Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Iknew better than to hope the King would give me the code number for his safety room. I held my breath, wracking my brain about what Dad had prepared for me.
“An early birthday gift?” I asked.
My father walked up to me and handed me black scrunched-up material. When I unfolded it, I laughed. Since I’d lost the one he gave me in my London apartment, it was a new apron that said Queen of Cookies.
“Welcome back home, Anna,” he said softly.
“I wouldn’t have to hide and steal cookies from the kitchen if you let me freely eat them as a child, Dad. You knew that, right?”
When Dad chuckled, the tiny wrinkles around his eyes deepened, reminding me of the years since I was a child with a cookie obsession.
“Sugar interfered with your training,” Dad said as a matter-of-fact.
Dad might have a few more wrinkles on his face and silver hair threads streaked through his temples, but he hadn’t changed.
I stood abruptly, following my instincts, and hugged him. “I love you, Dad.”
His arms wrapped around my torso, big and strong, as I remembered them as a child. He squeezed me tighter as if it had been ages since we had last held each other like this. His embrace was like a warm welcome home.
He pulled away from me and faced me. “Promise me one thing, honey. Please don’t announce Torin as your mate.
The rumors. The speculations in the kingdom will complicate everything.
Fear and disapproval will rise, some directed at you.
The last thing we want is a war within our kingdom, a divided front that the vampire Queen could easily penetrate. For the peace of our kingdom, Anna.”
“For now, I won’t say anything. But we need to postpone the mating ritual with Hayden.”
“Well, what’s wrong with your bodyguard? Is there a problem with him?”
I scoffed. “There’s nothing wrong with him.”
Maybe that was the problem. He was a great mate in any respect, and maybe that scared me a little. But Hayden lacked the crescent royal pack marking on his torso like Torin and me. Unlike Torin, he was respected and accepted within the kingdom, so why wouldn’t the pack marking appear on his body?
My only explanation was that Hayden didn’t accept the kingdom as his home. After all, belonging was a two-way street. I felt like I didn’t completely know Hayden.
“Don’t you feel a pull toward him, Anna?”
My cheeks flushed. “I do—”
“But that’s not enough,” he said.
I nodded.
“But your attraction to him can grow into love for him. Think about it.”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to find out who violated my consent, although I couldn’t imagine either man doing so.
“Why can’t I be a Queen by myself? I don’t need a King.” I folded the apron and placed it on my lap.
Dad smiled. “I know you don’t. You’re strong enough to take on the throne now. But you wouldn’t be able to do so. The kingdom’s politics and traditions can’t be ignored. You’ll have to learn how to be smart about it. As a Queen, you’ll need the support of the Alphas. You need allies.”
I understood Dad’s message. Even though I postponed the marking ritual with Hayden, the Alphas would pressure me to mate him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t accept a human Queen by herself on the throne.
The werewolves wouldn’t trust me that I could lead and defend them against supernatural villains. I needed a werewolf King to take the throne by my side.
After I spoke to Dad, I headed to my old bedroom in the kingdom manor. I kicked the door shut behind me and flopped on the mattress, staring at the blinding bright light fixture on the white ceiling.
As a child, I was so afraid of the dark that I fell asleep with the night lights and the large fixture lamp turned on. I must have been around seven when, one night, I caught Mom sneaking into my bedroom to turn off all the lights.
At the time, I was horrified by her actions, but now, my heart overflowed with love for Mom.
I wondered if she’d set an alarm to wake up after midnight to enter my room.
Did she even get any sleep because of my childhood fears?
It wasn’t only the darkness that caused me to break a sweat at night, but also small, enclosed spaces, creepy insects, and storms.
Mom never complained or scolded me; her patience with me was never-ending.
She would assure me that there were no spiders in my room.
Dad, however, took me on a hike in the forest and didn’t warn me when I walked right into a spider web that stretched between branches.
Mom, of course, gave him an earful afterward.
My parents loved me, even if they expressed that love differently—I never doubted their feelings.
Even though I was born a human, my parents silently took the hand they were dealt from the birth lottery, just as any loving parent would, and never complained or blamed me for it.
Somehow, I would have to survive the fight against Cordelia as a human unless I received help from the magic whip.
