“Young Mistress Dominixe, Young Master Ismael wishes to see you,” Anita said for the nth time.
I sighed and sipped on my tea. Ismael kept bombarding me that he wanted to speak with me. I knew what he wanted. I turned my head at Valerian, who just went out of the bathroom, before I turned to Airene.
“Airene.”
She jumped to her feet and was busy massaging my hand. “Yes, my lady?”
“Speak with Ismael and tell him I am not in the proper mood to discourse with him.”
I knew that Ismael was already frustrated. But it would be fun to play with him. I want to make him feel frustrated. I wanted to make him pay for causing trouble on my part.
Her eyes widened. She must have been surprised that I let her speak with him this time.
“Yes, young mistress.”
Valerian sat across from me in my peripheral vision, making himself home. “So, when are you going to play with me as your toy?” he asked nonchalantly.
My heart skipped a beat as I was unable to look at him. It had been a few days since I had a nightmare, and I uttered some words as I became emotional with him. I couldn’t even look him in the eye.
I felt… humiliated somehow.
I gazed up and turned at Valerian, who was looking at me intently. Heaving out a sigh, I opened my mouth. “I must explain why-”
“Domi!”
The door swung open and revealed my annoying 2nd brother. Followed by him was Airene, who was flushing profusely.
“Young mistress, I failed to stop Young Master I-Ismael,” she said.
Ismael rushed to me and yanked my hand. “You keep avoiding me, sister,” he said through gritted teeth.
I smiled brightly. “My, my, Ismael. I did not know you were coming here.”
He growled, offended at my words. “What do you mean by that? I asked for your permission so we could talk! Where is your word that we are going to talk about…” he paused and glanced at Valerian, who had a smug expression, sitting comfortably on the couch. “The fuck? I thought you were torturing him already?” He looked at me, bewildered.
I almost stiffened at his question. But I managed to compose myself. “I am going-”
“Your older sister takes care of me, as you can see,” Valerian said arrogantly. “She even instructed me that I am serving her in bed. Who am I even to refuse such a beautiful woman?”
Ismael squinted his eyes at him. “For a pet like you, you certainly do not know how to respect your owner.”
“Ismael…” I sighed and stood up when he grabbed Valerian by his collar. I already stopped him before he could lay his fist on my honeydew. “If you dare to lay his fist on his handsome face, I swear we are not going to negotiate,” I said coldly. I drew closer to him and whispered, “Airene is watching.”
Ismael flinched and glanced in Airene’s direction, who looked worried at what was happening before he laid his eyes on me. “Tomorrow afternoon. If you make any excuse, I will tell Papa that you are not doing anything to your pet.”
“Oh? So, you are threatening me?” I arched my eyebrow and stepped forward. “Dare you say that again?”I slightly tilted my head.
He gulped and stepped backward. He chuckled nervously. “Domi… Come on. You know that… I like playing antics on you.” He lowered his gaze when he saw that my dagger was already pointing under his jaw. He smiled wryly when he lately realized that I was already threatening him.
One wrong move from him, and I would have him get stabbed on it.
Ismael raised his hands, surrendering. “Alright, alright. Just plan now when I can talk to you,” he said impatiently before his gaze softened to Airene.
“Tomorrow. In this very chamber of mine.” I pushed him away and slammed the door right in front of his face. “Finally…” I massaged my temple before I returned my gaze to my personal maids and dismissed them. I slumped my shoulders when I returned to my seat before I returned my gaze to Valerian. “What?”
“Is this how everything runs in your household? Always threatening each other?” Valerian asked, creasing his forehead.
“I know it is a messed up situation. It is why you are here under my protection as well.”
He arched his eyebrow. He must have been wondering why I was not doing anything to punish him or what. I knew that he had been observing me more keenly this time as his guard was up.
I counted ten before I felt my surroundings. I wanted to know if there would be anyone who would dare to eavesdrop on us.
“Since you are adjusting now, I shall tell you why you are here.” He would play a bigger part in this plan. It was time to bring down my father.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, bewildered.
“Follow me.” I beckoned my hand for him to follow me to the adjacent chamber next to mine. The chamber was a soundproof one, so no one would even dare to eavesdrop there except if the door was slightly ajar.
This place was perfect to talk about some secrecies.
Valerian did not hesitate to follow me. I even asked him to lock the door. “What’s this? Do you need my service, honeydew?” he asked, smiling from ear to ear.
My clit throbbed in need from his question. I ignored him and my wolf, teasing me to accept it, but I castigated her. I went to the cabinet to open it.
In the bottom panel was a secret compartment that no one knew it ever had. Even Anita was not aware of this since it was well hidden.
At least not yet.
But this wasn’t the compartment I showed in my previous life. It was a different one, and it was in my chamber, not here.
“What’s that?” Valerian asked when he saw me placing a wooden box with a lock.
“You’ll see.” I looked at my ruby ring before I removed it and pressed the ruby stone. There, it showed a small key that would fit on the lock before I opened it.
It revealed some piles of documents as I carefully placed them on the table. “This is your purpose, why you are here-as to why I begged my father to make you my pet instead of letting myself go to your pack to infiltrate it.”
“What are these?” he asked. I could hear the fast pounding of his heart when he started reading them.
“The duplicate records of the crimes of the House of Cantavalle.” I had come to prepare them in advance before I decided to have a vacation and communicate with Henry. “Here is the evidence that Papa is the figurehead who commanded us, his 11 children, who would be our next Alpha to kill.” I bestowed him one by one of all the records I had.
