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Dominic

M y jaw cracked audibly under the pressure of clenching it. I looked up at my grandfather. His face was utterly impassive save for the minor glint of victory in his eyes.

This was a test. He’d wanted to see what I would do. He wouldn’t have waited for the Council meeting if he’d been certain I was involved in the lab break-in. I gripped my phone in my fist, though I no longer felt or saw it. My vision had gone red.

Unwittingly, I had played into his trap perfectly. Worse, he was using our own family against me. Rin was one of my distant cousins and a Sato as well, no matter how low on the totem pole. Ichiro was torturing his own flesh and blood.

How had he known? Not just that I was responsible, but that Rin was involved. Maybe he didn’t know about Rin and was simply using him to get to me. What else did he know?

Regardless, our plan had failed. I had failed to protect my best friend.

The urge to lash out was so strong that I could feel the skin on my palms burning with the need to strike, fueled by a rage I could barely contain. Wisps of smoke drifted from my body while Jou’s roars echoed within my mind.

The whispers around me grew. I had to get out of here before I lost control.

"Dominic Sato," Robert’s voice called out, "did you have something to address with the Council?"

I had a choice to make. My grandfather might be many things, but he had never killed one of his own before. He wasn’t a kin slayer, but he might become one today if I pushed him too far.

I couldn’t take that risk with Rin.

Facing the elders, I bowed in respect, hiding the emotions I struggled to keep contained. "Not at this time. My apologies. I must go."

With a last glance at my grandfather, the man I loathed down to the marrow within my bones, I strode from the room.

My phone chimed again as I pushed my way out the exit door, inhaling the fresh air to calm my racing pulse.

Subliminal in one hour , read Ichiro’s message.

This time, I gripped my phone so tight it groaned beneath the pressure. I only had an hour to come up with a plan to outsmart the old man.

It was truly life or death.

Forty minutes later, Aaron’s rumbling growl permeated the air as he paced the length of my penthouse office.

I sat behind my desk, my thoughts murderous.

My grandfather had Rin out there somewhere.

He would use my closest friend against me, torture him without a second thought, knowing it would control me.

Jou writhed and churned inside me, his fury only stoking my own. I wanted nothing more than to charge back into that Council meeting and unleash our combined wrath upon Ichiro. I doubted anyone could stop us. Not with the level of hate boiling our blood.

Except, ripping Ichiro apart in front of the entire High Draconic Council would come with a new set of complications. So instead of letting my thirst for revenge take the reins, I settled for waiting and planning. I clenched and unclenched my jaw and my fists. Hell—my entire body.

Despite our best efforts to keep our search hidden and our identities anonymous, my grandfather had known. The only question of importance now was where he held Rin. Every other answer would have to come later.

Aaron and I had reluctantly come to the conclusion that there wasn’t much we could do without knowing where Rin was or what Ichiro planned for him or me. Until then, I would need a strategy for every possibility.

Knowing my sadistic as fuck grandfather, he would stretch this out. Make me suffer mentally and emotionally before inflicting never-ending physical pain. He would want me to beg for death.

"How did he find out?" Aaron growled.

It was the third time he’d asked since meeting me here, and I knew it was rhetorical. Much to our mutual frustration, neither of us knew the answer.

"The most obvious explanation is that Rin let something slip or did something that caught Ichiro’s attention during the wolf search," Aaron continued as he ceased pacing and returned to his laptop. "We won’t know until we get him back."

And we would get him back. Of that, I was certain. I would burn Ichiro’s world to the ground to save my friend—any of them.

It was unlikely that Ichiro held him in the same lab as before.

Not only was the old man aware we knew about the lab, making it too obvious a location, but he would be paranoid that I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut with the Council.

He wouldn’t risk them finding out about his little operation, even if he planned to place the blame on me. It was too profitable to lose.

The most likely scenario was that the lab was now empty. Everything moved to a new, more secure location. All traces of his involvement erased.

"You know, he may just be egotistical enough to have him at the same lab," Aaron said as if reading my mind. He wasn’t telepathic—it was just one perk of working with your closest friends.

His gaze tracked something on his laptop screen.

"Surveillance footage shows nothing that would indicate a total breakdown and transfer. But look, there’s a truck that backed up to the loading dock last night. "

"What did they unload or load?" I moved behind his chair to peer over his shoulder.

"Unknown. The view’s blocked."

Doubt trickled through me. Maybe we were wrong. The old man had proven cunning enough to stay one step ahead of us. Perhaps he expected us not to bother with the lab for all the reasons I’d considered.

"Only one way to find out." I checked my watch. "But I’m out of time. It’ll take me at least ten minutes to get to Subliminal."

"And then what?"

"Then I find out what he wants from me."

"You’re willing to just give in to his demands?" he asked.

"I didn’t say that, but I’m not willing to risk Rin’s life by not going."

Aaron nodded, his eyes narrowed as he considered the situation. "Did you tell Keiko?"

"No, not until I know more." Whereas I would burn Ichiro’s world down to save Rin, Keiko would obliterate the actual world. There would be no talking sense into her, and there would be no stopping her. Nothing and no one would stand a chance.

I had no issue with Keiko killing Ichiro if it came down to it, but there would be no keeping her secrets safe after that. No, she didn’t need to know. Not yet.

"You go," Aaron said, turning his attention back to the computer. "I’m going to look into some things, see if I can find out where that truck came from before you agree to anything."

"If he knows I’m involved, then he likely knows you are, too."

His smile was feral. "Yes, but I’m harder to catch."

He wasn’t wrong. The Sato family coveted his cat shifter abilities, his stealth unmatched by anyone other than Keiko. I knew he would be okay if they came for him.

"I’ll keep you updated." I gripped his forearm in a brief farewell.

My grandfather had gained the upper hand, which didn’t bode well for my future. But I still had a few bargaining chips left to play.

He squeezed my arm once before letting go. "Whatever comes next, I’ll be ready."