CH331

CH330
Ryuu  
Ren won... both times, and we played a third time just for kicks, but she won then, too. I felt no sting about it. I never claimed to be good at chess, I simply knew how to play. I was much better at card, but I left her dozing off with a bodyguard watching over her room and the jacket I had worn there to cuddle with before heading to meet my brothers.  
The steakhouse Sano had chosen smelled like fire and blood—just the way I liked it. Kaito was still wearing his school uniform, and Yusuke grinned as I approached them in the foyer.  
“Surprised you could tear yourself away.” 
“Shut it.” 
I took Kaito’s hand and led him through the restaurant. They took their usual seats, and I collapsed into the booth across from Sano with Kaito on my side, tucked between me and the wall of the booth, hunger gnawed at me like something primal. I needed protein. Fat. Salt. The aftermath of that night had stretched me thin, and it hadn’t let up, no matter how much I’d been eating since then. Shifting always left me hungry for several days, but this was different. Something had changed in me since then. My body was demanding more than I could feed it. Hopefully, devouring most of the meat on offer at this place would help. And that I wouldn’t have to shift again anytime soon.   
The waitress barely had time to drop menus before I was already calling for three of the largest ribeyes they had, rare, with a side of everything that had meat or some other form of protein in it.  
Sano raised an eyebrow. “So…hospital food not cutting it anymore?”  
I let out a huff of a laugh. “Hospital food isn’t fit for anyone with taste buds. Don’t be ridiculous.”  
Kaito swung his feet, looking up at me. “You look happier than usual.” He wrinkled his nose. “You’re not starting to like Morgan, are you?” 
I grimaced at that. “No chance of that ever happening, little one.” 
“Oh, then it’s that nice waitress at Auntie Haruka’s, right?” 
Yusuke and Sano looked at me, waiting. I didn’t answer. The waiter came back with one of the steaks, stating that they were firing the others. She set down the appetizers we’d ordered, along with little bowls of herb butter. I dumped one of them onto my steak with thanks and cut into it. Juices pooled onto the plate, and the scent made my stomach growl.  
I was halfway through the steak when I finally breathed a sigh of relief and had the clarity to say something.  
“I am watching over her recovery, and she is... interesting.” 
“Interesting?” 
I nodded. “She asked about the bracelet.”  
Yusuke stilled, fork halfway to his mouth. “Ren?”  
I nodded.  
“She asked if I made it myself.”  
That quieted the table. We weren’t sentimental people—not outwardly. But there were things we didn’t talk about unless it mattered.  
“That bracelet’s older than your last three safehouses combined,” Yusuke muttered.  
“Does she want to come to the next craft party?” Kaito asked. “My school is going to throw another one.” 
“She can have my spot,” Sano said, sticking his tongue out at Kaito. 
Kaito stuck his tongue out. “Joke's on you, it’s for sisters!” 
Yusuke smirked and looked at me. “The one you usually take Ara to?” 
Kaito nodded. He looked up at me. “I’m never taking Morgan, but I think she’ll be more angry if I take Ms. Ren. Will you ask her?” 
Yusuke snickered. Sano grinned. “That’s my vicious little brother for you.” 
I shook my head. “I will... consider asking her, but she and I are not... together.” 
That felt like a lie or not quite true, but I tried not to think about it too much.  
“Not yet, right?” Kaito asked. “What’s taking so long?” 
“Kai---” 
Yusuke and Sano snickered.  
“You’re always there, and you like her. Why don’t you ask her out?” He pouted. “Is it because of Morgan? Because I could ask Ara to deal with her.” 
“She’d do it gladly,” Yusuke said, barely keeping a smile at bay. “But something tells me that given time to heal, Ren could handle her all on her own.” 
“Might not even need the time to heal, just give her a thermos and room.” 
I snorted at that. Kaito leaned closer, lowering his voice.  
“Are you shy Ryuu? You need help? I'm sure Ara would help.” 
Yusuke and Sano burst into laughter. I glowered at them both, giving Kaito another of serving of beef medallions since he preferred them to the lamb ones and never remembered which ones were which.  
“You’re the best brother I have, but no. I don’t need help.” 
A soft voice drifted towards us. I felt Mai reach the table before I saw or smelled her. I looked up at her as she smiled. 
“I thought I saw my favorite people come in. What’s so funny?” She cocked an eyebrow. “I haven’t seen them laugh so much in quite some time... nor you so at peace.” 
“Kaito’s going to ask Ara to give Ryuu dating advice.” 
Mai’s lips twitched. “A new love interest? Have you finally taken off the kid gloves and offed Lady Morgan?” 
I shook my head. Mai was the owner. Her family was related to Haruka’s in some way that I couldn’t remember, but we were basically cousins in all the ways that mattered. She was older than she looked, as she always had that timeless, elegant look about her, and she was older than I.  
She was also Ara’s best friend and equally troublesome. She leaned against the booth beside me, sliding a trio of warmed sake on the table along with a pitcher of punch for Kaito.  
“I’ve heard a few things about the week you’ve had and figured I should be preemptive and ensure you don’t start a war in my restaurant,” she said with a smirk.  
“I had no plans to,” I said. “You make the best steak in the city.”  
Her eyes flicked to the bracelet on my wrist, my plate, then back to my face, seeing something that I didn’t think was possible the way she always did. 
“You look like a man being haunted.”  
“I feel like a man being haunted.” I shook my head. “But by what and who I have no idea.”  
Mai tilted her head. “Have you ever heard the idea that we’ve all lived other lives? That souls run in circles? Sometimes we find each other again, even if we don’t know why.”  
My throat tightened. Her words shouldn’t have hit me the way they did, but they did. They felt true in that quiet, instinctive way you only get when a thing lives in your bones. It rattled me to the core, pushing at something at the back of my mind. I could almost hear another voice there, urging me to... do something but I wasn’t sure what. 
“Maybe she remembers you,” she added, eyes gentle now. “From one of those lives. And you her...”  
I didn’t reply. Couldn’t.  
Because right then, as I started in on another piece of steak and my stomach rumbling still, I saw her.  
Not Ren, but that woman with Morgan’s face. Dressed in some ancient robe in a deep, glimmering black, belted with gold and red, standing not too far from me. Her hair was short, a sword on her belt, and her hand on the bracelet on her wrist that glowed like a star. The sight of her brought everything in my mind to a grinding, screeching halt.  
She looked at me like I was everything.  
Dear husband...