Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Ihoped the meeting between my mates didn’t leave my apartment trashed, looking like a war zone, and resulting with me hurt.
Torin’s muscles twitched like a coiled viper ready to strike. His eyes were dark pools of intensity, and the tension radiating from him was like a scorching flame.
When my gaze locked with Hayden’s, his smirk vanished, and his focus shifted to my forehead. His eyes flickered to Torin before returning to me.
Hayden stepped out of the apartment and reached out to touch my face, but Torin swatted his arm. Hard. Unfazed, Hayden kept his eyes glued to me—he was used to Alpha Torin.
They attended the all-Alphas meetings together. Hayden because he was my bodyguard and Dad trusted him with my life, and Torin because he was an Alpha of a pack under the protection of the werewolf kingdom.
Torin thought Hayden didn’t belong at the meetings because he wasn’t an Alpha. Hayden thought Torin didn’t belong there because he was part vampire, by default making him the enemy.
I sighed. The atmosphere between them was thick enough to cause a headache. It would be a long evening stuck with these two overprotective creatures in my apartment.
If I had to get rid of one, it’d have to be Torin.
Hayden crossed his arms over his shirtless chest, and I tried to avert my eyes from him, but I failed. My gaze traveled over his smooth skin and hard edges, and when I finally looked up at his face, he winked at me. My cheeks flushed, and I willed my feet to move, eager to escape.
“Are you her boyfriend? Is that why you’re so possessive over her, Alpha?” Hayden said in a calm voice.
Torin gazed at Hayden with an icy stare that sent chills up and down my arms. He had a reputation in the kingdom for being dangerous but controlled. Right now, however, he looked like he was going to lose his cool, kind of like he had earlier.
“I don’t owe you answers,” Torin said through a clenched jaw.
“You took care of the nightclub. Now that your business here is done, you can leave, Alpha. I’m here to protect the princess per the King’s orders.” Hayden’s voice sounded authoritative and demanded attention.
He was usually silly and smiling at me, but Hayden’s demeanor changed to serious when it came to Torin or the other Alphas in the kingdom.
Wait…what had Torin done with the vampire club? I would have to ask him later. No, it’d be better if he just left.
“If you’re doing such a splendid job protecting the princess, where were you when she was attacked today?” Torin asked.
Hayden’s eyes settled on me. I stepped to the side and smiled. “I’m okay. Now let’s get inside before the neighbors come out.”
But the bossy men didn’t move. Hayden ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let Tammy drive you to work. I’m sorry.”
“You should be sorry,” Torin said.
I shuffled my feet. “It wasn’t Hayden’s fault. Now let’s get—”
The click of a door opening sounded in the hallway, and I turned around to face Lisa.
“Breanna, dear, what are you doing?” Lisa’s voice carried from the other side of the hallway.
Her damp, white hair was flung to one side, and she looked like she was ready to go to bed wearing her long white pajamas.
Usually, whenever I saw her, I smiled on autopilot, but now, my lips pressed together. Anxiety pinched my chest, and I pushed my mind to figure out how to get the men inside my apartment or get Lisa back into her apartment.
Lisa was my friend, but she had a tendency to say things about boyfriends, marriage, and kids that got me in trouble right this moment. She leaned against the side of her doorway and studied the two men. “Good to see both of you again, young men.”
I didn’t know if I should have cried or laughed.
I walked toward Lisa and took her hand. She knew nothing about the supernatural world, and it was best to keep it that way.
“Let’s go inside,” I said.
“Okay, dear. I only wanted to see which one you chose, but it seems that they’re both still here.”
I swallowed the dryness in my throat.
“It’s not like that, Lisa. I’ll explain later,” I said, glancing at the two powerful men at my apartment door.
One was grinning, and the other had his eyes narrowed at me.
Lisa, please don’t say anything to trigger these supernaturals.
Her words were always sweet and kind, but these men could misunderstand. I took a step inside Lisa’s apartment to nudge her to walk with me. Supporting her, I ambled with her into her apartment corridor.
“Only one is meant for you, dear. Don’t be fooled by first impressions. Dig deeper, and you’ll see more,” she said, and a cold shiver shook down my spine.
“Lisa, you sound like an Oracle.” I was sure Hayden and Torin heard every word with their supernatural hearing.
She let out a low laugh.
“Are you going to bed soon?”
