Chapter 3. The Discovery

Yasmin turned to Riyadh, her face cool and her voice even though her temper was boiling. She had never felt the urge to stretch her claws and tear them into someone’s face as strongly as she felt while looking at the rude, self-absorbed girl in front of her.

She scoffed, wondering how Casildo had raised her. It must not have been easy raising a child all by himself and looking over his prosperous business. He should have sent her over. A night or two with the wolves’ trainers would have set her brain to normal.

What an entitled girl! She breathed out through her mouth, and her lips formed into a small ‘O’ as her breath slowly eased out of her. Riyadh noticed how she glared at her and snorted.

“Do you want to beat me up now?” she scoffed, her lips twisted in a sneer as she glared at Yasmin. “Everyone here definitely doesn’t understand hierarchy because of how uncivilized you are. You don’t get to look at me like that, girl.”

“Enough!” Yasmin thundered, silencing her. She glared at Riyadh and spoke, her tone dangerously calm. “What do you think you are to believe you can talk to anyone as you wish?”

“Duh!” Riyadh rolled her eyes and snorted. “I am the daughter, the only daughter of Casildo Nazir, one of the wealthiest business tycoons in the world.”

Casildo grimaced and groaned, embarrassed by his daughter, but he knew he couldn’t interfere in the matter. Yasmin was pissed off. He shook his head at the rebellious glint in his daughter’s eyes and knew it wasn’t going to end well. Yasmin’s eyes were twitching; the infamous tell that she was upset though she controlled her voice. Her eyes were twitching so badly that he wondered how Riyadh didn’t see it.

“No,” he whispered silently to himself. Riyadh chose not to see it. He had been trying his best to mold her into a decent young woman but got fed up because of her stubbornness and his busy schedule. At that moment, he felt like he should have tried harder to build something into her. If he had, they wouldn’t be having this conversation, and he wouldn’t have brought disrespect to the Luna of the pack.

Yasmin evidently was not done. Her words came out as a hiss. “No, that is not who you are. You are just a spoiled, rude kid who has a lot of growing up to do.”

Riyadh turned to her father. “Dad!” she whined in protest. “Did you hear what she just said to me?”

Casildo ignored her and pretended not to hear anything. He pursed his lips and glanced at anywhere but her. She glared at him, huffed out an annoyed sigh, and folded her hands on her chest. She didn’t know he was such a traitor.

“I didn’t want to come here, dad, but you made me do. Is this how you are going to watch them treat me here? A servant?” She drawled.

Casildo ignored her and tapped his legs impatiently on the floor. He wanted to get to his room and stretch out on the bed, but he knew they weren’t going anywhere until Yasmin was done. He sighed. If only Riyadh would apologize and get everything behind them. He looked at her face and shook his head. No, he wasn’t having any such luck.

He glanced at the sun and winced, knowing he was doomed to being outside for more minutes. The sun seemed to read his thoughts and smiled at him. He groaned and wondered if the two ladies were not bothered by the heat of the sun because of the heat in their hearts.

He glanced at the servants whom Yasmin had called to help with their bags and knew he wasn’t the only one wishing they could be indoors as soon as they could.

Yasmin hissed at Riyadh. “You could have stayed back then if you didn’t want to be here instead of coming to show the whole world how much of a disgrace you are to your father.”

Riyadh gasped, but Yasmin rushed on before she could say a word. “You think you are the hottest chick out here? You think you can control anything or talk to people anyhow because your father has money?” She gave mockery laughter. “What a stupid and shallow girl you are! You are acting all big and pompous about the money you didn’t work for. Your father’s money and not yours. Wonder what you will do if the money is all yours?”

She continued. “If you want to have a pleasurable stay here, girl, you learn how to talk to people in a polite manner,” she hissed at her. “We don’t disrespect others here, so keep that nasty attitude of yours where you came from.”

“Oh!” Riyadh mouthed. She was flustered but much annoyed at the treatment. Girl? How dare she call her girl? She was in her twenties. She wondered how soft the owner of the house was that he gave his servants free reign to talk to guests anyhow as they wished.

