Page 98 of The Dragon 1

“A dragon has fangs.”

I blinked. “Am I supposed to understand what that means?”

“You’re supposed to not concern yourself with those things.”

“I’m a writer. We want to know everything.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What does it mean to be one of your Fangs?”

“A Fang does what needs to be done. Quietly.”

My skin prickled. “You say that like it should make perfect sense.”

Silent, he simply reached for his cup of sake and took a long sip.

I tilted my head. “Is Yoichi one of your Fangs?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw.

“And Kaoru?”

That did it.

His entire expression changed—subtle, but unmistakable. It was in the slight narrowing of his eyes and the flicker of sharp anger passing through his features.

He set the cup down. “You know their names?”

Shit.

I tensed. “Was I not supposed to?”

Kenji didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his head slightly, glancing past my shoulder and toward the trees.

I followed his gaze.

Farther back, under the pink glow of lantern light, the two men who had stood there silently for most of the night—one lean and with long pink hair, the other broader with a shaved head and black gloves.

Under his scowl, they didn’t move much. Just a small step to the left, a hand falling naturally to a belt, a shoulder rotating. But I could feel the tension ripple through the garden like a dropped stone in still water.

Kenji turned back to me. “Yes, those two are my Fangs too.”

“You seem mad about something. Did I say something disrespectful?”

“No. I’ll just need to talk with them later.”

“Why?”

His voice came out calm though threaded with warning. “If you know their names, then they spoke to you. My Fangs are not to speak toyou.”

“Why not?”

“Because. . .from the moment you stepped into my office, I decided that I am going to be completely possessive of you.”

My heart thudded so hard it almost knocked the sake cup from my hand.

“That’s. . .” I cleared my throat. “Intense.”