Chapter 18 #2
“But what if the book contained a spell about how to kill all vampires and defeat the vampire Queen?” Hayden asked. “You would love to know that, Alpha, wouldn’t you?”
Torin shot him a serious look. “Still too risky.”
Wait a second… Did Hayden suggest that Torin would die along with the vampire Queen, and Torin was okay with it?
The vampire Queen was cruel, so we all naturally wanted her dead. Even though I had no sympathy for her, Torin’s fight with her seemed personal.
Neither Hayden nor my dad wanted to shed light on the history between the two. I couldn’t prod them for information because they would find it suspicious. They would ask why it mattered to me.
I could imagine Dad’s confused face when he learned that Torin was my mate and then banished him from the kingdom, stripping him of his Alpha title.
The King let the Alpha fulfill his werewolf duties, but if Torin had anything to do with me, Dad would make sure to build a fort between me and the Alpha.
First, Dad would probably think that Torin could compel me. Second, the vampire Queen was Torin’s sire, his master. She could compel Torin to kill the royal family if she got her hands on the Alpha. And that made Torin too dangerous to be around me.
I extended my hand, and Hayden returned the book back to me. The daisy wheel symbol on the back cover still appeared to go unnoticed by my bodyguard, who was familiar with my birthmark.
I remembered what I was doing in my office before the attackers broke inside. I lifted the book to my lips and blew a long, hot breath over the front cover.
I gasped. My heart stopped beating for a long second. The two men immediately leaped to my sides.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing, sweetheart?” Hayden asked.
I was only able to nod. My eyes widened as I watched embedded squiggles move on the cover. The short lines looked like struggling worms on dry asphalt.
I glanced at Torin, and his amber eyes had darkened to a deep orange shade.
“I can see them, too, Anna,” he said.
With my free hand, I reached over the cover. The urge to touch the moving lines overtook me, but Torin’s gloved hand grasped my wrist gently. I frowned at him. “The lines are not going to hurt me.”
Hayden rolled his eyes and smirked. Torin let out a heavy sigh as if he were annoyed with a child throwing a tantrum and released me.
I let my trembling fingertips brush over the lines, feeling little bumps and ridges. They were like marching ants that stopped moving at my touch. The lines adjusted and formed letters that blended into words until the book's title emerged.
I sucked in a sharp breath and looked at the men, who both furrowed their eyebrows.
“What is it, Anna?” Torin asked.
“Can either one of you read the words?”
If the book was meant only for me, then I’d be the only one who could read it and possibly open it.
“No,” the men said at the same time.
I swallowed the sudden dryness in my throat. “It reads The Book of Banished Souls.”
An unsettling feeling tightened my stomach into knots, and my breaths turned shallow and rapid.
From the depths of my heart, I knew that solving the mystery of the magic book would change my life forever. My hand shook, and Torin moved closer as if he wanted to console me by pressing his body into mine. He stiffened when our arms brushed.
I heaved a sigh. I had to focus on my book.
The pages pulsed against my fingers as if the book had a heartbeat, but only I could feel it.
As if it had a soul that called to me. It wasn’t just any ordinary book.
It was a gateway to something I wanted to explore.
Adrenaline fueled my determination to unlock its secrets and discover its true purpose.
Could Torin be right that opening the book was too risky, awakening some dark and powerful curse? It could be luring me into opening it to trap me. I squeezed my eyes shut and let the book’s energy flow through me.
Warmth eased through my body. Torin was wrong, and I wouldn’t listen to the moody Alpha. My instincts didn’t detect any malicious energy, and I reopened my eyes.
Trusting my gut meant being open to the possibility that it could lead me down the wrong path, but it was still a valuable compass in my life. I resolved to follow this primal instinct and its guidance.
“Now, let’s figure out how to open the damn book,” I said.
“It’s better if we get more information about it first,” Torin said. “The book draws unwanted attention. We should take it to the King. Maybe ask if he has people to look at it first.”
“No.” My voice came out louder than I wanted. “I’m keeping the book.”
There was no way I would let Dad take it away from me because it was too “risky” to open and could put my life in danger.
“I don’t want you to become a target for the vampires, Anna. Why can’t you understand that?”
I pinched my lips together, trying desperately not to let my hot temper escape. But with my next breath, the words rushed out of my mouth. “You know what I can’t understand? Why you’re here. Why do you care about my book? It’s mine.”
