Chapter 3 #2
He inhaled my scent at the crook of my neck, his lips almost brushing against the exposed skin, and every muscle in my body tightened with tension. The question was whether Torin could restrain himself enough not to kill me while I stayed in his manor for the time being.
“As your mate, it’s ingrained in me to protect you, but since you are a human, I also have the urge to drink your blood. And because you’re my mate, the lust for your blood is as strong as my need to breathe.” He paused. “I hope my instinct to protect you wins over for your life’s sake.”
His hot breath tickled the spot below my earlobe, and a hot wave of desire traveled to my core. I brought my hands up and, resting them on his chest, I pushed him away slowly and gently, not to set off his vampire side even more.
“I don’t need protecting, Alpha.”
Abruptly, he straightened, ignoring my words just like he usually did when he didn’t want to get into an argument.
“I hope you can accept my pack as your own.”
I blinked. “You want me to make your pack my new home?”
“Yes, because you are the Luna of it, Anna. You can lead next to me and be with me.”
Naturally, mates would want to stay together. I’d longed for a mate for so long that I had lost hope in the end. But Torin and I were the worst match in the matchmaking of mates. I couldn’t even understand why the Fates would send me a mate when I wasn’t supernatural.
“If I’m in danger with you, why would I want to stay next to you, Torin?”
“I’ll train myself, and I won’t hurt you…in the future.”
In the future? And until then? He would torture himself and fight his vampire daily so he could be with me? And I could get hurt, physically and emotionally.
“Sounds reassuring.”
“You’re meant to be my Luna, whether you like it or not.”
I liked the idea of it. Luna meant moon. Just as the moon was constantly present night and day, even when we couldn’t see it, the pack Luna would be there for her pack, offering guidance and protection.
If I could be a pillar of strength for the pack members in the ways my parents were for me in the kingdom, I would be happy. If I could change someone else’s life for the better, it would mean the world to me.
In exchange for her care and leadership, the pack members helped their Luna, especially when she nurtured her pups. The humans who used the cliche that it would take a village to raise a kid had no idea how true it was within the werewolf packs.
“I don’t see how this is going to work.”
His head tilted to the side, and he sucked in a deep breath as if he could read my mind and didn’t like my thoughts.
“Get ready for dinner,” he said in a voice too snappy for my liking.
And that was that.
Torin rarely had hard conversations, and when he did, he kept them short.
The inside door slammed behind his back, shaking the frame, and I cringed.
I massaged my temples and rubbed my eyes. Was that some glitch in the mate bond lottery?
No, it couldn’t be. The Fates made no mistake. Seeing that I was born the wrong species, I could only blame myself. If I weren’t a human, would Torin have the same strong urge to drain my blood?
As much as I didn’t like his offer to be his Luna, I had to consider it.
I couldn’t go back to the werewolf kingdom only to be crushed by unreachable expectations, more bullying, gossip about my human heritage, and guilt over causing deaths around me. The kingdom was no longer my home.
If I stayed in Torin’s pack, I could avoid the kingdom for as long as possible. Hopefully for the rest of my life. But that meant that I would have to take on the role of Torin’s Luna. Could I do that and not end up hurt, emotionally and physically?
The Luna also made hard decisions that could cost lives, and I already had so much blood on my hands.
I took a shower in the luxurious bathroom attached to my room, and I dressed in the walk-in closet with jeans and a plain black T-shirt that was already there, ignoring my urge to scream again.
This man had bought a closet full of clothes like what I usually wore in London on my days off, and they were all my size.
I peeked in the living room and then into his bedroom, but Torin wasn’t in the suite. Good.
Scanning the space around me, I ran my hand over the softness of his quilt. His foresty scent was so strong in here that it made me dizzy, so much that I wanted to let go and lose myself to it, burying myself under his blanket. I almost forgot what I’d come here for.
Shaking my head, I tried to clear it. Torin’s presence overwhelmed my senses, and I was crazy even to consider becoming the Luna of his pack.
But then a thought struck me. If I could be affected by Torin’s scent when I wasn’t even supernatural with heightened senses, then how would Torin respond to my lingering scent in his bedroom?
I needed to move fast and preferably out of his room.
I pulled my hands against my chest, trying to avoid touching more of his things.
Where could he have hidden the book? If he were like Dad, he would have a safe room or a vault in his apartment. Standing in the middle of Torin’s bedroom, I closed my eyes and let my body feel for any supernatural magic around me.
My heartbeat sped. The tingling sensation pricked under the skin of my fingertips. The book’s magic called to me from somewhere close by. Reopening my eyes and following the urgent pull, I headed for Torin’s walk-in closet.
My plan was to enter his space, leaving the least amount of my human scent, which I hoped would fade before Torin reappeared.
If I could only be this lucky to avoid another confrontation with the vampire.