[Rock]“There you are!” Echo said from upstairs. “Sorry, he likes to be tall and climbs up on people.” She came down the stairs with a smile on her face. I always forgot about how small she was. She and her sister were a few inches shorter than Carmen. One of the things I liked about Echo was her fae eyes. They made me feel more comfortable around her. She was small and delicate like most other fae and the way she moved reminded me of a pixie skimming the water. “I can’t reach him up there.” Echo sighed as she looked up at me. “Let me help,” Carmen said. Echo moved away and Carmen got closer. She stood on her toes and got ahold of the cat. He didn’t fight her as she pulled him off of my shoulder. I was grateful for that. He was a big cat and I didn’t want to lose an eye in the struggle or something. Carmen held the cat against her like it was a small child and he rubbed his face against hers. My mate smiled and scratched the back of his neck and ears. I had never seen her look happy like this when she wasn’t curled up with me.“He’s purring! He likes me!” she squeaked, bouncing a little and cuddling the cat. Echo giggled. “Fenton loves meeting new people and especially likes vampires and werewolves. I was trying to hunt him down before you got here so he wouldn’t try to attack Rock. He likes hunting fae. It really annoys Sean.” “Trolls have never been food for cats. That’s probably why he only tried climbing me. They always like high perches and Carmen says trolls smell like nature and the areas they’re native to,” I explained. “Why did you give him a horrible name like Fenton? He’s such a sweet boy. He shouldn’t be named after the witch who cursed us.” Echo nodded. “I would have loved to have given him a different name, but he spent a hundred years sharing a body with Fenton Aimes. That name just stuck in his little brain and he likes it. It’s fine. He reminds us of everything we went through to get the lives we have now.” “I guess that makes sense.” “Fenton loves visitors. All of the vampires bring him treats when they come to see Victor. They love seeing a cat who’s not afraid of them. He gives all of his favorites cuddles when they come. I’m pretty sure he thinks everyone comes just to see him.” Echo laughed. “Of course they do. There’s not a sweeter, prettier kitty in the whole wide world,” Carmen murmured, rubbing her face on the cat and cuddling him more. It made me wish I could get her a cat, too. Something like that would keep her company if I had things to do on weekends and she could entertain herself with it while I was working in the garage. Maybe I would start keeping an eye out for unusual animals. “Looks like you’ve found him,” a man said as he came into the entryway from a hall off to the side. “Fenton seems to have made a new friend.”He came to a stop next to Echo and stuck his hand out to me. I could sense that he was a vampire. Unlike other species of fae, trolls had never been food for vampires, so I wasn’t particularly worried for myself. Dennis told me once that it’s a sign of respect to look into a vampire’s eyes. Most trolls were immune to their mind control, but I didn’t know if I would be. My eyes were human eyes, for the most part. I didn’t have gem-colored eyes like other trolls did. I looked him in the eye and took his hand, shaking it. His hands were smaller than mine but strong. That didn’t mean I gripped him with my full strength, but I wasn’t as careful as I was with most softies, either. “I’m Rock Beaumont and this is my mate, Carmen Rosen,” I said. “I’m Victor Nightshade and I have met your mate before. She was at a birthday party I attended last month. I believe it was for her brother.” “It’s nice to meet you again, Master Nightshade,” Carmen replied with a slight curtsy to him.“Please, call me Victor. You are friends with my Solus Amor and my mate partner, Grayson. You should count me among your friends,” he told her, then turned to me. “Mr. Beaumont, if you are alright with Carmen and Echo catching up together, we can go into my office and let the ladies get comfortable in the living room.” “You can call me Rock. If you’re going to be friends with my mate, you should be friends with me as well. As long as they’re safe, I don’t mind. Carmen is also my office manager, so she has an interest in everything I do with the business. Carmen, would you rather hang out with Echo or come into the office with us?” I asked. “If it’s okay, I would rather hang out with Echo. This is a perfect time for us to get to know each other better without other people around to distract us. Where’s Gray?” “Gray works a lot of hours now. He gave his notice at work and is helping train the new server who is taking his place. He wants to get as many hours as possible so he can take a few weeks off before he starts with Rock’s company,” Echo answered. “I wouldn’t be able to take him on until October. We still have a lot of work going on until then. We wouldn’t be able to start his and Cam’s training until then,” I said. “He understands it. Grayson decided he would like to take time off because he’s losing time with Echo. He normally gets her all day, then leaves for work in the evenings. This job will have him sharing hours with me and he is worried he won’t have as much time with Echo. I did offer to let him live off an allowance, but he insists on earning his own way,” Victor replied. “I was that way when I was his age. That was when I started training and apprenticeship for the first of my certifications. I’ll find out what his strengths are and have him trained in a specialty. It will get him more pay and fewer hours if he wants to just work in that area. Shall we go talk, Victor?” I asked. “Certainly. Ladies, I hope you have fun. We’ll see you shortly,” he said with a bow. I kissed Carmen briefly before following him back the way he came. The house seemed to be well-built in the sturdy fashion of older buildings. The marble floor ended at the entryway and the floor in the hall was wooden. We went into an office. It was elegant, like the owner, and screamed ‘old money’ in the way only the most diligent craftsmen could create. I saw intricate carvings around the room. There was a door I was betting led to a closet and bookshelves that ran from next to that door to the outer wall. All of the furniture looked expensive. It all looked like it fit in with the vision the builders had for the room. Victor had an eye for quality, that was fairly obvious. He waved me over to the large, leather chairs in front of his desk as he sat in the more elaborate chair behind it. The chair looked more like a throne than an office chair. He had quiet nods to his power all around him. In this region, he was the ruler of all the vampires and he looked it as he sat in his place of power. “You came by earlier to assess the land and Dennis said he went over what I wanted. What do you think?” Victor asked. “I think whoever came up with this idea after looking at your property was an idiоt. The guest house you already have eats up a lot of space, but it has the same look and quality as this house. The apartments would make your property look cheap. You have a lot of space, and beautiful landscaping. You don’t want something as plain and modern as this in the way of that.