Chapter Eight

Ares

"Leila!" Mr. Kaye calls out to her as she storms away.

Everybody watches as she leaves without turning her back, even with her father calling out to her.

Henry looks shocked that the graceful young lady from earlier could act out of character. He turns to me with raised eyebrows, but I wave him off.

Mrs. Kaye on the other hand, seems like she wants the ground to swallow her whole. I can see the embarrassment on her face as she mutters to herself.

Turning, she snaps at a patrolling guard passing by. "Lucien, get a maid to come clean up this mess!"

The guard quickly halts and turns around to go do as she says.

She comes over to me. "I am so sorry for her behavior. Can you please tell me what happened?" she asks again.

Leila has left me to explain the situation. I am not pleased with having to report to her parents myself.

"Let's go back inside where we can be comfortable," she says, ever the gracious hostess.

I follow her out of the garden. Henry and Mr. Kaye follow closely behind us.

"I am sorry if she has offended you. Leila has always been a headstrong child, but I never thought she'd act this way with an Alpha as refined as you," she apologizes again as we proceed into the halls.

Guilt stings in my chest. She didn't need to apologize to me. Leila's behavior was justified after what she saw. I am the guilty one.

I'll have to clear up the issue and do what I must.

Claim my Omega. Whoever she is.

Mr. Kaye is frowning as he turns to me. "Mr. Linds. I'd like for you to tell me what happened. Leila is headstrong, but she is not needlessly rude."

I take a better look at the man for the first time. He has clear blue eyes and blond hair like his daughter, although his is already turning grey. I can tell that he was quite a handsome man in his youth.Now he is the picture of a worried father as his gaze searches mine.

"You are right. Leila was offended due to a mistake on my part," I start.

On Henry's face, I can see confusion. I don't make mistakes. I never do. Apparently, not until you add a mystery Omega with the sweetest pheromones into the mix.

Leila's mom seems embarrassed again since she has been chastising her daughter without knowing what happened.

I will not mince my words. So I go on, "I met a girl by the gardens. Leila saw us in a compromising position."

"A compromising position?" Mrs. Kaye pipes up.

It was vague, but Mr. Kaye seems to have understood what I meant. He presses a hand to his temple.

"I was kissing someone else when your daughter came into the garden."

"You did what?" The polite smile on her face falls as her expression contorts. "What girl? There are no other girls here… did you kiss a maid?"

I see several different emotions cross her face, but then she balls her fingers into a fist and controls herself, smiling sunnily at me instead. "Oh! I'm sorry, the maid must have thrown herself at you."

The apology is a means to take away from my actions. Blame it all on the "maid" and go on with the arrangement. She is painting it like it isn't also my fault. Desperation looks bad on her.

I shake my head in annoyance. It is slowly becoming a habit around the Kayes. They tend to see and hear what they want without regard to what's actually happening.

I don't think the girl was a maid anyway. She wasn't dressed like one of them.

Technically she had thrown herself at me… but I had accepted her. Both of us could have handled the situation better.But we didn't. It was too intense for us.

I am at fault as much as my mystery girl is.

My mystery girl

I smile. It has a nice ring to it.

Mrs. Kaye is mumbling now. "It must be why Leila left. She must have gone to chastise the maid. How dare that lowly thing lay her hands on you? I will get her to apologize to you for her unruly behavior. You are free to punish her whichever way you choose," she adds and smiles sweetly at me.

"No. I don't want her punished. I want to know who she is. I'm interested in her. I want her." I meet their eyes.

The shock is palpable. Even Henry chokes on the glass of champagne he has been nursing since we arrived. Mr. Kaye is back to messaging his temples while Mrs. Kaye's eyes are wide with surprise. Her mouth is slightly open. I wonder if I have succeeded in shutting her up.

I am wrong.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Kaye screeched "You want a maid? You are supposed to be with Leila!"

This woman has it all wrong in her head. I feel the need to make things clear to her.

"That's not it, Mrs. Kaye. Ask your husband. I came to see if your daughter was compatible with me. To see if I can be with her. That was the arrangement I had with him," I calmly explain.

Mr. Kaye and Henry mumble in agreement.

"Even before the incident, I had no interest in Leila. I had already decided I wasn't going to be with your daughter," I say. "What is left is to discuss compensation for wasting your time."

"No! No! No! You and Leila are to be wed! Leila is meant for you, not some servant girl!" Mrs. Kaye jumps from her seat, her face red with anger.

"Nobody is better than my daughter. You will have her. She is the best. You will have her." She points at me. Her voice grows louder the longer that she speaks.

She is hysterical. She grabs a vase from the center table and smashes it on the ground.The shatter of glass reverberates around the room.

"You will wed my daughter!" She is panting and glaring at me.

"What the hell is he saying? Why are you letting him run his mouth this way? He is to wed Leila!" She turns to fire words at her husband.

