Chapter 7 #2
Dad never reprimanded Torin for his easy-going, casual style, but the King never smiled at Torin the way he smiled at Hayden and the fancy suits that made him look like the CEO of the year.
“How’d you know the size of my clothes, Torin? Was it a random guess?” I shouted, ignoring all royal etiquette lessons.
I tossed my clothes in the hamper and pulled a lacy bra from a shelf. I held it with two fingers by the strap as if it would burn my hand and examined the tag.
“Seriously!” I muttered.
He knew my bra size. The audacity of this man. I put the damn underwear on and stuck my head out from the closet since Torin hadn’t answered my question.
He lay in the bed, in the same warm spot where I had slept. His hands were under his head, his gaze stuck to the ceiling, and his legs were crossed.
“Hey, take your shoes off my bed, Torin,” I said, realizing my mistake immediately.
Torin grinned and looked at me with crimson eyes. “So it’s your bed now?”
“For now.”
He sat up and swung his feet onto the plush carpet.
“Is your vampire surfacing?”
He nodded. “Your scent is driving me crazy.”
And yet, he still made himself comfortable on the bed, surrounded by my scent. He chose wrong.
“Why are you torturing yourself?” I went back to dressing inside the large closet.
“Because you’re worth it.”
My body stilled, and I took a deep breath. I have to protect my heart. I didn’t give it away to Hayden, and I had to guard it against the Alpha. I resumed pulling my pants up.
“Well, don’t feel so bad for wanting to drink my blood,” I shouted. “Humans used to drink blood too. Maybe some still do. Blood represents life. Humans believed that by drinking the blood of a victim, the conqueror absorbed the additional strength of the conquered.”
I had a bad habit of ranting when I was nervous.
The creaking sounds of the bed echoed in my bedroom, and I rushed to pull my shirt down over my head.
“That’s where the significance of the red color came from for humans. Red is power. Maybe humans just found an excuse for drinking more red wine, which they identified with blood,” I said and smiled.
“Don’t try to make me feel better, Princess.” Torin’s deep voice sounded close.
I imagined he frowned at me and gave me a stern look from the bed.
This humongous walk-in closet had everything but socks.
I scanned the room and kept talking. “Even in ancient Greece, people drank red wine in symbolic rituals.”
But the werewolves exchanged blood with their fated mates to complete the mating. Not wine but blood. My stomach churned dangerously at the thought of digesting blood.
I kept on rummaging until I found a fabric box with socks in the corner and gaped at it.
Among the running socks, I found some knee-high fuzzy socks, the same kind at my apartment in London.
How much did this man spy on me? Although Torin wasn’t ready to share all his secrets with me, I was intent on finding out how he’d learned so much about me when all he did in the kingdom in the past was watch me from a distance.
Something was amiss.
“Most of these are made-up stories to make humans feel better about themselves.” Torin’s voice sounded even closer now.
“It’s not like the supernaturals don’t have some ridiculous beliefs too.
” I sat on the floor and slid the socks over my feet.
“My parents are weird sometimes with their beliefs. Dad says it’s better if the female she-wolf is a virgin when she meets her fated partner for the weirdest reason.
Listen to this. Apparently, the blood that flowed when the hymen was broken has magical properties and intensifies the sexual experience between the mates.
” I scoffed as I stood up. “It increases the strength of their bond.”
I laughed while remembering Dad’s talk about the birds and the bees. Mom had to stop him because my face had turned the color of Torin’s eyes.
I stepped out of the closet and almost collided with his hard body.
“I believe in this idea, Anna.”
His somber expression made me realize my mistake. Torin thought about my first time with Hayden, and Torin must have placed more importance on it than I did.
“But vampires don’t usually subscribe to such traditions,” I said. “Virginity can’t be that important to them. Don’t most vampires have harems of partners?”
“Vampires have mates too. The same rules apply to them.”
I walked past Torin with him hot on my tail. In the kitchen, I turned to face him.
“So are you going to feed your—” I swallowed the word Luna, and I fought the urge to facepalm.
I should have been on high alert.
Torin grinned.
A light knock came on his suite door. After he opened the door, his assistant walked in, pushing a cart with breakfast items on it. When her back faced Torin, she glared at me.
