Torn between two

Chapter 17

Narrator

Elijah had to go back to Atlanta, where he would be meeting with the elders. The situation in the vampire coven is hectic, since Elijah doesn’t take his position seriously. He’s the rightful leader to the throne by blood right, but he doesn’t want it, he never has. He only accepted, so no power-hungry vampire could. Since he dodges his duties, many high rank vampires try to take his throne.

He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Dunya behind, but he couldn’t take her with him, at least not now. She wouldn´t be safe with the situation so chaotic back home. Also, with her extraordinary scent she would be a quick snack around the vampires, or worse. Elijah shrugged at the thought. He would wreak havoc, if something would happen to her.

He had just arrived to his private jet, he stepped out of his car, to only notice a black SUV speed next to his. Daniel steps out of the SUV and walks to Elijah fuming; you could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. He’s been in torment for the last 3 days and really looks the part.

“Wow, you look like s**t. What are you doing here mutt?” he asks irritated. “I don’t have time for this.” he continues and walks towards the jet.

Daniel follows him. “I came here to talk with you, about Dunya.” he says with a clenched jaw.

Elijah stops and turns to him. “What do you want with her?”

“She’s my destined mate.” he says with a serious face, making Elijah chuckle.

“Aren’t you the lone wolf? As in you have no destined mate?” Elijah asks raising his brow questionably. He had done his research the moment Dunya first mentioned his name.

“I was, before meeting her.” he says furiously, who does this vampire think he is, questioning him.

“Yeah, I don’t think so. Are we done? I have to go.” Elijah turns to walk away.

Daniel bolts forward, stepping in front of Elijah. “You do realize what a mate is, right? She’s destined to be with me.”

“And yet, she’s not. She’s with me and happy.” Elijah says with a grin. “Isn’t the mate bond supposed to draw you two together? She’s only drawn to me, that would make her my mate.” he continues.

Daniel is getting annoyed, he thought if he’d talk to him, maybe he’d understand to back off. Being royalty and all, they had etiquettes and understandings about this sort of thing.

“If you haven’t noticed, she’s special; she’s no mere human.” he says trying to calm his wolf. Axel thought that this was a bad idea, but Daniel disagreed, he thought that Elijah would understand, since vampires also have destined mates. “She’s special...” he continues.

“She is very special and she’s mine. So, back off mutt.” Elijah snarls, he’s getting annoyed at this conversation.

“You do know, she’ll choose me in the end, right?” Daniel asks riled.

“She already chose me, every inch of me.” Elijah replies with a smirk. “And she loves it.” He didn’t want to disrespect Dunya, but he knew his words would hit Daniel hard. And it did, Daniel’s eyes go black, making Axel come out, he growls loudly and grabs Elijah’s shirt. Daniel knows, he could easily take Elijah down, but that would only provoke war between their species. Werewolves and vampires have been at peace for centuries, he couldn’t risk war for this.

“You f*cking leech! You stay the f*ck away from her!” he says almost shifting, almost ripping Elijah’s shirt in the process.

“I love her! You’ll have to kill me, if you want that!” Elijah yells angrily.

Daniel sees the verity of his words in his eyes, he’s not lying. He truly loves her, but how could he taste her when she doesn’t know what he is.

“If you truly love her, how could you bite her?” he asks pushing Elijah back.

“I haven’t! And I wouldn’t, not without her consent!” Elijah replies annoyed.

“You’re f*cking lying, my sister saw the bite marks.”

“It was just a bite in the heat of the moment, no blood was drawn, and it’s completely healed by now.”

He wasn’t lying and it showed, Daniel believed him. He sighs and let’s go of Elijah. Reasoning with him wouldn’t work after all, he had to just let the mate bond work it’s magic. He walks back to his SUV and drives off still fuming. He should be awarded a trophy for the amount of self-control he had.

Elijah straightens his shirt and continues to the jet. The whole flight he was deep in thought. He knew what the mate bond does, he had experienced it himself. The mate bond is different for vampires and werewolves, for vampires, there isn’t a voice in their head that tells them. It’s more of a feeling or sensation, that gets stronger when the mate is nearby. Like with Dunya. But now a mutt, an Alpha at that, is saying that Dunya is his mate. He must me wrong, he is the destined lone wolf after all. Prophesies have been wrong before, but this one has been so clear. The small chance that Daniel’s words were true, made him angry. Dunya belonged to him, and he’d make her completely his, the moment he gets back.

***

Dunya’s POV

It’s Thursday and still no word from Layla. We are new friends, but I have learned to know her closely. This is not like her, something is wrong. Is she mad at me? But for what reason? I have to find out before I lose my mind. Although, it does take two to Tango and I´ve been so busy with Elijah, I hadn´t even noticed that I didn´t hear anything from them before Elijah left. Maybe I should just contact her myself, what if something’s wrong…

After work, I decided to go to Layla’s grandparents' house. I knock on the door, but no answer. Just as I’m about to leave, someone opens the door.

“Hello sweetie, what are you doing here all by yourself?” Layla’s grandmother asks opening the door.

“Hello Mrs. Jones, I was wondering if Layla was here. I haven’t really gotten a hold of her and was worried if something was wrong.” I manage to mumble.

“Layla went back home for a while; didn’t she tell you?” she asks with a worried look on her face.

