Chapter 17 #2
Goose bumps appeared on my neck. The crazy woman had an unhealthy, possessive fixation on her play toy.
She was toxic to Torin, and I didn’t want her to poison him anymore.
Her obsession over Torin could stem from fear of rejection or the need for control.
She was beyond saving with counseling and therapy.
The vampire Queen wanted to strike when Torin was the most vulnerable. She wanted to capture him alive, and Torin wanted to free himself from her by killing her.
He could never kill his sire, though.
My stomach knotted as I imagined Torin’s great plan of standing up to his sire and attempting her assassination. His plan of killing her would never work.
If Torin and the Queen happened to be face-to-face, I had no doubt she would extend her poisonous tentacles, wrapping them around Torin and bringing him into her castle, where she would continue abusing him.
She would make him her chosen mate without his consent just as I became a chosen mate without my consent. I would never let her do that to Torin.
The thought made me nauseous, and bile rose into my throat.
The man stood and took a few steps to the middle of the prison cell. The gray brick stones were damp and dirty, but the man didn’t seem bothered by any of it. His human eyes radiated sorrow and pain I recognized.
“Why are you sharing information with me?” I asked.
“Because you’re different.”
I cringed, and the vampire’s eyebrows furrowed, forming a deep wrinkle between his eyes.
“Your scent is human. My fated mate used to be human,” he said, and the hint of a smile lifted his lips. “I was the luckiest guy to have a human woman accepting of me. So accepting that she agreed for me to turn her so she could stay by my side. It was too dangerous to stay as a human.”
His head fell back, and the man stared at the dark ceiling as if he recalled memories with his mate.
My breath caught in my throat. This vampire could mate and mark and had turned his human fated mate without killing her. I hadn’t heard of other such cases, but he was living proof that love trumped their thirst for blood.
Then why wouldn’t Torin want to mark me? Did he not love me enough to overcome his bloodlust, or was another reason still unknown to me? I was ready to give it all up for him.
“I’m divulging information to you, Princess, because I’ll ask for a favor,” he said and straightened up, looking at me.
“Ask away, and as long as it’s in my power, I can try to help.”
The man gave a full smile. “My mate is as accepting as you and just as kind. In my last moments, she was all I could think about.”
“Last moments?” I asked.
What would be the chances of convincing the King and the Alphas to let him go?
Close to none. I sighed.
“If you were to be freed, where would you go, and what would you do to stay alive?”
The vampire shook his head slightly. “I’ll have to be on the run for the rest of my life so the vampire Queen doesn’t catch me and kill me for failing to complete my mission.” He paused. “The werewolves will kill me first, though. And if they don’t, it’ll be the vampire Queen.”
“I’ll talk to the King—”
“The hatred between vampires and werewolves runs so deep, stretching over generations and centuries that, although I appreciate your efforts, I know you won’t be able to change the outcome.”
Was there no hope that these two supernatural species could coexist or commit to a peace treaty? Was I too naive to want to live in a different world?
This man knew he wouldn’t survive for too long, and he was unbelievably calm for someone at the brink of death.
“How can you be so calm?” I asked.
His smile broadened. “The hope that I’ll see my mate one last time keeps me calm.”
“Is this the favor you wanted to ask me?”
“Yes, Princess.” He bowed his head in submission.
He would do anything and divulge any information just for the small chance to see his fated mate one last time. Tears stung my eyes, and something twisted inside me.
“I’ll do my best to make it happen,” I said.
This man was dangerous, but he wasn’t a bad person. He followed his sire’s orders. Like the vampire mother I met at the airport, he would rather not be part of the vampire Queen’s court, but he had no choice.
“How do you want me to contact your mate?”
He could be baiting me into a trap—the thought popped in and out of my mind. The part of my brain that I reasoned with wasn’t happy with the part of my brain I felt with. I followed my instincts that this vampire was not cunning.
“Her name is Lucy. I’ll give you her phone number, and you can text her.”
“Yeah, she’ll think I’m crazy when she receives my text.”
And I’d be crazy for contacting a vampire woman, but I wanted to. If I were to die, I would want to see my mate for one last time, too. He could be emotionally manipulating me, but I would let him, even if it were true.
My heart ached with Torin’s recent actions, and I wanted to believe in love again. And the vampire spy seemed to love his mate deeply. He deserved to see her again.
“That’s why you’ll tell her something only she and I know.” He paused, and even in the dim light, his cheeks blushed.
I did a double take. It wasn’t every day to see a vampire blush. I smiled at him but cleared my throat and remained serious.
“You’ll tell her that I told you about her mating mark. It’s above her left breast, over the spot of her heart, and looks like the letter M.”
I blinked. Embarrassed or not, I would contact his mate and bring her to him. Even if my actions stirred a commotion in the werewolf kingdom.
I memorized the phone number as the man spoke the digits. Then I stepped back from the small window, ready to head back.
“Princess, there is one more thing you should know,” the man said.
“The vampire Queen will be on the way to your kingdom soon. She’s learned about the dark witch’s attack.
That you lost many warriors. It’s the perfect timing for her to strike.
She’s been very dissatisfied with us for failing to bring her the hybrid Alpha, so she’s coming to capture him. ”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
We were rebuilding after Cordelia’s attack, but now the vampire Queen would come to us? We were not ready to defeat her right now.
When the vampire Queen discovered that her spy wasn’t returning with his report, would she want to finish the mission herself?
My pulse sped up, and I dashed toward the manor. I had to report to Dad and the Alphas about another inevitable battle.
But this time, I wasn’t sure if the werewolf kingdom would survive it.
As my feet clomped on the asphalt, my lungs burned with fear. Fear that the vampire Queen was coming to take Torin away.