Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
My mouth fell open. I wanted to ask Dad about my inability to be compelled.
When I was a teenager, and vampires attacked my cousin and me, I couldn’t be compelled. The master vampire at the fake vampire club couldn’t compel me. When I hid from Hayden at the airport, the vampire mother couldn’t compel me.
Although it sounded crazy, there was one logical conclusion—was I a witch if I possessed the same ability?
Were all the rumors in the kingdom about me not being the King’s biological daughter true? Nothing made sense. Even if I were, which deep down I didn’t believe, why would the werewolf King adopt a witch girl?
I was missing something—some big truth I planned to uncover as soon as I returned to the kingdom.
I narrowed my eyes at Dad and shut my mouth, biting the inside of my cheek to stifle the string of words.
While I observed Dad, he didn’t disappoint.
In the past, when he knew he’d pushed me too far at training or when he wanted to drop me off at school, but I didn’t want my classmates to see the King at the school curbside, Dad would shuffle his feet and put his entire weight on one leg as if the other knee was too painful to bear his weight.
Dad did just that as I scrutinized him, but he recovered quickly.
A warrior approached and announced that Hayden was on his way to the airplane.
“Get on the plane with your mate, Anna,” Dad ordered after the warrior left us.
Before Hayden joined Torin and me, he’d told the King about us being mates. But Dad didn’t know about Torin.
“Anna, don’t just stand there. The future King needs you by his side. Mates are important in one’s recovery,” Dad said, and I cringed.
I glanced at Torin behind Dad’s shoulder.
His lips pressed together, and his amber eyes radiated pain.
But what made me hold my breath as I studied Torin was his facial expression.
He’d shifted back to his human form and looked defeated, not angry.
Knowing Torin, I’d guess he was blaming himself for not protecting me better from the witch.
“Okay, but Alpha Torin boards the plane with me,” I said as I mustered a calm voice.
I couldn’t let Dad become suspicious. I had to talk to him in private. There were way too many hypersensitive, supernatural ears around.
“What nonsense are you talking about, Anna? Get going. The Alpha has to stay here as part of the cleanup crew.”
In other words, Torin would stay behind and use his vampire’s compelling power over the humans who’d witnessed the flying headstones and rumbling earth. He would probably come up with some cover-up story that we were filming or make them forget the events at Salem’s graveyard.
But what made me frown was that the King used Torin’s vampire powers when it was convenient for him and valuable for the kingdom. Like in this very moment.
Otherwise, the Alpha was prohibited from shifting into a vampire. What kind of double standard was that? Dad was a fair King, but when it came to Torin, his rules didn’t make sense to me.
Torin’s vampire was a part of him. It made him who he was. It wasn’t like he could put his vampire to sleep and never emerge around the werewolves because they felt threatened by him and because they were taught to hate vampires.
I could only imagine the Alpha was feeling the same way I felt as a teenager when the King had me spar at training with faster, stronger, supernatural werewolves while I was his human daughter. Being held to a different standard from everyone else was how I grew up.
Even though I understood at the time that Dad wanted me to be prepared for any dangerous situations, the bruises, soreness, and broken bones were not things a human would subject herself to every week.
Was it fair that Dad demanded I train as a supernatural when I wasn’t one? Was it fair that he didn’t treat me as the human I was, but he treated me as the daughter he wanted me to be?
Torin was unique—the only hybrid.
I’d never seen Torin so submissive, but around my dad, it was as if there were something else between them than a simple relationship between a King and his subordinate Alpha. It was as if Torin owed his life to him, as if Torin would never break his loyalty to his King.
Around me, Torin’s vampire liked to emerge, but now that the King and his men were around, Torin’s body twitched and trembled as he tried to suppress his vampire side.
Just as the King was so focused on forbidding any vampires on our territory, Dad was too focused on securing the next werewolf Queen. It was his duty to ensure the continuation of our species, after all.
“Anna? Why are you still standing here? Board the plane. Help Hayden. Get your scraped palms and knees treated,” he said in his Alpha tone while looking around to ensure his men restored the graveyard to its original shape.
My mind teetered between sanity and insanity as more exhaustion and emotions took over me, and it became harder to choose my words.
“Are you ordering me around as my father or my King?” I spat out, even though I didn’t intend to be so harsh.
