Four weeks later (late March)
Kamala rainforest, Phuket, Thailand
Niamh’s scream of agony wrenched him out of sleep.
Kiyo flew up in bed, damp sheets clinging to his body. His eyes flew to his side and panic suffused him at the empty spot where his mate should be.
“I’m here.”
Her soft voice soothed him as he followed it and found her outside the bedroom, climbing out of the small pool attached to the tree house. Niamh loved the precariously positioned pool that dangled over the rainforest from their deck.
The sun blazed against her back through the thick trees as she crossed the balcony, water trickling down her long, bikini-clad body.
Still gripped by the terror of his dream, he wanted to haul her into the bed and prove to himself that she was alive and well and safe.
“Another nightmare?” Niamh asked, stopping to lean against the sliding door that closed the bedroom off from the deck.
Kiyo ran a hand through his hair, letting out a slow exhale. He didn’t need to answer. She already knew that it was. He’d been having the same nightmare since they left Tokyo. Memories of the night Sakura stuck iron in Niamh’s spine. Except the dream changed the memory at the end. After taking the iron out of her back and grappling with Astra for the pendant, Niamh didn’t win.
Astra twisted in her arms and drove an iron blade through Niamh’s heart.
And he launched out of sleep, adrenaline coursing through his body, until the reality of his mate sleeping at his side soothed him.
“They’ll go away eventually.” Niamh crossed the room to sit down on the bed. Magic tingled in the air along with a cloud of heat as she dried herself before pushing him back onto his pillow to snuggle into him.
Kiyo wrapped an arm around her, his fingers finding the scar on her spine and massaging it.
“It’ll just take time. It’s only been four weeks.”
Four weeks. It felt longer and shorter in equal measure.
By the time they arrived in Osaka, Bran had sent information that there would be a private plane waiting for them. The plane would log false passenger information and itinerary. Kiyo didn’t ask questions. A private plane with a false itinerary was the safest way for them to get out of Japan.
He’d been feeling grateful to the vampire—until they’d landed in Thailand.
In Phuket, to be exact.
Where a young Thai man awaited their arrival to drive them in his four-seater jungle buggy and left them in the middle of the rainforest next to their own jungle buggy. When he tried to contact the vampire for answers, he got a single text from him.
Look up. Tree house and buggy belong to Fionn. Consider this a honeymoon present. Enjoy. You lucky fucking dog.
In a sense, Bran and Fionn had forced Kiyo to take his first-ever vacation.
Whatever aggravation he felt about that had melted away because of Niamh. She had the wonder in her eyes again as their driver shot through the forest, and her excitement hit new levels when they looked up and glimpsed the building far above their heads. There was no way to get to it unless you were fae and could travel. Taking hold of his hand, Niamh traveled and then oohed and ahhed over what Kiyo had to admit was a pretty impressive tree house.
It took three weeks for Kiyo to believe Niamh when she said Astra had no idea where they were. Bran had contacted them to confirm that they were safe. The East Asian Council was investigating the Yamamoto Coven for the attack against Pack Iryoku and seemed pretty happy to lay the blame at their door since there was a long history between the magic users and the wolves. There was evidence of strained relations over the past twenty years since Sakura took over as alpha, including the murder of a high-ranking coven member. The attacks had been ruled to be the consequences of a secret cold war. The coven would pay for the crimes despite their protestation of innocence.
Tokyo was slowly recovering from the devastation. Human governments publicly investigated terrorist organizations while those in the know about the supernatural world grew more ruthless in recruiting supes to their secret armies. If the supernatural world was beginning to cause devastation in the human world, they wanted to be prepared if war was coming.
It felt like the world was changing beneath most humans’ very noses.
Kiyo hurt for Tokyo, but he didn’t like to talk about it with Niamh. She already blamed herself for it. Instead, he’d distracted her with explorations of Phuket with its stunning beaches, aqua waters, and amazing food. And there was the sex. They’d indulged in a lot of sex this past month.
However, the restlessness he felt within himself, he also sensed in Niamh.
They were waiting for Niamh to have a vision. Something that would tell them what their next move should be.
So far she’d been visionless. Not that Kiyo minded. He hated witnessing her experience a vision. But it was driving his mate insane with frustration.
She sighed beside him. “As beautiful as it is here, I think we should leave.”
“And go where?”
“Maybe the US.”
“Why there?”
“It’s where Elijah is.”