Never had she been insulted in her life. What happened to people knowing their places in the order of things? She rolled her eyes, snorting in annoyance. That was why she hated the poor people. Treat them a little bit nicer, and they find ways to misbehave. She surely had a lot of things to say to the boss of the house when she saw him.

He was just like her father. She snorted. Annoyingly polite to a fault. She wondered what the point of having money was if you couldn’t shake people off with it. She groaned. She couldn’t believe she was going to spend over a month of her life in the mountains with servants who had no respect.

“To think I missed Paris Fashion Week for this insult…” she grumbled to herself.

Yasmin turned to the servants with them. “Ensure she has nothing if she speaks rudely to you. If she calls any of you to ask for anything she needs during the stay of her vacation here but can’t be polite enough to respect people above their financial status, ignore her. That is my order, and tell the others I said that. If the spoiled princess needs something but feels too proud to talk to people like a decent person, walk away from her and let her get what she needs herself. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the servants chorused, beaming.

Yasmin breathed out, done with lashing at Riyadh as she wanted. She smiled at everyone, getting back into being her sweet form. “Shall we continue our journey?”

Riyadh huffed. “Not until you apologize for what you just said to me right now. You don’t get to call me a girl.” She had never felt so embarrassed in her life.

“Riyadh!” Casildo hissed, shutting her up with a harsh glare. “If you say any more words there,” he sighed, “You won’t like what happens here next.”

She glared at her dad in surprise but kept quiet, fuming and already thinking of ways she would get back at the disrespectful lady in her presence. Who was she to turn the servants against her? Because she was the head servant? And she also turned her father against her. She probably had been working with the pack leaders for years. She believed she was family, and her father, of course, was too humble to set boundaries for people.

She hissed inwardly as she glared back at Yasmin, wishing she could unburden her mind as well to her. She glanced at her father; he was still giving her that look to keep her mouth shut. She nodded. She wouldn’t disobey him. She snickered as she watched him sag in relief at her nod and couldn’t believe he was agitated over a servant.

She shook her head at how pathetic he was and snorted. She wondered how he had survived in business with such a soft heart. She squinted her eyes at Yasmin, projecting her words to her through her stares if she couldn’t talk.

‘You just wait till I meet your master,’ she seemed to say to Yasmin with her eyes. She was definitely getting the arrogant servant dismissed. She thought to herself.

Yasmin laughed at the look in her eyes and shook her head. Casildo really had a handful as a daughter.

Casildo turned to Yasmin, embarrassed on his daughter’s behalf. “I am so sorry, Yasmin. I apologize for my daughter’s rude behavior. I claim responsibility for her rude attitude toward you,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I am afraid I did a poor job of raising her.”

Riyadh shook her head and cringed in embarrassment on her father’s behalf. That was what she was saying. He was too humble to a fault. How could he apologize to a servant? Were they supposed to pay people and still be scared of them getting annoyed? If they did, they could always replace them. There were a lot of people waiting outside to replace them.

Everyone knew that. That was the order of life. It seemed like the only people who had no idea of the order of things were the servants in this household. They had been left to dally in a fantasy world that did not exist too much. A world where they actually thought they had a choice.

Yasmin nodded, smiling at Casildo. “Of course, I can’t get too pissed at her. She is your daughter and a part of the pack.”

“Thank you,” Casildo breathed.

Yasmin turned to Riyadh. “I am forgiving you just this once, but I won’t tolerate any more insults from you. I will let this insolence of yours slide today because of your father and the huge respect I have for him.”

Riyadh rolled her eyes. Whatever. Yasmin turned and beckoned at a servant with her hand. Riyadh widened her eyes in disbelief as she stared at the ring on Yasmin’s finger.

Her mother had told her a bit about the werewolves, their hierarchy, powers, and means of identification. She remembered the book of images her mother had used to teach her about the existence of werewolves when she was a kid.

She flipped through the book in her mind, studying the ring on Yasmin’s finger closely. Her face flamed up, and her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped, realization dawning on her with horror. The ring her mother had shown her in the book and had said was always given to a Luna of the pack was the same as the one on Yasmin’s finger.

“Oh no!” she groaned. She had truly insulted the Luna of the pack. Her father had been right all along.