Page 15

In two rooms, the occupants lay on their backs and stared blankly at the ceiling.

I thought they were dead at first, except they blinked every so often.

I tapped on the glass window but received no response.

They just kept staring and blinking. I couldn’t tell if anybody was home upstairs anymore. It didn’t seem like it.

Before I could point out the difference to the others, Rin’s voice crackled in my ear. "We’ve got two incoming, boss. Just came out of an unmonitored room and heading your way. Wearing lab coats."

Shit .

A man and a woman stepped around the corner. The grey-haired man was looking down at a clipboard and didn’t see me, but the woman’s eyes widened behind her black-framed glasses.

"What do you think you’re doing here?" she demanded. "Who are you?"

I had removed my mask inside because we’d looped the security cameras. Our presence here wouldn’t be recorded. However, I was more than prepared for surprises like these. I would have to talk my way out using the one thing that still worked in Ichiro’s empire—my name.

I straightened my spine, putting on the Dominic Sato facade everybody expected.

"What do you mean ‘who am I?’" I barked out.

The man and woman exchanged a glance of confusion.

I sighed as if their ignorance frustrated me. To be honest, it did frustrate me. I had worked hard to build up my reputation. "I own this building."

The man narrowed his eyes. "Ichiro Sato owns this building."

I leveled my gaze at him. "And I am Dominic Sato."

Both of their eyebrows shot toward their hairlines, and they shared another glance. Only this glance spoke volumes about what my grandfather must have told them about me.

The woman cleared her throat. "Oh, Mr. Sato, forgive me. Did you schedule a visit tonight? Your grandfather rarely comes in this late."

Her statement confirmed the worst, not that there had been much lingering doubt. But for some unknown reason, I had held out a sliver of hope that my grandfather wouldn’t be capable of something this terrible, this inhumane. I knew better.

No, it turned out my grandfather was worse than I’d ever imagined.

"I’m aware. However, as his heir, I will take over all Sato holdings once Ichiro retires. I’m here to see how things run when my grandfather’s not around and people aren’t on their best behavior. I want to see how you operate in his absence."

Their nods showed understanding. Except a cunning look flashed across the man’s expression before he stifled it.

"Do you have any questions for us, sir?" the woman asked.

"No."

They were both older than me, maybe in their 40s or 50s if I had to take a guess. Non-Gifteds, which boiled my blood, knowing that they were involved in such a horrific activity against Gifteds. Against dragonkind— my kind.

I shouldn’t have expected anything less of Ichiro. There was no way he’d let other Gifted types in here to learn about what he was doing. Non-Gifted humans were much easier to manage and control.

After all, they were much more aware of their mortality.

"If you think of anything, we’ll just be down the hallway in the primary lab. You can find us there once you’ve finished examining our work." The woman’s thin-lipped smile held no warmth. "We’d welcome any feedback you can provide."

I nodded curtly and turned to study the last room, dismissing them. They walked past me, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the man reaching for a red button on the wall. I might not know its exact purpose here, but I had a hunch. The last thing I needed was a panic button flipped.

One of several last things I needed.

I moved quickly, grabbed the back of their necks, and knocked their heads together. Humans were easy to manipulate and oh so fragile.

"What’s going on, boss?" Rin asked through the earpiece.

Quickly, I explained what they had confirmed.

"I mean, you have to kill them, Nic," Keiko’s voice chimed in my ear. "You know that, right?"

"I don’t have to kill them." Even though Jou writhed in my mind, hoping to do just that. After seeing this place, he thirsted for vengeance. For blood .

"Well, I guess you don’t have to. I’d be more than happy to drain them dry."

"We don’t have to kill anybody," I said again firmly.

"Yes, we do," she said with exasperation. "They know who you are. It’s not as if they’re gonna wake up and forget unless you gave them a severe enough concussion or something."

I glanced down at the bodies at my feet. They were still breathing. I didn’t think I had bashed their heads hard enough to cause a concussion. Then again, I hadn’t been just a non-Gifted human in over a decade. I had forgotten how fragile their brains could be.

But Keiko was right. They knew who I was. Even though I planned to take Ichiro down as soon as possible, I couldn’t risk giving him even a moment’s notice that I was coming for him, not now that I knew for sure he was producing pyrocrystals this way.

Good thing we had a backup plan.

"We still don’t need to kill them. We just need to get them out of here long enough that they can’t alert Ichiro. Once we’re finished here, be sure to leave behind Plan B."

"Already on it, boss." Rin didn’t even try to hide the glee in his voice.

Plan B was simple. We would leave just enough evidence to make it appear like the wolf shifters were behind an attack on one of Ichiro’s facilities—a second attack.

I didn’t feel sorry for the Nightstalkers.

They had gone after pyrocrystals for their own benefit rather than to protect the Gifted communities.

The wolves weren’t trying to stop the production of crystals because they didn’t want to lose the drugs from which they benefited. But they also didn’t want Ichiro to have any more power than they did, nor did they want him to take power away from them. Actions came with consequences.

My empathy for the wolves only went so far.

"You know, it’d be a lot easier to move them if they were drained of their blood," Keiko’s voice chirped. "A lot lighter. Just sayin’."

"Babe, are you hungry?" Rin asked.

"I’m always kind of hungry, but I ate before this. I’m just trying to be helpful."

I lifted both limp humans and tossed them over my shoulders with little difficulty. "They’re easy enough to carry with all their blood intact. We should have what we need to face the Council. Let’s go."

"Shouldn’t we do something now, though?" Aaron asked. "Are we just going to leave them all here like this?

He was referring to the tortured dragons and their doomed hosts. Like us, Aaron understood the intimate bond between animal spirit and human.

I grimaced. As much as I wanted to do more, I couldn’t risk spooking Ichiro before we could bring him down completely. For now, we would have to leave them, and I prayed to any god listening that by doing so, we wouldn’t be guaranteeing their deaths.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t convinced any god was listening.