by S. Young
She considered his question. “No,” she eventually said. “I suppose you’re right. It’s not.”
“You’re messing with people’s free will.”
“I know. But what else would you have me do?”
His hands flexed around the steering wheel. “In this circumstance, we’re doing what we have to do to survive. But it seems to me that you use it whenever the hell you feel like it. To stay in fancy hotels. To fly where you need to fly.” He flicked her a look. “To rob banks.”
Guilt suffused her as she looked quickly away. “Old habits die hard, I suppose.”
“I guess I should be grateful you can’t use it on other supernaturals.” He flicked her a look. “Fionn said you couldn’t. You can’t, right?”
“I can’t,” she confirmed. “It doesn’t work against you.”
He nodded and then … “It was your brother, wasn’t it? He convinced you to use your gifts to live well while you were on the run.”
The mention of … him …
Niamh glared at Kiyo. “I’m a grown-up. I take responsibility for my actions.”
“Yeah? It’s just a strange contradiction. You care so much about people … it doesn’t make sense that you’d enjoy stealing from them or playing games with their minds.”
“Well, you’d know all about contradictions. You’re one big giant one.”
“I’m right, aren’t I?” He ignored her weak comeback. “Ronan convinced you to use your gifts.”
“You owe me, Nee. There’s no harm in it.”
Niamh flinched at the memory of his voice. “Don’t ever say his name again.”
A chill fell over the car and Kiyo’s mask of indifference slipped. His eyebrows rose in surprise at the icy cold in her tone, the freeze emanating from her very being.
Their eyes met and she dared him to push her on this.
Kiyo looked away first, watching the road ahead. “When we get to Kalmar, we need to find a phone so we can contact Bran.”
The chill in the vehicle dissipated. “Perhaps they can find us a safe flight out of this place. As beautiful as it is.”
“I’ve never been to Sweden,” the wolf muttered. “Traveled a lot but never Sweden.”
“Well, you can cross it off your bucket list. ‘Plummet into the Baltic Sea and swim to Sweden.’ Check!”
To her delight, Kiyo’s lips twitched. Just a little.
7
After Niamh programmed the GPS to find the nearest hotel, it took them just over an hour to reach it on the mainland of Sweden. Crossing the Ölandsbron Bridge from Öland to the mainland had been the only moment where the tension between Niamh and Kiyo was forgotten.
The sun had disappeared behind heavy, dark clouds, and the water on either side of them was like glass. Gray-blue sheets of stillness. There were hardly any other vehicles on the bridge, and for a moment it felt like they were on some lonely, safe corner of the planet. It was incredibly peaceful.
Kiyo enjoyed it for what it was. A moment of tranquility in amongst the chaos and danger.
He suspected Niamh appreciated it as well. Or maybe she just appreciated not having to interact with him for a while. Other than the bridge, the drive felt longer than an hour.
“… out of all of my incredible gifts, my soft emotions, as you call them, my kindness, my compassion, my love, are my greatest. Because without them, I am the darkest, most dangerous being you’ll ever meet. Be grateful I am who I am, Kiyo. For everyone’s sake.”
Her words echoed in his mind—more than that, his reaction to them.
He respected her, and it took a lot to gain his admiration.
More alarmingly, he wanted her.
Lust, Kiyo could deal with. He had a strong sexual appetite and no particular preference. His body reacted to all kinds of women, in all their varied glory. Sex was the one thing in this harsh existence that Kiyo could be thankful for. However, he never let his sexuality control him.
That was easy when you were just attracted to a body, a face.
The moment he’d seen Niamh, he reacted to her. She was beautiful. He was aware of her, as a male would be.
But it would never control him.
Being attracted to who she was as a person, to her mind, her heart … that was more concerning.
Kiyo had a job to do, and he couldn’t let softer emotions that hadn’t touched him in decades creep in. He had to keep her at bay, and if that meant pretending to have the moral high ground because of her talent for mind trickery, then so be it. She didn’t need to know he’d done the kind of wicked shit that made her look like Snow White in comparison.
This strange feeling toward her also meant he wasn’t going to push about her brother, even though her reaction was … damn, he didn’t even know what that was. He thought she was going to turn the entire SUV into an icicle. As much as he wanted to push, distance between them was best.
They’d crossed the bridge and were now on a highway flanked by trees when a lake appeared to their right. Kiyo glanced at the GPS. “We’re getting closer.”
Following the road around the lake, they turned right. They seemed to have hit the outskirts of town. It wasn’t much to look at it, especially on a gray day. Or at least that’s what he thought at first.
But then they turned left toward their hotel and the concrete road changed to wobbly cobbles and the buildings became older, quainter.
Each was painted in a different soft pastel. Cafés offered outside seating. An empty market square was probably filled with stalls and flowers during the summer. Bicycle racks upon bicycle racks suggested cycling was a popular form of transport here.
The road narrowed the farther they drove, the SUV handling the cobbles with ease.
“It’s pretty,” Niamh murmured.
Following the GPS, Kiyo took a left turn down another tight, cobbled road and followed it nearly to the end where the hotel was located.
The hotel wasn’t as pretty as its neighbors with its roughcast exterior but it had a Dutch roof that gave the building some interest. Noting the lack of available parking, Kiyo’s irritation spiked. He didn’t tire easily, but after what they’d been through and having not slept for days, he just wanted a moment to stop somewhere without aggravation. “Where the hell am I supposed to park?”
“Just park in front of the hotel. They might have valet.”
