Stone-Cold Fox (Black Dog) Read online

  I plucked at my shirt. “I feel more like the troll from under the bridge.”

  “This is Shinji.” Katsuo nudged him aside. “Shinji, this is Mai.”

  “Mai, oh Mai.” His laugh was infectious. “I’ve heard so much about you.” I kept my smile in place, and Shinji saw through it. “It’s all right. I don’t expect to hear the same. Most folks lie when they parrot it back anyway.”

  “Shinji…” Katsuo warned.

  “I’m Katsuo’s husband,” he announced with no small amount of pride.

  My eyes peeled open wide. Katsuo is mated?

  “See?” Katsuo flung his arm toward me. “That’s the reaction I was hoping to avoid.”

  “The reaction where I’m shocked that you’re mated and you didn’t say a word?” Anger at the way he held himself, waiting for condemnation, burned in my chest. Did he really think so little of me? “I know things have been tense, what with your brother holding me prisoner and all, but you couldn’t mention you were mated? I might have wanted to congratulate you, you know.”

  “You wouldn’t have congratulated me.” Katsuo sounded resigned. “You would have pulled another Houdini, located Shinji, and then used him as leverage to force me into helping you escape.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Family was weakness. Lovers were weakness. Friends were too. I had used Gen, and I would have used Shinji too.

  “He worried you would judge him,” Shinji interjected helpfully. “He’s been beside himself since Ryuu got it into his head to bring you here.”

  “People are responsible for their own happiness. I’m glad Katsuo found his with you.” I faced the veteran cosplayer with a nostalgic grin. “Besides, after you’ve attended some of the cons we have and seen some of the things we’ve seen, you learn not to judge. You just roll with it.” I shrugged. “Diversity is a beautiful thing. The only beef I have with Katsuo is that he went along with Ryuu’s boneheaded scheme in the first place.”

  Shinji set his hand on Katsuo’s arm. “He did what he had to do, for all of us.”

  “I’m beginning to understand that,” I said on an exhale.

  “We’ll leave you to your bath.” Katsuo pointed out the towels and soaps. This room had no rugs. It was carpeted with grass, and it felt delicious tickling my bare toes. “Call if you need anything. We won’t be far.”

  He took his husband by the arm and hauled him through the flap with a tolerant expression in place. Shinji wiggled his fingers and allowed himself to be removed even though questions burned in his eyes. No doubt he wanted the scoop on Katsuo as a kid. I wondered if that meant Shinji hadn’t been told that, according to the brothers Tanabe, there was a hole wide enough you could drive a semi through my memory.

  Knowing the intensity of the scrutiny I would be placed under the following day, I took my time bathing and washing my hair. The Tanabes had gone about their crusade all wrong—I had no sympathy for their methods—but I couldn’t deny there was merit to their claim. Put my family in their place and I would have made the same choices as Ryuu. There was right and wrong, and then there was family. We all committed sins in the name of love.

  I sank deeper into the water and probed my memory for fragments of Ryuu’s story, but all I got for my trouble was a headache. Parts of my past I hadn’t reflected on in years made no sense when I lined up the clear bits in my head. Did that mean, as Ryuu’s contact had said, that the loss of my best friend had shocked me into amnesia? Or had I been helped to forget key moments of our shared past?

  One way or the other, I supposed I would find out tomorrow.

  Chapter 8

  “It’s almost time.” Thierry peered through the clear plastic window behind the cot where I had spent the night. This room was much larger and far emptier than Ryuu’s bedroom, so I assumed it had served as his parents’ quarters originally. “Are you ready for this?”

  “No.” I finished brushing my hair and placed the brush in a pocket sewn into the wall. “I’m scared, Tee. What if Ryuu is telling the truth?”

  She crossed to me and slung her arm around my shoulders. “Then we deal with it.”

  I basked in her sense of calm, but it drained out of me just as fast. My gut twisted at the thought of confronting my father. I wanted him to be honest with me about as much as I didn’t want to hear the truth from him. Ever. “What do you think?”

