Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Glancing over my shoulder, I tiptoed inside the large space. I second-guessed my decision to come here. Torin could be back any moment. I mentally prayed that he was called out for at least an hour.
I darted my gaze at the walls and ceiling. I hid cash and other things among my clothes in the London apartment. Maybe Torin and I thought alike in this regard. It was also common for the supernaturals to build secret safe rooms and vaults in their manors and houses.
I stepped closer to the hangers. Surrounded by his clothes, I held my breath.
What was I even doing? I exhaled and then drew in a deep breath of Torin’s earthy scent.
My body filled with warmth. If I had to stay in his suite, I had to at least learn to be around Torin without letting the mate bond win over.
I couldn’t cave into his gentler touches and softer words.
Not when my heart was on the line. The next time he decided to protect me by building a wall between us, it would irrevocably break my heart.
I swallowed hard and focused. Both walls in this space had lots of built-in shelves and rods with hangers. The floor-to-ceiling mirror opposite the closet entrance stretched from one side of the room to the other, at least ten feet wide.
Why would a man dressed in casual clothes with jeans and sweatshirts have such a huge mirror? Torin didn’t strike me as a man who often spent his time in front of the mirror.
I stepped closer and explored it up and down with my hands, pressing lightly.
After about ten minutes of not leaving any surface untouched, I wanted to bang my fists on the surface.
I was so sure it was a fake wall with a secret door.
I groaned and turned to head to my room when my body collided with Torin’s.
“Looking for something, Princess?”
I mustered my calmest voice and stepped back. “You startled me.”
“Why would you get surprised in our apartment?”
I gaped at him, his words erasing the shame of getting caught.
Torin reached for me, but his bare hand trembled. He seemed deep in thought and hesitant to touch me.
When he met with the King and the other Alphas in the kingdom, he was always so calm, collected, and confident. I could never have imagined that he’d stand before me with a pained stare and shaky hands.
Torin must have found the courage to touch me because his hand shot out and slid over my exposed forearm. A shiver ran down my spine, which Torin must have felt. He grinned. He pulled my hand, and my body flew into his. But when he leaned into my face, I turned my head to the side.
“That’s probably a smart move. If you want to live, stay away from me, Anna.”
I snapped my gaze to his handsome face.
“I can’t do it when you hold me hostage, Torin. You can’t want me but warn me to stay away. That’s just crazy,” I said, and with my free hand, I pushed his hard chest away.
He didn’t budge an inch. What was his brilliant plan to not kill the King’s daughter while I was in his arms?
As if he could read my mind, he said, “Practice.”
And before I could protest, he wrapped his arms around my torso, embracing me, his arms like iron bands, unwilling to release me, but they trembled.
“I’ll get used to the warmth of your skin,” he said.
His hard muscles tensed against me while my body responded by melting against his touch. The sparks and pleasurable sensations were all part of his touch—everything that a mate would want, everything that was right and wrong.
“You shouldn’t be touching me if it pains you so much.”
“You’re mine to touch. Get used to it.”
His touch was electric, his words a conviction, but his confidence wavered. Torin moved slowly, giving me an inch back of my private space, only to grasp my shoulder with one hand, and with the other, the back of my neck. His thumb rubbed the skin over my pulsing vein. Blood rushed to my head.
The scrape of something sharp at the crook of my neck made a cold shiver pass down my spine. His eyes flashed, and I didn’t dare move, knowing his talons were out to play on my neck—the exact spot where the Alpha would usually mark his mate as the Luna.
“T-Torin,” I said, trying to get him out of his trance.
“Shush,” he said in a low voice and lowered his lips to mine but didn’t kiss me. “I’ll learn how to be with you.”
He was willing to suffer to be with me like a moth drawn to a flame. Anguish etched his face as he struggled to control his conflicting desires. At this moment, I realized that Torin was relinquishing all the power to me. He would sacrifice his sanity to be in my presence.
I reveled in this thought. Could this be his way of making amends for all the years he had spent ignoring me?
“You don’t have to torture yourself, Torin.”
I stayed still since I didn’t know how far his hunger for my blood would push him to go. In a split second, Torin could go from gentle to sinking his fangs into my neck before I’d have time to push him off.
