Chapter 23 #3
No, I don’t.
We turned right and walked through the next section of the exhibit. The calligraphy symbols were nestled within various colors. The letters were in an unknown language, each one unique. There was a softness to them that called to me.
Torin let me walk ahead and set the pace.
“And why do you like calligraphy so much?” he asked.
I twisted my head to look at him. Was he interested in me now, after all these years? I swallowed hard to stifle the scoff that wanted to escape my throat.
I can be a nice person when I want to be.
“For me, it started in elementary school. First, I became obsessed with pens with different tips, shapes, and colors. I did my homework with a series of calligraphy strokes, much nicer than my horrible handwriting. The teachers didn’t complain to my parents.”
A smile tugged on his beautiful face as if he enjoyed listening to stories about my childhood.
“I had the freedom to express myself. I broke each letter in pieces and loved the beauty of the art.”
“But it wasn’t just a childhood stage. You stayed with it,” Torin said.
I nodded. What else had he observed about me?
“I knew with practice I was going to get better at it. I became good at something…” I moved to the next display with Torin beside me.
When we finished our walk around the exhibit, he called a cab. While waiting outside the exhibit building, the man Torin spoke to earlier moved inside and turned off all the lights. Suddenly, Torin and I were engulfed in darkness. The only hint of illumination spilled from the silver moon.
The temperature had dropped, and my body couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down my back. Torin stepped into me, toe to toe, and I drew in a sharp breath. That turned out to be a mistake because I inhaled his earthy scent, which had an unwanted effect on my mind and body.
He lifted his hands, and for a moment, I thought Torin was going to embrace me. But his leather-covered fingers delved into my hair. As he pulled his hands away, one hand twisted a strand of hair around his finger.
His body was a solid wall against mine, unyielding, and I realized I didn’t want him to move away from me.
The way Torin was looking at me with a blazing intensity could have set the cool night air on fire.
I felt like I was engulfed in a heated cocoon of desire, and there was only Torin and me on the quiet street.
His fingers lingered over the curve of my cheek before trailing down to my neck. His thumb brushed over my lips, causing me to inhale sharply. His other hand slid behind me, pulling me closer to him until there was no space left between us.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in a husky voice that sent electrical jolts to my core.
One minute, his hand traced the contours of my backside over the fabric of my shirt and the next, it gripped with possessive strength that only fueled my desire.
For a heart-stopping moment, I thought Torin was going to lean in and kiss me. But when a car pulled next to us, breaking our moment, I let out a heavy sigh. Torin’s hand retreated, and he stepped back, giving me space to breathe. My mind cleared, and I couldn’t believe I’d almost let him…kiss me.
His proximity was both maddening and intoxicating at the same time, bringing back feelings from five years ago.
Pull yourself together. I wouldn’t let Torin get too close only to push me away again. For all I cared, he could go have fun with her.
Torin guided me inside the cab, his hand firmly gripping the small of my back while he slid in after me. When my mind wandered to how his touch would feel without his gloves, I knew I was in trouble.
His pine scent mixed with something masculine made me want to climb onto him.
He gave the driver our destination back to the airport and then leaned against the smooth leather seat. My heart raced as his thigh brushed against mine, and I knew this ride would be way too long.
I remained silent most of the time, trying to figure out what Torin wanted from me.
On our way to the airport, I said, “I forgive you for vamping out. You really made it up to me, Torin.”
The giddiness in my voice betrayed me. I was still high with excitement.
But when Torin didn’t look at me, gazing out the car window, my stomach knotted with wariness. The unsettling feeling returned in my chest.
I dozed off on the airplane. Torin didn’t move away when I rested my head on his shoulder. I was fully awake when the plane landed back in London. During the ride to my apartment, he was on his phone, speaking in a low voice with a serious expression.
When we climbed the stairs to the complex's second floor, the first thing my gaze landed on was the yellow tape over Lisa’s apartment door.
My chest tightened, and I sighed.
Hayden opened the door before I even knocked. His blue eyes radiated worry, and his serious gaze darted between me and Torin.
“Sweetheart, didn’t you see my calls?”
“Oh, no.” I pulled out my cell from the bottom of my leather bag. “I’m sorry, Hayden.”
