Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,18

wished they hadn’t.

Despite her turmoil, or perhaps because of it, as Niamh changed into dry clothes, she imagined Kiyo changing in the men’s restroom. Heat bloomed on her cheeks, and other places on her body tingled in delight at the thought. When he’d come rushing out of those trees naked and wounded from defending her, she wasn’t going to lie—a very deep thrill moved through her.

The werewolf might be a brooding pain in the ass who’d tried to coerce her into accepting his guardianship, but all that beautiful fawn skin wrapped around taut muscle made him very fun to look at. Granted, she was somewhat wary that he was powerful enough to remove someone’s head from their body with his bare hands.

Also he moved faster than other wolves. He’d caught her completely off guard back at the club. And only someone fast and powerful could have taken down five members of The Garm by himself.

The airport was only forty minutes west in the light, early-morning traffic. They were both tense, on guard for The Garm in case they’d sent more than one unit after her. Once they abandoned the car in a parking lot, they strode determinedly toward departures.

“Why are you doing this?” Niamh asked as they reached the entrance.

“Doing what?”

“Acting as my bodyguard. I mean, a fairly terrible one who breaks my neck and all, but … yeah, for lack of a better word, my bodyguard.”

“Terrible?” he asked in his bored tone. “I saved your life. I wouldn’t call that being bad at my job. And that’s why: It’s a job I’m being paid to do. Extremely well paid.”

“There’s more to it than that. Someone who is secretly seething underneath at the thought of going to Tokyo wouldn’t go, not even for money.”

With a sigh of irritation, he gripped her arm and pulled her toward the airline desks. “It’s called an unbreakable contract. Basically, a spell. If I fail to protect you, the spell brings me to Fionn. He’s promised retribution.”

Niamh’s brow puckered. “Why on earth would you sign up for that?”

“Because I was bored.” He gave her a hard smirk. “Believe me, I’m regretting it.”

“Why?” she said. “Nothing about the last twenty-four hours has been boring, has it?”

Then she saw it … a definite twitch of his lips and a slight glitter of amusement in his eyes.

Something swelled in her chest at the sight, and she found herself grinning like a moron. “Thought not.”

“Shut up,” he said gruffly. “And let’s book this flight.”

Having the ability to make humans see what she wanted was one of Niamh’s less honorable tricks, but it had come in very handy over the years. She changed the name on Kiyo’s passport, which was currently Ryan Green.

“Very imaginative,” she muttered dryly.

He really could cut the most delightfully dirty looks.

And she presented a piece of paper that the desk staff would see as a passport.

They had no bags to check, so it was a fairly quick business. Kiyo attempted to pay for the tickets but Niamh didn’t want to give anyone a chance to track them. She paid in cash.

Their first flight was to Istanbul, and they had over six hours to wait until takeoff. The thought left Niamh feeling antsy for more than one reason. Six hours was too long to be in one place after being attacked by The Garm. Worse, she hated hanging around airports. Airports seemed to exist on some plane of existence where time slowed to a painful, sloth-like crawl. Her boredom always increased tenfold.

When they moved through security, she had to use mental manipulation again to stop security from questioning her about the pile of cash in her bag. She had over $30,000 in different currencies.

“Did you steal that cash?” Kiyo asked as they strolled out of security.

Guilt pricked at her. “What of it?”

“There is no honor in stealing.”

“I know,” she said so quietly, it was almost a whisper.

Kiyo frowned at whatever he heard in her voice. “Then why?”

“I’ve been on the run for over half my life.” She shrugged. “I did what I could to survive.”

“Luxury hotels, empty penthouse apartments, and piles of cash is merely surviving?”

Realizing he knew more about her than she’d thought—and hearing the judgment in his tone—Niamh clamped her lips tightly shut. He wouldn’t understand, so there was no point engaging in conversation about it.

“Unless, of course, it was your brother who convinced you living it large made up for being on the run.”

His words hit so close to the truth, Niamh felt them