His thumb lowered to caress the soft underside of my jaw, his touch rough as the tip of his talon scraped the skin but didn’t cut me. My blood throbbed in my veins with a scarlet web of desire. I should have been terrified, and my mind rang warning bells, but the pull toward this man overrode them.
Thickness built in my throat as guilt pulsated behind my rib cage.
Here I was, letting my mate touch me while my other mate was far away.
I had to contact Hayden somehow before the situation with Torin went out of control.
Although Torin’s rejection had hurt me in the past, I still couldn’t give myself fully to Hayden. I owed my bodyguard an explanation.
I sucked in a sharp breath. I would call Hayden to tell him the truth. I still couldn’t understand the Fates’ plan of bonding me to two men, but I couldn’t lead Hayden on.
My head fell against the mirror wall, and something clicked behind me. The large mirror slid to the side, and I twisted my entire body while at the same time Torin freed me. I welcomed the discovery of the fake door, or my little moment with the Alpha could have ended badly. For me.
“I knew it was a decoy,” I muttered as I walked into what I’d guess was a safe room.
The space was almost as big as a bedroom. Weapons, jewelry, antiques, and various items rested on shelves. Safe rooms were standard in the kingdom to protect us from sudden attacks, but the Alpha used his safe room as a storage place.
“Only you and my Beta know about this,” he said behind me while I darted my gaze around.
“Is this supposed to make up for everything you’re not telling me?”
How much more did he involve himself in my life without me knowing? The calligraphy painting was only tiny proof of it.
I whipped my head to the side and stared at Torin. He averted his eyes.
“That’s all I can give you now, Princess.”
I sighed but then spotted my book under a glass cover resting on a shelf. I reached to lift the lid when two strong hands pulled me away by my waist.
“Not so fast,” he said. “I can’t let you steal it.”
“Why?”
My back rested against his hard chest, rising up and down with every breath.
“The Book of Banished Souls is an ominous title, don’t you think? We don’t know what’s going to happen when you open it, Anna.” He paused. “I also don’t want you to get your book and run away from me.”
Before I experienced his mate touch, I thought Torin was just being unreasonable. He was still overprotective, but now I could see how much he cared about me.
“Torin, the book is important to me.”
“And you’re important to me,” he deadpanned. “The coincidence of your birthmark matching the daisy wheel on the book is too…unnatural. I don’t like it.”
I twisted in his arms to face him. A frown crept onto my face as I remembered the first time he saw the daisy wheel on the book cover.
“Have you seen my birthmark before?”
How could he have, as my birthmark was located on the inner thigh of my left leg?
Did his invasion of my private life go beyond reasonable limits?
I couldn’t think of a past moment of interaction with Torin that could have given him a view of my inner thigh, and I doubted my parents advertised such personal information with the Alpha.
The only other person who had seen my birthmark was my bodyguard.
Torin’s eyes flashed and stayed crimson, and I was sure it happened because he was angry, not aroused. He released me and walked to the mirror door.
“I’m only asking because you seem to have invaded my personal space on many occasions and without my knowledge. You know my clothes size, and you were in my bedroom… Why are you angry, Torin? I should be the angry one here.”
His mood swings gave me a headache.
“It’s better if you’re not around me when I get like this, Princess.” He took a deep breath, his nostrils flared. He seemed to be inhaling my scent.
Did he do that to calm himself down? Touching and scenting one’s mate did have healing effects on the partner.
When I thought this conversation had ended, he said, “I should have been the only man who’s seen the mark.”
And we were back where we started. At my relationship with Hayden.
The Alpha clenched and unclenched his hands, and the vein in his neck popped and pulsated. Torin was fighting his vampire from emerging. He squeezed his eyes shut. Now was my opportunity to run out of this room.
But seeing him struggle with himself, fighting a side of him instead of accepting it, made me step forward. I got in front of him and brushed his cold cheek with my hand. His eyes focused on mine, and the intensity of his gaze made hot waves of pleasure run over me.
I found myself following a sudden urge, a gut feeling that had never surfaced in Hayden’s presence.