Mr. Kaye also looks angry, albeit more controlled than his wife. I know that many in our circles know about this meeting today. Leila Kaye has a reputation as the best Omega. My rejection will impact the opinion that others have of her value as an Omega.

Mrs. Kaye turns back to me. Her eyes have shifted to her wolf's eyes, filled with rage and craziness. She keeps shouting and cussing at me.

She lunges forward as if she'll attack me."You will not embarrass my family this way!"

I raise a brow. This puny woman is acting out a bit too much. She has forgotten her place.

Playtime is over.I have let this go on longer than I should.

I release my pheromones, blowing them around the room.

The thud of a body on the ground turns my attention to the maid who had been told to clean up the mess outside. She came in the moment I released my pheromones and fell under their influence. Pieces of broken china scatter across the ground again.

My power brings the Kayes to their knees immediately. Mrs. Kaye's head is bowed in fear. She whimpers like a lost puppy. She is a mated Omega. The scent of an Alpha that is not her own will no longer send her into heat, but into terror instead.

Mr. Kaye struggles under the influence of my pheromones, forced to bow to me in his own home. This is the second time he has felt this power. I almost feel bad for him.

I am only doing this to get them to settle down.

I turn to glance at Henry. He is gripping the arms of his seat. Sweat has gathered on his brow, but he is otherwise unaffected.

"I had hoped I wouldn't need to remind you of who I am and what I am capable of. I didn't want it to play out like this. Just because I came to check out your daughter as a prospective mate doesn't mean we are on the same level," I snarl at Mrs. Kaye.

She whimpers in response.

I sigh. "This has ended on the wrong note. I will admit to my own fault in this, as I did not mean to bring shame on your family, but you have no right to lash out at me. I have not made any agreement that binds me together with your daughter." I step toward the door. "Your attitude is equally rude. However, I am a gentleman. I will come back to resolve this at a better time."

With that, I walk out. Henry follows close behind me.

I might have made an enemy out of the Kayes after all.

I couldn't say the visit was a failure. I had rejected their daughter, but I had found the perfect Omega for me at their estate.

Who was she?

I pause at the fa?ade of Kaye's mansion, waiting for my ride. My gaze sweeps around the estate.

Maybe I'll catch a glimpse of her or sniff her out.

Does she live at the estate?

Mrs. Kaye was confused when I spoke of another girl. She had assumed it was a maid I spoke of. But that girl didn't seem to be a maid. She had tender hands. They didn't seem like the hands of someone who worked in a kitchen or cleaning floors.

Wouldn't Mrs. Kaye know if there was another girl, an Omega, who wasn't a maid living at her estate?

My mystery girl is making my head swirl without even being present.

The thought of her jolts my wolf. He nudges me to go back inside and demand who the girl is.

Wouldn't that be easier?

It sure would. Especially as they are still under my influence. Until I leave their premises, I still have control over them.

Yet, I don't go back in. That would be a bit too much.

I'd like to find her myself. No matter how hard it is. I'll find my mystery girl and make her mine.

While I ponder all of this, Henry stays quiet by my side. I appreciate that. After what he has experienced, he will be filled with questions. Questions I will provide answers to. I never keep him in the dark.

The car comes around. I make one more sweep of the compound with my eyes. Nothing.

I won't be giving up.

We get in the car, and it is only when we are on the road that Henry speaks.

"What the hell was all that, Ares?"

I can't help but chuckle. It's hard to shock Henry this much.

"You are laughing. You find this funny?" He stares at me like I have gone mad.

"You kissed another girl when you came to see the Kayes to have a marriage talk concerning their daughter. You kissed a maid?"

"First off, I am not sure she is a maid. She wasn't dressed like the rest of the maids," I point out.

"Why the fuck does that matter? You kissed another girl. That's the point. Why?" Henry scowls. "I know you do whatever you like. But this is the height of folly."

I raise a brow. It seems he really likes this Kaye girl.

"You know the Kayes will not just let this slide," he points out.

"I know. I'll deal with it if it comes down to it," I replied absentmindedly. My mind shifts to my mystery girl again.

Who is she?

Why was an Omega with such strong pheromones not circulating among the most eligible Omegas in the town?

"Did you seriously lose control like that?" Henry probes.

"Yes, I did." I recall her hands on my body, my lips on hers. How she tasted, smelled, and moaned as I devoured her. "Yes…yes, I did," I mutter, lost in the memory.

"That makes no sense. You're the most controlled person I know. What was she? Your perfect bond or something?" Henry is joking. The perfect bond is rarely found. A special person who is your biological other half… your fated mate.

Isn't that what she was?

I look Henry dead in the eyes. "I don't know if it is a perfect bond, but she is my Omega. Everything inside me points to her."

Henry raises both brows in surprise but then nods his acceptance, seeing how serious I am. "I see. Okay."

"We need to find that girl."