She dropped onto the worn-out fabric chair near the fireplace and shook her head as she leaned back. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
“I don’t like it when you talk like that.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d said something like that. She had bad and good days. Today must be a grieving day. She missed Ben and often said it was her time to join him.
I rubbed my chest, which tightened by the second as if something bad would happen. Then I dropped my hand to my side and shook it off. I usually got stressed out like this when dealing with anything supernatural.
“Well, you’re not going anywhere. I need you here with me. I’m that selfish,” I said.
She extended her bony arm toward me. Had she lost more weight?
I leaned in, and Lisa placed her hand over my shoulder, her touch warm and gentle, reminding me of Mom’s.
“It’s not selfish to want the people you care about around you. Thank you, my dear,” she said, giving me her best grin.
Her grin had always been wonderful to me, especially when I first arrived in the city, and no one else noticed me, too busy going about their busy lives. It was a brilliant grin from cheek to cheek, and it was the perfect representation of a life well lived the way she wanted to.
I said my goodbyes and left Lisa to rest in her apartment. At the doorway, I shouted to make sure she locked the door behind me. Most of the time, she remembered.
I rushed back to my apartment to find Hayden sitting on a barstool at the kitchen countertop while Torin glared at the other man from the living room window.
When I entered the space, Hayden straightened up and waved me over.
“I want to see your wound,” he said.
For the sake of conflict avoidance and my sanity, I stood awkwardly in my spot, away from both men, and touched the bandage covering my bump. The flesh felt sensitive, and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t wince.
“It’s fine.”
“Who were they?” Hayden asked, still watching me, ignoring Torin.
My bodyguard’s eyes were the crystal azure color of a forest lake, sending a wave of serenity over me—his usual effect on my body.
I dared to glance at the Alpha and met his scorching gaze. His amber eyes burned me like two flames, making me feel alive. Although Torin used to avoid me in the kingdom, his eyes always shot energy through me, stirring something inside that both terrified and excited me.
I fidgeted while I explained everything to Hayden, minus the part about Torin shifting into his vampire form and almost tasting my blood.
Hayden could be waiting for a chance to tell the King that Torin was a threat to the princess. Although I wanted Torin to leave me alone, I didn’t want to get him into trouble with my dad. After all, the Alpha had saved my life.
“So the three men work for vampires, but they can’t be the same ones from the club since Alpha Torin already shut down the club, and the vampires ran away,” Hayden said.
Had Torin done that?
My gaze darted to him. “Thank you,” I said. “The vampire master might be pursuing me anyway, but I don’t see how he would know about the book. It’s so confusing. Obviously, we won’t find out who those humans were right now.”
His stoic face didn’t change. Torin studied my every move, and my body twitched under his scrutiny. I was thankful to the Alpha, but I didn’t like it when he made me squirm.
“Why didn’t you just give them the book, sweetheart? It sounds like they would have left you alone if you’d handed it over to them.” Hayden raised his eyebrows, clearly confused about my actions in the office.
I slid my leather bag off my shoulder, opened it to pull out the book, and tossed the bag onto the couch.
I then handed the book to Hayden and stayed close to him while he flipped it over.
Every time his piercing gaze fell on the back cover, my stomach knotted tightly.
Luckily, Hayden didn’t unfold the crinkled bottom left corner.
“It looks old. Is it really that valuable?”
“The book calls to me. It’s mine because I found it,” I said, and Hayden’s gaze snapped to my face.
“Still doesn’t explain why you'd risk your life for it.”
I fell silent for a moment, which only earned me more scrutiny by the two supernatural men.
“I know it was meant for me to find, Hayden,” I finally said. “I’m not giving the book to anyone. And obviously, it’s valuable if others want it.”
Torin was his usual quiet self at the window, making me warier.
My bodyguard looked at me, smiling. “So you really want to open the book, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said.
“No,” Torin said at the same time.
The Alpha and I locked gazes in a stare-off contest. Finally, Torin blinked. A frown creased his brows, and at that moment, I realized that I’d rather face emotional Torin than the icy Alpha from the kingdom. Any emotion aimed at me would be better than the cold shoulder he gave me back home.
“It’s too risky. What if the book unleashes a curse that wipes out all werewolves?” he asked.
Hayden laughed. “Well, then, you’ll be the only one standing.”
I gave Hayden a killer look, but he only broadened his smile at me.