It wasn’t until minutes later as Haruto led them across the hotel lobby to the exit that she was aware of Kiyo’s touch.
She didn’t want him to touch her.
She didn’t want anything to touch her.
He’d made it clear when he woke up on that plane that he didn’t want any connection with her. He’d regretted telling her about his mother. That was the only conclusion to be drawn after his cold behavior since.
Having thought they’d connected, that she finally had someone who understood her, someone on her side, Niamh had been in a wonderful mood before he woke up.
Ever since, and now more than ever, her mood had swiftly declined.
It was still a relief to know that her visions were manipulations from Astra.
It was not a relief to realize she was still as alone as ever.
Niamh moved away from Kiyo’s touch and when Haruto opened the SUV, she slid along the bench until she was pressed right up against the door.
Thankfully Kiyo didn’t scooch close to her again.
She felt his gaze on her for a moment.
But it didn’t touch her. Not like before.
Nothing could touch her. Her emotions were too dangerous. And she needed to focus on following her true visions and doing what was right. She’d stop Astra.
And then she’d go into hiding again.
Alone.
Far away from Kiyonari Fujiwara.18Something was wrong with Niamh.
Kiyo didn’t know what it was and so he didn’t know how to fix it. More alarmingly, it disturbed him how much he wanted to know what it was so he could fix it.
He’d put it down to jealousy, but it was more than that. He could feel it.
And he didn’t like it.
He told himself not to question her. To let it be. After all, he was the one who had decided to create distance between them after their conversation on the plane. Niamh was just following suit. Kiyo should be happy.
But even though Niamh was right at his side, she felt millions of miles away. Her remoteness bothered him on multiple levels.
It was easy to keep quiet in the SUV as Haruto escorted them to Chuo City. Kiyo didn’t want the pack knowing his business or who Niamh was to him. Sakura’s performance at the hotel was born of her own jealousy. She thought Niamh was his female. How she came to that conclusion so swiftly, he didn’t know, but her cozying up to him, flirting with him, her less than subtle demand to service her needs when she wanted him, was all to needle Niamh. If Niamh hadn’t crackled with energy the moment Sakura touched him, the alpha might not have pushed the topic.
Then again, she might have.
No, she probably would have.
Kiyo sighed inwardly as Haruto dropped them off at the hotel.
“Anything new I should know about the city?” Kiyo asked him as he got out of the vehicle, knowing Haruto would understand his meaning.
“Vamp coven has taken over Akihabara. As long as they leave the rest of the city alone, we stay out. No wolves.”
Kiyo nodded. The gaming ward wasn’t his cup of tea, anyway. “Anything else?”
“You might have heard Tsukiji Market moved to Toyosu, but the outer market with the food is still there.”
He almost laughed. Trust Haruto to think anything regarding food was important. “Good to know.”
Haruto nodded, looking satisfied he’d imparted news of great importance. “Arufua-san will call on you when you are required.”
Kiyo fought his frustration and nodded in agreement. Turning to Niamh, who waited at the hotel entrance with a coolly distant countenance, Kiyo cursed the damn vision that brought them to Tokyo. He knew Niamh felt they had to be there to protect him (from who knew what) and while he appreciated her motives, it had only landed him in trouble.
And exposed Niamh to Sakura and her pack.
He didn’t like that either.
He strode over to her. “Check in.”
She nodded and as she turned, he placed his hand on her lower back to lead her into the tower block. Kiyo didn’t think anything of it. The gesture was instinctual. Yet he was forced to think about it when she moved away from his touch.
Rejection and anger burned in his gut.
Not anger with her.
But with himself.
He’d fucked up from the moment he woke up on the plane.
Earlier, she’d been pissed at him. He got it. He could handle it.
This … not so much.
He hurried to catch up to her but didn’t touch her again.
Kiyo spoke in Japanese with the woman behind the reception desk, and she relayed that the lobby for checking into the hotel was on the thirty-eighth floor. He told Niamh who again nodded quietly and followed him onto the elevator.
“This place must have some views,” he said inanely as the elevator moved quietly upward.
“Mmm,” she acknowledged.
He gritted his teeth against a growl.
When the doors opened, Niamh seemed to jump out to get away from him. Her eyes had widened ever so slightly and while the change in her was infinitesimal, Kiyo already knew her well enough to know that the hotel pleased her. It lacked the western opulence of Sakura’s hotel. However, Kiyo preferred the Natsukashii’s warmth with its hardwood floors, midcentury furnishings, floor lamps designed to look like framed paper lanterns, and walls created entirely from shoji screens. There were open staircases that led down to the floor below. Incredibly impressive floor-to-ceiling windows reached from that floor to the height of the ceilings on the lobby floor. Tokyo could be seen for miles.