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sp; “No, never!” His gaze grated up and down Eiji. “Why would we want…Anyway, I meant wolf. She was there back at that house, and then she died.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t give a fuck, Chinaman.”
Eiji gritted his teeth. “I am Japanese.”
Travon shrugged. “You got the message. Follow what Darryl says. He’s not good with people crossing him.”
Eiji had had enough. He poked a finger in Travon’s chest and strode closer. “You tell your alpha to stay away from Shae. She’s a good girl. She doesn’t need your kind of trouble, but she will decide what she wants. I will stay by her until she knows what that is.”
He thought his declaration would anger the brown wolf shifter, but instead Travon threw his head back and laughed long and loud. Eiji hitched his shoulders, eager to do more than threaten. The violence that rose in his chest pushed him to want to demonstrate his strength using Travon and send him back to Darryl in a body bag. Still, he needed to remember who he was. He enforced the law. He didn’t break it, even if he was in another country. His headquarters often worked with the United States’ law enforcement agencies, and he would not bring shame on his superiors by behaving dishonorably away from home.
“You don’t even know what kind of woman you’re taking care of, do you?” Travon taunted. “You don’t know who she is?”
Eiji growled. “Not a good idea to insult her character in front of me.”
Travon whistled. “Damn, man, you got it bad. Her pussy must be tight.”
The relaxed hand at Eiji’s side connected in a fist with Travon’s chest. The man stumbled backward and crashed into the tree before sliding down its trunk to the ground. His eyelids fluttered, and his head lolled on his neck as he tried pulling out of the disorientation. Eiji stooped and rested his forearms on his thighs, steepling his fingers.
“Is there something else?”
Travon tried glaring, but his gaze wasn’t focused. When he spoke, it was with slurred words, but Eiji already saw the swift healing taking place, native to shifters of all kinds. That was why he hadn’t held much back during the hit. He could have crushed the man’s chest cavity, but that would incite a war, one he might not win with no one behind him.
“She’s a Keith,” Travon said in a raspy tone. “You’ve heard of them?”
A cold breeze raised goose bumps on Eiji’s arms and along his back. “Keith.”
“Yeah, shifter hunters. Killers.”
Eiji had heard of the them. They had not touched his family personally and had no extensive work in his country as far as he knew, but even his superiors had heard of them and speculated about bringing the Keiths to justice should a threat rise in Japan. The belief in people who could shape-shift in Japan came from a different perspective, he imagined, than in America. The Keiths were murderers in most Asian eyes, no matter their cause, and this man was telling him Shae was one. Shae—the woman he had intended to bring home as his mate.
“Tell me about Izumi,” he said. “Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Your alpha?”
“Look, I don’t know anything about that, like I said. I just know she died. She wasn’t one of ours, so we didn’t look out for her.”
Eiji had come to America to bury his cousin. Her instructions were not to be transported back to Japan. She had become like these people, caring more for becoming a star and obtaining wealth and recognition than about family. By rights, Eiji should have turned his back on her as well, the way his family had. He had kept his distance, but never broke contact. Always, he had hoped Izumi would see reason and come home. Now it was too late. She had died alone with no one around her to help guide her spirit to its resting place or to pray for her.
Eiji heaved a sigh and dismissed the dark thoughts. Izumi had made her choices, the same as he, to live apart. Although she hadn’t had the challenges nor the stigma of being born in dishonor. He didn’t think of himself as less, just different, and he’d had thirty-three years to come to terms with what he was.
When he could, Travon worked to stand. He swayed on his feet, his jaw tight, obviously embarrassed that Eiji had gotten the best of him. Something told Eiji this would not be the last time they faced off. “Don’t touch her.”
Eiji worked to keep from knocking Travon on the ground again. “What does Darryl want with Shae if she is, like you say, a Keith? They are enemies of the wolf.”
Travon grinned. “That’s for Darryl to know and you to mind your own fucking business. Like I said, don’t touch the girl. Just get her through the change, and we’ll come for her. If you even try to take her out of Venice, we’ll know, and you will be sorry. Hm, maybe you’ll be sorry either way.”
“I do not accept threats. Darryl will have to deal with the consequences of what he did to Shae.”
“You threatening my alpha?” Travon’s chest swelled, and he bared sharpened teeth, but he made no move to approach Eiji.
“No, I’m not.”
Travon laughed. “In the end, you’re just a pussy. You know who’s strongest around here. We’ve got ten guys in our pack, plus the girls, and at any time, Darryl can call in favors if he needs to. Who you got?”
