Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

“They will know when their men don’t come back,” I say. “This kid is a pawn. Let him go, there has been enough death.”

Toshi hisses, pulling back his claws and threatening the boy.

Finally, he drops him to the ground and kicks at him. The boy looks up at us, fear in his yellow eyes, his strength and valor pulled out of him by Toshi. I shake my head and turn back toward Clarissa, shaking my head.

“Damn it,” she yells out, kicking the rocks and turning away.

“Anata no meiyo wa tada no bijondesu. Anata ga sunde iru yuiitsu no riyu wa, kono Ni~Tsu, inu ga anata no jinsei o sukuttakaradesu,” Toshi yells at the boy, kicking at him.

The boy jumps up, bows quickly to everyone and runs off out of the arena. I chuckle to myself turning to Toshi, who glares at me through his slitty cat eyes. I smile and nod at him, impressed with his ferocity.

“That was good work.” I chuckle.

“It would have been better if you let me end him,” he grumbles.

“That right there is a huge dishonor to him, isn’t it?” I ask.

“To be set free when all your fellow warriors have died.”

“Yes,” he says.

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nbsp; “Then you gave him a fate worse than death.” I smile. “What did you say to him anyway?”

“Basically that his honor was lost because a dog set him free,”

Toshi says patting me on the chest and walking away with a smirk.

I roll my eyes, figuring that it was too much to think we had a similar moment. Cats will forever be little fuzzy pouf balls of hell. Across the arena I see Clarissa, bent down next to Hiro, shaking her head as he talks. I walk over, curious as to what he has to say since they were there because of him in the first place.

“They weren’t all gone?” Clarissa asks him.

“These warriors are a distraction,” he says. “They were not trained by me nor did they show the discipline to be part of the Elite. They were sent here by someone. Someone who knew we would come here. Someone who knew we would be looking for them.”

“All the kid said was that there was a new headquarters in Barbados, but he didn’t know anymore,” Toshi says. “It makes sense they aren’t part of the legion. They didn’t know anything, and he only knew Barbados because he overheard it from one of the Elite. These were not the men that killed your husband, Clarissa, but there may be more clues in Barbados.”

“Well, I guess we better get going then,” Clarissa says standing up.

“What if it’s another dead end?” I ask. “What if it’s a trap? We don’t know if they’ve set us up for failure here. We don’t know if they were told to say that if captured. It’s reckless to run into this situation again.”

“It’s reckless to let more people die,” Clarissa says placing her hands on her hips. “It’s reckless to allow these monsters to keep going, to keep pushing me past the point of no return. It’s reckless to take no action.”

“Kyofu wa kokoro ga yurusu kagiri fukai,” Hiro mumbles.

“What did the old man say?” I ask in exasperation.

“Have a little respect,” Toshi hisses. “That old man saved your life.”

“He said that Fear is only as deep as the mind allows,” Penny says quietly. “It’s a proverb.”

“Great, more proverbs,” I scoff.

“Here is the deal,” Clarissa says, getting up on a stone block.

“I’m in this to find Kyle’s killer, and at first, that was all, but now, I see that it is bigger than that. We have a responsibility to protect the people in our lives, and we cannot sit back and become the victims, lie down to this control. It doesn’t matter if you are a cat, a human, an opossum, a bear, or a dog, this is your future at stake. We are all creatures of the same planet, and we deserve the right to live without fear of what lurks in the shadows. I am going to Barbados and from there will go to the next place, and the next place, and I’ll keep going until I have tracked these bastards down and cut them at the knees. You can go home. I’m fine with that, but don’t ask me to change my mind.”

I watch as Clarissa gets down and walks toward the door, her mannerisms tall and proud. She looks like an Alpha. She talks like an Alpha. And the way she stares at me across the room makes me want to take her like an Alpha. I smile and nod my head, pulling my bag over my shoulder and follow after her. I guess I’m in it until the end.