“Oh... No, she didn’t... I had no idea...” Why did she leave without telling me...?

“But Daniels still here.” she says with a smirk on her face, obviously insinuating something. Oh no, not her too. “Come on in, I’ll make us some tea.” she gestures me to go in.

“That would be nice, Mrs. Jones.” I smile at her and go inside. She closes the door and leads the way to the kitchen. “Please, just call me γιαγιά. Mrs. Jones is so official, and it belongs to my daughter-in-law now.” She demands. I just smile and follow behind her.

Mrs. Jones, is really nice, gentle, caring and a warm-hearted person. I never had a grandmother, and it was nice that she treated me like her own granddaughter. She practically force fed me, when she heard my stomach growl. We sat for few hours and just chatted about life. She told me her story. She was very young when she found her husband Leopold, moved to California after him and had 2 sons; Roland, Layla’s and Daniel’s father, and James, Kristopher’s father. After Roland took over the family business, James expanded it to Greece and moved there. Leopold and Pheotra followed, since Pheotra wanted to be close to her own family.

“You are very brave to go to a foreign country all by yourself!” she contends after I told her about my move.

“There’s two of us then.” I smile at her.

“I had Leopold; it was easy for me. You came a long way all by yourself. That’s bold!” she states. She’s not wrong, it was a bold move by me.

“Daniel!” She says and looks in the direction of the door. I turn around to see Daniel, only in his basketball shorts, his chiseled torso shimmering with sweat. He looks panty droppingly good, oh my God. What I wouldn’t do to lick all that sweat off of his chest.

No, Elijah! Get a grip woman, where the hell is this, all coming from?

“Hi Daniel” I clear my throat and manage to murmur.

“Hi Dunya, what are you doing here?” he asks with a raised brow.

“I came to see if Layla was here, but she’s apparently left without telling me...”

“Ohh, you could’ve just asked me.” He says as he scratches the back of his head, making his huge biceps bulge. The temperature in the room seems to increase by hundred degrees, I cross my legs and shift in my seat, as if it’s going to make me less horny right now.

I clear my throat again “Yeah, of course. Didn’t cross my mind...”

Daniel tenses and says, “I have to go.” He swiftly walks away. s**t, what's wrong with him? Was it something I said? I follow him and stop him by placing my hand on his shoulder. The touch feels hot as hell, like, literally. His skin is hot burning hot, at least the part that I touched. Maybe it just feels so hot, since Elijah is always so cold. The usual sparks are there too, but the sudden hot sensation makes me flinch. He turns around and looks at me with a dark mood. His face is one of misery, he looks like he’s been sleep deprived for days, his eyelids are puffy, and he has huge undereye bags.

I feel the sudden urge to touch him more, to take his pain away. I reach my hand to his cheek, cupping it. It makes him more tensed, and he flinches from my touch, but relaxes and closes his eyes.

“Daniel, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” I ask worriedly, even though I know somethings wrong. I can feel it in my bones.

He takes a deep breath and holds his hand on top of mine, making my hand burn up from his touch. I feel a sudden sadness emitting from him, sadness alongside with misery and desire. I focus on the first two as if I could take it all away by just simply touching him. I want to take it away, it pains me seeing him like this, I want to help him. I want whatever is causing this to stop. We just stand there for a while, not moving from our position, neither one of us saying a word.

He finally opens his eyes and looks at me, with newfound energy. “I- I feel much better...” he looks at me astonished. “How did you…?” He whispers.

He does look better; his whole essence seems better. The sadness that just seconds ago radiated from him, is now replaced with tranquility. “How did you do that” he says again and looks at me with wonder in his eyes. I take my hand away from his cheek and back up from him.

“Is everything okay?” I almost whisper.

“Much better.” he says in awe. Did I do that? Did I actually take away his pain? No, what am I even thinking, how could I just magically heal him? I’m being ridiculous. “What did you do?” he asks with a raised brow.

“Umm, nothing...” what is he asking me exactly? “I comforted you...”

“Well, whatever you did, I feel a lot better now. Thank you Dunya.” he says with a gratitude.

“You’re welcome, I guess...” I murmur, not knowing what else to say. “I just wanted to ask if everything was okay with Layla.”

“Yeah, everything's okay. She probably just forgot to tell you that she was leaving, but don’t worry, she’ll be back in a few days.” he looks at me still in awe.

“Okay, thanks.” I say and turn back to the kitchen, but he grabs my hand, making me flinch once more from his touch. The sparks before, were a child's game, this time they’re at least ten-fold. These sparks flow through me from head to toe. What the actual f**k. I turn to look at him with shock and he seems to be doing the same. He practically scoops me up to a hug. The feeling and sparks between us, are so intense, it feels like I’m about to lose consciousness.

“It’s really good to see you again.” he says as he breathes down my neck, making my whole-body melt in his arms. If this man doesn’t let me go, I’ll be a puddle in the floor. He takes a few deep breaths and loses his grip. Wait, did he just sniff my neck? He backs away and tenses up again.

“I have to go shower.” he says and quickly runs off.

“Wait Daniel!” I yell, before he’s out of sight. He stops and turns his head toward me. “Since Layla’s not here, could you take me sightseeing? She promised me we’d go and I’m dying to see some monuments around here...”

“Yeah, of course. Anytime.” he says and disappears.