I lifted my left arm and examined the bracelet. The gold was about an inch thick, covered by the pentagram symbols from my dream realm. It bothered me that the fifth symbol was missing—the one I thought to be the spirit or the fated mate.
I stared at the jewelry as if that would help me harness its powers.
I shook off my arm and huffed a heavy sigh.
How would I trigger the bracelet to become a deadly weapon against the dark witch?
I touched the tiny lines of one of the pentagrams, and warmth infused my fingers.
I could feel the weapon’s power even when disguised as jewelry. The magic was there, sleeping.
“Transform,” I muttered.
But the bracelet clung to my wrist, unresponsive.
I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for it to transform.
After a moment, I reopened my eyes. No change.
I was granted a weapon that refused to be a weapon when I faced imminent danger.
How was I supposed to fight back without knowing how to trigger its hidden powers?
I shook my arm again as if that would make the bracelet transform into the deadly whip I saw back in the Salem graveyard and sighed. I couldn’t use its power to fight the dark witch.
Without the aid of the witch weapon gifted to me by unknown powers, I had to fight Cordelia like a human—with punches, silver arrows, and daggers.
The next best thing was the magic book. Would The Book of Banished Souls lead me to another weapon?
I could use it against Cordelia, but I had a low chance of getting my hands on the book, and even if I did, who knew what its pages held?
It might not lead me to another weapon, but I still had to try.
I wouldn’t be able to retrieve my book today.
It was locked behind a heavy metal door, protected by a code I didn’t know.
And Dad was unwilling to share it with me right now.
I was sure he would divulge all secrets and passcodes once I was the Queen, but that also meant I had to fully mate with Hayden.
He was the logical, easy option. And yet, something held me back.
Something that didn’t fully allow me to lose myself to my bodyguard.
It came from the depths of my soul, and I trusted my instinct.
I didn’t have a wolf spirit to guide me and help me make decisions.
The next best thing I had was my gut feeling.
But what if I was just being unreasonable and oversensitive?
What if Torin did something to me to bond us partially?
As soon as my bedroom door creaked, I snapped my gaze to it and locked eyes with the man. Torin marched inside, shutting the door behind him.
He had the tendency to let himself inside without knocking. He loved invading my personal space as much as he desired. His vampire emerged around me when he felt it necessary, making his own decisions and asking me later.
Hayden was the opposite. Since I’d grown up with him, he would ensure I had my space and would wait in the shadows to protect me. My bodyguard asked questions first and then took action. Hayden was more willing to share himself with me than Torin.
But my heart belonged to Torin.
I didn’t like where my thoughts were taking me. Doubt plagued my mind, and I averted my eyes from the Alpha.
I had to find out the truth about my chosen mate.
The overwhelming feeling causing tightness in my chest was the same as when I drove at night with my headlights on—enough to see right ahead of me, but not enough to know where I was going.
I couldn’t just sit around and pray that everything would work out.
The mattress dipped next to me, and a rough but gentle hand under my chin turned my head.
“Anna, look at me,” he said.
“I don’t want to,” I whispered, but my eyes found his amber ones. " If I keep looking at you, my promise to Dad will crumble.”
“And what is that promise, Princess?”
“Not to tell the kingdom that you’re my other mate.”
Torin’s crimson eyes flashed but disappeared quickly.
“At least for now, especially since Cordelia’s visit is tomorrow. But after that, I’ll try to convince the other Alphas to vote in your favor to allow you to shift into your vampire within the kingdom territory.” I sighed.
He scoffed. “There’s no convincing them.”
“But for the fight with Cordelia, you won’t be able to get help from your vampire, Torin.”
Torin’s finger traveled from my jaw, down my neck, and between my breasts, leaving a hot trail behind. I sucked in a deep breath as the sensations spread through my chest and down to my stomach. My traitorous body didn’t protest to his mate touch.
“Have the other Alphas always been like that to you? Against you, taunting you?” I asked.
Torin nodded while his gaze lowered to where his hand rested over my heart. He smiled at some thought that must have popped into his mind. It was almost as if he was counting my heartbeats.
“They could never get me riled up in the past, but now I can barely hold my vampire from emerging when they talk down on you or praise Hayden.”