Torn between two

Chapter 22

Daniel’s POV

I was talking with my grandpa, when father mind linked me to get upstairs to grandpa’s office. What does he want? I walk up and knock on the door, he calls me in.

“Yes?” I ask annoyed.

“Sit.” He simply says and looks at his phone. He looks up at me, as I sit down. “Have anything to tell me?” he asks with a raised brow.

“No.” I simply reply.

“Really? Nothing at all?”

“Nope.” I lean back on the chair.

“Not even that you found your mate?” he asks annoyed. Well f*ck, how did he find out?

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrug my shoulders. He doesn’t have to know anything.

“You really think I wouldn’t find out? I am still the Alpha and Eric and Mickael respond to me.” F*cking rats, how could they tell him. “They didn’t tell me directly. I knew something was up when you came home for a few days. They had to answer truthfully when I asked and the witch council confirmed. Why haven’t you told me?”

“Because I didn’t think it was necessary yet.” It wasn’t. She isn’t mine yet.

“You found your mate and you thought it wasn’t necessary yet? What is wrong with you? This is a joyous occasion; you can finally take over the position!” he exclaims.

“She isn’t mine yet.” I say with gritted teeth. Is he really happy about all of this?

“I heard about that. You should just claim her.” he says as if it’s obvious.

“I can’t just go and claim her, when she doesn’t know about our world. She’s seeing a vampire and doesn’t even know about him.”

“How could you let that even happen? You go and mark her!” As he almost yells that, my mom bursts in through the door and goes to his side, slapping him in the back of the head. Father just looks at her confused. Hell, even I look at her confused, she’s never done that.

“What is the matter with you?” she asks crossing her hands and looking at him angrily. “Are you really telling our son, that after all of these years, he should mark an innocent human girl against her will?”

“I... I didn’t...” he just stutters.

“Well?” she asks with her arms still crossed. “He’s doing the right thing, by taking things easy. The mate bond will do its work alongside with my handsome boys' charm.” she says and winks at me. “She’s gorgeous! Layla’s said so many good things about her, you’re one lucky man!”

“Thanks mom.” I smile at her. My father’s still silent, not knowing what to say and with one angry glare from my mom, he turns to me.

“I didn’t mean it like that, son... I just want you to be happy, Goddess knows it’s long overdue.”

I’m shocked of his words; he’s never been like this. Well not for the last 10 years at least.

“Thanks... I guess...” I stutter.

“Now, introduce us to our future Luna.” She commands and comes to my side, crossing her hand with mine. “I believe she’s in Layla’s room.”

“I invited your cousin for dinner, play nice Daniel.” My father says sternly. I just roll my eyes.

We walk to Layla’s room and knock on the door; she opens the door for us and we step in.

“Dunya, this is my father Ronald and my mother Amanda.” I introduce them and she steps forward to shake my father's hand first and then my mothers.

“Pleased to meet you.” My father simply says as he shakes her hand. “Pleased to meet you to, sir.” she responds. Ohh Goddess, I need her to call me that.

“Oh dear, you’re more gorgeous in person! I’m so happy to finally meet you!” My mother exclaims and pulls her in for a tight hug, taking her by surprise. “I’ve heard so much about you from Layla!” She continues.

“It’s good to meet you too, mam.” she smiles and hugs her back.

Dunya’s POV

This family is really friendly! I could barely breath when Amanda hugged me. There’s the same warmth that comes when I hug Pheotra, caring and motherly. I haven’t been hugged like that in years, maybe not ever. Just by their hug, I can tell they’ve been really good mothers.

Amanda finally releases me from her hug, but continues holding my hand. She stares at me and turns to Daniel with a wicked smile. Not her too!

“Let’s go eat dear.” She smiles and leaves the room, dragging me along. I know now, where Layla gets this from. We head downstairs after the men and head to the dining room. Leopold is talking to someone and as he turns my heart almost leaps out of my throat, and not in the good way. F*ck! It’s Kristopher and he’s looking directly at me with a devilish grin.

“Kristopher, my dear boy! Good to see you again!” Roland says and hugs him and Pheotra follows. They exchange a few words; I don’t quite follow as I’m having a mild panic attack. My legs feel numb and suddenly everything's a bit fuzzy. I have to keep myself together, I can’t cause a scene here.

“Dunya darling, this is Kristopher, Layla’s and Daniel’s cousin. He came for dinner” Pheotra introduces us with a bright smile. Kristopher is now standing tall in front of me, looking down at me with amusement. “We’ve met before. Last week, at the gathering” he says innocently to her and winks at me.

Dunya, you can do this! I try to psych myself to give him a pleasant smile, even though I want to kick his balls in again. Daniel comes between us, like he knew something was up and guides me to my chair, sitting beside me. Well, he did know something was up, but not the whole picture. Leopold and Roland each take the seats at the ends of the tables, with their wives to their right side. I look at Layla and try to signal her to sit on my other side, but Kristopher comes quickly and sits down. Layla takes the seat on the opposite side of the table. Well, at least she’s near, but I don’t think I’m going to survive this entire meal between these two men.