It was not enough. I did not get to relinquish and duplicate them, but they were a great help in arresting my father soon.
His eyes widened when he looked at me. “Why are you… giving me this mission?”
“Because you are going to get killed by me… soon,” I said as I exhaled rapidly. “But before that happens, I am trying to avoid your fate, Valerian.” I did not want to elaborate on this part since I knew Valerian would question it since I had a nightmare the past few nights. “Bestow those evidence to Henry. He knows what he is going to do with them.”
“Henry?” he parroted, squinting his eyes at me. “Whose Henry?”
“Of course, it was no other than Henricus la Chandelier, the crown prince.” I rolled my eyes as if I was stating an obvious. “What?” Why did he react like that? Why did his face darken as if he was… jealous?
I did not know why but my heart fluttered after that. My wolf kept whispering something I should ease what Valerian had on his mind.
“If you are really collaborating with him and calling him by his nickname…” he paused, looking intently at me. “Oh, let me guess. He calls you Domi, no?”
That rendered me speechless. But I panicked when he scoffed. “Val-”
“No need to answer me. It is written in your face that you are calling each other’s nicknames.” Valerian smiled bitterly before he continued reading the documents.
I looked at him in disbelief. But I felt ticklish since it had been a long time since I last saw that emotion he had. “Are you… jealous, Valerian?”
He scoffed. “Me? Jealous? No.” He turned his back on me, but I caught his grim face. “Why would I be jealous of my mate who does not want to accept our mate bond?”
There was a sly smile plastered on my lips. He was jealous. That was for certain. “Val…” I clung to his arm and looked at him, fluttering my eyelids.
“No, Dominixe. You are not going to cut me off like that again.” He shook his head, but did not dare to remove my hand from his arm. “I get it. I get it. Henry already told me about your agenda before letting myself fall from your father’s hands.”
That made me stiffen. It was also the moment when Valerian realized that he had slipped and looked at me, wide-eyed.
“W-Wait… I can explain, h-honeydew…”
“So, he really told you about our agreement…” I knew it! I knew why everything was so wrong in the first place!
Now, I knew why Valerian was easily fallen to Papa’s plans…
That meant… when Henry told me on his birthday that he talked to Valerian a few days before his birthday. It meant that the crown prince had already discussed what we had discussed back in Pran.
It could also mean that Valerian knew that I was at the gallery because Henry told my location through mind-link. I thought that Valerian happened to feel my stares at him when our eyes met by that time.
But it turned out that I was wrong.
Damn it… I should have known in the first place that Henry would talk to him!
I should’ve not underestimated that the four horsemen and the crown prince were once playmates and became friends!
Damn you, Henry… You breached one of the stipulations in my contract! I told him not to tell anyone until my plans had been executed!
Shaking my head, I decided to snatch the documents from his hands. “I am going to keep this. I will instruct you how you will abscond from here along with the evidence.” I carefully returned them to their compartment before I stood up and saw Valerian looking at me earnestly. “What?”
“What will you do when the House of Cantavalle is exiled from the aristocratic society and in this kingdom? Where are you going after this when you have no pack who would protect you?”
He stepped forward so he could hold my hand. My heart skipped a beat before I jerked his hand. It was as if his touch was burning me.
“I am still planning that part.” I went to the other cabinet and pulled the whip.
“Liar. You already know what you are going to do, and yet you are refusing to say it. I already know what you plan to do about why I am here, Dominixe.” He made me turn at him and held me on my shoulders. His eyes looked soft and gentle, but his expression looked firm. “Can you at least trust me and ask for my help?” he begged.
I tightened off holding the whip when I looked at him, feeling butterflies in my stomach.
I lowered my gaze, wanting to say that I was granted a second life which was why I was doing anything to avoid his miserable fate.
I only had less than a month to enjoy having Valerian as my pet. That was my grace period while studying how Valerian ran his pack. Once Valerian was tortured for the whole month, it would be my time to attack his pack.
The grace period was shorter than before.
In my previous life, I had six months as my grace period to study how I would break his pack while taking Valerian’s trust. Now, I only had a month to torture Valerian, and after that, I would infiltrate his pack by proceeding with the new method of killing Valerian’s pack members.
The new method I had developed and approved by Papa was using carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide was a gas that could cause death. It was odorless, tasteless, colorless, and was said to be non-irritating.
To develop that, I had to start an arson throughout the Nocturnal Crest pack and prevent ventilation. It was the same that happened in my previous life, but it would be much deadlier than before. It was fatal, and Valerian’s pack members wouldn’t be able to know that they had died already.
That was why I must avoid that before that would have happened. Papa should be captured along with the elites and my siblings, who would fail to collaborate with me to bring down our household.
If I failed again, I did not know what I would do to my life if Valerian died twice.
“If Henry told you everything, you know what would happen to you in this household.” I stretched the whip out, testing its suppleness. “You are meant to suffer here. You are meant to shoulder everything Papa had gone through from his former Alpha.” Then I raised my hand to cup his cheek. “If you are willing to help me, do what I say so you can survive here, and I shall help you abscond as soon as possible.”
Valerian looked at me intently. He was trying to see if I was telling the truth or not. “Alright… As you wish.” He held my chin. “But promise me that you will accept our mate bond and marry me after everything. Hmm?”
My eyes widened. Marry him? Accept our mate bond? And we were going to have a family?
“I promise,” I said, secretly crossing my fingers.
How I wish that would be easy, Valerian…