Chapter 2
Fourteen years later,
"Are you sure that you want to leave?" Dominic looked at the young woman who was holding her duffle bag in her hand and asked with a frown, "Abby is not happy with your decision to leave."
Inez blew the strand of hair that was determined to make her lose her temper and replied, "I am only going for a few days. It's not like I will not return and you said that it's nothing serious; Abby will be fine, right?"
She didn't know how many times she had asked Dominic this question, and every time the man would look into the horizon before answering her that everything was alright.
And just as she expected Dominic looked at the far end of the room before nodding. "She will be fine."
Though she knew that the man was lying, Inez didn't push him. She knew how touchy Dominic became when it came to his sister.
She pursed her lips before popping a chewing gum in her mouth. She said, "Then I don't see the point of changing my plans, Dom. My grandma is sick and I need to go; I don't know whether I will see her again or not."
At the mention of her grandmother, her eyes turned red and Inez sighed thickly.
Fortunately, Dominic got the message and he nodded with a stiff neck.
"Then you should go and see Abby; she was asking for you," Dominic told her.
Upon the mention of the little girl, Inez's eyes softened. She pulled the straps of her duffle bag and nodded. "Then I will just hop in and take a look?"
"Sure."
The two of them then left the small house that belonged to Mia and her family before heading to the large mansion where Dominic lived with him.
"Hello, Mrs. Cherith," Inez greeted Dominic's mother, who seemed wrought with worry but still smiled at her when she heard Inez greet her.
"How are you, my dear? All set to go to your grandmother's?" Mrs Cherith asked.
"Yeah," Inez nodded in response before looking around. She frowned when she didn't find Abertha. "Where is Abby, Mrs. Cherith?"
"She is lying in her bed," replied Mrs Cherith as she glanced at Dominic.
Upon hearing this, Inez turned to look at Dominic and said to him, "You said it was nothing serious!"
She then turned on her feet and headed upstairs, where she rushed to Abertha's room.
"Abby!" Inez called the little girl who was lying on the bed with a pale face.
"Nessie!" Abertha smiled back, though her smile was tinged with pain.
"What happened?" Inez asked. She looked at the little girl and frowned. She had asked this question again and again, but no one answered her. If they had, then maybe she could have saved Abby from whatever was hurting her.
"I am fine," Abby replied with a sigh. "You don't need to worry about me; what about you? Are you prepared for the trip?"
"I am," Inez bit her lip. "But I don't want to go."
"Don't be silly," Abby chuckled, which turned into a cough.
"Abby!"
"Abby!"
Inez and Dominic rushed over and held the poor girl who was having a fit.
Once she was done coughing, she waved her hand and said to Dominic, "Tell her to go, Dom. After all, I will get better for sure by the time she returns."
She then turned to look at Inez and said, "Your grandmother is really sick after losing her mate, Nessie. You should accompany her."
Inez didn't want to leave but then Abby pouted and threatened, "If you don't go, then I will not talk to you."
"For, um, six days!"
"Oh my, such a grilling punishment," teased Inez as she ruffled Abby's hair and sighed, "Fine, I will go."
She leaned down and kissed Abby on the cheek before saying, "I will be back in a month, Ab. Make sure that you get better by then."
"Sure."
Inez glanced at Dominic before turning on her feet and heading out of the room. Seeing her leave, Dominic looked at her wistfully.
"When are you going to tell her that you like her?" Abby asked with a sigh. She knew that her brother liked Inez and had liked her since he understood what it meant to like someone.
Hearing her words, Dominic rolled his eyes. He pinched her cheek that Inez had kissed and stated, "When a certain someone gets better!"
"Then I need to get better real quick, hahaha!"
Seeing her tease him, he smiled and patted his sister on the cheek, "I will be back. I just need to do one last negotiation."
"See you soon,"
"See you soon, my butterfly."
Back then, Dominic didn't know that it was their last goodbye.
"DOMINIC!"
Dominic turned to look behind him and frowned when he saw his friend running towards him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Tao looked at him and panted, "It's Abby! She is having a fit again. That witch's poison is attacking her again."
Hearing this, Dominic left everything behind and rushed out of the training hall. "Go and bring the siren's tears!" he commanded as he ran back to his home.
"ABBY!"
"Dom?" Abby looked around when she heard her brother's voice. She clutched her chest and shouted, "It hurts, Dom! It hurts so much!"
"Don't worry." Seeing his sister in pain, Dominic felt as if his heart was being gouged out. "Tao is bringing the medicine; you will be fine."
He then turned to look at the people behind him and shouted, "Go and call Tao! Where the fuck he is?"
The shifters scrambled at once to look for Tao, who returned but returned empty-handed.
