Chapter 22: To Provoke

His face was so close to mine. I was anticipating his kiss since my legs were over his shoulders.

I wanted to experience being ravished by him.

I wanted to experience being taken by him.

Rough.

Hard.

Fast.

"I remember that we are still not done with our conversation," Valerian said before he decided to stand up after carefully bringing down my legs.

When he said that, my ears felt like cymbals had hit them. That made my blood boil when I glared at him while he was smiling from ear to ear.

"What?" I asked, growling, offended.

He looked amused when he took a chair and faced the back of it in my direction before he straddled it. "Oh? Looks like someone is furious today." He wriggled his eyebrows.

I clenched my hand, really expecting that he would kiss me. "Get out!" I scoffed and immediately wanted to get buried for assuming that he wanted me as well.

"No, no. We are going to talk."

"There is nothing for us to talk about. I am leaving this place."

I took my luggage and opened the bag. I started undressing to change, but I felt his intense gaze, so I looked at him.

Valerian quickly averted his gaze. This time, I saw his ears were red when I was able to remove my tunic and my trousers. I was only wearing my corset and my undergarment.

"Oh, my... Someone's acting a virgin." A teasing smile appeared on my lips. "Have you not seen a naked woman before, honeydew?"

He scoffed, still not looking at me. "Do not get me wrong, Dominixe. I know how to respect my mate's body."

"If I am not your mate?" I asked, arching my eyebrow.

"That is a different story. We are not sleeping together. You just happened to get dressed, I could tell." His fingers kept drumming on his thighs while his leg couldn't be tamed from moving up and down.

That amused me since I knew Valerian wanted me. His wolf wanted me. I must get this as an opportunity to pay back for keeping on teasing me and making me a fool.

"Ah... So you have been sleeping with different women. That hurts me..." I said teasingly as I walked in his direction.

"I-I also have needs..." He gulped when my presence was in front of him. "H-How about you? Are you sleeping with different men?"

I reached for the ties of my corset and loosened it. "What do you think?" I asked in my sultry pitch.

"I... I think no..."

Scoffing, I shook my head. "I also have my needs, Val." I let my corset fall to the floor, which made him flinch.

"Is it?" He clenched his hand, looking annoyed.

"Why do you look annoyed then? Do you think you are the only one who can sleep with different people?" I went behind him and placed my hands on his shoulders. That stiffened him. "Your mate is no longer a virgin, honeydew. Do you think you still want me?"

It was not a jest that I was sleeping with someone. I was no longer a virgin ever since I reached my coming-of-age.

Or, more likely, Papa picked a rightful person to sleep with us. His virtue for this was our first should be given to a stranger, not to our mate.

It started with Arthur and me. Papa picked one of his henchmen to sleep with me while he picked one of the maidservants to sleep with Arthur.

If we didn't abide by this, we would either be punished severely or follow Papa's orders.

Since I pleased my father, I followed his order and slept with that henchman. My first wasn't that bad since he gently took me before I asked him to be rough and hard.

However, those two people Arthur and I slept with had met their miserable fate. As soon as they were done reporting for the sexual intercourse we had done, Papa slaughtered them on the spot.

I was sexually active after that. That was why I always met a man on every mission and slept with him.

I had thought before they were nothing but just pawns for us, to make us relieved from this sexual heat. But when Valerian died, I realized it was a messed up tradition.

"Do not insult me on how earnest I am in our mate bond, Dominixe."

I snapped back and gasped softly when he turned his head and glared at me. My wolf immediately fainted at that gaze while my stomach somersaulted.

"Either you sleep with another man before or not. I will still want you. I am not that shallow, woman."

I stepped back when Valerian stood up and walked in my direction. I chuckled nervously. "Relax, Valerian. I-It is not that I am insulting you or what..."

Oh, shit! Why was I frightened when he was taking strides in my direction? The way I saw him, he looked annoyed and offended.

Before I could think of escaping from being trapped, Valerian was quick enough to hold me on my shoulders and slammed my back to the wall. "Look at me on how I want you so bad right now, Dominixe." I shivered when his tone changed into a dangerous one. His chartreuse orbs were piercing my soul.

"I am just asking a question, Valerian." I felt the dangerous aura on him, but I wanted to test his patience. I wanted to see if he was still the same and that he wouldn't just give in but he would give in afterwards.

"Question? More like, you are—"

I cut him off by slamming my lips into his. Valerian was taken aback as he gasped before realization hit him. He distanced me from him.

"No, no. You are not going to use that on me. We are not done discussing—"

I cut him off again when I pulled his head towards me to taste his lips again. I smiled when he pulled back again.

"This is not how the discussion must end," he said when I started raining his jaw with wet kisses while I heard his ragged breathing. "Dominixe... Halt. We are adults, and we must discuss..."

