Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
Icouldn’t stop trembling. The temperature inside the stone passages was lower than the cool evening outside. My wet clothes stuck to my body. I was sure my shaky lips were turning blue, and if I stayed too long inside the secret passages, I’d get frostbite or hypothermia.
I only needed to get a glimpse of the faces of the werewolves so I could report them to the King and end their assassination attempt on Torin.
Torin could not die, not under my watch. I couldn’t lose him like that.
The two men strolled through the dark tunnels, and when they reached a dead end, one of them pressed his hand over a rock. The grinding of stone against stone echoed in the silent, cold space, and a hidden door within the wall opened just enough for the men to walk through.
The door closed behind them, and I hurried out of my hiding spot. I faced the gray brick wall and wrapped my arms around my torso. If I were to find the stone that opened the door, it’d make a sound I was sure everyone here would hear.
I wasn’t sure how many more traitors were involved in their scheme. What if there were more than two men down here?
But I’d come this far and had to find out who they were. These were the people who’d attempted to poison Torin. He would never live in peace in the kingdom if I didn’t expose the traitors. And then there was the question about how they tricked Torin.
I touched the damp, cold rocks, one by one.
A calloused hand pressed over my mouth, stifling my scream. My heart started pounding hard as a hard body pressed to my back. I held my breath for a moment as I realized I was so focused I hadn’t even detected this person’s presence.
“Anna, it’s me,” Torin said in a low voice, and my body immediately relaxed against his.
Tiny jolts of electricity exploded under my wet clothes, spreading everywhere over my body.
He removed his hand slowly, grasping my shoulder, and turned me around. “Just tell me you’re not getting yourself into more trouble.”
“I overheard the men talking about killing you. I’m here to find out who they are and what they’re plotting. It’s well worth the trouble, Torin.”
My mate frowned. His hunched posture and drained complexion told me he hadn’t healed completely.
“Anna,” he said on a sigh. “I’m used to living in a state of high alert. There are attempts on my life all the time. I’m constantly chased. And I’ve done a good job protecting myself so far.”
I scoffed. “You’re doing a marvelous job, seeing that you almost died tonight from silver poisoning.”
He flinched and let go of my shoulders. “That was very unusual. I still don’t know how my senses failed me,” he said absent-mindedly.
“Exactly. Your enemies are becoming smarter. They are ahead of us, and I’m about to find out how they did it and who did it.”
“Or a new enemy has emerged,” Torin whispered.
I blinked and grimaced. “Who could that be?”
“Your other mate, Anna.”
I drew in a deep breath and shook my head. “But…he’s helped you so many times now. And if I think about it, you’ve been the one to throw the first punch.”
Torin’s crimson eyes flashed and didn’t disappear. Why was he so paranoid about Hayden? Maybe Torin’s overprotective instinct or jealousy made him suspicious of Hayden.
“Did Hayden help you change your clothes?”
Torin smirked. “I let him so he could think I was helpless, but then the longer you were gone, the more anxious I got that you’d go back to investigate. And I was right.”
“Well, I’m going in,” I said and turned to face the wall, running my hand over each brick to open the hidden door.
Torin wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my neck. Then he released me. “If you’re doing this, I’ll be next to you, Princess.”
Without turning around, I said, “You’re still recovering from the poisoning. I should be okay here by myself.”
The words tasted bitter on my tongue. I wanted Torin next to me, but I also wanted him to rest and regain strength.
Torin’s lips placed small kisses all over the crook of my neck, and then he licked the spot where I wanted him to mark me. A wave of pleasurable sensations ran down to my core, and I moaned.
He chuckled, and I could feel the smile on his lips against my skin.
“Fine. You can come with me,” I said and smiled.
I couldn’t say no to this man; he knew about his effect on me, which made more blood rush to my face.
The last rock I touched dipped inside the wall, and the hidden door creaked open.
“I’m sure they all heard us now,” Torin said.
“Let’s hope for the best. We go in and see who they are and leave quickly.”
We stepped inside a narrow corridor. Tiny streams of water slid down the cement block walls. It smelled like it had rained inside.
“I hope we don’t have to go through some narrow space like before.”
I didn’t think my claustrophobia was cured only because I had the witch bracelet that could light up in the dark.
I stumbled over debris and steadied myself with a hand on the cold wall. Torin looked me up and down to ensure I was okay. I nodded, and we kept on walking.
