Page 61 of Witchwolf

The last few days played on fast forward through my mind as the air seemed to go out of the room, and Jax swayed and stumbled to his knees beside me.

Your smile... it reminds me so much of my uncle’s.

His wife and baby—one day, they were all there and—and so lovely. And in one night, they were?—

We’re lucky Jiro was ready to step into such a significant role.

Little lost cousin.

“Cat got your tongue, Dakota?” Igarashi Jiro asked me, the smile never faltering on his face. “Or should I call you Kosuke?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I knew, but still, I asked. What else could I do?

Casually, he leaned against the wall near the elevator bank, arms crossed over his chest. “Now cousin, you won’t convince me any Igarashi is that stupid. Even little Minori knows, even if she doesn’t want to.”

“You’re wrong. Your sister has no idea. She told me your uncle died in a car accident.” I edged slightly in front of Jax, like I needed to protect him from this man. This smiling creature whom I was almost certain was saying that he’d... that he’d killed my parents.

Kosuke? Was that the name I’d been born to? Odd. I’d always thought if there was such a thing, it would fit me like a glove, feel like something long lost and retrieved, that was an intrinsic part of me.

It didn’t.

Jax had only ever called me Dakota. It was the name I’d made my own, in a way.

Jiro cocked his head, considering, then shook it, as though it was incomprehensible that his sister thought him anything but a monster. “No. She’s not that naive. Not when Father died so soon after them.” He made a face, for the first time annoyed. “He found out I killed your father, and the fool was going to turn me in. Me, his own son. So I just pushed him out of the way too.”

“Murdered him, you mean,” I corrected. “You wanted control of your family business, so you murdered your uncle and his wife, and then your own father, all for standing in the way of your sick ambition.”

He waved a hand airily, as though none of that mattered. “Whatever you want to call it. I was the right man for the job. The most loyal son. The cleverest. I was the one whodeservedthis.”

For a moment, all I could do was stare, openmouthed. Loyal? The man had murdered multiple members of his family, murderedhis own father, and he called himself the most loyal?

“Loyal to who?” I shook my head. In a second, I created it all in my mind, what my life might have been like if he hadn’t been a monster. I might have grown up in Japan. With parents, who maybe loved me. Fuck, I might be the one negotiating with Crescent right now. “No. You’re not loyal. You’re a traitor. You murdered your own father. There’s no loyalty in that. No honor. You’re a monster.”

He scoffed, turning his face away, but something tightened in his shoulders, a coiled serpent wanting to strike out at a threat. “Don’t be a child. The only thing that matters is who the winner is, not how you win.” He motioned to Jax, who had reached up to grab the back of my leg, breathing hard and looking fucking terrified. “Besides, you’re one to talk about honor. You’re fucking a mutt. You wereAwakenedby fucking a mutt. It’s a wonder there’s even any magic in you, after such a pitiful thing. If your parents were alive, they would be ashamed.”

The words stabbed like a knife to the gut. I had never known my parents, but he had. Maybe he was right. Maybe they would have been ashamed of me. Maybe they... maybe they had been the kind of assholes who thought Jax was a lesser being just because he was made of magic rather than able to manipulate it.

If they were, did I give a single fuck about their opinion?

“If my parents were alive, I think they’d be a little more concerned about their murdering traitor of a nephew,” I said to him, trying to inject the same sneer into my voice that he was aiming at Jax. That was when it hit me, why he was there, and how he knew so much. “Donnie works for you. The asshole has spent the last five years trying to keep me from having sex.”

Jiro grinned at that. “He said it was easy. That you were awkward and pitiful, and all he had to do was imply he was willing, and every man ignored you in favor of him. All he had to do was show up.”

That, funnily enough, mattered so much less than the rest. Jax had chosen me. Had wanted me. Hadn’t paid any more attention to Donnie than a little light distaste. Any man who’d traded my interest for sex with Donnie hadn’t been worth my affection anyway.

“Oh fuck you,” I said—almost snarled—at him. “Just leave, you piece of human excrement. I’m not playing your game anymore, and neither is Crescent. I doubt they want any part of a company run by a man who murdered half his own family.”

His smile went sharp, then, and he shook his head. “Oh no. No little mongrel is going to come between me and what’s rightfully mine.” I stepped completely in front of Jax, shielding him from view, and for some reason, that made the asshole laugh. “Not your pet dog, little cousin. You. You’re alive. You’ve been Awakened, if only barely. You’re aware of your heritage. You could take my company away from me. I won’t allow that.”

“What, and I’m a mongrel just because I have sex with a werewolf? You’re pathetic, you and your fucking nonsense bigotry. I don’t even want Igarashi. I’m not interested. Iamgoing to tell everyone you murdered your own family, though. I wonder what they’ll think of that.”

“Oh, but you’re not,” he said with a smile, uncrossing his arms. “No, you’re not going to tell anyone anything at all.”

32

Jax

Each breath squeaked down my throat. Every part of me was tight and heavy, like the gravity in the room had been turned up to eleven, and I couldn’t move.

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