Chapter 32 #2
The mere thought of tasting Torin left my mouth watering. The yearning to mark him now was so much stronger than the last time when I bit him with my dull teeth.
In the depths of my mind, a voice whispered, reminding me of the lack of a wolf spirit. I couldn’t mark Torin even if I wanted to. I was not even a werewolf, worthy of being marked or marking another.
The thought sobered me up, and a sharp pain cut through my chest.
The pain in my neck subsided. He still fought his vampire, evident by the trembling of his body.
The urge to belong to him and to be claimed by my mate, probably triggered by our mate bond, overwhelmed me, and extra adrenaline infused my veins. I couldn’t mark my mate, but he could.
“Mark me, Torin.”
His body stiffened as if he’d woken up from a trance, and he pulled away from me. This was his second opportunity to mark me, but he hadn’t.
The first one was when we were on his pack’s territory, and in the heat of the moment, I bit Torin, triggering the same response in him. But he managed to stop his vampire from marking me back then too.
He was not that helpless and still in control of his vampire. So there was something he was not telling me. If we escaped our captors, would I ever discover Torin’s reasons?
I would have to accept that I couldn’t be with him how I wanted. From now on, I would have to learn how to move on and set him free, whether he liked it or not.
Torin would want to stay by my side, but I couldn't move on with my life if he was around.
I was wrong and stupid to want the kingdom to accept him when Torin couldn’t accept himself fully. He had to do the work to heal. I couldn’t save him. I could only hope not to break as I learned to live without him.
Tears fell onto my cheeks, and I sucked in a sharp breath. A heavy weight settled upon my chest, squeezing my heart with a merciless grip as the realization finally sank into my mind.
Before, I’d fought for Torin’s acceptance with a flicker of hope that he and I could make our relationship work somehow. But now I knew better—his first taste of me marked the beginning of our inevitable downfall.
Torin’s fangs disappeared as my dream of being fully mated to him crashed around me.
My vampire mate licked his lips as my blood dripped onto his chin.
He studied my face as my mind reeled, and I tried to control my breathing. He leaned in and licked the puncture wounds. He sealed them with his saliva and placed a tiny kiss on my neck.
The initial stabbing pain had subsided but still throbbed under the skin. With every sip, he’d taken more warmth out of my body. And now that he had stopped, I shivered.
“Anna, are you okay?” Torin asked.
I only nodded, not wanting to choke on my voice.
“I never felt anything like that before. I didn’t know such ecstasy could exist. It was like an electric wave running through my veins, from my head to my toes,” Torin said.
He leaned in and licked the wounds again, removing any remaining blood from my neck.
“I felt your life force traveling through my body. It feels as if I was reborn into a stronger vampire.”
The crimson in his eyes filled the white parts, while the skin on his face looked more translucent. He tilted his head from side to side as if he worked out the knots in his neck.
Abruptly, Torin walked away from me, paced to the prison door, and halted there to listen. After a moment, he turned to face me, and his eyes shone with vengeance.
My request to be marked seemed to have vanished from his mind, now overtaken by negative emotions. He only thought about killing someone, and I knew who this person would be.
The pain of the puncture wounds had moved to my heart and throbbed. Not knowing what to do with my injured hand, I let it drop awkwardly by my side. A few drops of blood fell on the filthy, damp stones.
I laughed out of nervousness. “Is this the moment when I say I told you so? Let me guess. It was so good that drinking my blood almost made you forget life?”
I plastered on a smile, but it felt strained and incomplete. Inside, I was breaking.
As if he detected my discomfort, Torin scanned my body, making sure I was okay.
I was not okay. But it didn’t matter at the moment, just as it didn’t matter to the Fates that I didn’t want to inherit the werewolf throne.
“I can only describe it as maddening satisfaction. Thank you for sharing your life force with me, Anna. It was an act of love and devotion that I felt with every cell in my body.” Finally, a small, genuine smile formed on his full lips.
But you don’t want me to be yours forever.
His movements became smooth and graceful, invigorated like never before. My love for him ran through my veins, our connection deepening, yet he still couldn’t fully commit to me.
Even though I lacked a wolf spirit, was I not worthy?
He could bite me, drink my blood, and not harm me. But he didn’t want to mark me, and that hurt more than the physical pain from the bite or the cut on my palm.
More tears welled up and slid down my cheeks.
Torin’s eyes widened. “Does it hurt?”
“Not physically,” I said.
I was afraid to stay with Torin in the suffocating prison cell for much longer. I refused to break apart in front of him. So, I had to devise a plan.
“I’m going to scream bloody murder, and then I’ll go quiet. They’ll come back for us then,” I said.
My energy slowly drained from me. Exhaustion took over, and I couldn’t stay standing for much longer.
Torin looked at me and nodded, understanding passing behind his red eyes. I’d have to rely on my mate’s protective instinct, seeing that I couldn’t fight the traitors long.
Mark and Layla hoped that the next time they came into the cell, I would be dead, and Torin would be in despair for killing his mate, making him an easy target for anyone who wanted him dead or alive.
I acted out my part. My loud scream boomed in the dungeon, breaking the eerie silence. Immediately, footsteps stomped toward our cell.
I’d counted four guards before, and with Layla and Mark, there would be six against the two of us. Unless more guards hid in the tunnels. Then our chances of survival would be slimmer.
On the other side of the massive door, Layla’s voice echoed. “She’s not dead yet. I can hear her heartbeat.”
I wished there was a way to silence the thunderous drumming in my chest, the erratic rhythm mirroring the rapid pace of my thoughts, but it was futile against supernatural hearing.
“I’ll be the one to put an end to this,” Mark said with such chilling finality that his voice caused another shudder to run through my body.
I braced myself for the inevitable confrontation that loomed ahead.
I could taste the bitter tang of Layla’s cruelty.
We had grown together yet apart, our paths diverging early in childhood.
Layla and I had never forged a connection, even as kids.
I’d tried to apologize and befriend my cousin, but her hatred for me burned stronger.
I closed my eyes, trying to recall happy memories with Layla…but nothing came to mind. Except the hurtful words she spat at me, the venomous look in her eyes, and the way she reveled in my pain.
A part of me still clung to the belief that we could mend what had been broken. But then I remembered how my high hopes for Torin to mark me had only ended in disappointment and pain.
Love and understanding would have never bridged the divide between us. Darkness had consumed Layla completely, turning her into my formidable enemy. I extinguished the flicker of hope that my cousin could one day find her way back to the light and steeled my resolve.
I was about to fight my own family, and at the end of it all, one of us wouldn’t be alive.
The prison door protested as it creaked open.
My eyes flew open just in time to see the traitorous werewolves swarm into our dank cell, their intentions clear in their predatory gazes.