22.

Adam called me after I'd been in Pennsylvania for two weeks and said they wanted to come and have a proper look at the house. I said yes because Adam was the pack leader, and this was a sort of the pack house. They would come the next day, the entire pack, including Damon.

I wondered for a moment why they were coming, but then my phone rang again, and I had to answer it. When you are the boss or have set up a network like this, you have to work with it, and as I said, work teaches you, and as I found out, it motivated me. I didn't mind being on the phone or answering emails all the time, doing three things at once, and then having to eat and go to the toilet somewhere in between. 

I didn't even have to think about the upcoming visit, and I didn't think about why the whole pack was coming to my house, probably out of curiosity, and if Adam's people were telling him things, then maybe he'd want to come and look the place over.

But I kept the doors locked to certain rooms and would not open them without a fantastic reason, least of all my study which was quite large, my desk wasn't overly large by any means, it had a computer screen, a couple of laptops, phones, several and stacks of papers. On the desk, slightly behind me, was a large printer and a fax machine; yes, even in those days, people still faxed the occasional piece of paper, and it didn't bother me at all, actually.

One of my phones rang again. I answered it, and at the same time, I looked at three text messages from France, talked to a guy in Poland, and then wrote a text message to Argentina.

As I said, I was doing a lot of things at once and found I could do it pretty damn easily. My mind was organized so that it went off without a hitch. I kept on doing my thing through the night. I was setting up an account for those who might die on the job or get hurt. That was my idea, but they hadn't gotten it to the stage of implementation yet, as my attention was going somewhere. 

I went for breakfast at 8 o'clock, and Adam sent me a message saying they'd be here around noon. Fine, I had time to make a few more calls, and I had got my affairs in order pretty well. My email was almost empty, and the phones weren't ringing all the time.

After breakfast, I dragged myself back to my office, and then when Adam called to say they were out, I came out of my office, turned off the computers, grabbed my specified phones, and put them in the safe. I closed and locked my office.

Likewise, the master bedroom was locked, and I would not show it off yet. Besides, yes, Damon was spying on me at the time I put it on. I might have changed one or two things about it or even more, but I would not show it; I didn't know why. In fact, I had no rational reason for it.

I went to open the door, and Adam, Samuel. Damon and Bran came in. They started to tour the house. Bran was looking for the ballroom and saw my huge piano, my giant plants, and the fancy hardwood floor. Adam was exploring the kitchen, the contents of the fridge and the cupboards, what I had. Samuel wandered here and there, and Damon seemed to find every locked door and furrowed his brow. Nobody of the men had said a word yet.

Then Adam and Bran explored the rooms downstairs, walked around, sat on the beds, and moved on to the next room. I went into the kitchen and prepared my food. This time, Salvatore didn't interfere, even though he was watching me go into the kitchen. I smelled the passion fruit.

This was quite mild now. I pulled out of the oven a lovely roast duck with a really crispy skin and it was just perfect. I had made my pasta and now lifted the ribbon macaroni, which was swimming in butter, onto my plate. 

I turned around when I heard a knock and saw Damon was in the kitchen.

He coolly ate the crispy skin off my duck, looked at me, and said, "Soon, you will learn to share even better, wife; why do you have locked doors? Why isn't everything open? This is the home of the pack,"

I looked at Damon and said, " Actually, this is just in my name, this house, not the pack's, so in my house, I get to decide which rooms I keep locked and which I don't."

Damon was silent, took another enormous chunk of skin, and ate it properly, showing it to me as if he wanted to make me upset.

Adam and Bran were talking about something, and Samuel was already sitting on the sofa, relaxing. I remembered the vision and tried to get it out of my head, but it just haunted me somewhere.

I went to eat. The duck was delicious, even without the skin, and the pasta was heavenly. I drank a lot of coffee and coke, as I should have. After I had eaten, I took my time listening to what the men were saying, and I was really surprised; the men were talking and comparing the women they had been with. 