  “I think I’ll support whatever decision you make.”

  I groaned and rested my head on her shoulder. “That’s not helpful.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “The suckiest part about making the hard decisions is it’s a one-woman job.”

  A throat cleared, and we both turned to find Katsuo watching us.

  “Itsuo has arrived.” He swept the fabric aside and gestured us into the living area. “He brings word from your father. He’s willing to meet with you at Jose’s.”

  Thierry pulled back to look at me. “How does your dad even know about Jose’s?”

  “He can read.” I spotted Ryuu and forgot what I was saying.

  “What’s your point?” A scowl twisted up her features. “Are you telling me he’s monitoring your debit card withdrawals again?”

  Her gaze skated toward Ryuu, and something tightened in my chest. Thierry was my best friend. She was mated. But she was appreciating how Ryuu’s faded jeans cupped the ass I knew was marked by a birthmark that resembled a daisy with asymmetrical petals, and I couldn’t fight down the gruff edge in my voice. “He’s seen the carryout boxes. In the fridge, on the table, that one time in my bathroom.”

  Don’t ask.

  Hearing the change in my tone, Thierry nudged me with her elbow. “I see how it is.”

  “You’re mated to an incubus.” I snorted. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “It’s not my fault if women randomly punch themselves in the face if they stare at him for too long.” Her smile could have sliced a watermelon into quarters and then stabbed each of its seeds through the eye. “It’s the darnedest thing, right? It’s almost like his lure’s gone sour. Lucky for them, they seem to get instant immunity after the one time.”

  An incubus’s lure, an intoxicating scent that rose from their skin, drove women to throw themselves at him. Shaw didn’t have to use his to turn heads, though. The guy was total eye candy, not that I would ever admit as much to Tee. I preferred my vital organs to stay in their original packaging.

  “Are you ready to go?” Ryuu tugged at the neck of his light sweater. The style was something an older man might wear. Say, his father. I didn’t comment on the dated look, because he cut a fine figure in everything he wore. I just walked up, tucked the ends of his dress shirt’s collar into the neck of the knit material, and said, “Yes.”

  “I’ll change and follow.” Thierry raised her voice to ensure our small party heard her. “If you see a black dog, leave it be. Don’t hurt it, follow it or try to pet it, if you value your fingers.”

  Ryuu angled his head. “I thought only your father…?”

  Not about to give up her secrets, she winked at him. “Don’t feel bad. Dad is good at making people think what he wants them to. It’s a talent honed during the thousands of years he’s lived.”

  Her father was the Black Dog of Faerie, one of the most powerful fae in existence, and Thierry was very much her father’s daughter. The less people knew about her powers, the safer she would be. She was family as far as I was concerned, and Ryuu’s abduction racket was mild compared to what I would do to protect her.

  “Keep anything you hear or see under your hat,” I warned the brothers. “Old friends or not, no one messes with Thierry. Understand?”

  The brothers nodded in sync, and Thierry pinched my cheek. “She’s so cute when she’s threatening violence on my behalf.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Katsuo ruffled his hair. “Cute.”

  The would-be reynard continued regarding Thierry with a straight face. Reading him was difficult, but I think he was weighing the cost versus reward of growing close to me when she
was part of the package. Dealing with us was very much like reaching to pet a fluffy bunny only to have a rattlesnake strike your hand instead.

  Thierry left us to slip into something more furry, and the brothers chose a few others to join us in addition to Itsuo and the men he had left to guard me overnight.

  Though I hadn’t seen or heard a vehicle during my time as a guest of the Tanabe skulk, the same silver pickup waited for us in the middle of a field beyond the one where the tents had been staked. The men climbed in the back. Ryuu sat behind the wheel, I scooched across the bench seat to the middle, and Katsuo took the spot to my right.

  According to the first road sign I spotted once our tires hit asphalt, I had been squirreled away in the small town of Talpa, Texas. The ride to Jose’s, all the way back home in Wink, lasted exactly forever. Or maybe it was closer to four hours. Once in a while I glimpsed a great black hound darting through the trees, keeping pace with the truck. We didn’t hear a peep from the kitsunes sitting behind us. They had seen the beast too, and none of them knew what it meant aside from being a grim omen.