When Dominic saw Tao's empty hands, his eyes turned red with anger and he raged, "Why didn't you bring the vial?"
"It's stolen," Tao replied. His words all jumbled as he rushed to speak, "It's gone, Dominic!"
"What a shame," one of the mourners looked at the casket where a young woman was lying before shaking his head. "She was so young. Who would have expected that such a thing would happen to her?"
The woman next to him looked at Dominic, who was holding a lily in his hand and sighed. She lowered her voice and whispered, "Poor Dom has suffered twice the loss. His sister died and the one who killed her is his best friend. I bet he is feeling guilty."
"Do you really believe it is Inez who stole the siren's tears?" another woman asked with a frown.
"Isn't that a given? Her grandmother was dying and was on her deathbed, but now that woman is up and about, I heard... " the first woman spoke conspiratorially. "That woman is going to live another twenty or so years. While I do understand her desperation, why did she have to snatch the chance from Abertha? I mean that the poor girl was only sixteen."
"It's sheer selfishness at this point."
"I know, right? The Siren's Tear could have saved Abertha's life; why did she have to steal and give it to her grandmother, who had already lived enough?"
Away from the murmurs, Dominic was looking at his sister, who was lying in the casket surrounded by lilies.
'Dom, when I get better, let's go and play in the Valley of Flowers. I want to be surrounded by lots and lots of flowers.'
His sister had said those words to him with a smile on her face, and she was indeed surrounded by a lot of flowers — just not in the way he wanted her to be.
"Dom," Tao stepped forward as he patted him on the shoulders. "Don't worry, she will have to pay for this."
"Damn right," Luca agreed with tears trickling down his eyes as he wiped them with the back of his arm. "I cannot believe that Inez would steep so low—but what can we expect after all the investigation?"
Blake placed the lily in his hands quietly in the casket before remarking, "We will make her suffer until she is begging for death."
"But we won't give it to her," Dom promised as he crumpled the lily in his hands. Inez had stolen his sister from her, and he would still have everything precious to her.
***********
Three years later,
"I, Dominic Cherith, Alpha of Blood Moon Pack, reject Inez Sinclair as my mate. A traitor who has betrayed her alpha and pack does not have the right to be my Luna."
••
"Wipe my mouth, trash."
Inez sighed at the cocky tone and absurd order. She bent doubled and picked up a tissue with which she wiped the milk-stained mouth of the brat sitting on a chair and ordered her like he was her king.
"Did no one teach you?" She said to the boy after she finished wiping his mouth for him. "You shouldn't call anyone older than you trash. Especially if you are asking for help from them."
The ten-year-old boy looked up at her and drawled, "But that's what everyone calls you. Now how about you get me chicken wings, trash?" the boy rolled his eyes and stated, "And you are not helping me. You are serving me, be clear about it."
Inez's expression faltered when she heard the cocky words of the little boy.
"What was that?"
"Nothing; did you say chicken wings? I will get them for you," Inez flashed a polite and flattering smile at the boy. Not because she was scared of him or his parents but because she just saw arsehole number one flexing his muscles at her.
Though no words were exchanged, Inez knew that if she said something wrong, Tao would knock the stuffing out of her head.
"Then hurry up." With his many chins wobbling, the child demandingly spoke to her.
Inez was ready to throw the boy out of the window but instead, she flashed him a smile and turned on her feet before heading to the table where food was served.
She had no choice; if she so much as touched a single strand of this brat, Inez would find herself wiping the floor of the toilets of the training grounds. With a toothbrush.
In her defence, cleaning the toilets left unclean by shifters who were all brawn and no brains was a shitty deal.
And that was how life was for her—shitty.
Things could be good or bad. But whenever it came to Inez—life suddenly took a turn for the worse. Like there was no other default setting other than that.
To make things worse, Inez was half blood. As she did not have what others would call a dominant wolf—the shifters did not think much of her. If that didn't help, Inez was also part siren, something she needed to hide from the rest of the pack. Unless she wanted to be locked up and tormented for the greatest remedy that their kind had known. The Siren's tears.
"And what a lovely decor." She heard a simpering voice from somewhere to her right.
"I am glad that you love it, Mrs. Fawcett," a masculine voice with rich, deep timbre answered the woman and Inez felt her wolf let out a yip. It should have been a growl, as it was their work that was ripped off from them and handed to someone else.
But her wolf had always been an idiot.
Inez, however, did not raise her head but continued to place chicken wings on a clean plate. Once in a while she picked up a small glass filled with apple juice and drowned it but no matter how many glasses she drank, her thirst didn't go away.
Her mouth was bone dry.
Why was she sniffing Dominic Cherith's scent like it was her last stash of illegal substances?
*****