my mother had probably loved and trusted them with her bloodline.

As I walked in the forest, I had already decided that I would kill her people over my Tiger.