Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
The white fog lifted, time warped, and my surroundings cleared. I was back in my old room where I grew up.
But it wasn’t the bedroom that I remembered. There was no study desk under the window. No beanbag. Only the bookshelves looked the same, but instead of my favorite books, board books for toddlers and babies and some plush toys sat on the white-painted wood.
Where my twin bed once resided, a white wooden crib now stood. A matching dresser sat across the room. Sunrays shone through the soft white drapes at the window, letting enough daylight in but stopping the heat.
My baby room?
My gaze finally fell on Mom and Dad leaning over the crib. Torin marched inside my bedroom just as usual, without knocking or asking, and headed toward my parents.
My mom’s hands were inside the crib. Her glowing face had a broad smile aimed at the baby there. Me. There was so much love in her eyes and in the warm expression on her face that it melted my insides. Her smile was gentle, and her eyes sparkled with affection.
I would never complain to Mom about having my baby pictures on her nightstand because I would do the same if I were a mother one day.
“For the gods, Margaret, let our visitor see the future Queen,” my dad said, and he lifted his gaze away from the baby and looked at Torin.
“Brendan, stop nagging me. She’s my daughter, and I’ll kiss and hold her as much as I want to,” my mom snapped at Dad but with a smile on her face.
She called me her daughter, although we were not related by blood, but her unconditional love for me was evident in her touch. I’d always felt it my whole life.
While every line and crease on Mom’s face seemed to soften, Dad’s face also beamed while he gazed and loomed over the baby, but his eyes emitted something serious.
He was the King first and then a father.
His sense of duty was very well developed and overtook his responsibility for his family.
The commitment to the kingdom and its people came before family or a mate.
His duty to produce an heir for the throne must have driven him into the temptation to be with his fated mate. And although I could see and feel how much he loved Mom, he’d still betrayed her. Mom had already forgiven him, overtaken by her love for the new baby that she wanted so desperately.
But I had difficulty letting go and forgetting or agreeing to live a life not on my terms. Would I have to produce an heir immediately after taking the throne to continue the legacy and the reign of the werewolves?
“A baby?” Torin asked and quickly glanced over at the Queen’s flat abdomen.
My father gave him an intense look. “I’ll explain later. But you’ll tell no one.”
Torin raised his eyebrows. Later was probably when Dad made Torin swear not to tell anyone that my biological mother was a witch. The Alpha was loyal to the King, kept his word, and hadn’t even shared with his mate.
I wondered how he would react to the cute, chubby baby girl on the soft mattress. He stepped closer, and my parents stood behind him so they couldn’t see his face. But I moved in front of Torin and watched him for his reaction.
It was his memory of seeing me for the first time. His eyes grew wide as he gazed at me in awe, and then they flashed red. I glanced at the baby, remembering my baby pictures on Mom’s nightstand. The baby looked calm and not scared by the looming, giant man above her.
Her brown eyes looked curious about the visitor. The baby was so adorable and chubby but not a newborn. I must have been close to a year old.
Torin’s nostrils flared, and he dragged his hands over his face.
“Is everything okay?” Dad asked from behind him.
“Yes,” Torin said in a strained voice.
The Alpha’s breath caught in his chest, and he drew in a few deep breaths, calming down. A flicker of protectiveness flashed across his face, a glimpse of connection the baby could not have yet comprehended.
His body went on high alert. He tilted his head to the side, his muscles taut.
“Why do I feel so protective over this baby?” Torin muttered.
“What did you say?” My father asked.
Without turning, still staring at the baby, Torin said, “I said that as an Alpha, I’ll protect the future Queen any way I can.”
Torin didn’t see my dad nodding with a wide smile on his face.
Torin extended his shaky hand inside the crib, and the baby immediately reached for it. She wrapped her meaty hand around Torin’s index finger. His hand trembled, a futile attempt to anchor his emotion, and then Torin released a smile I’d never seen before.
“She’s strong,” Torin said, with so much warmth in his voice that it made me smile.
His eyes radiated the same unconditional love I saw in my parents’ eyes, but underneath it all, the protective spark was still there. The determination on Torin’s face told me that this was the moment when he vowed to protect and guard the werewolf Princess.
