Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,126

the earthy, metallic darkness. If he wasn’t careful, Sakura would sense him before he even got there.

He had to calm.

He didn’t know how to be calm.

They’d taken Niamh, and whatever they’d done to abduct her had caused her pain.

Rage burned in his gut.

Sakura and her mate would be lucky to survive the night.

Slowing to a halt, Kiyo’s night vision revealed the blacked-out door off to the side of the tunnel. When Eito was so sure Kiyo wouldn’t be able to say no to being Sakura’s mate, he’d shown Kiyo this secret entrance. It led into the basement where they hosted their supernatural underground fights.

The key was hidden in a pipe across the tunnel.

Kiyo shooed a rat out of the way and felt cool metal touch his fingers. Wrapping his hand around it, he pulled out the old-fashioned key and returned to the door.

The door opened on hinges kept oiled to perfection so it made no sound as it swung into darkness.

Beyond was a narrow corridor blanketed in more shadows.

Kiyo snapped his hands out at his sides, his long, black claws slicing into the air. Opening his mouth, he forced his canines out.

Then strode onward to meet the shadows face-to-face.

He was silent as the night, pulsing in the blackest depths of the low-lit basement.

It had taken much not to rush into the gargantuan room once he’d reached it.

Years ago, the room had been decorated in cool greens and gold wall coverings, three fight rings in matching colors set along the center of the room.

Tatami mats had been placed over nearly every inch of the concrete floors.

Now there was nothing but empty echoes in a space that resembled an underground parking lot.

Except for the sconces attached to concrete pillars. Real flames lit them.

It reminded Kiyo of hell.

Except it couldn’t be because Niamh could never belong anywhere but in the light, and his mate was in the room.

Lying sprawled on her stomach, seemingly unable to move.

A long iron blade protruded from her lower back.

Kiyo grew cold and silent.

This was a new level of rage he’d never felt before.

“I can feel you,” Sakura said from her spot near his mate.

Kiyo stared at her. He didn’t see a woman he’d once known intimately. A wolf he’d once admired and respected.

He saw nothing but an enemy.

Daiki and Haruto stood off to the side like two watch dogs.

Were they fools? Did they think they were enough to protect Sakura from him?

Kiyo strode into the light, his eyes glancing over the three of them as he tried to calculate the fastest way to end them all so he could get to Niamh and remove the dagger.

His mate emitted a soft moan and he felt it, much as Emil had felt his katana slice at his Achilles tendons, taking him to his knees. It took much to keep moving as though it hadn’t affected him.

“Take him down but try not to kill him,” Sakura commanded.

Kiyo assumed she was talking to Daiki and Haruto, but the air shimmered across the room in front of him and the feeling of magic prickled his skin.

Fifteen werewolves, male and female, appeared out of thin air, standing in a row between him and Sakura. Some carried silver blades.

They lunged at him.

Kiyo was faster than any of them. He moved as a blur and was able to take five down by breaking their necks before he felt the first blow across the back of his head. He used the momentum from the hit and fell forward in a shoulder roll, grabbing up the silver katana one of the downed wolves had been carrying. Springing to his feet, he turned to face ten members of Sakura’s pack.

The first was easy. The male came at him without a weapon, and Kiyo slashed the katana across his gut, low near his groin, and the wolf fell to the ground howling in pain. The next had a sword, and Kiyo had to defend with his katana while kicking out behind him as other wolves tried to approach.

A moan of anguish from Niamh made its way to him through the grunts and clangs of the fight, and his impatience became a well of strength. He kicked out with a roar at the male in front of him, sending him and the three wolves behind him soaring across the basement. He lunged at the nearest female, dodged the air around her as she slashed out at him with a silver knife, and spun around to punch a hole through her back.