CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 28 - BET ON ME

Alpha Torrin and I continue the next couple of rounds of our lovemaking when we return to the bedroom.

He thrusts inside me with a pace that steals my breath away. Our skin slaps together as the bed creaks beneath us. My hands fly to my mouth to stifle the moans threatening to escape, desperate not to wake Harper, who’s asleep in the next room.

I reach my climax first, and he follows a few moments later. He releases a satisfied moan as he empties all of his seed inside me. Then he collapses beside me, and I sink against his sweaty, perfectly sculpted figure.

"I love you, Torrin."

I glance up, only to see him already asleep, never hearing the reply I’m yearning for.

The fact that he doesn’t say "I love you too," like he did the last time we made love, tells me he hasn’t recovered even the smallest piece of his bond with me despite being intimate with me all night.

My heart aches, but I force myself to remain optimistic.

If we keep being like this, keep trying...

My thoughts stop when the multi-eyed seer’s words echo in my mind: that Damian’s death at my own hands or paws is the only way to completely save Alpha Torrin.

Suddenly,...

As I close my eyes to sleep, Damian’s bleeding form appears beneath my paws.

He begs through tears and jagged breaths, "Please don’t kill me... I love you, Harleigh, way more than Torrin ever will."

Without ado, I slash his throat with my claws.

He convulses for a moment before releasing his final breath, his lifeless silver eyes fixed on me.

My whole body shakes as fear floods my heart.

"You did well, Harleigh."

When I look up, Alpha Torrin is crouching before me, wiping my tears.

"I didn’t wanna do it, but I must," I say. "We’ll be happy and together again, right?"

He smirks wryly, amplifying my fear. "Who told you I wanna be with you again? After everything I went through because of the bad omens you bring? I lost everything because of you! My life is put to danger because of you!"

Without warning, his claws protrude from his fingers and pierce into my neck.

Pain shoots through while a groan escapes.

He sinks his claws deeper into my jugular veins and coldly whispers to my ear, "You should die with him."

A scream rips out of me as I bolt upright in bed. My heart pounds loudly, sweat beading across my skin.

But then...

I notice the early sunlight streaks through the window instead of moonlight.

A nightmare?... Thank goodness!

Alpha Torrin rushes out of the shower and to my side, concern on his face. "What happened?"

I instinctively jerk away when he reaches for me.

Harper storms in next, her worry turning to embarrassment when she sees me n.aked with only a blanket covering me. Even though she’s still young, she’s not ignorant that something intimate happened between me and Torrin.

"I’m fine," I mumble, catching my breath. "I just had a bad dream."

Harper turns away awkwardly and quickly. "Breakfast is ready. Join me whenever you are ready."

After she leaves, Torrin asks again, unconvinced, "That scream didn’t sound that you’re fine. Tell me what’s bothering you. I wanna help just like you’re helping me."

He wants to help not because he cares, but to return the favor.

My wolf growls at me for overthinking and suspecting him.

I swallow the lump in my throat and ask, "Y-You’re not going to hurt me, right?"

Torrin’s brows furrow. "Why would I do that? After what we did last night, do you think I’m still capable of hurting you?"

He sighs softly when I look down to avoid his gaze instead of answering him.

"I may still be far from the Torrin you know and love, but I’m trying," he adds.

I throw myself into his arms and kiss him hard.

He’s surprised at first, but ends up kissing me back.

"I love you," I whisper.

He opens his mouth, then closes it, swallowing hard, guilt and shame crossing his face.

My heart aches again. But this time, I’ll try harder to rely on understanding rather than on my emotions.

It’s better for him not to say ’I love you too’ when he doesn’t genuinely feel it that way, rather than to lie just to pacify me.

During breakfast, Harper, who’s still blushing, barely meets our gazes. She rushes through her food so she can leave us alone again.

Alpha Torrin, on the other hand, takes my plate and slices my omelet for me. He even cools my soup by stirring it repeatedly with a spoon.

I force a smile whenever he glances my way as a silent ’thank you’.

Afterward, we head to our jobs: he to the valleys, while I to the cottages.

Every minute feels like an eternity, and every movement is heavy. Coz no matter how hard I try, I can’t shake the dream from last night.

How can I hope to master my ShadowBind if something as harmless as a nightmare can ruffle me this badly?

Thankfully, Alpha Torrin checks on me during his breaks, distracting me just enough. His smile is warm and doesn’t feel forced.

Gradually, my heart begins to relax a little.

When he’s back to work, the group of female customers who humiliated and harassed me yesterday approach me.

Harper quickly steps in front of them to protect me, but I motion for her to move aside so they won’t target her next.

"Anything I can do for you?" I ask.

They exchange uneasy glances until one finally speaks.

"We’re sorry for what we did."

"Yeah, we promise we won’t do it again. We also didn’t report you to the head of this place so you won’t lose your job," another adds, as if I’m supposed to be grateful for their restraint.

Then one of them grabs my hand with desperate eyes. "Can you talk to Torrin and tell him you’re not mad at us? And that we’ve already fixed the issues, hm?"

I don’t know what happened to these girls, why the sudden change of behavior?

I wanna smirk at them and say "hell no!", but I hold it back to avoid escalating things.

"I will. Anything else?" I reply flatly.

Relief washes over their faces, quickly replaced by enthusiasm as they hurry away from me.

I roll my eyes at them before returning to my work.

When twilight arrives and our shifts end, Alpha Torrin asks me to come with him to the other side of the valley.

"While we were guiding the hikers, I found something you might wanna see. Let’s have our dinner there," he adds.

I agree without hesitation, pushing aside what he did to me in my dream.

There’s no way he’d ever kill me. It was just a dream.

We climb the valley, and when we reach the other side, I gasp at the sight of a huge lake reflecting the pink and purple hues of twilight. It looks as if the sky has fallen onto the earth.

"It’s beautiful," I murmur.

"Yes, very beautiful," he echoes.

I catch him staring at me instead of the lake.

He chuckles. "Why are you blushing? Is this the first time I complimented you?"

"Not really," I answer as I slide into his arm while he wraps it around my waist.

Soon, we set up a small campfire with a thick blanket beside it and our dinner over the flames.

As we wait for our grilled fish, we talk warmly about how our day went.

He boasts about how hard he’s trying not to get too close to any of the female customers to avoid giving them the wrong idea without embarrassing them.

"I also told them how disappointed and angry I was about what they did to you. And that I won’t let them hurt or humiliate you again," he adds.

Now, that makes sense why those women suddenly feel the need to ’fix’ the issue with me.

Then,...

An awkward silence unexpectedly falls, as if he’s about to say something that scares him.

He takes my hand and reveals a ring made of wheat straw.

"I don’t have the money to buy you a real ring yet, and even if I do, there’s no jewelry store around here," he says. "But even with just this... will you marry me?"

A soft gasp of disbelief escapes me. "B-But you haven’t fully remembered me or our bond."

"Regardless, I trust everything you told me about us. I’m doing this because I wanna assure you that I’ll never hurt you, and that I’ll stay with you for as long as you allow me. So bet on me too," he says.

Tears of joy trickle down my cheeks as I nod. "Of course, I’ll marry you."

My wolf howls with equal joy as Alpha Torrin slides the ring onto my finger.

He pulls me close, and I do the same.

We kiss passionately, breaking apart only to breathe, before kissing each other again.