Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
Iused my pain as fuel to bring justice against the werewolf traitors.
I readied myself and touched the golden bracelet. Its pulse under my fingertips synchronized with mine as if it were getting ready to strike.
Even though Torin stood right beside me in the prison cell, he was miles away. He had put on his stoic mask reserved for the kingdom. He must have felt as betrayed as I did.
I grasped the bracelet, unwrapping it from my forearm. It extended into a golden whip with a surge of energy coursing through my veins. The weapon molded to my touch, becoming an extension of my very being—a conduit for my wants.
With my will and thoughts, I could move the whip of gleaming gold—that was where my witch power lay. I could wield it with precision.
As they entered the prison cell, Mark’s and Layla’s eyes grew wide as they found me and Torin glaring at them.
“That’s right,” I said. “I’m alive and well.”
Half-truth. I was only alive.
Mark attacked Torin while Layla turned to…flee.
While I wasted time doing a double take, Layla had almost flown out the door. Springing into action, I willed my bracelet, and my weapon wrapped around my cousin’s waist, pulling her close to me.
“Gone is the haughty arrogance, dear cousin?” I frowned, the words Layla usually called me tasting too bitter.
Her blue eyes, once filled with malice, now flickered with fear.
It couldn’t be that easy, could it? She didn’t even attempt to fight me. Suspicion pressed against my chest, and an unsettling feeling formed in my gut. Shoving me, clawing at me, cursing me would have been her usual behavior.
Now Layla was trapped under my will—the perfect opportunity to kill her.
“Can you show compassion, or would it be retribution?” Layla asked. “Can you forgive someone who showed you no mercy?”
I blinked repeatedly, staring at her, and then it struck me that the fear in her eyes wasn’t because of me. She wasn’t afraid to die.
She tugged on the whip.
“Do it, Breanna,” she shouted.
My eyes narrowed at her rather enthusiastic half smile. “If you die, you won’t be able to avenge your father. Is this what you really want?”
Her smile grew, and I felt the temperature in the prison cell drop significantly.
“I’ll have my revenge now or after my death,” she said.
She knew well that she would be punished by the King if I didn’t kill her now. Whatever madness had befallen Layla made her too far gone for any rational conversation.
I let out an annoyed groan. I could never kill my family. I would lower my weapon and bring Layla before the Alphas and the King to be tried.
I was too much of a human to kill my own cousin, no matter what she had done to me and my mate. Layla could live the rest of her life in prison—the worst punishment. She wouldn’t get three meals a day there, lounging on a soft mattress, or taking long, hot baths.
Before I could lower my hand, the four guards dashed inside, and the space turned overcrowded and suffocating. One of the guards placed his hand on the whip and pulled it toward him. With it, my body swayed forward, and I almost tripped.
Before he could disarm me or strike me, I had to do something.
The golden whip shimmered with light from the hallway. The tiny pentagrams and the symbols crafted with precision gave it an otherworldly glow.
“Fire,” I whispered.
The golden whip ignited in a dazzling display of flames. The fire danced along its length, casting flickering shadows in the prison cell. The flames curled around the whip all the way up to my fingertips. And yet it didn’t burn me.
Layla, however, let out a painful scream while holding her abdomen where the whip burned her. She fell to the ground, and the guard groaned in pain, pulling his arm to his chest.
My weapon used my dwindling energy to fuel the flames, but I could barely stand. I leaned against the wall behind me. The flames still flickered around the weapon, although the whip fell to the ground, limp.
As exhaustion took over me, I only wanted to close my eyes. I tried to call for my mate, my gaze flickering to him. Torin had his hand around Mark’s throat, and in the next moment, he ripped it out without biting or draining his blood.
Three guards pointed their tasers toward Torin. The cables shot out and stuck into Torin’s thighs and chest. A human would have been convulsing on the ground and losing consciousness.
But Torin was the strongest supernatural I knew, and he surely felt even stronger after drinking from his mate.
“She wants him alive,” Layla shouted from the ground.
Torin’s body shook, and he grunted. But he quickly pulled out the cable pieces from his body. Anger flickering in his crimson eyes, he moved like a hurricane of the highest category.
Torin lunged at his attackers in a blur of inhuman speed, razor-sharp instincts, and fangs without hesitation in his precise movements.
He leaped upon them with sharp talons as his lethal weapons.
Torin’s claws tore through flesh and bone.
He ducked a swing from the first guard, a swift movement that sent the man stumbling forward.
Torin’s hard kick landed in the second guard’s abdomen, and while he gasped for air, Torin kicked him again behind the knees.
The man fell to the ground and stayed there.
Was Torin playing with the guards?
Through narrowed eyes, I watched my mate’s broad-shouldered figure move with fluid motions. He was holding back; I was sure of it.
The third guard attempted to take the vampire by surprise, but my mate pivoted, landing a solid punch that sent the guard sprawling.
A primal growl escaped his lips as he ripped the guards apart. The gruesome sound of snapping bones echoed in the small cell, sending cold chills down my spine. I was too close to the bodies or whatever was left of them.
Torin had turned into a merciless villain. Shadows clung to his body as a second skin. His dark aura permeated into my bones. Everyone had darkness inside, and Torin had just let his take over.
The scent of dampness, decay, and death mingled with the heavy tension in the air.
Torin moved with an eerie grace. His crimson eyes glinted with a predatory hunger, but he didn’t taste any of the bad guys, as if he didn’t want to ruin the taste on his tongue after tasting me.