“Enjoy your breakfast,” Veronica said in a chirpy voice and left.
I was used to such behavior in the kingdom, where not everyone thought I could be the next Queen. I ignored my negative thoughts, sat at the round kitchen table, and bit into a crispy croissant.
Torin also served himself and seemed at ease while my pulse sped. I didn’t like the silence.
“According to some old traditions of European countries, people believed a dead person turns into a vampire if the burial is not done properly by the relatives. They thought the spirits of the dead went on a journey immediately after death and visited all the places they knew during their earthly life.”
Torin’s amber eyes settled on me, giving me an unusual look I couldn’t read. He looked so…human chewing on his toast. I cleared my throat, munched some more, and resumed my story.
“At the completion of their journey, which occurred forty days after their death, the spirits then journeyed to their next life. But the passage to that realm might be blocked if the burial wasn’t done properly.”
I lifted the glass filled with orange juice and gulped it down.
Silence. Torin stared at me and had forgotten to keep eating.
“Why are you not blinking?” I asked.
He did and shook his head. “I can’t believe I missed so many years of not having breakfast with you and denied myself not listening to your stories.”
I shrugged out of nervousness because I didn’t know how else to react to him.
“I bore Tammy with my stories, but she only puts up with me because she’s my best friend.”
Torin smiled and reached for his mug of coffee. As he swallowed the steamy drink, his Adam’s apple moved up and down, and I stared at him. How could he make drinking coffee so sensual?
“One thing the humans got right was how to destroy a vampire. Same as destroying other supernaturals. Silver, sharp object through the heart. Burning the body. Decapitation,” he said.
His eyes radiated sadness I didn’t understand.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Torin pointed to the spot over his heart and said, “Silver dagger to the heart.” He tapped over his chest. “In case you need to defend yourself from me.”
I stared at him for a long moment. He was my mate, and I didn’t want to believe that somehow he could hurt me to the point that I had to kill him.
Could I kill Torin?
I only nodded at him.
After breakfast, Torin didn’t let me help with the dishes. He dried and placed them back on the cart, and I almost thought he was husband material for not leaving a mess for other people to clean.
A vampire-werewolf Alpha husband. I bit the inside of my cheek to stifle my laughter. He disappeared into his bedroom, and when he returned holding calligraphy materials for me, I almost fell off the chair.
“I’ll only be gone for a little bit. I must talk to my Beta,” he said and left after setting the supplies in the kitchen.
I sat on the high stool at the island countertop and organized the brush pens, soft tips, penholders, ink refills, paper, and canvases.
The time passed fast as I drew a circle of daisies on a white canvas, and with calligraphy strokes, I wrote around the symbols, You only live once, no matter how long it is.
I planned on gifting the painting to Torin.
There was something about calligraphy that filled my soul with peace. Other people meditated or did yoga, but to me, focusing on the white page and creating something the world had not seen before was heaven.
I finished the strokes of the last flower when Torin walked inside. He pulled a chair behind me and sat so his legs surrounded mine. His thighs firmly pressed at my sides, his chest against my back, and his hot breath tickled my neck.
“Teach me how to do the daisy as beautifully as you did,” he whispered, causing a shiver to run down my spine.
Sparks exploded where our bodies touched. Torin’s hand grasped mine and urged me to move it.
“Like that. With basic strokes,” I said.
Torin’s breathing started coming in small pants, and although I couldn’t see his face, I imagined his vampire emerging.
“Torin,” I warned.
“I need to touch you to take all your hurt away,” he said in a deep voice and kissed my earlobe.
“Torin, you can’t…”
Another kiss on the spot below my ear, and my entire body trembled in his embrace.
“You’re everything good in my world, Anna. Don’t run away from me.”
My heart fluttered. “I’ll stay here. For now. I can try to be your Luna, but I need access to my book to keep trying to open it.”
His talons elongated while he held my hand. His chest rose and fell much faster now. He hummed his excitement and agreement in my neck, making quiet sounds of pleasure in his throat.
Would now be the moment when he lost his humanity and gave in to his bloodthirsty vampire?
“We can talk to our Council about the Luna ceremony. The faster we set it up, hopefully in the next week, the better.”
I raised my eyebrows. What was the rush all about? It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go.
I twisted my head to look at him, and he gave me a serious look.