Chapter Ten Tresia

When all the guys walk away to do whatever it is they need to do, I finally take a moment to look around the house I’m in. It’s easy to see that I’m in either a living room or a parlor. There’s a bay window in the center of the wall directly in front of me and the couch I’m sitting on is so comfy I could easily fall asleep on it.

There are matching chairs on both sides of the couch. They look big enough to swallow me whole, but then I need to consider the size of my mates… Holy smokes. My mates. I have six mates. I know I had fantasies about having six mates, but it was just that, a fantasy.

Redirecting my attention from the chairs, I see beautiful bookshelves full of all kinds of books. Turning to look around the room I see two more bookshelves, a China Cabinet and last but I’m sure not least, a big screen television. The colors they chose for this room are so perfect I don’t think I could have done better… wait. 

“What in Hadees handbag is going on?” Standing up and spinning around a few times, I realize I recognize this room. Seeing Arlo enter the room with a tray in hand, “Where did you all get the idea for this room? Not just the idea, but the color scheme?”

Arlo freezes in place as thought my words hit like a shield. Once he visibly relaxes, he walks over to the coffee table in front of the couch. Setting the tray down, he picks up a saucer and teacup. “Milk? Sugar? Both?”

“I want you to answer my question.”

“I will once you answer mine.”

“Two sugars, no milk, thank you. Your turn.”

“Allow me to properly introduce myself and then I’ll be open to any and all questions. I’m Arlo, thirty years old and hold a Masters Degree in Psychology and a Bachelor's Degree in Counseling. My favorite color is burnt orange. I have two sisters and one brother. As for how we designed this room, we took your lead. We have a book with all of your drawings. We took your lead with every room in this house. We were very lucky to acquire…”

“Steal…”

“Acquire, as you had thrown it out. Stealing, requires taking something you still treasure. As you had thrown this particular book away, we acquired it.”

“Did it never cross any of your minds that the reason I threw it away was because I’d outgrown the designs in that particular book?”

The abject fear that overtakes his expression is mind blowing. When the others enter the room and see Arlo’s face, they freeze right where they’re standing. Looking from Arlo to Ryland and back to Arlo…

“What did you do to him? He looks… broken.”

“I told him I recognized this room. He told me about the book I threw out. He said y’all acquired it. I said y’all stole it. Then I said, did it never accrue to any of you that the reason I threw that book out was because I changed my taste and therefore designs. He’s been like that since.”

Looking from Arlo to the rest of my guys I see the same expression on their faces as he has. Holy-moly I think I broke all six of them. Now how do I, wait…”Guys, I did throw it away because I outgrew the designs. Misha must have thrown that book out because he used to tease me how I’d never get a house like I designed in that book. Please, relax and believe me when I say if you all built this home on those layouts, colors and everything else…I’ve officially gone to heaven.”

“Tresia, you just about caused each of us to have a heart attack. Jace said he saw an arm tossing it out a window. You see, we’ve known for a long time that you were our mate. We had to keep everything from you, and your entire family. It wasn’t until last week that Misha started receiving visits from a Veil Warden Dreamwalker. Once…”

“Wait a micro minute, Misha knew what was coming?” I don’t like interrupting people, but Gavin just dropped a wealth of information.

“Hold on, he didn’t say that babygirl. Gavin’s telling you what bits of information he knows. Not one of us knows everything but we all know to hold off on talking about things until we’re each with you. So, if you’d let us get settled a little more, we can tell you everything we know.”

“Look guys, I’m on edge because I don’t know anything and being in the dark is a lonely and scary place. Can someone at least tell me about my family. Is Misha really in trouble? Are my parents in danger?”

After the guys all take a seat they each begin telling their parts of their or rather our story. Looking around the room I can’t believe how much they followed my idea down every color. The dark wood flooring that’s accented by light grey walls gives off a warm feeling. The furniture is black and grey. You’d think the room would be dark, but the large bay window really illuminates the space.

“Wait, Jace, did you just say my parents visited Misha? How did they manage that?”

Jace explains that my parents refused to ‘fall in line’ as my dad put it until they could see my twin. Good for them. Now I know my parents are at their new home in the Outland and Misha is safe at the Veil Warden Academy and does in fact have a mate.