“Of course she’s strong,” Dad said. “She’s the kingdom’s future Queen, after all.”
I couldn’t disconnect my gaze from Torin as I studied every twitch of his body. A subtle tremor coursed through his frame, a telltale sign of the profound emotion he felt deep within his soul. Torin’s smile broadened—a genuine and warm smile that had somehow disappeared throughout the years.
The images started swimming and floating around me again. But I wanted to stay in this moment because I felt loved. I wanted to watch my parents and Torin play with the baby, but time sped up in the usual storm around me. The colors changed quickly, telling me that not much time had passed.
When the images settled again, I still stood in the nursery, and Torin was still in front of me, gazing down at the baby in the crib.
My parents were gone. Torin must have been on good terms with Dad because the King trusted him with his daughter alone in her nursery. Dad and Torin’s relationship seemed special and deep, but what had happened that ruined it all?
Torin must have come and visited me more often. He stood over the crib, watching me.
And it suddenly hit me. Torin must have gotten a glimpse of my daisy wheel birthmark for the first time when I was a baby.
A pinch of pain stabbed my chest as I realized that his love for me had become more complicated and lost the innocence I could see now on his face when I was older.
Torin muttered something under his breath, so I moved to his side to listen.
“My redemption. You saved my life…” Torin said.
He must have been referring to the fact that he’d never returned to the hunter leader. Instead, he wanted to be with me.
But then my heart dropped when he spoke again.
“I’ll protect you from anything bad in this world,” he said. “I’ll be your bodyguard.”
Although he whispered, his voice cracked with emotions.
I took a shaky breath. The first emotions Torin felt toward me were protectiveness and guardianship.
I looked at the baby in the crib. The baby’s eyes were wide open, staring at the man. Torin gently lifted the baby, and she smiled at him. He cradled her in his arms, and then he kissed her forehead.
“You will grow up loved, you lucky one. Your mom and dad adore you. And so do I.”
He kept cooing at the baby, and I couldn’t take my eyes off the enormous man taking up most of the space in the room, holding a tiny person against his chest.
“I will keep you safe as you grow up,” he whispered.
Abruptly, Torin’s body became rigid as the bedroom door creaked open. The dark witch stepped into the room, and I held my breath. Torin gently placed the baby in the crib without breaking his intense stare at her. He then positioned himself between the crib and Cordelia as a shield.
“The kingdom doesn’t have enough security, I see,” Torin said.
Cordelia didn’t look much different from when she’d stood before the Hollywood sign fence with her demonic dogs, casting a spell to open my witch book. Her brown hair cascaded down, framing her intimidating face, and the crescent tattoo nestled between her brows.
I disliked the woman but still couldn’t help but marvel at how confidently she carried herself and faced the most lethal supernatural in our realm.
“You and I both know their security won’t stop me,” she said in a voice that carried a hint of darkness.
When she hid behind a tree at the snowy mountain, Torin had witnessed Cordelia casting a spell for him to lose his memories before the vampire Queen turned him. From the piercing glare in his eyes, I could tell Torin recalled that moment now.
Did she still work for the vampire Queen? Why did she break into my bedroom?
The next chaotic moments fast-forwarded. Cordelia lifted her hands, and the dresser flew toward the crib. Books flew in the air at the same time, and Torin dodged objects while shielding the baby.
The nursery became a war zone.
Blocking with his arms, he broke the dresser into pieces. Wooden shards with sharp edges tore toward the crib, but Torin intercepted them with his arms even though some boards struck him, piercing through his flesh.
He didn’t flinch, even when his blood seeped on the fluffy white rug underneath the crib. But his face contorted with sheer horror. Raw fear and genuine vulnerability I’d never seen before replaced his usual arrogant or stoic expression.
Sweat beads formed on his brows, and his mouth hung slightly open, a gasp frozen on his lips. Torin seemed torn between protecting the baby and trying to grab Cordelia.
Was the dark witch trying to hurt a baby?
At a moment when Torin was distracted by the flying objects in the room, a branch broke through my window and snaked around his torso.
The branch slammed him against the wall and held him suspended in the air with his arms trapped by his sides.
But Torin was strong and began to break free by pushing his arms forcefully against the branches.