Page 6 of Knot in My Wildest Dreams: Part 2
And for a while, I was fine to go along with it - as long as I was receiving money to make something of myself. I turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of Gideon, trying my best to reconcile how much damage I was doing with how much money and power I was getting in return. I justified it to myself by accepting that this was the way of the Eastern Province - if you didn’t play dirty, you would never win in the game. I thought I’d go through life like this, my scrap of a conscience eroding away little by little with each misdeed, until I was as rotten as most of the men in charge of our city of Roebri.
That was until one fateful day when I came into the office early. A delegate from the Western Province was scheduled to stop by, and I was sent in before dawn to make sure the catering and setup was in place in the dining hall. It was so early that Gideon was probably not even awake yet.
I’d come to the estate and was making coffee in the office kitchen when someone opened the door. I looked up to see a head of blonde, messy hair and sleepy eyes. It was Celeste, wrapped ina robe and slippers, apparently having just woken up. Her eyes widened as she saw me.
“Oh! I didn’t know anyone was here.” She remarked as she passed by me, reaching for the extra mug in the cupboard. “Is Gideon here already?” She asked, and I could only stop and stare at her, frozen in my tracks.
Every other time I’d seen her, she’d been wearing de-scenter. I’d occasionally catch a whiff of her synthetic fragrance in the hall if she had been in the same areas, but other than that I’d never been close enough to her to smell her, nor would it have mattered. Her uncle made sure that her real pheromone scent would never be revealed, which was normal working policy for omegas. All of the staff, myself included, were directed to hide our scents in return. But this morning was different.
This morning, having just woken up, and presumably alone in this wing, she had not bothered to put on descenter yet. And though she was on suppressants, I got a very faint smell of herrealscent.
The fragrance was barely there, but it might as well have been a semi-truck full of her perfume, because my body reacted like it was. Everything in my head went blank as a rush of emotions, desire, and jubilation coursed through me. Feelings that I’d repressed for years now sprang forward, freed from the box I’d put them in to survive. I’d never smelled something so beautiful in my life. And then, I realized what I was feeling, what was happening. She, Celeste Harringday, was my scent-match.
Fuck.Celeste Harringday was my scent match.
As quickly as the feelings hit me, a panic took over. She had now, without her knowledge, become the most important thing in the world to me - and I had been actively working against her for months. Her uncle was planning on getting her out of the company, one way or another. And I was complicit.
Now, I had to protect her. And she had no idea.
I made several quick decisions in that half second of realization. She could never know that we were scent matches - it would put both of us in danger. Her uncle would know where my loyalties would stand, because there was no bond stronger than a scent match. He would know that I’d tell her everything he’d been doing behind her back, and when he wanted someone gone, he knew how to do it permanently.
All of this passed through my mind within seconds, but Celeste had no idea. She was still standing there, looking at me with a curious expression before rolling her eyes and walking away. “Nevermind.” She stated as I watched her pad off in her slippers, clutching the mug. My entire world had just been turned upside down. I found my mate. I never even thought I would have one.
I stood frozen, reeling at the sudden revelation that my mate had been right there, in front of me, all along.
From that moment forward, I changed. Everything I did was to protect her. I made sure to never let my emotions show, especially around Celeste or Gideon. When he had me work toundermine her, I tried my hardest to make sure that whatever he wanted wouldn’t harm her directly. And I worked to gather evidence. Gideon had ways to make sure that the estate was never bugged, and for good reason. He’d occasionally discover a wire inside meant to pick up on private conversations, probably placed by competing industry spies, tabloid journalists, or even his own personal enemies. He always had to watch his back. But I worked harder, trying my best to find a way to eventually tell Celeste the truth in a way that she would believe. Arnault had tried to warn her, but he’d ended up dead for it. And worse, he was framed to be the bad guy.
Gideon only got more devious as time went by. He’d started building the empire he wanted underneath Celeste's nose. I knew he had a few people on the board who sided with him who were waiting for the right time to topple her, and put him in charge. I was sure they were promised riches and power in return for their loyalty.
I waited, trying to find out his ultimate plan so that I could somehow shield Celeste and find a way to get him out of the picture. But I never knew the entire scope of what he was doing - he was too smart to let me know anything more than the bare minimum of what he had planned. But the better Celeste was at her job, the more impatient Gideon became. She was so impressive that it became hard for him to manipulate the board into siding with him. He wanted her gone, and soon.
Things hit a breaking point when he wanted me to finalize plans he had for the Darlington Ball. He had a scheme put together with an ally to neutralize her. I was supposed to be an eyewitness to Gideon later that evening, in case the real plan was revealedand he needed an alibi. After the plan was executed, he would come see me for a drink after, in a place on camera so that he would never be a suspect. I found this out bit by bit, trying to get more details on his scheme. One evening, he was going over my role in his office, and I was able to get him to open up.
“I assume something big will go down at the ball?” I asked casually, my heart racing as the possibilities raced through my head. Was he going to hurt Celeste?
“She won’t be making it to the vote, that’s what’s important. She will be missing for at least a day though. Prepare to have no comment when the press runs wild with stories of her going on a bender.” He said with a smile as he scribbled over some documents. The day after the Darlington Ball was going to be huge - a merger vote would take place that would either cement Celeste as CEO, or replace her with a new one. If she didn’t make it…
I nodded, smiling back as if pleased by the news. “Yes sir. And after the vote, is it too much to assume that you might be in a different role?” I said with a tinge of eagerness to my voice. I had maintained my professional, removed attitude most of the time around him, but I was also good at acting like a power hungry hanger-on. Gideon smiled more, not looking up from his paperwork.
“Let’s just say that Celeste might be out of her position, due to her continuous lapses in judgement. She might come up with some wild tales to excuse her absence, of course.” He chuckled as he finally sat back. He looked excited and pleased at the thought. This was the moment to strike.
“Would it be too optimistic to break out the cognac to pre-celebrate?” I asked, and Gideon simply laughed.
“Please, we’ll need a drink to get through this next week. This has to be pulled off perfectly.” He replied, and I quickly stood to pour us two glasses. Soon, we were several drinks in, which always helped him to open up. He was becoming too bold, too trusting as he neared his ultimate goal.
“So Celeste, what type of stories is she going to spin for an excuse?” I asked, my face eager as I poured Gideon another shot.
“Oh, she’ll be blacked out. She won’t remember drinking, but her room will be evidence enough.” He said, his words getting louder as he slapped his knee in elation at his plan.
“But if she’s knocked out, someone will surely notice. She’ll be the star of the Darlington Ball!” I replied, and Gideon just shook his head.
“No. I’ve arranged to have her removed from the premises and held until the vote is over. She’ll be sedated the whole time.” He looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect, and my stomach churned. Who would be taking my mate?
“Pardon my questions, but how will she be removed from the premises? The Darlington Ball is the most secure event in the province.” I asked with caution.
“It’s all been worked out. One of the best hired packs in the province will get in through the old passageways that lead to therooms. No one will see. Celeste just needs to be in her room at the right time. I’ll be directing her team not to disturb her, so no one will notice she’s gone until after the vote.” He said, grinning as if he was a genius.
“And they will get her back inside without suspicion?” I asked, looking at him as if he was a genius.