I hugged the book to my chest.
Torin raised his eyebrows and grimaced. His amber eyes looked at me with such intensity, as if he were dissecting my soul into pieces and then investigated every little part of it.
“What are you not telling me?” he asked.
My eyelid twitched. “I found the book in a secret attic in the library. I’m the only one who can read its title. I can feel its magic.” I looked Torin in the eye, blood rushing to my face.
I lightly shook my head. I couldn’t get rid of Torin if I didn’t give him more information. He already suspected me of hiding something and wouldn’t let me rest.
He didn’t know the location of my birthmark on my body.
“Clearly, the book was left for me because of this.” I flipped the book so the back cover with the symbol faced him. Then I unrolled the crumbled corner of the back cover to display the daisy wheel symbol.
Torin’s face remained stoic and cold, but his gaze darted between me and the symbol. His fingers touched the petals of the daisy. His silence spoke volumes and raised my hackles.
On my other side, Hayden made a “humph” sound with his throat. “Well, that makes things more complicated.”
“I have the same birthmark on my body,” I said. “It’s a perfect match.”
The Alpha averted his gaze. “Where on your body?”
“On my left inner thigh.”
He was playing dumb—every cell of my being knew it. My mind sifted through memories to find the moment when Torin could have seen my naked thighs.
Dad liked to throw lavish parties for his Alphas at the pool or the ballrooms, but I wasn’t present for most of them. And I was sure Torin hadn’t seen my birthmark when we met in my dream realm.
I came up empty with answers.
Hayden chuckled. “Maybe you can show it to me? Again?”
I drew in a sharp breath. His well-aimed words would certainly push Torin over the edge.
Torin’s eyes widened, and he blinked slowly. Then they changed color, and he scowled at me. Suddenly overheated, I took a step away from Torin. “Don’t rile him up, Hayden.”
“But it’s so much fun.”
Sending one last angry glance at me, the Alpha walked to the window and stood with his back to us.
The dark vein on the side of his neck pulsed under his skin.
His shoulders moved up and down. He couldn’t shift into his vampire form in front of Hayden, or he’d be banished from the kingdom or imprisoned by my father.
Don’t shift, Torin.
But after he’d rejected my feelings, did he really think I’d stick around and wait for him? Torin certainly had another girl in his arms that same day five years ago. Now he got worked up at the slightest hint that Hayden might have seen my birthmark?
I reminded myself how Torin freaked out about my safety because I was a human, and I recalled the feeling of inferiority that came with his actions.
Torin’s breathing seemed to slow, and his body relaxed. He turned, walked past me and Hayden, and entered the kitchen, scanning the small space. His gaze landed on the hanging apron, and he unfolded it to read it. Torin raised his eyebrows and looked at me with a soft gaze.
“Dad gave it to me as a gift.”
His lips twitched as if he fought a smile, and I sighed in relief.
“Do you have any instant coffee?” Torin asked as he stood awkwardly with his enormous body in the middle of the small kitchen space.
I opened my mouth, but Hayden beat me to it.
“Third shelf in the pantry.”
Torin’s body stilled, and his head snapped to look at me. Without disconnecting my eyes from the Alpha, I kicked Hayden’s shoe.
“You better stop that,” I said.
My bodyguard leaned in closer, barely an inch away from my face. His minty breath tickled my earlobe. My heart thumped in my chest, and I feared what was coming next. The air in my apartment turned tense.
“Until I’m sure of his intentions, you’re staying away from him,” Hayden whispered.
It wasn’t helping that Hayden was half naked, and his body heat seeped into me, making me fidget.
“Put on a shirt,” I snapped and walked to the couch, away from the supernatural men.
They were bad for my health.
Hayden had a point though. After all, Dad had put him in charge of my protection.
I ignored the glances of the supernaturals in my living space and focused on the book.
Torin could also be correct that the magic book contained the secret to destroying our realm, but the daisy wheel was a witch's symbol of protection—a good sign.
I didn’t quite understand Torin’s worry, feeling there needed to be a bigger reason than his overbearing personality and overprotectiveness.
Perhaps he had once been a victim of a malicious witch’s spell.
With Torin, it always felt as if there were layers upon layers to unravel—silent truths and unvoiced confessions lingering in the tense air that stretched between us.