“The last of the fae-borne?”
Niamh nodded.
As restless as he was, Kiyo replied, “You’re safe here. No one but the people we trust know we’re here. And it’s not exactly a crappy view.” He gestured the stunning blue sky beyond the tops of the trees.
“I know.” But she sighed heavily again.
“Those are big sighs, Komorebi.”
Niamh pushed up off him, her palm pressed to his chest. “I can sense your restlessness, too, Kiyo. This place isn’t exactly full-moon friendly.”
She referred to the fact that he’d been relegated to a small section of the jungle to run in during the full moon. There were too many tourists in nearby resorts for it to be safe for him to venture any farther. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t bear.
“This isn’t the life you’re used to. You’re not used to hiding from anybody and … I don’t want you to come to resent me.”
Her worries baffled him. Hauling her across his body so she straddled him, he plucked at the ties on her bikini top as he growled, “I can’t listen when you talk nonsense at me.”
Grabbing her bikini to stop it from falling away from her breasts, Niamh’s expression turned mulish. “I’m not talking nonsense.”
Kiyo pulled at the ties at her hips holding the bikini bottoms on.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she huffed, but he could feel her mood changing to meet his. “We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
“Well, I feel bad after my shitty dream and I need my mate to make me feel better.”
Her eyes narrowed but she dropped her hands, letting the bikini fall away. Her nipples pebbled even in the thick, warm air of the bedroom. “You’re a manipulative bastard, Kiyo-chan.”
He launched upward to drag a delicious nipple into his mouth and sucked it hard until she rocked into him. Releasing her, he kissed his way up to her mouth and whispered against her lips, “I will never resent you. All that matters is keeping you safe. If you want to leave, we’ll leave. But I want a few orgasms out of you first.”
Kiyo pulled away the sheet that acted as a barrier between them and then flipped her onto her back. He crawled down her body, spread her thighs, and nuzzled into her sex to make good on his promise.
Later, after she’d returned the favor and made his eyes roll back into his fucking head, they laid sprawled across the bed, staring at the mosquito netting they never needed to use because mosquitos apparently hated supes.
“What do you want to do today?” Kiyo asked lazily.
Niamh pushed off him and gave a sexy, sweet smile. “I’m going to go for another swim and then maybe we can eat at that place I like on the beach.”
He nodded, feeling replete from their fooling around but unsettled by the uncertainty he still sensed in her. Leaning up on an elbow, he watched her strut outside, her bikini magically back in place, and he wished he knew what the next right move was.
Just as she walked toward the steps that led down to the overhanging pool, she faltered, swaying.
“Kiyo,” she moaned in distress. And then her head slammed back on her neck with the force of an incoming vision.
“NIAMH!” Kiyo was a blur across the room to the deck, catching her in his arms seconds before she would have fallen over the security railing around the balcony. It was a hundred-foot drop.
Pulse pounding, he restrained her hard judders as he hauled her backward, fearing if he connected to the vision, they’d both go over.
This time, however, he saw no flooding of images; he felt no overwhelming swarm of emotions from Niamh that usually triggered his connection to what she was seeing.
Instead he fell on his ass on the floor, cradling her tight to his body as the vision seized hold of her. When she grew still, Kiyo’s pulse slowed.
Niamh’s eyes fluttered slowly open, and her eyes focused. Kiyo brushed her hair off her face, patiently waiting for her to return to herself.
“You caught me,” she breathed out in relief. “Would have survived but I didn’t fancy a broken neck this morning.”
His tone was bland, belying the terror he’d felt at the thought of her going over the edge of the tree. “Turns out this place isn’t so safe.”
She saw right through him. “Did I give you a fright?”
He glowered at her.
“I gave you a fright,” she answered her own question before pressing a reassuring kiss to his throat. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault. I got to you in time. Vision?” he asked somewhat reluctantly. The vision had brought home the reality that Niamh’s destiny waited outside the borders of the rainforest and one day, they would have to face Astra again.
It came at Kiyo suddenly that for once, he didn’t want to face something head-on. He wanted some peace and quiet with his mate, and he wanted it to last more than a few goddamn weeks. He wanted to cling to the idea of Phuket. To a hidden nirvana where there was nothing but a safe, happy Niamh, and the pleasures they could wring from one another’s bodies.
But he knew that wasn’t their fate.
He knew that even before Niamh took a deep breath and announced, “It’s time to get a flight to London.”