Chapter 9 #2
His gaze finally moved to my face, and the pain behind his eyes was too much for me to take.
“I heard you defend me in front of the Alphas.” He shook his head. “I don’t deserve you, Princess.”
Torin’s voice held so much conviction. He believed that to the core of his bones.
I placed my hand over his, and sparks exploded under my palm. “Even if that’s true, I still want you, Torin. Your vampire won’t hurt me. I don’t know how to make you believe that.”
But maybe there was something else he hid from me that didn’t allow him to mark me.
“You know what bothers me since yesterday?” he asked.
My heart skipped a beat. Was Torin ready to open up and share himself with me?
“What?”
“Your willingness to sacrifice yourself for your mates.” He paused as if slowing his breathing. “Don’t you ever do that, Anna. Promise me? Never wish for your death again.”
“I can’t make such a promise.”
“Anna,” he warned louder, and I glared at him.
“Do you want everyone to know you’re in my room?”
He shook his head slightly, but his crimson eyes stayed gleaming and aimed at me.
“Promise me, Anna,” he whispered.
“I can’t choose which one of my mates dies.”
I glanced at Torin’s face for more signs of anger, but he remained the same.
“Then if you’re ever in a similar situation, choose my death.”
I sucked in some air. “W-what?”
“My death would solve many problems and help you escape danger.” He paused.
“If you were to choose Hayden’s death and stay by my side, you’d be unhappy and spend a lifetime of sorrow and guilt.
I want your body, mind, and soul, and you wouldn’t be able to give me your whole self if you feel sorrow over another man. I couldn’t live like that.”
An enormous weight pressed against my chest. My anger flared, burning hot in my veins.
I sat and rolled my shoulders, but my body couldn’t relax.
“You want all of me when you’re unwilling to share even pieces of yourself.” The words rushed out of my mouth.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, turning my back on Torin. Bowing my head, I squeezed my eyes shut and then reopened them immediately. Why was it so hard to love this man?
“What do you want from me, Torin? Since we are under Dad’s orders not to disclose you as my mate, how do you see us being together?” I paused, unwilling to face him. A disturbing thought passed through my mind. I frowned. “Or did you not see us together in the future?”
Abruptly, I whirled my body toward him. His crimson eyes flashed and remained unblinking while his vampire surfaced.
“I want you in every way possible, Anna,” he said, dropping his hand in his lap. “I’ll have to fight the vampire Queen and kill her before she hurts you or uses you against me.”
I stifled the gasp that rose in my throat. Wait a second… I wasn’t even thinking about the crazy, vicious woman. Torin thought that getting rid of Victoria would fix our relationship issues?
I rubbed the sides of my head. For the last thirty years, Torin had defended himself, his pack, and his kingdom against the Queen’s attacks but never attacked her first and took revenge on her for what she’d done to him.
And now he thought he could miraculously win over his archenemy.
I didn’t want to be the reason for him to attempt killing the vampire Queen.
Keyword—attempt. Even if he got close to her, Victoria had to only look into Torin’s eyes and make him submit to her.
Her compulsion power over him was irreversible and indestructible.
He could never harm his master. The sire who turned him.
I was not sure what face I made, but Torin flinched.
“Anna, don’t you see it? Killing the Queen is the only way to be with you. I have to take her out. She’s a threat to you and me.” He cleared his throat. “And maybe killing her will help earn the trust of the kingdom and your father.”
Torin’s plan was wrong, and so were his reasons for it.
“I won’t let you fight the vampire Queen, Torin.” I crisscrossed my legs. “She can take you away from me.”
Torin’s plan wasn’t completely bad, minus his involvement.
There was a reason why Dad wanted me to finish the war against the vampire Queen.
Otherwise, he would have asked Torin to do so long ago.
My duty as the next Queen was to bring her to her knees for all the crimes against werewolves and humans.
Besides, Torin missed the point. But he and I weren’t going to agree on this right now.
“I just want us to survive Cordelia’s attack tomorrow. Let’s focus on that,” I said in a low voice and exhaled loudly.
The silence stretched between us was as thick as the wall separating us. He didn’t reach out to touch me as he usually did.
After a moment, Torin spoke again. “What happened with your dad and the book?”
“He left it in his safe room and refused to give me the passcode to it, of course.”
A small smile appeared on Torin’s handsome face. “Did he say something like ‘I see you’ll do something stupid like open the book’?”
I laughed. “Pretty much. But Mom and Hayden know the number code to open the vault.”
Torin let out a heavy sigh. “So you want to see if you can get another weapon from the book. Am I correct?”
I nodded. “I’m no match to Cordelia as a human without a magic weapon.”
“But what if she appears in your dream realm before tomorrow?”
I adjusted my position and scooted over to Torin, realizing how much trouble I was in. I was drawn to him no matter what—my body wanted his warmth.
“I can go to the hospital and pick up sleeping pills so my mind won’t be alert to enter my dream realm.”
“I’ll enter it just in case.”
“Torin, you don’t have—”
Two light knocks echoed from my bedroom door, and my eyes widened. I snapped my gaze at Torin, but instead of fear or surprise on his face, Torin chuckled.
