Chapter 10 #2
I knew Alexander had heard him from the other side of the door because muffled voices echoed, but I couldn’t make out the words.
The hot water from the shower stung my shoulder despite falling in soft drops. I wrapped myself in the fluffy white robe and walked into my bedroom, only to halt at the sight of Torin sitting on my bed.
“You know, you’re the worst roommate ever,” I said, trying to break the awkward tension that had built up after two close calls.
He rolled his eyes dramatically. I laughed.
“Why weren’t you scared back there, Anna?”
“I was. But I want to believe that even if your vampire tastes my blood, he won’t drain me dead,” I said.
Torin’s eyebrows furrowed in a line.
“Let’s not go that far. No tasting of any sorts.” Shaking his head, he stood and walked past me, entering my bathroom.
When he came back, he carried a hair dryer in his hand.
“Come over here. I want to dry your hair so you won’t get sick,” he said and plugged it into the electrical outlet next to my bed.
Torin’s nostrils still flared, and his gaze lingered on my raw wound.
“Are you sure you’re okay? If it’s too difficult to be around me—”
“No, Anna. I’m…better. Struggling since you smell delicious,”—his jaw muscles twitched—“but my desire to be with you is winning over right now.” His gaze traveled toward the front door, and he sighed. “And my men still linger at the door, I see.”
“Why? Because my injury is still fresh?”
“I told them to stop me in case I lose control around you. In case you scream, they’ll break the door and save you.”
The more I thought about how Torin and I could stay together, the tighter my chest got. My legs took me to Torin, and I stood in front of him while he blew the hot air into my hair. His long fingers danced their way through my damp locks of hair while a low hum vibrated from my chest.
It felt so good to have my scalp massaged that all anger left me. This would be the second-best thing after doing calligraphy…or was it the third? His touch was gentle yet firm. I sighed.
Once my hair dried, he guided me to the edge of the bed and returned to the bathroom for a moment. He brought back a first-aid kit and sat next to me, a mischievous smirk tugging at his lips.
“You’ll have to expose your arm so I can bandage it,” he said, his heated gaze flickering to mine.
With my free hand, I held the robe across my breasts, and I awkwardly pulled my other arm out of the sleeve. His mate touch electrified me as he tended to my wound, and each touch sent jolts of need coursing through me.
I stared at Torin’s gentle fingers as they worked on my upper arm, and an image of his sharp talons popped into my mind. I shook my head and took a deep breath.
Torin’s flared nostrils and bobbing Adam’s apple as he swallowed repeatedly told me he struggled.
“Do you want to take a break?” I asked.
“What kind of break?”
“From being around me…”
He shot me a look that made my breath hitch. “I took a break from you for far too long in the past. No more breaks, Anna.”
And that was that.
After Torin placed the kit back, he stepped into the living room and came back holding my soft-tip calligraphy pen. His other hand pressed lightly on my chest.
“Lie down,” he ordered, and my eyes grew wide.
“Torin?”
“I want to try something,” he said and sat on the mattress next to me. “I won’t repeat it again, Princess.”
“Are you ordering me?”
“If you want me to stay in my human form, I need to be in control.”
“So that means I have to follow your orders?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, if you’re looking for a girl who will do your bidding, I’m not your person, Torin. But good luck finding one,” I said and let out a playful huff, but then I froze.
I shouldn’t have teased him, especially today.
“Princess, you’re doing it again,” he said, pressing his palm against my chest.
My already relaxed body fell back onto the mattress. “Doing what?”
“Defying me. I want to experiment with something. I’m training.”
I propped myself on my elbows. “Again with your so-called training. You want to see how far you can push before your vampire bites me.”
“That’s why I have to train.”
I sighed, lying down against the coolness of the bedsheet. My wound was covered, but he was going to torture himself again by touching me while resisting his thirst for my blood.
“I should be scared right now, but at the same time, I want to see what you’re planning to do with my calligraphy pen.”
Torin chuckled.
“Now show me your birthmark,” he ordered, and I gave him my best frown. “You’re my mate, Anna. I can look at every inch of your body.”
He wouldn’t give up—that was for sure, and Torin seemed fine. I bent my knee and exposed the inner thigh of my left leg after bunching up the material of the robe.
Torin’s gaze settled on my skin, and he ran his hand up my thigh.
