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“As much as it pains me to say, Fumiko—” his breath caught on her name and he cleared his throat. “Fumiko’s blood—myblood runs through you. But your father was turning you against me. I couldn’t let him take what was mine.”

Something inside me…

Snapped. Broke. Ripped apart.

Ichiro tightened his grip on my throat, preparing to rip it out as I had done to Kenzo.

His dragon reared back to deliver the final blow to Jou.

Molten lava enveloped my insides before blasting outward. Steam rose from my skin, and Ichiro snarled in surprised pain. His grip loosened. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

I twisted in my grandfather’s grip and used the momentum to break free. I drove my elbow into his face, the crack audible. He staggered back, blood spurting from his broken nose. I leaped to my feet and pressed the attack.

Writhing and thrashing, my dragon responded in kind. Flames erupted from his mouth as he broke free from Pomï’s grasp.

I tackled Ichiro against the wall and pinned him there with my claws at his throat. The tables had turned. Checkmate.

"Do it." Ichiro glared at me, defiant to the end. Blood flowed from his nose and dripped off his chin. "Finish it."

I hesitated. Crimson drops seeped between my claws from the deep gouges in his throat.

I wanted to kill him. I needed to end his reign of terror and take control of the empire he had built on the backs of innocents. But as I stared into his eyes, emptiness stared back. The hollow shell of a man who had lost everything—his daughter, his humanity, his soul.

He wanted this, longed to die. He had nothing left to live for.

Dozens of dragons and their hosts had suffered because of his drug. Because of his greed. My closest friend had been tortured, his dragon gone forever.

No one should have to suffer from Ichiro’s selfish, inhumane desires ever again. He deserved to die. I gripped his throat tighter, ready to end him once and for all.

But then I heardhervoice, a shout that cut through the chaos, filled with desperation and fear.

"Stop!"

CHAPTER 30

Bree

My command whipped out with the force of a hurricane. As soon as the word left my lips, both men and their dragons froze. Dominic’s claws remained embedded within Ichiro’s throat, and a trail of blood slipped down the old man’s neck.

Merciful tsunami, that was close.

I’d arrived just as Ichiro had pinned Dominic and dropped the bomb. Well, technically, his second bomb of the day, but this one was metaphorical.

He’d killed Dominic’s father. What a terrible thing to do to his own son-in-law and his grandson, leaving him without either parent. He was a disgusting human being.

But as much as I despised Ichiro for everything he’d done to Dominic, Frankie, and everyone else he’d hurt—which I was sure was a long list—death wasn’t the right way to go. Not by Dominic’s hand at least.

I ran beneath the two dragons, locked in a similar frozen brawl as the men, and pulled Dominic’s hand away from Ichiro. My touch released the hold my magic had on him, and he stepped back. His eyes widened as he took me in, as if in disbelief that I actually stood before him.

I wasn’t sure how to read the underlying emotion beneath that. Whether he was happy to see me or wanted to punch me in the face. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did punch me, but I hoped he’d give me the chance to explain first.

Just not yet.

"I know how it feels to lose someone you love," I said and stepped closer. "And I know you want revenge. But killing him is exactly what he wants you to do to prove that you’re just like him."

I rested my hand against his chest, over his heart. "But Nic, you’renotlike him, and he doesn’t deserve your guilt.”

The corners of his lips quirked up. “You think I’ll feel guilty?”