Bound by Forever (True Immortality 3)

She smiled, understanding him completely.37Piling 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 of the events of the night before, never taking his eyes off Niamh.

She needed him to anchor her to his heart, a place that held no condemnation toward her.

Technically, she knew she wasn’t to blame for what Astra had done. But with the knowledge hanging over her head that Ronan’s death had been intentional just to get to Niamh … it was hard not to succumb to overwhelming guilt. Especially now. There was no getting around the fact that Astra had destroyed nearly an entire ward to keep Niamh’s identity a secret, just as she’d destroyed Ronan to make Niamh more vulnerable to her.

“Jesus Christ,” Bran bit out when Kiyo was done. “Well, that explains much. Before Shinjuku was blown to bits, I was alerted to high magical energy use in Tokyo. And so was every other fucker paying attention. Including the Blackwoods. I guess that was you, Niamh, when you were fighting Astra.”

Niamh sighed wearily, slumping onto the bed. “I guess so.”

“The Blackwoods have ties to the Yamamoto Coven and they’ve called in a favor. They’re watching the airports and stations in and out of Tokyo. On top of that, while the humans think this is a terrorist attack, the supes can feel the epic fucking magical signature coming off the explosions. The coven knows this is supernatural. As does the East Asian Council. They’re on their way to investigate.” Bran referred to the council of witches and warlocks who acted as a governing and policing body against dark magic users.

“It was definitely Astra, then.” Kiyo cursed under his breath.

“Yeah, but Niamh might get confused for the evil shrew, so I’m thinking you need to get your arse out of there—now.”