Chapter 138

Greg rolled his eyes as he responded to Kelissa Kylton’s inauthentic hospitality, “Like I had a choice.”

“Good that you know who’s in-charge here.” Kelissa smirked bumptiously,

“No, I don’t. I just know that it’s not me.” Greg lied with ease. This was going to be easier than he

thought. Whoever was harming Lucianne already assumed that Greg had voluntarily surrendered

superiority the moment he made the call and cited the code. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Greg Claw was inferior to no one. No one! …Alright, fine. No one, except Lucianne. 3

Kelissa scoffed darkly at Greg’s response and asked, “So, are you saying that I don’t look like someone

who’s capable of leading this work?”

“No. All I’m saying is that until I meet the full team, I cannot gauge who’s leading it.”

“What if I tell you that there’s a consensus that I’m the one who calls the shots, and the rest are nothing

more than mere advisers?”

“I stand by what I said, Kylton. Until I meet the whole team, I won’t know who’s really in-charge. If I

learned anything, it’s that the official leader isn’t always the leader. Some ‘advisers’ can be so influential

that the official leaders are just mindless puppets.”

“Are you trying to agitate me, your Grace?” Kelissa was getting impatient. If Greg were being honest,

yes, he’d very much like to agitate and tear up anyone involved with hurting Lucianne.

Still, the Duke kept his thoughts to himself and chose to say, “Do you want me to give you my honest

opinions, or did you recruit me to sugarcoat everything, Kylton?”

That made Kelissa pause for a brief moment. “Hm. Well, I suppose I would have to respect your

perspectives and judgments, seeing that you’ve been in this line of work long enough.”

Greg muttered monotonously, “Wow, I’m flattered.”

“And don’t think of mind-linking anyone, by the way. The device on your wrist would know.” Kelissa

warned, and lifted up her phone as she continued, “And I’ll know, too.”

“Yeah, I figured. Would’ve done the same thing if it were me.” Greg said, unperturbed.

A smile graced the heiress’s features. “Thank you for approving.”

Greg retorted flatly, “I’m not. I just agree that this is a good precaution to take.”

Her smile faltered as she noted, “You really don’t make it easy for people to work with you, do you, your

Grace?”

“Why do you think I work alone?” Greg needed to annoy Kelissa until she was angered. He needed to

act as if he was reluctant to join them, and how he was now taking out on those who threatened him.

There should be a gradual willingness on his part to work with them, not a total change of heart

overnight. Only then will it be believable that he had actually switched sides, from protecting Lucianne to

harming her. In truth, Greg knew that nothing can ever tempt him to hurt the Queen.

After a moment of silence, Kelissa decided to change the subject to keep her cool, “It wasn’t me who

was supposed to come. It was…”

“Livia?”

“For once, can you just not imitate me when I’m trying to be nice?!”

Score! Greg’s animal celebrated the heiress’s erupted temper. “Apologies, heiress. Please, continue.”

Kelissa took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her onyx eyes regained some lilac shades before she

continued, “No one was supposed to come. It was just the chauffeur. But I came because I wanted to

personally tell you about the rewards you’d reap from working with us.”

“Didn’t you already send someone with that information to my casino last night?”

“Livia didn’t set out the full extent of your rewards last night.”

This caught his attention, and his eyes fixed on hers as he said, “I’m listening.”

“Livia only told you that you’d be second-in-command. She didn’t mention another gift I have in mind for

you because I didn’t tell her this.”

There was a pause, and the only sound came from the limousine and the soft music playing in the

background. Greg leaned back into his seat and asked, “Are you going to go on, or is this you prompting

m e to irritate you?”

Kelissa took another breath before she responded, “Apart from being the third most powerful person

after the King and Queen, you’d get her: the wolf.”

Greg’s eyebrows raised in genuine surprise. His animal’s ears perked-up as well. “I don’t follow.” He

confessed.