 I was surprised when Damon was there, too, and he was pretty cool. Nowhere did he talk about me, but Rebecca was the one everyone was talking about.

Apparently, this original had been fucking all the men in the pack. That did not surprise me; it was just what Rebecca was really like. Vampire women like to fuck around, although I wasn't, at least not yet, and I couldn't swear to anything if my vampire side got stronger than what kind of person I would become. 

After the men had been talking about the women for about an hour, they went back around the house, downstairs, the bedrooms. Damon showed them the locked rooms on the top floor, and Adam raised his eyebrows when Damon told him the house was still in my name.

His expression turned hesitant, and he was about to say something, but Bran spoke to him in a low voice, and Adam pulled himself together and changed his mind about something again. I didn't know what they were up to, and I wasn't so curious to know now. I was just wondering what he was going to do next, but when the men revealed their intentions, my motivation increased.

The men went around for a while, and Bran said, "This will do very well. Very well. Those locked rooms won't bother us again as they're not downstairs, and hardly anyone bothers to climb the stairs."

Adam came up to me and said, "This is a pack house. Even if it's in your name, you belong to my pack, and what's yours is also the pack's. We are having a party here. Now, we need to let off some steam. This house is fine. At least we can fit people in here."

 I was completely silent and couldn't believe what Adam had just said. I mean, I couldn't have my house. Everyone would be a pack. And a fuck party. Don't they have houses of their own? But I guess I was praising this place a bit too much, and I was getting the wrong attention. Despite that, I was furious, but I was restraining myself very beautifully. I just felt the little bitch side of me coming out slowly, and I wasn't sure now how long I was going to restrain myself completely.

Unbelievable. My shelter is going to have a fuckfest. I stood my ground as Samuel and Bran were already ordering booze and food. Adam seemed to say that there was something in the fridge, but not everything. So they were going to eat the fridge empty.

Damon came in front of me and said, " Don't even bother with the drama, Mimi; I've had enough of you and your drama for a while now. We fucking deserved it when we treated you, the world's worst patient, for many weeks of work. Shut the fuck up."

Passionfruit stank. I looked at my husband and let my expression be completely neutral. But I let my little bitch ass come out properly.

 Drama. I'm not a drama queen, not yet. Damon himself is a drama king when he leaves with the doors slamming at any moment. Fine.

I said, "Have your party, fuck, and dream of death for me. I'm not staying here. And Damon, one question, now that you're going to be fucking strangers, lots and lots of them, that's just like sex, so can I. Magnum. Just sex, no pressure. Might do me some good, or what do you think? When that disease was pretty awful, and I have had no pleasure in a long time. You don't want me now, so I guess I'll have to find other ways to let off steam."

Damon stiffened and came right up to me.

He said in a soft voice, "Mimi, if you don't want to play with the shed stabber and rib crusher again, I suggest you don't even plan on doing that job."

I looked at Damon for a moment and said, " What doesn't kill you, strengthen you, and remember, I can't die? I'm not promising anything. Anything can happen. "

I said to Adam and Bran, and Samuel, " This is still my house, just my house, not the Pack's, but you can have your fuckfest here, as long as you make sure it's all cleaned up after you and the fridge has everything in it at the moment."

I didn't wait for a reply. I saw a hint of remorse flash in Adam's eyes. It wasn't like him to invade other people's houses to fuck, but it smelt of Bran and strongly of him being the instigator of the whole thing. I turned around. I got my bag, then I took the keys to my car and drove away. I don't watch fuck festivals. 

I drove off, and I didn't even know where I was going. I called Bridgette, and oh fuck, I let it burn when I told her about everything we went through, how bad my infection was, and now this. a fuckfest at my shelter. Bridgette listened patiently, then gave me an address in New Jersey. I tapped the address into my sat nav and then set off for my four-hour drive. Fine, I don't mind spending time with Bridgette. Forget about those pricks.