Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
“Don’t come closer to me, Torin,” I said with a clenched jaw, but it was too late.
Torin was there, right in front of my eyes. I didn’t want to fight him, but I wouldn’t let him grab me by my throat again.
The air charged with tension as we faced each other. The Queen’s compulsion clouded his crimson eyes, but his body trembled with hesitation.
His vampire surfaced, and Torin completely transformed.
My bond with Hayden had sealed when we slept together three years ago and exchanged blood, and he had marked me. The only missing element was that I couldn’t mark him back because I didn’t have a wolf spirit.
If my bond with Hayden had solidified, then why did I feel an invisible force drawing me toward my attacker? He was about to charge at me, and here I was, fighting my urges to run into his arms.
I gave my head a slight shake. I couldn’t overthink it—just attack him.
I stepped toward him first, and with a swift flick of my wrist, I sent the witch whip lashing through the air, crackling with energy. The gold shimmered, engulfed by bright lights—thank goodness. The whip coiled around Torin’s upper arms, pressing them to his sides, instantly immobilizing him.
That felt too easy. Something was off.
He could move his hands, so Torin grabbed the length of the rope and yanked it so hard that my body flew into his, my chest colliding with his. I gasped for breath. All he had to do was point his talons toward my chest and stab me to death.
But he didn’t.
The golden rope had loosened around his torso. Lifting his arms overhead, he trapped me by encircling his arms around me. My chest pressed against his body, and I looked up, tilting my head back.
Torin grinned, his crimson gaze clearer than a moment ago, but his body still trembled. He leaned in, inhaling my scent.
“I missed you, Anna,” he whispered.
I gasped and attempted to pull away from him. What was happening? Victoria held the crystal, her compulsion power in full force. I couldn’t let my guard down around Torin. What if he was playing a game?
I willed my whip to unwrap from Torin, releasing him. Placing a hand over his hard chest, feeling his pounding heart, I pushed myself away, stumbling backward. Not giving him a chance, I struck back, lashing my whip at him so fast that sparks of energy exploded with each successive hit.
Torin barely dodged them, unharmed.
“Fight me all you want, Anna,” he said, as he lunged to the side, avoiding the tip of the whip. “I’ll always win.”
“I see your usual arrogance is back,” I said, grinding my teeth.
Torin’s next abrupt move caught me by surprise. He stood at my side, reaching for me. I wasn’t sure what he aimed to do, but as soon as he grabbed my shoulder, I twirled my body one hundred eighty degrees. I didn’t realize he held parts of the material of my already ripped shirt.
When I moved, my shirt tore further. Torin immediately released me, and the scraps of fabric fell over my chest, fully revealing my mating tribal tattoos.
Torin’s gaze zeroed in on the exposed skin above my breast, blinking repeatedly.
He stared at me, unmoving for a moment. He couldn’t have known I was marked by Hayden.
Whatever was going on in his head had him in a trance—an opportunity for me to…
What exactly could I do to Torin? Hurt him? Kill him?
If I could apprehend him with my whip, it still wouldn’t be a win situation for me, since I needed my witch weapon to fight the vampire Queen next.
I'd be completely vulnerable with no wolf spirit or a witch weapon.
With a precise strike, I ensnared Torin’s legs with my whip, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees.
“Does it look like you’re winning now, Torin?”
He tilted his head back to look me in the eye, his wide grin displaying sharp fangs.
“Yes, we are winning, Anna,” he said, and his words did something to my insides. “Now stand back. I’m not completely free. Yet.”
Gaping at him, I did as he ordered. He didn’t sound like himself, or at least like a vampire compelled by the vampire Queen to kill me. Something was different about him, and I decided to give him a chance to recover.
This could either turn out to be a wise move or a regrettable mistake on my part.
I watched him intently as deep furrows etched across his forehead. His gaze focused on me, beads of sweat glistening on his brow. The strain of battling against Victoria’s compulsion marred his normally flawless complexion.