Leopold and Pheotra’s hired extra help and they quickly bring us our food. Amanda asks all sort of questions from me, and I try to answer politely. It’s really awkward that all of the attention is on me, Daniel sees that it’s bothering me and he places his hand on my thigh from time to time, to comfort me. Luckily Layla also sees my discomfort and changes the subject to something else.

By the time the main course arrives, I can feel the burning gaze of Kristopher on my side. Somehow, he’s even closer to me than before. Daniel’s father asks him something about their business and while the attention is on Daniel, I feel Kristopher's hand on my thigh, sliding my dress up from under the table. I flinch at his touch and push his hand away. This only encourages him to continue do it again.

He leans in towards me and whispers “Miss me?” to my ear, making my skin crawl. I quickly excuse myself and stand up, while both Daniel and Kristopher stand up holding the back of the chair. I quickly slip away from them and turn to the bathroom.

I stand in front of the mirror for a while, trying to think of a way to get out of here, but nothing comes to mind. I look at my phone and see Elijah’s been sending me numerous texts and at least 10 missed phone calls. F*ck this. One problem at a time.

Okay. I can do this. Only dessert and coffee, then I’ll leave right away. I psych myself up and leave the bathroom. I make my way back to the dining room, where both of the guys stand up again, to pull out the chair for me. They look at each other pissed and I swear both of them growled. I try to keep my face as normal as possible and sit down on my seat.

By the time I was gone, the help brought desserts to the table. It was a warm chocolate souffle with vanilla ice cream, my favorite. Next, one of the servers is filling up the cups with coffee or tea. I ask for green tea.

I dive into the souffle, taking the first bite I moan quietly and close my eyes as to how good it is. Daniel flinches in his seat and I open my eyes to look at him, only to notice he’s staring at me. s**t, he heard me moan. I blush and stare at my plate, and sip my hot tea.

Kristopher boldly puts his hand over my thigh again, and slides it up to my crotch. This f*****g asshole! I grab on to my tea tightly and “accidentally” pour it over him, making him jump up from his seat. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how that happened.” I fake squeal and look shocked, winking at him.

Pheotra who’s sitting on Kristopher’s other side stands up and tries to pat him with a napkin. “It’s okay, It’s just tea. Go dry yourself up Kris.” She tells him. Kristopher looks annoyed but complies leaving the room. I turn to my dessert and take another bite, proud of myself. Layla looks at me with a grin.

After dinner everybody goes to the living room, the guys are busy talking about work. I go to the bathroom again, since I didn’t really use it last time. When I come out, I see Kristopher waiting outside. He quickly comes to me and pushes me against the wall, holding my hands to my sides.

“That was a nasty trick you did back then.” he grins.

“If you don’t let go of me right now, I’m going to show you another trick of mine; you might remember it from yesterday.” I grin back at him.

“So feisty.” he says and sniffs my neck. Yes. Sniffs, as in a dog. “I’ll let you go for now, but this isn’t over. I’m going to make you mine.” he backs off of me still grinning.

“F*ck you.” I hiss at him, making him chuckle.

“That can be arranged. Just say when and where.” He winks. This asshole, eww.

Amanda comes from around the corner and sees us. “Is everything okay?” she asks worried.

“Yeah, Dunya just apologized for earlier.” he smiles softly and walks away.

“Nothing to apologize for, it was an accident.” Amanda smiles and crosses her hand with mine leading me back to the living room.

We sat there for a while, just talking about everything, I didn’t even notice it was already 9pm. Daniel offered to drive me home since tomorrow is a work day. He was quiet for a while, but then finally opened his mouth. “You really liked that souffle, huh?” He looked at me with a smirk.

F*ck, that smirk of his is panty dropping hot. I blush immediately at his words and my own thoughts. “It’s my favorite.” I manage to murmur.

“Good to know.” he smirks again not looking at the road. “So, any plans for tomorrow?” he casually asks.

“Just work...”

“Want to do something after work? Or are you with that leech again?”

“Umm... I’m not, but I think I need some me time...” I truthfully answer him. He furrows his brows, making cute little lines for on his forehead.

“Is everything okay? Has that leech done something to you?” he asks worried.

“Yeah, everything's okay. He hasn’t done anything wrong. I just need to focus on work.” It was the truth again; he hasn’t done anything wrong, just told me he’s a supernatural being. And I really needed to focus on work, it’s my third week on the job, even the training is not over yet.

“Okay, good. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” he says with a cute smile.

“I know. I’ll text you when I get bored with myself.” I smile shyly.

He drops me off and we hug goodbye, with the usual freaking shocks flying. I enter my apartment and once again; the Niagara Falls. From both ends. I don’t even know why I’m crying again; I haven’t been thinking about Elijah for hours. And how come I’m always horny around Daniel!? F*ck this is frustrating.