“Relax, it’s your—”
“Honey, it’s Mom.” Mom’s sweet voice came from the other side of the door.
I pushed Torin’s shoulder and pointed toward the other side of the bed. He stifled his laughter, rolled over the bed, and dropped on his hands and knees on the other side. I looked at my bed, ensuring his legs weren’t sticking out.
After dashing to the door, I swung it open but stood in the way of Mom entering.
“Hi, honey.” She stood a foot from the doorway as if she didn’t plan to enter my room.
In her hands, she held a plate with grilled cheese sandwiches. At least four of them.
“I brought you food in case you are hungry.”
I knew she made them herself and didn’t let the royal chef do so. As I grew up, she said there weren’t many things left for her to do for me, except the sandwiches.
“Thank you, Mom. But why so many? You know I only eat one usually.” I reached out and took the plate from her.
“I know. I made more in case you wanted to share,” she said.
My fingers clutched around the porcelain. Did Mom know Torin was inside? She gave me a knowing smile while I gulped air.
“Listen to me carefully,” Mom whispered, and I knew her next words would be important. “5389484.”
“What?” I blinked.
“5389484. Memorized it?”
“Yes, but what is—” I gasped.
Mom had just told me the code for Dad’s vault.
“No, Mom. You can be in so much trouble. Why are you doing this? I’m not going to—”
Mom stepped closer and grasped my shoulders like Dad had done before he told me he loved me.
“You will, honey. Your happiness is more important to me. I want you to become the woman you are meant to be. Sometimes you just need a bit of help from another woman. I love you, honey,” she said in the softest voice and hugged me awkwardly to the side as I held the plate of food.
“I love you too, Mom,” I said. “You just made it so much easier for me.”
“That’s what moms do, honey. One day you’ll know.”
After a moment, she took a step back. “There’s something else. Hayden is awake, and he’s making a ruckus in the hospital. He wants you to go and pick him up. I think he forced the doctor to discharge him.” Mom chuckled.
“Yeah, I can see him doing so. He’s not good at sitting around and wouldn’t stay in the hospital while I fight Cordelia.”
“So, bring him to the new room your dad assigned to him.”
I cringed, and tightness formed in my stomach.
Mom tilted her head to the side. “It’s the room next to yours.”
I took a deep breath. Dad had just made it clear that Torin had no chance of competing with Hayden.
Although the delicious aroma of the food whiffed right in front of my face, my stomach churned, and I lost my appetite.
Mom was about to walk away, but she turned. “Your dad and I will wake early tomorrow morning to prepare for the witch’s arrival. You’ll have a short window of time, honey. Now go get Hayden from the hospital.”
That was Mom’s code language for when she and Dad would be out of their bedchamber so I could enter the vault for my book. Her desire for me to have the witch book was unexpected. Usually, she supported Dad’s decisions, but now she took a stand against the King.
Of course, he would eventually find out that Mom gave away the passcode. Mom was risking a lot—the wrath of Dad and the Alphas—for me. Did she have a secret reason for this that was hidden from me?
I blinked back the tears behind my hot lids and promised myself that one day when I became a mother, I would be like Mom. I’d sacrifice everything for my children to be happy.
My gaze fell on the warm plate before me while a strong hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me inside the room. Torin placed a small kiss on my neck.
I blinked again and again. What had just happened?
The door was closed, and Torin appeared in front of me, smirking. He reached for a sandwich and then bit into it.
“I’m not letting Hayden eat your sandwiches,” he said, still smiling.
Did Mom make the extra food for Hayden or Torin?
Torin chewed and then asked, “Did you memorize the code, Anna?”
I nodded.
“I guess we’re stealing your book tomorrow morning,” Torin said and chuckled.
We were standing in my room, toe-to-toe, with a plate of food between us, talking about breaking into the King’s vault.
“Don’t think about coming with me, Torin. It’s not a good idea.”
Torin swallowed the last bite and grabbed two more sandwiches, leaving me one.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Princess?” he said and flashed his crimson eyes.
My gaze averted to the wall—the wall that I now shared with Hayden, whose room was on the other side. The idea of Hayden and Torin sharing the same roof was like trying to blend oil with water. Hayden was a trigger for Torin’s volatile vampire nature.
Torin was unhappy about it, no matter how playful he wanted to appear. The muscles in his jaw twitched in a way they did before his full vampire form emerged. His crimson eyes were a telltale sign of the struggle within him. He was fighting himself again.
But he forced a smile for my sake.
At that moment, I knew I would have to enter Dad’s safe room by myself.
I would do anything possible to get Torin accepted in the werewolf kingdom and not jeopardize his well-being.
Dad and the Alphas would look for excuses to get Torin in trouble, and breaking into the King’s safe room would be more than an excuse to throw Torin in the dungeon reserved for vampires.
Drawing a deep breath, I felt weighed down by an uneasiness pressing over my chest. Were my instincts warning me about something bad happening?
All I had to do now was bring Hayden home from the hospital and keep him away from Torin—a task as easy as one of Dad’s training sessions where I ended up with bloody injuries and broken body parts.