Page 26 of Fierce Claim
Mathew seems to think it over and it’s interesting to watch him, since he hasn’t had to consider it before. “I think I’d like something with a bit more natural light —not all the time, we’ll need good curtains— but it would also mean that we’d be able to see the stars from the nest. I think I’d like that.”
I glance at Vera, who frowns, thinking. “That should be possible, but not all the time. I prefer small spaces. We need something that can feel small, even if it’s the corner of a much bigger room.”
I pull up a shoulder, trying to be helpful. “We could make two nests.”
“No!” Both Omegas turn to me at the same time.
“I meant two for both of you to share, not one each.” I understand that they’d want a shared nest. I didn’t mean to imply one nest for each of them.
“Still, no.” Mathew shakes his head. “Setting one nest up is hard enough. Doing two would split our attention and create bad results.”
“Yes.” Vera sits up straighter. “And a nest that allows us to section off different areas at different times would be easy enough to do. A nest doesn’t always have the same use. When we’re in heat, it’s a place to hide away from the world, but when we’re not in heat, it’s a place to feel calm and safe. A room that can function as both is important.”
“We’ll want to be close to the bedroom and the bathroom, and we’ll probably want to be near the baby room too, especially in seven or eight months time.” Mathew looks around. “What about the other walk-in dressing room? It has a window, but it’s currently covered by the hanging closet. It’s the same size as this one, which we know is a workable size. And it has a door to the room next door.”
Vera perks up. “We could have the baby room next door! That makes sense. We’ll still be able to hear them and be near them.” Her eyes shine. “And I’m sure they’ll love all the natural light.”
Well, that all went much smoother than expected. I’d feared that bringing up the sleeping arrangement issue and that we really need more space for us all to settle in and make this house our home would be complicated, but it seems like everyone is pretty much on the same page.
Then again, Vera and Mathew seem to understand each other on an instinctual level that make these type of decisions much easier. We already saw that when they designed this nest. While they were browsing for items, they’d constantly point things out to the other and I didn’t hear a single neutral or negative sound, they were constantly hyping each other up. A loop of constant excitement that never fizzled out, it just seemed to connect them more and more, which was sweet.
Let’s hope that making their real nest goes as easy as that...
The next morning, after we spent another night sleeping in the nest, Vera and Mathew went to the library and started looking into how to hopefully solve the whole ‘Mathew’s pheromones aren’t strong enough to pull his Alphas out of a frenzy’ problem, while Riley, Caleb and I started on clearing out and taking apart Mathew’s walk-in dressing room so we can transform it into a proper nest.
We started with carefully unloading all the clothes, putting them into boxes and draping them over the bed, making sure to not damage anything. Which wasn’t always as simple as it sounds because Mathew has lots of clothes that are way more delicate than they initially seem. The guy loves his fancy fabrics and extravagant clothes. Not that my closet is much better, I’m just not currently unpacking it and getting frustrated at another ‘hanging only’ piece of clothing.
Once that was all done, we first made sure to take everything in front of the door to the other room away, so we could reassemble the shelves and closets in there. That way, Mathew can temporarily store his clothes in the other room and they don’t have to stay on the bed or in the boxes.
We started with the back wall, the wall with the door to the other room, and everything went smoothly. We reassembled everything in no-time, which was encouraging.
Then we started on the wall with the window, the one overlooking the balcony and the fields, and we found some unusual things behind them. Not in them but behind them, between the boards that covered up the window and the back of the hanging closet.
I thought I knew where Mathew hid all his weapons, but clearly, I didn’t. Because somehow, there was yet another stash of them hidden here.
Not entirely sure what was going on, Riley went to get Mathew and Vera from downstairs while Caleb and I started moving things out of the room, not touching any of the weapons.
“Riley said that you found something?” Mathew’s voice is light as he steps into the room, looking all relaxed.
“What are these? I thought you didn’t have any more stashes?” I point to the weapons attached to the boards.
“Oh, those aren’t mine.” He shrugs. “They’re from the people who tried to kill me. I almost forgot they were there, I haven’t added any in years.” He steps closer, looking at them with curiosity while he smiles. Like these are somehow good memories or something.
“And why do you have them?” The sinking feeling in my stomach intensifies.
“Because I managed to kill them first?” He turns to me, like he doesn’t understand my confusion.
“And, what? You kept their weapons? Like they’re souvenirs or something?” I stare at the others, but I seem to be the only one who doesn’t think this is normal.
Vera is already looking at them with interest, keeping her hands behind her, clearly not wanting to accidentally touch them, but her eyes sparkle. Caleb is still moving things out of this room and Riley is watching Vera in amusement.
“Something like that. Yes.” Mathew quickly grabs Vera’s wrist as she’s about to touch one of the knives. “They weren’t going to need them anymore anyway.”
Souvenirs.
Fucking hit men souvenirs.
And he kept them like some serial killers keep trophies of their kills.