“Livia thinks that after making you second, I’d convince you to mate and mark her. But after hearing

about how you…treated her in your last two encounters with her, I doubt she sounds like a very tempting

prize. And with my cousin and her dumb friend’s constant ranting around the house, it’s not very difficult t

o come to the conclusion that you only want the wolf.”

His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to comprehend Kelissa’s goal. “So, this master plan of yours is for me

to claim Lucianne so that you’d be free to steal the King?”

It was Kelissa’s turn to roll her eyes. “No, your Grace. The plan is for me to steal the King first, and when

the wolf’s heart breaks, you’ll be there to sweep her off her feet.”

“I’m rather worried about the competencies of your other advisers, Kylton. Has no one told you how far

fetched your plan sounds? Have you seen how my cousin looks at the wolf? Even a blind creature would

know he’s dead set on making her the Queen. You think he would let her go that easily?”

Kelissa’s expression showed distaste as she admitted, “No. I’m ambitious but not naïve. I know it’s

tedious and difficult, and it’s taking time. But the goal keeps me going. The more… functionality is

stripped from the wolf, the less likely Xandar would see her as being capable of being his Queen. And

when he finally decides that she has to step aside, I’ll be there to take my rightful place on the throne

with him, producing a proper heir thereafter. And the wolf will be yours to take.” 1

“Ah, so you’re going to break her until the King decides to let her go.” Greg said monotonously.

“I promise to not over-break her, your Grace, for your sake.” Kelissa said with an inauthentic smile.

“How very kind of you.” Greg uttered in sarcasm.

Ignoring his tone, Kelissa said, “I just need her to be… a little damaged so that it’s obvious she is not

qualified to wear the crown.”

“Hence, the infertility poison.” Greg noted as he masked his anger and dismay.

He masked it well. Kelissa didn’t suspect a thing when she said, “I hope you wouldn’t mind not being

able t o have kids with her.”

“Never liked them. Noisy, messy and pesky creatures.” This was not entirely a lie. But in a perfect world

where Greg could be with Lucianne, he’d happily have a dozen kids with her if that was what she

wanted. 3

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Kelissa’s remark brought Greg out of his thoughts.

Greg rehearsed this next part in the mirror the previous night to make sure he’d be in control when he

asked, “What else are you going to do to ‘break’ her?”

The heiress immediately assured, “Nothing physical. The next one is more like a small scandal. It’s still a

draft, a plan that we’ll all have to discuss as a team. I expect your full participation. But don’t worry, I’ll

have your needs at the back of my mind to make sure we don’t go too far.”

“Mm.”

“You don’t believe me.”

Greg smiled to himself as he repeated Lucianne’s words to Kelissa, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Being oblivious to the smile behind his response, Kelissa merely uttered, “It’s going to be an interesting

experience working with you, your Grace. Now, as a precautionary step, I need you to take this.”

She handed him a pastel yellow pill as she said, “Just to keep the Kyltons’ subsidiary residence private,

you’d understand.”

Greg had seen the pill before and checked for it’s watermark just to make sure it matched the one he

knew of before ingesting it, putting him into slumber for two hours.

When he awoke, it was another five-minute drive before they reached the Kyltons’ residence. The

chauffeur opened the door, and Kelissa got out first as she told Greg, “Come on, let’s introduce you to

the others, though I doubt you’ll need an introduction for most of them.”

She wasn’t kidding. When he entered the main sitting room, everyone was a familiar face, except for the

three creatures by the corner. A man in a teal T-shirt with stormy-grey eyes had an arm rested against

the fireplace as he watched the dancing flames. His scent confirmed that he was a wolf. The other two

not far from him were clearly Lycans, rogue Lycans, to be precise.

The wolf studied Greg briefly before returning his sights to Kelissa, who ordered two servants to show

him and his men to a meeting room down the hallway. After Kelissa had told Greg to ‘make himself at

home’, h e smirked as he said, “I have to agree that it’s going to be an interesting experience working

with you, Kylton.”

Kelissa smirked cockily before she left Greg with the others while she herself left the room to write up

cheques for Jake and his rogue Lycan bodyguards.