“What I think you need, since this is meant to be rooms for your guards, is cottages built in the same style as the mansion. The plan said this was for rogue wolves. I talked to the rogues who work with me and they literally growled at the plans. “No rogue is going to want to have a roommate and they’re going to want to feel as if they have their space. The rogues who work for me said that something like this plan would cause fights. You can’t treat rogue wolves like pack wolves. If they don’t decide to live in the same house on their own, there will be fights for resources,” I warned him. “Oh, dear. That’s less than ideal. Master Marius was the one who had that plan made for me. It was from his builders. Vampires don’t know much about werewolves. I’m grateful you had some insight. Did you have time to put together another option or will you need time?” Victor asked. I dug in my bag and pulled out the file folder I had with his plans. I flipped through a few pages before finding the pages that were clipped together. Pulling out the first two, I laid them in front of him. One of them was the front shot of a tiny house I found online. The other was a shot of the floor plan. I found one that was reminiscent of the façade on the main house and I could make the changes easily enough to get it to match. Getting the color of the blue doors and shutters right and the right roofing tiles would help. “This is a one bedroom, one bath home. It looks like you were planning for eight people. This is under five hundred square feet per home. There is plenty of room. I talked to the rogues and they said this was enough for them. I saw a bit of land off to the side of the front gate that wasn’t as well-groomed as the rest of the property.“It is about an acre and we wouldn’t need that much space for a road and some covered parking pads. Each home will be outfitted with appliances including a stackable washer and dryer that goes in a closet in the main living area. I would also recommend small sheds for the yards and privacy fences. “As for the rest of the property, I didn’t know if you knew this, but the plot of land directly behind your property is for sale. I would suggest buying that and fencing it. You could get a few more acres for your wolves to run in. I know it would make for a larger area for them to patrol, but it’s worth it. My wolves told me this was barely enough before you factor in eight rogues,” I explained. “Is there any way to move this behind the house?” he asked. “Yes, but it will cost you more and take more time. If we put these nearer the front, I can get my friends in to pave a road leading off from your entrance, so they won’t take up parking in front of your house. And this makes access to city and county utilities easier. Permits wouldn’t be as difficult, because we wouldn’t be trying to run it off what you have going to the house. It would also enable me to avoid digging up your access to assess if it needs to be widened. “In all, this is the most cost-effective and least intrusive option. I can order the plans and put together an estimate, I didn’t have time to do one today. Talk to Queen Bellamy about both options and she’ll let you know if the apartments or the cottages will be better for the rogues. You and your mate should decide how much you want your life interrupted for this.” I told him, pulling out my map of the property. “I would need to call the utility lines and have them come mark where everything is. From what I can see, though, I would need to move building materials in, level the ground, and dig for water, sewer, gas, and electric lines.” I marked on the map how much room would have to be given so we could work. “Depending on where these are, I would be digging trenches either all the way out to the street, or to where they run through your own home.” His eyes widened slightly. As I marked the area where the most open access to the larger vehicles would be. “That’s Echo’s garden. I cannot approve anything that would mean taking that away from her.” “For leveling, I could try using smaller vehicles, but it will take more time. If we did this in the front corner of the property, as I proposed, you would barely be affected by the construction. I recommend that area no matter what buildings you want to put up. We’ll take care of permits and everything else that’s needed. If you wanted us to start in spring, that would give us plenty of time,” I replied. “I would like these as soon as possible. Is there no other option?” “I don’t know what kind of pull you have with the city or county, but you’ll have to get them to sign off on permits. This will be a big project and will take a couple of months. I would have to have my entire crew on for the winter instead of letting my seasonal workers go. I might even need to bring on a few more to cover the work for you and the work for Mr. Lyons.” Victor nodded and steepled his fingers under his chin. At this point, I needed to wait for him to make decisions. I gave him all of the relevant information. “There are a few new connections I have yet to try. I will speak with them about all of this and let you know. You seem certain of the piece of land you selected. I will take the two possibilities to Queen Bellamy. She will have more insight into what would work for rogues. Prepare an estimate on the materials for your cottage idea. I will contact you within an hour of dawn on Monday morning,” he told me. “I’ll pull as much together as I can tomorrow, but I don’t work on weekends. I can have something for you by the end of next week. Is there anything else you need from me? I’m willing to have a look at anything you think needs done inside the house. And before I leave, there’s a stair that needs to be fixed. I’ll take care of that before I leave today.”“How much will that cost me?” Victor asked. “I would say free, but you probably know you should never owe anything to the fae. My payment will be you guaranteeing that my company has this job. No one else would be able to find the fault I did, because it’s a flaw in the marble, not something people without a connection to stones like this could find. Even witches might not find it,” I replied. “Done. I will sign with your company and you will do as I wish with my property, even if it goes against what you wanted.” “Of course.” I nodded. Victor talked to me more about the upgrades and renovations he had planned. His father-in-law had already gotten the biggest renovation done for him as a wedding gift. That was only a small loss for me, but there was still a lot he wanted done. I gave him referrals for other companies that were largely supernatural-run. This had all gone more smoothly than I had hoped.