CH326

CH325
Ryuu

I wanted to say something to her, to hear her voice, but what I wanted to say, what I wanted her to say or do was lost to me. She just clutched at the fabric of my jacket, the tablecloth she'd pulled around herself, knuckles white. She was staring at nothing, her gaze distant, unfocused. Not a word. Not a sound.
Beneath the pond water, blood and dirt, the scent of perfumed bathwater clung to her—something delicate, sweet and floral, completely at odds with her. It didn’t belong on her skin. It clashed with her natural scent. The contrast was irritating, but it had to have been borrowed either from Nami, Adele, or one of the whores who worked for Yuma.
I kept my eyes on her the entire ride, watching the slow, shallow rise and fall of her chest. Too pale. Too still. The blood loss was getting to her and the adrenaline was petering out, drawing her down into the exhaustion she probably didn't even register.
"Ren?"
She didn't blink. Her breaths were shallow, uneven, her eyes remained distant.
"Ren?"
Nothing. I cursed and felt the car accelerate without me having to tell him. The car moved, slicing through the night like a blade. I sat stiffly, my fingers flexing against my knee. Ren didn’t move.
When we pulled up to the hospital, I opened the door before the car had fully stopped. The emergency staff rushed forward the moment the door was opened. I rounded the car quickly and pulled the door on Ren's side wider, and they moved quickly, lifting her from the seat.
She let out a frightened sound, flinching, pulling back, but I stepped into her line of vision. The tension in her seemed to ease. She didn’t fight them and her eyes never left me. I followed, my presence alone clearing the path as they wheeled her inside.
The smell of antiseptic hit me the moment we stepped through the doors, the bright hospital lights casting everything in a stark, clinical glow.
“Gunshot wound, blood loss, possible fractures,” the lead doctor, a woman I recognized, said. "She's been through the ringer. Pull up whatever you can on her."
I kept pace with the emergency staff as they fired questions at one another, checking her vitals, calling for transfusions, and assessing the damage.
A nurse hesitated before barring my way at the double doors leading to the treatment rooms.
“You’ll have to wait here,” she said, voice steady despite the wary flicker in her eyes.
Ren let out another frightened sound. I could tell she had lost track of me. I looked behind her and clenched my jaw.
She wasn’t wrong. Hovering over them wouldn’t do any good.
"I will leave after you sedate her."
She frowned and was about to scream when Ren screamed. The doctors tried to calm her down, but she wasn't listening. She likely couldn't see or hear them. I pushed the door open.
"Ren."
She was halfway off the bed, struggling against one of the male doctors, teeth bared like a wild, frightened animal.
"Let them take care of you."
Her eyes focused on me. She blinked and blinked again, but they got her back in bed. Fear glowed out from within them, then just a flicker of light like the flames of a pyre filled her eyes. She closed her eyes and one of the doctors injected her with a sedative. A few moments later, she melted back into the blankets and I withdrew, letting the doors close. I exhaled sharply and stepped back. I stood there for a long moment, staring at the closed doors, listening to the low murmur of the doctors speaking.
Then, slowly, I turned away, pulling out my phone.
There were orders to be given. Reparations still to be collected. And a war to settle before anyone dared to lay a hand on Ren again.

Hotaru
Utter humiliation.
It was enough to make me sick, listening to the cries of pain, watching Ryuu's men carry on with their orders, surveying the place. I glanced over at Morgan's father drank nervously and had to wonder what hand had to play in all of this.
Adele looked horrified. Nami was still unconscious, the bruising on her face was getting uglier by the second, and the cold wing of the mountains only made the chill settling in my bones grow colder.
The only thing warm was the slowly growing spot of blood on my leg where Ren had shot me. Had my gun been any more powerful, or her any steadier, or me any slower to react, she would have likely taken my life. My leg screamed with pain, while Ryuu’s men loomed over me like executioners waiting for their orders. The rough bandage they’d thrown over the wound was an insult—just enough to keep me from bleeding out too quickly. My pride burned worse than the gunshot.
That bastard Ryuu had humiliated me in my own city, my own house had been taken what was mine, and now he thought he could walk away without consequence.
I clenched my jaw, fingers twitching with the urge to reach for a gun—except my own men had already been disarmed. The guards still standing weren’t mine. They were Ryuu’s, and they were holding the entire room part, separating us like livestock, taking away every weapon, every ounce of power we had left.
No one fought. No one spoke out of turn. Even Nara was silent, his usual smugness gone.
All of this was caused by one girl. I thought back to her standing by the door, shoulder bleeding, bruised, battered, glaring at me with that fire in her eyes, holding the gun confidently if untutored. The look in her eyes said she had planned to kill me, that she would lose no sleep about it, that she was prepared to. A shiver of desire went through me.
There was no way I was going to allow her to slip through my fingers, not when I had only just gotten a taste.
Besides, Ren was more than just my next wife. She was the key to pushing back against the dragons once and for all.
Sano’s phone rang, and every breath in the room hitched. He pulled it from his pocket, glanced at the screen, then slowly put it on speaker.
“Boss,” he said.
Ryuu’s voice filled the space, smooth, calm, and brimming with quiet malice. The sound of it grated my nerves. The bastard always sounded fucking cocky.
"I trust they're behaving."
"I haven't had a chance to set anyone on fire, though I did consider cauterizing a few wounds."
Ryuu chuckled. "Hold back that urge. Here are the orders. Strip everyone in attendance of any valuables they have, call it a penalty for being cold hearted, scum of the earth. The whores Yuma hired can keep their payments for the night. My order on resistance stands. Anyone not directly involved what has happened with Ms. Black is free to gather their clothes and leave. If any of them are Ryuyama citizens, take note of them. They are to be extradited from the city by the end of the week. I don't abide traitors."