He couldn't continue his words as he groaned when I sucked on his earlobe. His hand on my waist tightened as if he was controlling himself.

But rather, I could feel his bulging crotch protruding into my stomach.

I distanced myself from his face to see his glowing green eyes. I could tell that my actions aroused him.

"Don't you want to take me, Alpha Valerian?" I asked teasingly.

He eyed me up and down before his eyes settled on my perky breasts. I could see his Adam's apple going up and down.

"Halt... I am not... going to fall for your scheme..." He licked his lips, eyes still on my breasts. "You are a vicious woman..."

I took his hand and placed it to cup my breast. "This vicious woman is your mate, bastard," I said breathlessly. "Now, touch me, Valerian. Make me yours, honeydew."

This was not part of my plan to ask him to sleep with him. Some miscalculations happened, and I ended up tangled with my mate again.

Perhaps, deep inside, I would like to be with him again. I wanted him to take me.

I hissed when he grabbed it like it was his. "No... You are not going to do this to me..." He disagreed, but his action said otherwise. "I want to make things clear between us..." I bit my lower lip when he fondled my nipple and wrapped his other free arm around my waist to draw me closer. "I still want to ask you why you lied to me when you... said that you were going home when it was not." I held to his shoulders when he lowered his head and sucked my nipples. "I looked for you..."

"Fuck, Valerian..." I could have sworn I was pooling between my thighs, hearing the sucking sound. I closed my eyes for a moment before I felt his face on my ear.

"And why are you in Pran to pretend a server there in Count Fortue's underground amphitheater...?" he asked in his raspy voice before his lips went down to my neck. "Who are you really, honeydew?"

I reached for his hair, breathing in and out. "I have my business that you... do not need to know." I moaned when he sucked the sensitive spot on my neck. "I did not know... you already knew my disguise there..."

I was feeling heady. It was also bizarre that we were conversing while he was touching me. We looked like we took an aphrodisiac potion to feel heady like this.

"I would know immediately because... my eyes are already set on you, Lilith..."

My wolf was jumping for joy since hearing that from Valerian was a special moment for us. But it was also alarming if he knew about my disguise.

"Valerian..." I wanted more of him. I wanted to feel his skin on mine.

"Stop me, honeydew..." he whispered huskily in my ear. His hands had started to wander around me. "Halt me... This is not what you want, right?"

Valerian sounded like he was being controlled. It was as if he couldn't stop himself.

"No, I want this..." I wanted to have you again and made love to you, Valerian. "Do not stop."

He groaned in protest. "Damn it... You are such a fucking tease..."

I changed our position and made him lean against the wall. He looked surprised and excited when I reached for the hem of his tunic. Then my hands traveled to his chest and neck before I tiptoed to whisper in his ear.

"Are you going to take me right now or not? I will run away if your answer is no, and you shall never see me again."

He growled and wrapped his arm around me possessively. "Damn you, Dominixe. You shall halt playing games with me. You are testing my patience," he said through gritted teeth.

"My, my... Are we furious today?" I arched my eyebrow, not frightened at how he looked at me so deadly.

This was it... This was the real Valerian who was grumpy back in my previous life. And I was the one who kept teasing him until he exploded.

He growled. But I did not falter. I even reached for the buttons of his tunic and started unbuttoning them.

"Dominixe...!" He looked mad as he made me feel how hard he was for me.

"What?" I looked at him innocently. I reached down for his bulging crotch, which made him flinch. I caressed it up and down while looking at him sensually. "Oh, my... You are hard as a rock, honeydew. Do you want me that much?"

"Halt it!" He took my hand away from my trousers. He hissed before he glared at me. "You will not seduce me until I know what you are doing this whole time that I was away, Dominixe. You—"

As stubborn as I was of not wanting to answer his questions, I shut him up by smashing my lips into his and closing my eyes. Valerian tried to distance himself, but I deepened our kiss and clung my legs over his waist. He groaned in delight and supported me by lifting my butt.

This was the time he finally responded after courting him to respond to my kiss before I felt him walking and felt the soft mattress on my back. I moaned inside his mouth when Valerian hungrily responded by holding my nape and protruding his tongue inside my mouth.

I unbuttoned his tunic impatiently. He helped me remove it before reaching for his belt to unbuckle it.

I smiled under our kiss while fighting our tongues against each other. I knew that at this moment, it was my winning situation that he had finally given in.

Take me, Valerian. Satiate my longing for you when I lost you after a year you had died.

How I wish I could say that to him so he would know about my condition that I regressed to this timeline. It seemed like I came from the future. Perhaps, that was what I should call it.

Valerian slowly broke our kiss with his tongue sticking out. I could see the string of saliva connected between us. And I found it hot for my own good.

I smiled seductively when his hand reached for my neck. "You are not going to run away from me again. I shall make your legs unable to work starting today," he said darkly.