Bound by Forever (True Immortality 3)

Kiyo bared his teeth at the men without thinking. “Dare.”

Sakura’s mate smirked, and Kiyo cursed inwardly. He was testing him.

Irritated, he flicked an annoyed look at Niamh. He’d told her to wear a jacket.

Don’t look at me like that, she snapped.

For some reason, her indignation relaxed him.

Which was a good thing. It didn’t bode well to enter into a fight when you were tense. Kiyo shrugged out of his own jacket and Niamh stepped forward to take it. To his shock, she slipped it on as if to make a point, and a rush of possessiveness soared through him. His blood pumped hot and fast, and he turned to Daiki with bloodlust in his eyes.

His opponent saw and felt it, baring his teeth to reveal drawn canines.

They raised their arms, fists relaxed, in guard position.

“Let’s do this.”

Daiki moved first, turning at speed to come at Kiyo with a spinning hook kick. He dodged the maneuver and caught Daiki’s leg with a block that threw the wolf off balance. Fast and agile, however, Daiki bounced back up into position and came at Kiyo again with a series of front and side and spinning kicks that forced him back along the riverside.

He kept this up, staying on the defense, rather than offense, to tire Daiki. The alpha would tire eventually while it would take much to tire Kiyo.

“Tatakai!” Daiki yelled in outrage. Fight!

But the more Kiyo didn’t fight, the clumsier Daiki got in his aggression. As Kiyo maneuvered them in a tight circle and back up toward Niamh and Daiki’s men, the other alpha lost his footing and had to catch himself from falling. When Kiyo didn’t take advantage of the moment, Daiki’s face flooded with color and he came at Kiyo with fists of fury.

Kiyo blocked, dodged, and tapped his punches away like they were mere flies.

Then he heard Niamh’s voice, her snap of irritation as she warned, “Touch my arse again, dickhead, and I’ll tear yours a new one.”

Rage flooded him as he whipped around in her direction. Lights exploded across his left eye as he felt his head snap on his neck.

Sucker punched.

“Kiyo!” Niamh cried out in concern.

Daiki took advantage and punched him in the gut. But Kiyo was motivated now. He smashed his fist into Daiki’s face, knocking the wolf on his ass, and then he strode toward Niamh, ignoring the swelling in his eye that would heal soon enough, anyway.

“Which one?” he barked at her, his gaze on Daiki’s men.

Niamh didn’t need to answer. The one closest to her shifted away, guilt and wariness in his eyes.

He was a dead man.

Surging at the wolf, Kiyo swung his dominant arm in an uppercut. The impact juddered down his body and a crack rent the air. Daiki’s henchman fell like a sack of potatoes, neck broken.

It was over disappointingly fast.

The other three wolves stood stunned for a moment as Niamh’s shocked glance bounced from the downed werewolf to Kiyo.

“What do you think you are doing?” Daiki yelled.

Kiyo glanced over his shoulder as Sakura’s mate strode toward him. “He touched her.”

Daiki slowed to a stop, staring at his unconscious man. “And that was worth breaking his neck?”

“You think it’s okay if a person sexually touches another without their consent?” Kiyo asked, but he already knew the answer. He and Daiki had never gotten along because of Sakura, but that didn’t mean Kiyo didn’t have some respect for the wolf.

He was a man of honor and all the time Kiyo had known him, he’d never hurt those weaker than him or touched a woman who didn’t want to be touched.

“There is more to it than that.” Daiki approached, drawing to a halt to look at Niamh. “Who is this mahoutsukai to you?”

Thinking of how easily she distracted him, how protective—and, yes, possessive—he felt over her, Kiyo knew she was more than just a job. More than a mission. He couldn’t process how much more. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to. But he had to acknowledge that his and Niamh’s conversation in the hotel room that morning had been bullshit.

Turning to her, their eyes met.

“She’s my friend,” Kiyo replied to Daiki but said with all meaning to Niamh.

Her lips parted on a exhalation she couldn’t quite hide. And while something softened in her expression, her eyes seemed to fill with confusion and questions.

“Fine.” Daiki broke the silent moment between Kiyo and Niamh. He glowered at his men. “You touch the mahoutsukai and you answer to me.”

Kobe, his beta, nodded militantly and gestured for them to back away from Niamh.

Daiki turned to Kiyo. “Let us finish this.”* * *An hour later, covered in sweat and bruises, Kiyo stood over a sprawled Daiki. “Are we done?”

Daiki squinted up at him through swollen lids and snarled. “Yes. Kono kuso.”

Kiyo started to remember the reasons he didn’t like the wolf. Turning from him, he paused when Daiki called out his name. Sakura’s mate slowly pushed up onto his knees. He held the ribs that Kiyo had broken in the final fifteen minutes of the fight.