Silence settled over the space, broken only by the sound of Torin’s ragged breaths as he stood among the carnage.
He surveyed the lifeless bodies of the men at his feet and stopped on Layla. Her eyes were wide and wild, her mouth gaping.
He grabbed Layla by the throat, her body suspended in the air.
“Who wants me alive? Is it the vampire Queen?” he asked with a clenched jaw.
She could barely talk or make a sound, but she blinked.
“Don’t kill her. We will imprison her,” I said.
Uncle Derek’s words came to the forefront of my mind: Forgiveness is a choice to let go of anger. I owed Layla—no, Uncle Derek—forgiveness. He said I could forgive even while I still felt hurt.
Torin opened his hand, releasing Layla’s throat. Her body dropped onto the cold, damp ground. She rubbed her neck, and then her evil laughter boomed in the small cell, vibrating among the dead bodies.
“We made a deal with the vampire Queen’s General to deliver Torin, forever getting rid of the Alpha.
Don’t you see, dear cousin,” Layla said, and her gaze settled on me.
“If the Alpha is handed over to the vampires, the vampire Queen won’t be coming over to attack us.
We avoid the war. Wouldn’t you sacrifice one in the name of many? ”
“Is this what the vampire Queen told you or the General? She lied to you, Layla. How could you be so na?ve,” I said, almost shouting. “Handing over Torin to her won’t help the werewolf kingdom. Victoria will be back to destroy the werewolves.”
Layla shrugged as if she didn’t care. Was she planning to run away before Victoria arrived?
“I would rather set the world on fire than hand Torin over to this evil woman. War is inevitable when the enemy is ruthless. You only lie to yourself that you are doing something good for the kingdom, Layla,” I said.
She frowned and abruptly laughed, her voice filling the dungeon. It was as if she was losing her sanity.
“Did you have anything to do with the silver poisoning of Torin?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me. The mystery of the silver poisoning was a permanent itch under my skin. Even if Layla was involved, how did she do it?
“I won’t tell you anything since the person is still in the kingdom. He wants Torin gone. If you let me go, I will tell you who this person is.” An evil smile tugged at her mouth.
Torin and I exchanged looks, and we both spoke at the same time. “No.”
Torin towered over Layla, who chose to stay on the ground.
“We’re done here. Anna must rest. Don’t move, Layla,” he said, striding toward me, his steps echoing in the silence.
At first, she stared at Torin, but then her eyes widened, and her frantic gaze scanned her surroundings.
When he faced me, Torin intertwined our fingers, the familiar warmth returning to my chest. He gently pulled me behind him as he exited the prison cell. We stood by the opened door, our hands still connected. His gesture felt so natural, as if my tiny hand was supposed to fit perfectly into his.
“Anna?”
My name was a whisper, gentle but insistent.
I lifted my gaze and locked my eyes with red wary ones. The danger was gone, yet Torin hadn’t shifted into his human form.
“You know what I am. There’s a chance I could…become dangerous to you—”
“Is this about you drinking my blood? Because nothing happened…”
His gaze didn’t waver, and he gave me a hard, cold expression I didn’t like.
“Promise me you’ll do what you can to save yourself from me. Even if it means…ending me,” Torin said in a low voice.
I shook my head. “I see. Are you upset that I didn’t end my cousin after everything she’s done? What is this talk about, Torin? You don’t think I’m strong enough to end a loved one? A family member?”
Did I appear weak in Torin’s eyes for not finishing Layla?
His grip on me tightened. “This is not about your cousin, Anna. If I’m not myself…you have to promise me you’ll use every chance to pierce my heart with silver. Understood?”
The audacity of this man.
I pulled hard on my hand, disconnecting from my mate. I could think more clearly without the delicious sparks and body warmth.
“No. I can’t make you this promise, so stop asking. Even if you’re not next to me, I can’t imagine a world without you. It would be a void I could only imagine I’d fill with sorrow, and I won’t live my life like that,” I said in an elevated voice.
His request felt like a betrayal. After seeing that I couldn’t finish Layla, Torin must have thought I couldn’t save myself from him if the situation occurred.
My heart pounded at the thought of lifting a weapon to his chest, sending shudders through my body.
“I could not take your life, Torin, even to save my own. So don’t get yourself in such a situation where you become a threat to me,” I said.
A flicker of something indefinable flashed behind his red eyes—an emotion I could only decipher as love and devotion. My name escaped his lips like a breathless whisper, and then his mouth descended on mine. Torin grasped my shoulders with an intensity that startled me.
His lips trembled against mine as he kissed me with a sense of desperation laced with sorrow. His kiss seemed fueled by a desire to convey everything he couldn’t put into words, as if he wanted me to know, but he held back.
His restraint didn’t completely overtake his desire for me, though. The touch of his lips sent shivers cascading down my spine, mingling with the heavy burden settling into my heart.
As Torin hesitantly pulled away from my face, I traced my hand along his cheek gently, memorizing every line and contour. With every touch, the distance between Torin and I grew wider.
I swallowed the tightness in my throat and turned around to exit this horrible place.
Torin, Layla, and I headed out of the secret tunnels, searching for the Alphas and the King. The thought that another traitor lurked within our borders sent prickles of fear skittering up my forearms.
Torin’s life was still in danger. The possibility that one of the other Alphas or a person close to Dad was the traitor felt too real.
But how was I supposed to uncover his identity? Mostly, though, how could I protect Torin?