The fingers that had once held me with gentleness and warmth now clenched into tight fists, veins pulsating with the effort to resist the Queen’s command.
His words made more sense now. He must have been trying to break the compulsion before I arrived.
His crimson eyes flickered with determination. His jaw clenched as he stood away from me, unmoving.
Victoria stepped closer, but it didn’t escape me how she kept some distance from Torin.
“How dare you disobey me,” she shouted. “Now finish killing the werewolf Queen.”
The woman clenched the crystal harder and stepped into Torin’s view, his gaze moving to her. I guessed she’d unleashed her compulsion power over him again. The crystal might have amplified her power over Torin.
Torin’s body stood tense and rigid, and every breath he took seemed labored, as if the weight of the Queen’s influence pressed down upon his chest. His shoulders slouched, and Torin placed his hands on his knees, lowering his head.
But not in submission.
His body convulsed, but he remained hunched over as if waiting for the compulsion power to wear out. After a moment, his heaving chest slowed, and the body trembles subsided.
When Torin straightened, his eyes flashed amber, and I knew his humanity had penetrated through the compulsion. Torin had broken the vampire Queen’s control.
My lips curved in a half smile as I watched him walk and stand next to me.
His gaze fell on my mating marks again for a second, but then he looked at me with admiration.
“You did great, Queen Anna,” he said, signaling that he was on the werewolf’s side now. “While you fought me, you gave me enough time to recover.”
I ordered my mind to stop creating reasons explaining why Torin was able to break through Victoria’s control. The why didn’t matter since he would never be mine. Torin had used his inner strength to reclaim his true self—which was enough for me.
Now winning the war would be for the werewolf kingdom.
As if Torin knew where my thoughts had taken me, he said, “You came even though you knew of my darkest secret. You risked everything. You showed me a strength I didn’t know I had.”
A gentle warmth illuminated his eyes, and his face softened into a tender expression. I averted my eyes and ordered my heart to slow. Torin said my name, and I looked at him again.
“Since I was captured, I’d been fighting the compulsion, but when you stepped inside the room, something inside me snapped. Thank you for helping me, Anna.”
He lowered his gaze and slightly bowed, causing a flush to rise in my cheeks. Straightening, Torin lifted his gaze to Victoria and scowled.
She paused, closed her slightly open mouth, and looked back and forth between me and Torin.
“Time to finish what you started,” he mumbled.
Torin dashed toward the vampire Queen, his talons dancing with deadly precision and slashing through the air in a flurry of rapid strikes. But he had to keep his distance from the woman as she wielded her silver sword. He leaped and twisted, evading her strikes.
“How were you able to break my control?” she yelled while slashing the air with her lethal sword.
Victoria could never grasp how Torin escaped her influence.
His love for me had grown and blossomed after I discovered his darkest secret.
My knowledge of it had stripped his fears away, leaving his love to burn stronger.
The walls that he’d built around his heart had now crumbled, allowing him to be vulnerable.
I slightly shook my head. But the cold reality settled in. Torin was free, but he would never be mine. I was bound to another, a mate chosen for me, a bond I couldn’t break. The thought tore at my heart, its intensity drowning me.
The Fates were cruel, leaving me to only hope that one day, Torin would find the love he deserved, even if it wasn’t with me.
With a sudden burst of energy, he launched himself toward her, his talons aimed at her heart—the only weapon he had at his disposal.
“The right person showed up at the right moment to motivate me,” he said in a steady voice.
But Victoria anticipated the attack, sidestepping. She’d lived longer than Torin, gaining more experience. She lifted and swung her sword to the side of Torin’s body, but Torin avoided her strike again. The Queen’s movements turned choppy and tired as her frustration grew.
Her red hair whipped around her pale, sculpted face. Her once graceful movements now became more forceful and wilder. Her breathing quickened, and her beauty turned into madness.
Torin leaped again toward her but shifted his body midair, changing directions, and with a series of lightning-fast slashes, his talons left deep gouges in the Queen’s arms. Blood seeped, soaking into her bodice, but she didn’t flinch. Fury swam in her eyes, though.