  I might have felt the same way too if I hadn’t once seen Thierry don the skin of a hound in order to run across town to reach the local pizza joint before it closed. Of course, she’d had to beg a ride home after, but at least we got out of cooking. Since then her hound shape and I had bonded. I could respect a beast with a love for Canadian bacon.

  Lost in thought, I almost missed the familiar turn that dipped into a massive pothole that had been on Jose’s to-do list for as long as Thierry and I had been dining there. I braced on the dash, but the guys bounced on the seat, and Ryuu thumped his head on the roof of the cab. They aimed matching glares on me.

  “Sorry,” I tossed out as an afterthought.

  They grunted in unison.

  The sight of a glossy, black town car set my pulse fluttering. “That’s Dad’s car.”

  “You don’t say.” Ryuu swept his gaze over the other beat-up pickups and dusty sedans sitting in the parking lot. “We couldn’t tell.”

  My fingers itched to thump his ear, but I could be mature and take my lumps. Right?

  Katsuo squeezed my thigh. “There’s no shame in coming from money.”

  Ryuu’s mouth opened. Katsuo shook his head hard once. Ryuu’s mouth closed.

  Hmm. Katsuo must have learned relationship crisis management from being mated himself.

  “There’s nothing wrong with earning your own way, either,” I told them. “Dad started with nothing, and look where he is now.”

  Considering we were here to discuss possible brainwashing and tampering with fate, it was maybe not the best comparison I could have made.

  Another squeeze and Katsuo exited the truck. I scooted toward him and stepped onto the cracked pavement. The lean black dog padding up the sidewalk looked both ways at the crosswalk and then trotted across the road to join us. The kitsunes all took a generous step back. The dog snapped her teeth to make them jump then chuffed with doggy laughter under her breath.

  “Be nice.” I leaned back inside the truck. “I don’t see any old newspapers in here, but there are plenty of menus inside. I’ll roll one up and thump your nose. You know I will.”

  Her hackles lifted, and a growl poured from her throat.

  “Remember.” I tapped the end of her wet nose. “Nice.”

  A step to the left put her right in front of me. She reared up on her hind legs and draped her paws over my shoulders. Pressing her chest to mine, she rubbed up and down a few times before I managed to shove her off me. Black fur speckled my light blue top. So much for making a good impression on Dad.

  The hound pranced around the corner and out of sight, thick tail swishing. “Bad dog,” I yelled after her retreating back.

  “Does that mean she doesn’t approve of this meeting?” Katsuo asked.

  “No.” I gave up on plucking off all the hairs and headed for the door. “All that means is she’s a big, furry pain in the tail.”

  Chapter 9

  A slender Japanese man with gray streaking past his temples sat in a booth positioned near the emergency exit. His black suit was crisp, his nails manicured and his expression placid as he read from a small book of poems. Two hulking men stood behind him, each positioned at one shoulder. Their arms brushed, forming an impenetrable wall of muscle.

  I shook out my hands, set my shoulders back and approached the booth. The bodyguards ignored me, their dark gazes fastening on Ryuu and then Katsuo. The other kitsunes eased into empty booths and left us to our meeting. When I stopped beside my dad, he waited until finishing the page he had been reading before he marked the spot with a scrap of silk and tucked the book into an inner jacket pocket.

  “Mai.” His glacial voice, the one he used for business associates who had fallen from grace, carried. “You look well.”

  Knocked off my game by his cool greeting, I had to work at finding an appropriate response. “We need to talk.”

  “Sit.” Dad indicated the bench opposite him. “We will order what passes as food here, and then we will discuss your intentions.”

  I slid across the seat, and Ryuu sat beside me, far enough away we didn’t touch. Katsuo took position behind us, mirroring Dad’s guards.

  “I’m not hungry, Mr. Hayashi,” he said in an equally frosty voice. “I doubt you are, either.”