There was an opening in the wall on my right, and as I passed by the dark tunnel, cold air blew into me. I jerked, and Torin immediately stood next to me.
“I’m sorry. I got startled. It felt like something skittering across my skin. It was creepy.”
Torin nodded and grasped my hand. The tunnel ended and opened into a larger space that looked man-made. It wasn’t abandoned, and the thought rose goose bumps on my neck. For how long had these traitors planned Torin’s assassination?
“If you hadn’t visited me in the dungeon, I would have died alone,” Torin said. “Why did you come to see me?”
I swallowed hard. “I wanted to see you but also tell you something important. I’ll have to mate with Hayden to become the next Queen. He’ll become the werewolf King.”
In the next moment, Torin stood in front of me, gently grasping the sides of my head. He kissed my forehead and let his forehead rest on mine, slightly leaning into me.
I savored the heat seeping from his hard chest into mine. I savored the rise and fall of his chest and the feeling of his heart pounding against mine.
“We’re destined to be together, Anna. In a very twisted and complicated way. But you and I are meant to be together. Hearing that you’ll be with another man is worse than the pain of being turned into a vampire or any other torture I’ve had to endure.”
He took a step back and released me, determination in his eyes. “But if we can expose Hayden and his men, you won’t have to mate him.”
“You think Hayden is behind your assassination attempt, and he’s the boss of the traitors?” I shook my head. “I can’t believe that, Torin.”
He nudged me, and we started again on the uneven floor covered in dirt and dust. The corners of the next tunnels looked sharp. Black pipes and dangling wires hung from overhead.
Did the King even know werewolf traitors used the tunnels for their evil plans?
“Do you think Dad is involved?”
“I don’t. He’s a good person, Anna, despite all his mistakes.”
I halted and looked at him. “So let’s say you and I are a family, mated, but we can’t have children. So you’ll let me have a baby with Hayden? A child I bring back for us to raise? You see what my mom had to go through because of Dad.”
Torin ran his hand through his hair, and a low growl vibrated from his throat.
“I would never let this happen.” He stepped into me and brushed his hand over my cheek. I smiled. “I can’t even imagine that without my heart feeling like it’s ripped from my chest.”
“Let’s go before we make too much noise.”
“One more thing, Anna. I heard you say you are willing to be with me even if it means no marking and no kids. You’re willing to pay such a high price to be with me?”
I nodded. “I would do it for love.”
Abruptly, Torin wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight as if he was afraid I would disappear. The fingertips of one hand ran through my hair, and then they lowered to my face. He traced the softness of my lower lip, causing me to tremble in his arms.
As he pushed his body toward mine, his warmth, strength, and desire seeped into me. Lowering his head, he pressed his lips to mine, telling me without words that I was loved.
His tongue slid inside and teased me. I felt his hunger for me. My fingers twitched to touch him as delicious warmth stole over me. Although danger surrounded us, I was safe in Torin’s arms.
His lips moved with a fierce tenderness, and I melted into him. If only this moment could last longer. Torin slowly broke apart from me, and we both gasped for air.
Muffled voices and fast-approaching footsteps echoed from the tunnel that we had just come through. My stomach knotted. Torin’s eyes flashed, and he grasped my wrist.
“They’re behind us,” Torin said, pulling me after him.
We dashed through the tunnel, our boots crunching over damp earth. I held my breath for a moment when we passed a section of the tunnel that smelled like rotting tree roots.
The passage narrowed as we stepped farther inside.
Torin must have detected my elevated pulse because he squeezed my hand tighter. “You can do it, Anna.”
Then he broke into a run, and I had to do the same. I ran my hand along the wall to support myself for balance.
“I detect two of them behind us,” Torin said.
But weren’t we running toward the other two men in cloaks I’d seen earlier?
I tried keeping up with Torin but kept slipping on the damp, uneven floor.
“Hurry, Anna,” he said in a voice laced with worry.
Abruptly, our hands disconnected. Someone grabbed me from behind. Arms of steel kept mine trapped to the sides.
Torin halted and twisted, ready to pounce on my captor, but he suddenly stopped, frozen, first watching me and then something behind me.
And then I saw it. A glimmer of a dagger close to my neck.
The hand holding it belonged to that of a man who wore the same cloak as those other men I saw earlier.
“Make a move and the Princess dies,” my captor said in a deep voice.