One of the things that I liked most about the mansion that I was currently in was the number of rooms that I could get lost in. Take this one, for example. It was easily one of my favorites. It had deep mahogany bookshelves that stood floor to ceiling with my books. It even had one of those 'Beauty and the Beast' type ladders that allowed me to slide across the shelves to pick out a new book.
The white marble floor was covered in a fluffy cream-colored rug that almost felt like fur, and the only piece of furniture in the whole thing was a white oversized chair that could fit three of me. All in all, this was my most beloved room, and it was all mine.
Do you want to know why I know that this was all mine? It was actually one of the hidden rooms that you can only find by going into what looked like an abandoned office and pulling a very specific lever to open the hidden door that led you into this room.
And if I didn't like the mansion before, knowing that it had hidden rooms, well, now it was my favorite place in the world. I cuddled under my fuzzy dark grey blanket as I got deep into the book I was reading. Did I mention that the shelves in here were nothing but books I chose? Yup, I had reverse harem, alien, apocalypse, historical, you name it, I had it. I am pretty sure that I even had some paranormal.
Yeah, there was no way I could let anyone into this little treasure trove. I would never live down the embarrassment of knowing that a monster liked human-written paranormal books.
The book I was currently reading was an alien one with a very hunky red alien with horns on the front cover. Taking a sip of my hot chocolate, I continued the chapter.
"So, this is where you are," came a deep growling voice from across the room. Nope, not happening. It cannot be happening. I know for a fact that there is not a wolf in my off-limits to anyone with a penis woman cave.
"If you have a penis and want to keep it, I suggest you slowly back out of the room and wait for me to be more than done in here before I go looking for you," I said with a growl of my own.
Mathew, the fucking bastard, only chuckled low and deep, which did nothing to help my tingling lady bits. And yes, that was the official name for my … lady bits. "I just wanted to talk to you," he assured me as he strolled over to my chair. "And trust me when I say that you will want my… penis… exactly where it is."
"How did you even find me?" I asked with a sigh as I closed my book. Nothing made me crankier than having to close a book before I was good and done with it.
"Your scent," he admitted as he sat down on the floor and leaned against my chair. Luckily for the both of us, my legs were over one of the armrests while my back was on the other one. Here I didn't have to be prim and proper, and I took full advantage of that.
"Fucking wolf," I said half-heartedly. "Fine, but you don't tell anyone about this place, understood? Especially Stephanie. We don't tell Stephanie," I emphasized with a shudder. I went here to hide from my secretary.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But I feel like I should warn you that the Skinwalker has the same nose that I do," warned Mathew as he put his head on the seat and looked back at me. "How are you doing?"
I raised an eyebrow at his question. "How am I doing? How do you think I should be doing?"
He chuckled in response. I wanted to run my fingers through his shorter haircut, but I held myself back just barely.
"I think that you should be banging your head against a wall," he admitted as he raised his head and looked forward, right to the shelf holding my werewolf romance books. I tried to think about where I had shelved my Omegaverse titles and had a mini moment of panic when I realized that they were on the same shelf.
"One thing that I have learned in my many years is that there are more than enough people willing to take off my head for me, I don't need to abuse it myself. But if you are asking if I am overwhelmed, the answer is yes. I am." I think that was the first time I was fully honest about how I was feeling since I took over as the Head of two Houses.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked, turning his attention away from my bookcase (thank God) and back to me. If he did see the titles, at least he was polite enough to not mention them.
"Talk about what?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"Kitten," he said with a subtle push to his voice.
"I have a House that is responsible for bringing demons into the world," I started with the thing that was giving me the most amount of headache. "And even completely tearing the House part will not change that fact. I have the US government breathing down my neck because I am not Jenny, and I am pretty sure that I am going to lose my head over killing a General of the US Military."
Okay, so maybe I was repressing a few things.
"We will make sure that you will not lose your head over Richards," said Mathew once again, looking up at me.
"We?" I asked, confused.
"I have a few contacts in the military myself, and if I can't get it done, I am sure that Sasha will help. And if Sasha and I can't do it, there is always Greyson," said Mathew in a soothing voice. I could practically feel my muscles melting under his words alone.
I scoffed at that idea. "And what price do I have to pay in return?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. One thing about monsters, we never did anything for free. I saw Mathew smirking for a moment before wiping it away, and I knew I had stepped into whatever trap he had laid.