  “I sought only to observe the rules of hospitality.” A motion too slight to be a shrug twitched in his shoulder. “I suppose, given how we came to be here, expecting you to show any respect for tradition or for your elders was foolish of me. I see now you have lost what few redeeming qualities you once possessed.” He stared down his nose. “Your parents must be ashamed. They have my sympathies.”

  “Our parents are dead,” Katsuo snapped. “Thanks to you.”

  A flicker of emotion brightened Dad’s eyes before he blinked away the show of weakness.

  “Katsuo,” Ryuu warned. “We’re going to keep this discussion civil.”

  “Dad,” I interjected. “Ryuu isn’t here to defend himself or his actions.” I kicked Ryuu under the table. “His intentions might be admirable, but the way he went about achieving his goals was not.” His glower bored through my ear. “The fact remains that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding our acquaintance, he has shared information that disturbs me.”

  “I can imagine what he has told you.” Mottled red splotches began creeping up Dad’s neck. “There is a reason why his family was expelled from the Hayashi skulk.”

  “You told me they chose to leave,” I said in a small voice, dread rising. If he had lied about that so casually, what other secrets was he keeping?

  “You were a child. You were hurt by the loss of your…friends.” He smoothed a hand down the front of his shirt. “There was no reason to burden you with facts that would have only caused you pain.”

  I nodded once. “So you lied to me.”

  His hand clenched into a fist before disappearing beneath the table. “I did what any father would have done to protect a beloved daughter.”

  “What—?” I cleared my throat and tried again. “What were you protecting me from?”

  A short huff of indignant laughter. “He schemed to claim you as his mate.”

  Having listened to one version of this story, I owed it to myself to hear the other. “The only way he could have claimed me was if I tested him and he passed.”

  “That would have been the proper thing to do, once you were of age, but no.” The red crept higher up his neck. “There are other, less delicate means of claiming a mate.”

  A bitter taste clogged my throat. “You’re implying that Ryuu forced himself on me.”

  “His brother invited you into their house, and Ryuu lured you up to his bedroom. Luckily, another skulk member witnessed the inappropriate behavior and took action.” The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. “The boy ran for help. He found your mother in the garden, and she called for me. We retrieved you before any irrepar
able damage could be done.”

  Fury radiated off Ryuu, and the muscles in his neck strained. I squeezed his thigh to quiet him. I wanted Dad to tell me everything before Ryuu attacked and they tore into one another. If I let it go that far this fast, I would lose all hope of piecing together what really happened.

  “That’s why you exiled the Tanabe family?” On the surface, it made sense. If Ryuu had taken liberties with me, when I was twelve or any other age, Dad would have excised the Tanabes to prevent potential unrest should loyalties be torn between the two oldest families in the skulk. “Ryuu attempted to force himself on me, and you removed the threat?”

  His nod was decisive. “Yes.”

  “Why don’t I remember any of this?” I braced my forearms on the tabletop and leaned forward. “I had no idea who he was until he told me. Why is that?”

  “You were traumatized by his betrayal.” Dad showed the first hint of unease by shifting almost imperceptibly in his seat. “Your mother and I decided it would be best if you didn’t remember him—or that day.” His resolve wavered. “We asked a friend, a talented witch, to remove the memories before they damaged you.”

  Anger curled my fingers into claws that pierced my arms. I had no problem imagining the events of that day unfurling exactly how he described. If Dad had decided a course of action was best for me, he would have seen it through. Mom wouldn’t have fought him. She hadn’t been raised that way. For that matter, neither had I. The blind obedience she and Grandmother had labored to instill hadn’t stuck with me. Even if either of them had disagreed with Dad’s decision, they would have bowed their heads and allowed him to rule as he saw fit.

  “Were you ever going to tell me?” I scented blood and forced my claws to retract.

  “No.” Finality rang through the word. “It would have only upset you, which would have undermined the lengths we went to protect you in the first place.”

  While I sat there, numbed by his admission of magically lobotomizing me, the tenuous grip I had on Ryuu snapped.