Niamh’s patient tone irritated him even more. She would be calm with her fae ability to recover from anything, including damn exhaustion. “At this shithole?”
“It’s a four-star hotel, Kiyo,” she scolded gently. “What did you expect? A towering modern structure in the heart of an historical town? Don’t be precious.” She hopped out of the car while he gaped after her.
Precious?
No one had ever dared to call him precious.
With a growl of annoyance, he followed her out of the car and into the hotel. Inside it was Scandinavian in style with simple, modern, comfortable midcentury furnishings. But in Kiyo’s mind, the European star system didn’t reflect what it did on other continents. In the States or Japan, this would be three-star, not four.
Not that he goddamn cared.
He was getting pissy about things that didn’t goddamn matter.
What he needed was a bed. Food first. Then bed.
Niamh was already using her mind-trick shit on the front-desk clerk by the time he appeared at her side. The woman handed over the keys to two rooms.
“One room,” Kiyo demanded.
Niamh turned and raised an eyebrow at him. He stared at her, noting that the golden freckles on her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose stood out in sharp relief against the paleness of her skin. Perhaps he’d been wrong. Perhaps fae did tire after all. “One room?”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“And I’m not sharing a bed with you.”
“Many women would be happy to.”
She grimaced. “Well, you cocky bastard, I’m not one of them.”
<
br /> Something like a lie lingered in the air between them.
Kiyo felt an answering tug in his gut.
Shit.
“Fine. Two rooms.” His hand clamped around hers as she took the key cards.
Her golden-blue eyes widened.
“But if you run from me, it will piss me off.”
She sighed, pulling her hand away only to hold out one of the key cards. “Can I ask, is there anything that doesn’t piss you off?”
“Sex,” he answered instantly. He shouldn’t have said it, but she seemed so unflappable all the time while he most certainly felt … flapped.
To his pleasure, he watched a pretty pink blush stain her cheeks. “Oh.” Her gaze dropped as she turned away from him and the dazed receptionist. “Well, I can’t help you there.”
Kiyo’s eyes lowered to her perfect sweetheart ass showcased superbly in tight skinny jeans and the long legs attached. He allowed himself a torturous second of imagining those long legs wrapped around him. With Niamh’s power and grace, he bet she was epic in bed. “Lies,” he muttered.
“What?” She cast him a narrow-eyed look over her shoulder.
He cleared his face of all expression as he fell into stride beside her. “I didn’t say anything.”
They took the stairs instead of the elevator, and he remembered the SUV.
Niamh shrugged at his reminder. “Just leave it. Someone will come and ask us to move it if they need us to.”
“Right. Then first things first, we need to call Bran.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“With the phone in my room. I know his number.”
“You memorized it?”
“Of course.” He cut her a mocking look. “Never rely on technology to remember anything of the utmost importance.”
She threw him an amused smile. “Wise words.”
As it turned out, their rooms were opposite one another. “Come into mine,” he said as he swiped the key card, “while I talk to Bran.”
The room was much like the lobby. Sparse, simple, and clean. Kiyo’s gaze drifted longingly to the bed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this tired. Gesturing to the chair at the small desk by the window, he watched Niamh settle into it before he grabbed the phone on the bedside table. Hitting the country code for Ireland first, he tapped in Bran’s cell number.
It rang and rang before going to voicemail.
“It’s me,” he said, trying to hide the bite of impatience. “Call me back. We hit some trouble.” He replaced the receiver and said to Niamh, “He probably didn’t answer because he didn’t recognize the number.”
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.
S
he flicked him a surprised look, then her brows puckered as if she’d just realized what she’d conveyed. “Not me and my brother. Just me. Thank goodness.”
“What happened?”
She didn’t answer.
A sting grew hot in his chest. Kiyo ignored it and they strode in silence, following the signs for the dining room. It turned out to be buffet-style service, the food less than appealing. Yet it was food, so it would do. There were only a few other hotel guests in the room.
They separated while they filled their plates and then Kiyo spotted Niamh at a table for two in the corner, far away from anyone else.
He sat down, noting for someone who wasn’t hungry, she’d piled her plate almost as high as he had. Kiyo raised an eyebrow.
She flashed him a quick, sheepish grin. “I got hungry when I saw the food.”
Amusement eased his earlier irritation and his lips twitched around a forkful of deli meat.
“I went into hiding for a while,” Niamh said abruptly. At his obvious confusion, she continued, “You asked what happened. With the going-hungry thing.”
He was silent but nodded for her to go on.
Niamh shrugged. “I disappeared off the map a few months ago. I disappeared even from myself. Does that make sense?”
Yeah, that made total sense to him. Kiyo nodded again.
“I don’t even remember how I got to the room or when or …” Her lovely eyes were dark and hollow with an emotion he recognized.
Grief.
This was about her brother.
“I don’t know how long I was there exactly. I estimate about ten days or so.” Her rueful smile was limp, joyless. “I felt the hunger pains, but it was the cramps from dehydration that pulled me out of the black hole. I knew I wouldn’t die … but I also didn’t know it would hurt so much.” She gave him a considering look. “It didn’t last. By the time I pushed myself to my feet to get out of that room, the pain started to dissipate. And I felt strangely stronger but hard. Brittle. Like I was made of stone.” Her eyes rounded with shock, like she hadn’t meant to give that much away. She dropped her gaze to her plate. “Anyway, I stepped out of the room into an apartment I didn’t recognize, into a city I didn’t know. Turned out I was in Hamburg. I don’t even remember getting there from Munich …”