Dad’s gaze snapped to mine.
“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady,” he said.
“I was so scared of what I was going to find here. That you would be…” He took a deep breath.
“You put yourself in so much danger that I still struggle to handle the situation. You didn’t prepare for it and didn’t call me, knowing that Cordelia would be here. ”
“I had Hayden and Alpha Torin with me, Dad—”
“No, just don’t,” Dad said and glanced over his shoulder at Torin, who hadn’t moved an inch from his previous spot.
“The Alpha did a poor job of protecting you all along and kept putting you in harm’s way.
Don’t think I don’t know about the latest attempt of the vampire General to bring Torin back to the enemy’s castle.
And you were caught in the middle of Torin’s personal affairs. ”
Dad was talking fast now and had reverted to Dad mode. Worry laced his voice, making it break at the end. Dad had a point about my reckless behavior, not Torin’s.
“I take responsibility, and I’m sorry,” I said.
Dad didn’t see me as trustworthy, at least right now.
“Thankfully, your mate protected you by notifying me on time about your whereabouts and plans.” Dad looked up at the gray sky. “The future King was wiser than the future Queen.”
My ears rang at Dad’s meaning behind his words—I expected more of you.
I’d brought the dark witch’s wrath upon the entire kingdom, and not only that, but she was going to strike in three days—not enough time to prepare for the type of destruction she promised.
I had to protect the kingdom and its people.
“Dad, I’ll do better from now on. Can you please call an emergency meeting with the Alphas for tomorrow? I want to explain the magic books and the bracelet so we can better prepare for the witch. We need a plan.”
Dad’s meetings were where the decisions were made and voted on. This would be an excellent opportunity to address the issue with Torin’s vampire.
He should be allowed to shift into his vampire when the witch showed up with her army. It could be the difference between staying alive or not for Torin.
I held a glimmer of hope that I could ask the Alphas to vote at the Alpha meeting to allow Torin to shift into his vampire within the kingdom's territory. Yet the chance of the voting happening was slim since we had a lot to discuss about the fight with the witch.
Dad’s eyes softened, and he nodded. “Now go, Anna.”
I turned on my heels and headed to Dad’s car.
When I finally boarded the King’s private airplane, I rushed to Hayden, who was lying on the large, reclined seat. His eyes fluttered between open and shut as he fought to stay conscious.
I sat next to him and buckled up for takeoff.
His soft groans stirred more guilt mixed with something else behind my rib cage.
“Hayden?” I said softly as I leaned across and pulled the blanket to his chin.
He stirred in his position, and his eyes opened halfway.
“I won’t let you die, Hayden.”
He attempted to move his hand, probably to reach for me, but it was trapped underneath the blanket. I placed my hand over the material.
“I know, sweetheart.” His voice sounded strained. “But I want you to do it for the right reasons.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and then exhaled loudly.
And as if he knew I wondered what he wanted from me, he added, “I want you to love me more.”
My body went completely still. Did Hayden want me to love him more than Torin? My heart wanted Torin more than Hayden. I couldn’t fully understand why. I loved both of them, just in a different way.
Hayden accepted me as I was. He was ready to commit to me fully. And yet my heart was drawn to the one who wanted me but didn’t want to give himself to me entirely.
Torin’s vampire wouldn’t hurt me or drain me of my blood.
I was now sure of it, seeing that his vampire was more concerned with my safety than giving in to his thirst for my blood.
Perhaps the so-called training Torin did with me while I stayed in his pack territory helped him overcome his thirst—probably not completely, but to the extent that Torin’s vampire would pause before drinking from me.
That had to mean something. Torin had to have feelings beyond the lust and attraction of the mate bond. And yet Torin kept making excuses for not marking me or fighting to be my mate.
The plane shook, and my body sank against the leather seat. Hayden’s eyes were closed now. As if he felt the touch of his mate over the blanket, he let out a small, content sigh and slept peacefully. At least he wasn’t in pain now.
During the long flight to the West Coast, I couldn’t sleep as my mind made sense of my new situation.
I couldn’t escape my destiny. The airplane took me closer and closer to it. Now that I was back in the supernatural world, I might as well start acting like the future Queen I was supposed to be. Like the daughter Dad wanted.