"You are lying." Evelyn’s eyes bugged and her cheeks turned purple. Though she didn’t lose her temper like usual, Inez knew that it was only because the woman was used to acting as a fragile damsel in distress. If the two of them were somewhere more private, Evelyn would have lunged for her throat by now.
"I am not." Inez’s voice was calmer than a stagnant pond. She looked at Evelyn’s eyes, which were wider than the saucers and said to her, "I truly did resign from my post. How do you feel? Happy? I think you do. After all, you went through all that song and dance to get Dominic into your bed. What?"
Inez gasped. "Don’t tell me you thought I signed the contract?"
Evelyn bit her lower lip. She indeed thought that Inez had signed the contract again. When she had called Dominic and asked about it, the man had told her not to worry about it. She thought that it was a given that Inez had signed it.
But now this bitch was telling her that she hadn’t signed it. What would become of her reputation now?
"Tsk, tsk," Inez waved a finger in the air and remarked, "We are in public, sweetie. You cannot curse like that in here. If Dominic or the boys hear you calling me a bitch, what will they think? Wouldn’t they be upset that their damsel in distress has been lying to them all along?"
That sapped most of her energy out as Evelyn looked around and when she didn’t find anyone, she turned to look at Inez and muttered angrily, "How could you? How dare you? Do you not —"
"Care about Dominic?" Inez finished for her. She smiled sweetly and stated, "You were right when you used him against me, Evelyn. Indeed, when I saw you clinging to him, I wanted to rip your bloody throat out, but you also need to understand this —"
Inez dropped her smile and continued, "I don’t have the habit of picking up anyone’s sloppy seconds. So the second you got into his pants—BAM! You sealed your future."
"Dominic was my leash, yeah." Inez shrugged before commenting, "But not anymore. So, I think this is goodbye." She smiled when she saw Evelyn’s expression turning uglier than she had ever seen. "I will see you around or not?" Inez pulled the truck out of the parking lot and drove away.
The exhaust fumes that drifted behind made Evelyn cough and sputter as she kicked a pebble on the pavement angrily.
Inez saw everything through the rearview mirror and chortled. For the first time in three years, she felt truly free. She smiled inwardly at how satisfying it had been to watch Evelyn’s reactions as she realised that she couldn’t continue stomping on her head anymore.
"You don’t seem very pleased with me, Alpha Cherith." Killian picked up the cup of coffee and slowly took a sip from it. However, just after taking a sip, he placed the cup down. He couldn’t taste the tea but given the murky colour of the brown liquid, he was quite certain that it didn’t taste exotic.
He raised his head and looked at the man who was staring at him with sheer loathing. "Does it have to do something with the little wolf who left just now?"
"She is one of my wolves." Dominic had no idea how he was keeping his rage in check. He was furious at Inez, at Killian and at himself. "Your interference was not necessary."
"True," Killian agreed without any signs of denial. "However, I just have this..." He rubbed his fingertips with his thumb as he searched for the correct words. "This little soft spot for beautiful women like her. I just can’t help when they run into my arms."
"She is my mate!" Dominic for the first time, felt his wolf bristle. All along he believed that Inez was right under his palm and now that the woman had escaped, tipping the entire jar down, scattering bits and pieces all over his fucking chessboard—Dominic felt things were going out of control.
"Ex-mate," Killian corrected him with a soft smile. "She is your ex-mate, Alpha Cherith. I heard that you rejected your mate through the grapevine."
"Nonetheless, she is a member of my pack." Slightly stifled by Killian’s words, Dominic clenched his fingers around the edge of the armrest. He knew Killian and though he didn’t dare to claim that he understood this man, Dominic knew one thing—Killian was not the kind of man who would fall in love with a woman.
At most, he would be attracted to them because they amused him. Like little toys, arranged neatly in a toy store. He would be attracted to and possessive of his favourite toy unless he got his hands on it. But once he got it, Killian would no longer be interested.
He would play with it just for the sake of going through all the trouble, but that would be it.
Women were just the same for Killian.
He charmed, wooed and treated them with respect, but once he had his fill, he would send the woman away.
Dominic couldn’t understand how Inez provoked such a man. However, just because he could not go to war with Killian, didn’t mean that he was going to let this man make him lower his head.
For Killian to have intervened in his pack matters was nothing but an act of humiliation. One that Dominic didn’t like. Especially when this man let Inez escape his grasp.
Killian must have sensed his anger. However, the man didn’t seem to be bothered. The lycan calmly stared right back at him and said, "I know that she is your pack member. But like I told you back then, the little wolf didn’t appreciate what you were doing to her. Though I have no idea what you were trying to do, that made her so resistant towards you."
"And you helped her because you are just that kind?" Dominic questioned with a sneer. "I didn’t know that you even had such an emotion in your body, Alpha Sokolov."
"Dear me," Killian blinked his eyes with his fingers interlocked. A smile played on his lips as he remarked, "When did I say that it was out of kindness? She just amuses me."