| |
The pilot and I were the only ones awake by the time we landed, swooping in on a helipad on the roof of a mansion that made Gunner’s city abode look like a run-down row house by comparison. Snow gusted away from the raised surface as we descended, but it was only a dusting. As if the vast blanket that had hindered our footsteps during our rush away from clan central had avoided this location...or as if Sakurako had another dozen minions on call just to sweep her roof clear.
The latter appeared to be the truth of the matter, because two additional specimens of perfect manhood came out to greet us as the helicopter rotors slowed from a roaring storm into a gentle breeze. The pair didn’t even glance in my direction as they assisted Sakurako in descending, the robe that had been waiting for her in the chopper sweeping out behind them all like a bride’s train.
Kira followed, eyes wide as she took in the lighted facade of the building, heated fountains flowing through zones of red and blue amid the snow below. “Wow,” she breathed, spinning a circle so her own robe floated around her like a princess’s, a few final snowflakes landing jewel-like in her hair.
Which meant I was the only one estimating the width of the windows while stiffly unfolding myself from the position in which I’d waited out the journey. How deep was the snow? How far away was the road? Would the wrought-iron fence surrounding this residence keep enemy werewolves at bay?
“Three miles.” Yuki’s voice drew me out of the helicopter before Kira could follow our grandmother inside the mansion. His hand was strong as he helped me down onto the helipad, and I appreciated the support after a day that still stretched before me with no obvious conclusion in sight.
“Three miles?” I repeated, trying to make sense of the observation as I released his hand a little more quickly than I’d intended to. The memory of Gunner’s pain made it difficult to touch another man.
“Three miles to the nearest roadway, and even that is gated and completely covered with snow at the moment. We’re safe here, Mai-san. But you can bunk with me if it will help you sleep soundly tonight.”
I glanced backwards at Yuki rather than taking in the opulence as we passed through the doorway, me leading and him hovering not far behind. If he was insinuating what I thought he was insinuating, perhaps Soba’s attendants weren’t my cousins after all....
We trailed the rest of the party down a circular staircase in the center of a tremendous, four-story atrium. There was more to look at here than there had been outside the residence, chandeliers and vast, shiny tables and vases large enough I could have stepped inside. Still, my attention was riveted on Yuki, trying to figure out how to reject his offer without coming across as irredeemably rude.
“Prepare our guests a chamber.” My grandmother was the one who saved me from answering, sending Yuki away on an errand that even I knew had already been completed. He didn’t complain, though. Merely bowed and left us even as Sakurako pulled me into a corner where I could keep an eye on Kira without worrying that anyone might overhear our words.
“Sobo, thank you for your hospitality,” I started. But the high-handed kitsune shushed me in her usual manner, speaking over me without waiting for a lull.
“It’s best not to play favorites, granddaughter. At least in the beginning. Later, once they all have a chance of being the father, it’s easier to keep them at heel.”
A chance of being the father? I must have twitched because Sakurako sighed, and for the first time looked the tiniest bit tired. “Sleep with Kira tonight if you’re cold. That’s all I ask from you.”
That suggestion, at least, I could comply with. Well, except for the sleeping part. Because after Kira and Curly snuggled up together on the tremendous, canopied bed in their fur forms, I used the last gasp of my energy to materialize my star ball into its familiar sword shape. Then I sank down to the floor to listen for intruders while staring at Curly’s side as it rose and fell with his breath.
He was just as cute as ever, but all I saw was a potential source of blood. Because the last of Edward’s fluids had been lost on snowy leaf litter, so this tiny werewolf was my only remaining avenue to discover whether my partner had survived his ill-matched fight.
But I wasn’t about to steal energy from a toddler, no matter whether both he and his mother had given overt approval of that course of action. So, laying my sword across my lap, I settled in to wait.
***
I MUST HAVE ENDED UP sleeping after all. Because when I woke, it was to Sakurako’s crinkled fingers shaking me back to life.
“Granddaughter, walk with me.”
Sunlight streamed through the windows so brilliantly I was pretty sure it was once again closer to lunch than to breakfast. And I considered waking Kira and Curly so I wouldn’t have to let them out of my sight.
But Sakurako raised one eyebrow, reminding me of her promise. And I reluctantly admitted that her kitsune nature would force her to stick to her word.
So I nodded, following Sakurako past two males guarding the outside of my doorway. Then we traveled at a pace that should have been beyond such an elderly lady as we strode rapidly down the hall.
At first, I thought this was going to be another information-gathering session where my grandmother’s stubbornness exceeded my ability to batter through it. But she only waited until we were beyond the range of Kira’s hearing before she began filling me in.
“This is one of several properties our lineage manages,” Sakurako told me, waving her hand at the expanse of snow-covered forest we could see through the long line of windows we were currently walking past. “There are four lineages left, ten kitsunes in the entire world that we know of.” She paused, corrected herself. “No. With you and your sister, that total comes to twelve.”
So few. The weight in my stomach was nothing compared to what settled there when I thought of Gunner—of Gunner who had to have survived the previous night. Still, it was significant that Kira and I each made up eight percent of the total world kitsune population. And it also explained the males who fawned over Sakurako...and the one who had already started fawning over me.
“That’s why you wanted us to join you,” I suggested. “To carry on that lineage. With, what, a harem of males to ensure we reproduce in a timely manner?”
“We call them an honor guard. They are chosen as much for their skills as for their genetics. But, yes, your statement is correct factually. The important point, however....”
I wasn’t fated to learn what the important point was, unfortunately. Because Sakurako stepped closer to the glass expanse rather than finishing her explanation. And when I leaned sideways to see around her, my attention was captivated just as hers had been.
Outside, the snow was waist high with no plowed pathway to enable a vehicle to drive through it. According to Yuki, the road lay three miles distant with a gate blocking the way. And yet, a gray animal bounded through the drifts toward us, tail and ears iced over but the beast most definitively a wolf.