I had eleven missed calls between Hayden and Tammy. My best friend also had sent me a text saying, Call me. By now, she should have been on her way to Milan. As soon as Torin left, I would call her.
I didn’t see a reason for the Alpha to stick around.
The inside of my apartment looked bare but much cleaner after the break-in. The tall dresser stood against the wall in my bedroom, but most of my furniture, like the couch, bed frame, and mattress, was missing.
“Thank you, Hayden, for taking care of everything here,” I said.
“No problem. Where were you?” Hayden walked to the window and peered out of it.
His furrowed eyebrows and serious gaze were reflected in the glass. He crossed his arms, his silly attitude gone.
“I’m sorry I worried you, Hayden. I placed my phone on silent and forgot to look at it.”
My bodyguard turned to face me, and the tips of his lips curved slightly.
“I took some time off from work, but now we have to decide where to spend the night. Tomorrow, we can buy new furniture,” I said.
Shopping with two enormous men was not in my plans, but I had no choice.
I even considered either joining Tammy in Milan or going back to Paris. I couldn’t stay here, but I had nowhere else to go.
Torin’s face was his usual—expressionless and cold. He stood close to one of the high stools at the kitchen countertop like a perfectly sculpted statue, separating me from Hayden.
“You’ll need to go back home, Anna. Your real home,” Torin said, and my blood boiled.
I stomped to the countertop and slammed down my leather bag. I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent words from escaping, and I gave myself time to cool off by washing my hands at the kitchen faucet.
Torin was like a match lighting my fire, and now I was burning up.
“I am not going back to the kingdom. And that’s final.” I hated that my voice broke at the end.
Torin was in Alpha mode, his gentle side long gone, and I was back to my old self, trying not to explode.
“It’s the only place where you’ll be safe, Princess,” he said, and his eyes flashed crimson.
“No way,” I said and looked at Hayden.
My bodyguard cleared his throat. “I hate to agree with the Alpha, but I can see his point. It’s for your protection.”
Now both were against me?
I grabbed the kitchen towel, dried my hands, and tossed it into the sink.
How could even my bodyguard believe I was safer inside the kingdom when he was there when Layla left me to die in a vampire attack? Living with Layla lurking nearby wasn’t safe for me.
Hayden and Torin seemed to be ignoring my reluctance to become the next werewolf Queen. Dad wanted to retire, and it probably had to do with the permanent damage to his shoulder that caused him stabbing pain all the time.
During our training back in the kingdom, he couldn’t raise his arm above his head. In the winter, he’d rub it as if to numb the pain. He was constantly reminded of what the vampire Queen had done to him in the last war between the vampires and werewolves.
Dad was only twenty-five when he inherited the throne. He had prepared for a war against the vampire Queen for two years. A war my dad led, infiltrating her castle. A war my dad lost, with many casualties.
The war Dad wanted his human-born daughter to continue.
The vampire Queen pierced his shoulder with a silver sword laced with a liquid silver solution.
It’d been almost thirty years since the last war.
Dad didn’t feel as strong and capable as before the permanent damage to his body.
He couldn’t wield a sword to defend himself against the Queen, but he desired to see her defeated.
And that left me as his only heir to complete his unfinished business.
His subtle reminders during training rang in my mind loud and clear: “Get up, Anna. Faster. The Blood Queen won’t wait for you to get up.” “Stay focused, Anna. Don’t wave your sword like a flag. The vampire Queen would have beheaded you by now.”
His words had led me to one logical conclusion—I was expected to fight the vicious and crazy vampire woman. It was about time for the vampire Queen to be dethroned, but did it have to be me to achieve this impossible task?
I wasn’t a match for her, and the enormous weight of this duty pressed on my chest so much that I couldn’t take my next breath.
Dad would assign me his unfinished mission after I was crowned. The possibility paralyzed me with fear.
“No,” was all I said in a stern tone. “I’m not going back to the kingdom.”
The only warning Torin gave me was the strange emotion that passed behind his red eyes. Then he moved so fast that he was a blur of colors.
One second, his hands dug inside my leather bag. The next, he fled into the hallway.
Briefly, he stopped and lifted my magic book in his hand. “Too dangerous to open, Princess.”
He turned his back on me and was gone. The door slammed behind him, and my insides twisted painfully at his betrayal.
A cold chill sliced down my spine.
Torin had stolen my magic book.