Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,133

your visions.”

“There’s nothing new on that front.”

“Why don’t I just ask Bran to book wherever he thinks best,” he suggested.

She chuckled. “It might be fun to see where he sends us. I’m not sure he likes you very much.”

“It’s better than no plan at all.”

“True.” Her amusement died. “And for now, we need to get the hell out of Japan. As much as I’ll be sad to say goodbye.”

While he was pleased his mate felt such an affinity for his homeland, she was also absolutely right. They couldn’t return to Japan for a while. Maybe years. A feeling akin to homesickness touched him. Sensing it, Niamh cuddled into him in comfort.

“We’ll find a way to come back,” she promised. “I won’t let the bastards take your home from you.”

Overwhelming emotion for this woman sought to rob him of words. But he needed her to know exactly what she meant to him. “They won’t ever take my home,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her hair. “They can’t when my home is right here in my arms.”

“I love you, Kiyo,” she said in answer.

He tilted her chin to look into her eyes. “If you need those words, I will give them. I love you, Komorebi. But know this … what I feel for you is so much bigger than three words.”

She smiled, understanding him completely.

37

Piling her now-dry hair up into a loose knot, Niamh listened from the bathroom as Kiyo finally called Bran. She’d conjured their things from the other hotel. This was after they’d taken a shower that had quickly turned into the kind of lovemaking that made her tingle from the tip of her toes to the ends of her hair.

Niamh shivered in renewed want.

Her mate definitely knew how to go beyond satisfying her.

And distracting her.

Finally, they’d tumbled out of the shower with more urgency to get out of the city than they’d displayed heretofore. Niamh could forgive them for losing themselves to the bond, though. After what happened the night before, they both needed to feel the other alive in their arms in the most primal way.

Upon pulling his cell phone out of his bag, Kiyo had called out to Niamh that he had five missed calls from Bran that morning.

Kiyo rang the vampire; the line picked up after only two rings. “Where the bloody hell have you been?” she heard Bran ask over the speaker.

Frowning at Bran’s urgent tone, Niamh hurried out of the bathroom and leaned against the doorjamb to listen in.

Kiyo wore a concerned scowl. “Hiding. Why?”

“Hiding where?”

“In the city.”

“You’re in Tokyo still?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re in Tokyo and you have no bloody idea what’s going on? Where the hell in the city are you?”

“I don’t know. Niamh took us to a hotel we could hide out in.” Kiyo marched over to the window and opened the blind. As soon as he did, he let out a curse of shock.

Rushing to his side, Niamh looked out at the city and saw the plumes of smoke buffeting into the sky from several points in the distance. “What is that?”

“Maybe you should turn on the TV,” Bran suggested. “News channel.”

Without searching for a remote, Niamh used her magic to power the TV on the wall, flicking to the news. A female reporter was standing in the middle of the city while all the emergency services could be seen moving through the streets behind her. There was smoke and rubble everywhere. “Kiyo, what’s she saying?”

Kiyo stared flatly at the TV but she could sense his inner distress. “A suspected terrorist attack in Shinjuku. Several buildings were bombed this morning, including the Iryoku Towers.”

Horror and understanding flooded her. “The Pack.”

He turned to her. “All the buildings she mentioned … pack. Their businesses, their apartments … all of it gone. Along with thousands of innocent tourists and bystanders.”

Tears burned in Niamh’s throat. “Astra did this.”

“Astra?” Bran’s voice cut through the air, reminding them he was on the line. “Why would Astra take out one of the largest packs in the world?”

“Because she couldn’t risk the idea that any one of them might have known what Sakura knew.” Niamh’s tears escaped as she thought of all the people who had just died because of her. “That I’m fae.”

A muscle flexed in Kiyo’s jaw and he shook his head. “No. You are not going to blame yourself for this.”

“I am to blame.”

“Niamh—”

“Someone want to catch me up?” Bran interrupted.

Kiyo let out a growl of frustration but answered Bran. He gave him a quick run-through