Less than a minute later, the phone rang. Kiyo snatched it up. “Yeah?”
“It’s Bran.”
Pressing the speaker button so Niamh could listen in, he explained to Bran what had happened on the plane and the events after.
“I told you the Blackwoods would be watching airports and train stations.”
“All of them? In the entire world?”
“Who knows at this point? Suffice it to say, we need to get you where you’re going under radar.”
“Do you always point out the obvious?”
“Someone’s in a bit of a mood.”
Niamh snorted.
“Bran, don’t make me come to Ireland.”
The vampire chuckled down the line. “Okay, okay. First off, this trip to Tokyo, if it involves the fae-borne, then maybe Fionn should know about it.”
Kiyo looked over at Niamh who was shaking her head frantically. He wished like hell she’d just tell him what this vision was about. “Niamh doesn’t seem to think that’s a good idea.”
“Fine. Then here’s what we’ll do. I’ll get you money, new passports, and I imagine you need clothes?”
“I can get us clothes.” Niamh shrugged.
“You mean, steal them?” Kiyo said flatly.
She flushed guiltily and looked away.
“Yeah, we need clothes, Bran.”
Bran tutted. “I detect a hint of judgment in your voice there, Kiyo. Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to throw stones at glass houses? Or something like that. Don’t listen to this Judgy Mcjudgerson here, Niamh. He’s committed more crimes than you’ll find soaked into the walls of Alcatraz.”
Niamh raised an eyebrow at Kiyo, and a snarl of annoyance escaped his throat.
Bran heard and chuckled harder. “Did you just lose your moral high ground, wolf?”
“When this is over, you’re my new personal punching bag,” Kiyo promised.
The vamp seemed completely unconcerned. “Before we both get to enjoy that delightful moment together, I’m going to get you the hell out of Sweden. A package will arrive at your hotel within the hour with everything you need, including a cell. I’ll call you on it with your travel schedule.” Bran hung up abruptly.
“He’s funny.” Niamh stood. “And efficient.”
“The only reason I put up with him. The latter, not the former.”
“What did he mean?” She crossed her arms over her chest, studying him. “About your crimes and the moral high ground?”
“Not anything you haven’t already guessed about me.”
She nodded. “You’re a mercenary so I knew you’d probably done a lot of questionable stuff over the years. It does make me wonder what right you have to judge me about my gift for tricking the human mind?”
Needing to keep the barrier between them, he shrugged. “In all the things I’ve done, I’ve never messed with someone like that.”
It was a lie.
But it worked.
Her expression closed down. Flicking him a wounded look, she headed toward the door. “I’ll be in my room.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“You haven’t eaten. Neither have I. We’ll go downstairs to the dining room. We’ll eat while we wait for the package to arrive.”
“I don’t feel like eating.”
“I’m not giving you a choice.”
Suddenly, she was a blur across the room and Kiyo was pinned to the wall by the force of her forearm against his throat. She pushed her stunning face close to his and bared her perfect, straight teeth, her eyes flashing gold.
Heat flushed through his body, surprising the shit out of him.
“I’m not yours to push around, Kiyo. And don’t you forget it.” She released him, stepping away.
Kiyo didn’t let his expression betray him, even though it took a lot of control not to react physically to her. He wanted to take her down on the bed and show her how much she’d enjoy submitting to him. And he wasn’t that kind of wolf. He thought himself above those baser instincts.
What the hell was happening to him?
He impressed himself by the steady blandness of his tone. “That was kind of an overreaction, wasn’t it?”
She gaped at him. “No, I don’t think it was. You’re being a bully.”
“I’m not the one who pinned you to the wall.”
“Are you always this irritating when you’re hungry and tired?”
He growled. “Are you always this irritating, period?”
“I imagine a male like you would find a woman who had her own mind irritating.”
“You don’t know anything about me.” Brushing past her, ignoring her scent because it was driving him mad, he yanked open the hotel room door and gestured for her to go ahead. “We eat first.”
Niamh narrowed her eyes as she walked to the door. “Is this bossiness or concern for my well-being? Because you should know that it takes more than a day before I start to feel the effects of hunger. Like, around a week, actually.”
Kiyo knew she hadn’t meant to, but she’d just given away something of her past to him.
Niamh had known hunger.
He closed the hotel room door and quickened his stride to catch up with her. “You and your brother went hungry at some point.”
It wasn’t a question.