Her secret mate

Home sweet home

The house looked the same as it did when I left it.

I don't know why I expected it to look different, because it looked the same my whole life.

The grand white mansion that was built by my great-grandfather for his mate as a wedding gift. That was the only good thing that came from that union, because not a year later, my great grandmother died during childbirth and that sent her husband off the rails completely.

After losing his mate, he became completely out of control, started wars and fights with anyone and everyone.

Another fun little part of our family's history everyone tries to sweep under the rug.

The house was huge and screamed: look at me, look how rich I am, I am better than all of you.

I have always hated that about this house... okay I didn't really hate the house itself. It was a beautiful historical building that my father put a lot of effort into preserving. It was not done for the humanitarian reasons of preserving a vital part of our history, but to show off our status and wealth.

This house was a landmark of our family's history and what it used to be, the greatness that comes with the family name Hemming. That is one of the symbols I hated, pushing the fake history for the world to see and awe about, when in reality it was just blood shed and chaos.

But what I hated the most about this place, was the lie of it being a family home.

This place was never a home, at least not in any way that it counted.

From the outside, it was the perfect family home with just as a perfect family inside, but the reality was so far from that, it even left a bitter taste in my mouth.

It was just another lie my family pushed to the point when they themselves started to believe it.

The house and the name were the only things my father cared about. I guess this house was a clear representation of it all and that is why I hated it so much.

This house got all the love and attention that I wanted from my father.

I was jealous of a house... how pathetic.

"Princess... it's time to go inside."

I blinked a few times, remembering that I was still sitting on the bike behind Colin.

"Yeah, sorry."

Quickly, I jumped off the bike and pulled off my helmet. Without wasting a moment, I handed it back to him and rushed to the front door. As I was opening it, I turned back and looked at him one last time. Not sure why I was compelled to do so, but I did and I found him staring back at me.

Strangely, I disliked him a bit less after this trip.

After taking a deep breath, I forced myself to look away and open the door.

Stepping inside always felt a bit surreal, because from the outside you would expect a grand royal palace, like something from a history book, but in reality it was very modern.

My mother demanded that it be remodeled after they mated and so inside it looked like a sleek modern marble museum.

Every time I stepped through the front doors, I felt cold sneaking into my bones.

Wrapping my hands around myself as if it would help me stay warm, I walked inside. Before I could even take two steps, I heard loud footsteps followed by the klicking of high heels.

"You finally got here, finally."

"Good to see you too, father. Yes, the school year is finished, and I am well. Sure, the journey is long and difficult, but I am also happy to see you."

"You ungrateful...."

Sure, I know that pissing off like this is very, very stupid, but I can't help myself.

A moment later, a hard palm made contact with my cheek and sent me flaying to the floor.

I tasted blood, but I knew to expect that.

Guess his hits have not gotten lighter since the last time I saw him.

"You took f*****g forever to get here and you dare to mock me."

He stared at me with a clear intent to rip me apart, but then turned on his heel and left the room. I guess he is not sure if he will be able to control himself, at least that is how I understood it.

"You should not talk to him like that, you know that he dislikes it a lot."

My mother stood next to me as I slowly climbed to my feet.

"Well he should treat me like his daughter and not some piece of trash, but I guess we can't get what we want."

I knew that I was one more sentence away from getting slapped again and the first one will take half an hour to heal.

"I will go to my room to change and shower."

"Your room is unavailable, use the blue guest room."

"Why is my room unavailable?"

"It is under construction."

"What? Why?"

"We are turning it into a new guestroom."

I blinked a few times, taking a deep breath as I forced myself to stay in complete control.

"And where is my stuff?"

When she didn't answer me, I knew that it was all gone.

Fuck.

Why does it still hurt? Even after all these years? Even after they hurt me so many times, I still feel the pain.

Taking another deep breath, I swallowed my hurt feelings and nodded.

"Fine, I will go to the blue room then."

And without waiting for her answer, I walked up the stairs to the second floor.

My cheek was still burning and I knew that there would be a huge bruise in a few moments and I wanted to be behind closed doors when that happened.

Taking two steps at a time, I almost ran into the room. After closing the doors, I pressed my back into the door and let myself take deep breaths.

Fucking hell, I hate this place so much.

This is going to be the longest week of my life.

Before I could step away from the door, a loud knock sounded behind me.

"Princess, you forgot your stuff on my bike."

Colin's low voice rumbled from the other side of the door.