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"You were smaller and younger. You fell down the steps."

A line in his jaw flexed. "You mean I descended with purpose and style."

“Naw. You fell and busted your ass.” I smiled.

Smirking, he carried me forward.

The chauffeur kept the umbrella over us, but I could tell he really wanted to laugh also.

I couldn't stop myself, and a laugh burst out of me.

Yoichi scowled.

“I saw you grab a prayer though.” I stared up at him in awe. “That was amazing.”

“Thank you, little witch.” Yoichi looked toward the weathered gate that was now half lost in mist. “I consider this place my home. The soil heals me. The energy. . .soothes all emotional pains I bring.”

“You said you served Inari for a hundred years.”

“Yes.”

“And then what happened after that hundred?”

“Inari gave me a choice. Remain, or go.”

“You went?”

“I wanted adventure and to see the world.” His arms tightened around me. “And I wanted to find my mate.”

When he looked down, his gold-orange eyes caught what little light the rain had left.

“Why,” he whispered, “did you take so long to come to me?”

I trembled.

Seven graves. Seven men I'd washed, dressed, and prayed over. And all that time, he'd been out here waiting.

Forget the fact that. . .Aunt Delphine had been telling me to go get that damn root from Kyoto for a very long time.

Why didn’t she just say, ‘Eh, you’re mated to a kitsune. Go on and get your man’?

Then, I realized the truth. If she’d told me that, it would have scared the shit out of me, and I might never have gone. Fear was fucked up like that, keeping a person from their destiny just because they couldn't see past what they didn't know.

Yoichi let out a long breath. “Anyway. . .before I left. . .Inari gave me my second form.”

“Which one was that?”

“The female.”

“Interesting.”

“She’s the one that got me in so much trouble.”

“With her sexy body and that gorgeous face. . .I bet you two got in tons of trouble.” A soft chuckle left me.

He grinned.

The bite on my palm throbbed. And the mist pulled me under again.