“Tor,” a deep male voice shouted from somewhere behind me, causing my breath to hitch.
Twisting on my heels, I watched as the same vampire who’d crashed my crowning ritual appeared, running towards Torin. Tor? This time he had forgone the long cloak for a black shirt, military pants, and boots.
I darted my gaze between Torin and this familiar man. Was he on Torin’s side?
“Tor, catch,” the vampire shouted.
He clenched my dad’s magic sword…well, only the hilt.
He tossed it with ease toward Torin. As Torin made contact with the hilt of the sword, the blade extended with a smooth whir to full length, revealing the engraved pentagrams—the ones my mother must have carved on it before she left the sword with my father.
Technically, Torin wasn’t my mate any longer, since I was fully bonded with another, but the sword still obeyed him. Was this possible because the fifth symbol for my fated mate hadn’t appeared yet?
Torin stared at the man, his eyes widening, and some recognition passed behind his gaze. He nodded his gratitude.
The vampire turned to look at me with a silly grin on his face.
“Hey.” He waved at me.
I blinked. Was he serious?
He stepped closer to me, but no warning bells rang in my mind, just like the first time I saw him in the kingdom. Plus, he’d armed Torin, for which I was grateful.
“You’re in the habit of crashing parties,” I said, and his grin grew wider.
His smile was similar but also different from Torin’s. This man’s lips curved more to one side, causing a dimple to appear on his cheek.
As he watched me, his appearance changed. His hair turned silver, his ears pointed up, and his nose thinned.
I swallowed hard as realization hit me. He was a hybrid, just like Torin. And he would be Torin’s—
“What a shame,” Victoria said, her eyes narrowed at the newcomer. “You both could have served me, and it would have been so much fun.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, which the man must have heard because his gaze fell on me.
“We’re brothers, but I’ll introduce myself later,” he said, moving his gaze to Torin. “Make sure you kill her, Tor.”
Torin frowned, and his crimson eyes landed on me. His brother sighed and rolled his eyes like a child.
“She seems very capable, brother,” the man said, moving closer to me, only inches separating the sides of our bodies. “Now”—he gestured with an exaggerated movement—“can you please kill the vampire woman?”
“With pleasure,” Torin said, returning his focus to Victoria.
I didn’t feel threatened by the second hybrid, and Torin must have decided I was safe. He attacked the crazy woman with his sword, and their metals met with a clang. Torin pushed the Queen hard, and she stumbled back.
He swung again toward her chest, but she blocked him with her sword. They stood in this position for a moment while Torin put his full weight forward, prevailing, and the Queen eventually gave up under his force, falling on her butt.
“Get him,” she shouted from the ground, and more vampires poured from the sides toward Torin.
Where had they hidden, and how many more guards had she created? The vampires looked like worker ants with only one purpose in their minds. I recalled the shelter people going missing, and the thought tightened my chest.
Her men circled Torin and jumped on him at the same time. He slashed several with his sword, but the vampires kept swarming Torin.
I took a step forward, but his brother stepped with me.
“Don’t worry about Tor. They’re only a distraction for him and slowing him down before he can kill the crazy woman.”
“Then I’ll kill her.” I stepped closer to the pile of guards surrounding Torin and yelled, “Torin, throw me your sword.”
Torin would be left without a weapon, but his talons were just as sharp. He was a hybrid, stronger and faster than the vampire guards.
He twisted his body position, cutting through more vampires. The blade retracted, and Torin tossed the hilt. I caught it, wishing the blade to appear again. The blade’s length sprang forth.
“My brother’s mate is so amazing,” the half vampire, half werewolf said and chuckled.
“I’m not his mate.”
Torin’s brother’s gaze fell on my mating marks for a second, and then he looked at me again, shrugging. “You’ll break his heart.”
I scoffed. “He broke mine first.”
I had the witch whip in one hand and the magic sword in the other as I stalked toward the vampire Queen.