He didn’t have to do that to “see” my birthmark, but the sensations left behind by his touch spiraled me out of this world.
Pleasure infused in my veins and simmered in my core, erasing my previous anger and shock.
The mark tingled as his fingers traced it, sending waves of delicious tension to my center.
Torin blinked, and his crimson eyes emerged. His hair slowly changed to silver, and when something sharp scraped over my mark, I focused on his sharp talon resting on my inner thigh. His gentle touch had turned rough as if scratching an itch with fingernails.
I gasped. “Torin, are you okay?”
Goosebumps broke out on my forearms.
“Yes,” he said in his deep, inhuman voice.
With Torin, it was easy to blur the lines between pleasure and pain, love and lust, human and vampire. The issue was that I didn’t mind his mate touch, allowing him to pull me into whatever danger lay ahead.
The Alpha squeezed his eyes shut and, after a moment, reopened them. As his gaze locked with mine, a rush of heat surged through me, causing my cheeks to flame.
“Do you still draw with your pens on the inside of your wrist or between your thumb and index finger?” he asked in a low voice.
Lips parting, I just stared at him. Finally, I made an effort to close my mouth.
“I asked because I found it endearing. Why do you do it?”
“Out of habit, I guess,” I said. “To remind myself to focus on something that day or to simply stay strong.”
He lifted his hand, and his talons retracted and disappeared. In their place, his human hands showed, and I let out a sigh.
“I want to draw the daisy wheel on you. My own brand tattooed on your skin,” he said, and blood rushed to my cheeks.
But Torin’s temporary tattoo on me made my heart clench.
An image of the royal crescent marking popped into my mind.
Before I left the kingdom all those years ago, I would have given anything to have it on my shoulder or neck.
But the royal pack tattoo never appeared on my skin as it did for the other werewolves in the territory.
Torin’s pack marking stood out from his other tattoos—the intricate patterns of tribal lines forming a wolf head symbolizing belonging to a community. The markings were the very essence of the pack etched onto werewolves’ flesh—a visible reminder of their shared pack bond.
Since I wasn’t blessed with the royal pack marking, would I receive Torin’s pack marking once I became its official Luna? The werewolves didn’t make a big deal when the magical ink appeared on their flesh, but to me, the marking was everything. It would solidify my place among the supernaturals.
Torin’s hand brushed away some of the material on one of my breasts and Torin leaned in closer.
His chest covered my lower body while his arm rested on my upper body, but he supported himself with his other one so he wouldn’t crush me.
His nostrils flared as his face got close to my skin, and he inhaled deeply.
He let out a rough moan, and a hot shiver ran down my spine.
But I couldn’t decipher if it was because I was scared or because I wanted Torin to undo the knot on my bathrobe. Probably both.
He moved the pen over the skin above my breast in gentle strokes, causing a blazing fire to ignite within my core.
He must have chosen this spot because it was hidden and no one else would know I had his tattoo.
The ink was waterproof, and I guess it’d stay there for a couple of days.
Torin gently stroked the concealed flesh, marking territory only meant for him.
The thought alone aroused a strange thrill inside me.
But I wanted his permanent mate mark on me. By the Gods, what was I thinking? The thought made me shudder, and I took a deep breath.
He was so close that his hot breaths landed on my skin, further fueling the flames in my core. Everything pulled me toward this man. As soon as his next breath tickled against my skin, I lost control of myself and leaned into him—wanting more, craving more.
My breath hitched, and after a moment of trying to avoid inhaling Torin’s earthy scent, I dipped my chin to check on his drawing. It was a bigger size than my birthmark.
“It’s beautiful,” I said and looked at him.
He’d shifted almost entirely into his vampire form. His ears were more extended and his cheeks hollower. Torin’s breathing had changed to small pants, and he blinked repeatedly, trying to regain control and bring back his human side.
I wouldn’t say I panicked, but an uneasy feeling formed in my chest and constricted my lungs. Would I always have to stay alert in his presence? As mates, would we ever be able to share a bed? Did I want to?
Torin abruptly stood, jolting me out of my scary thoughts, and stormed out of my room.
From the living room, his voice echoed. “Get dressed. We’ll meet my Council.”
Veronica despised me, but Alexander would support me. I didn’t know how the rest of the Council felt about me. Would I measure up to their expectations of the pack’s Luna?
Small seeds of doubt grew in my mind. I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the encounter.