Free Operation Minotaur (Monstrous Matchmaker Book 5) by Kelly Apple

Chapter One
     
    "You need to get out more," Ari announced.
    Every one of her supernatural friends looked at her in
confusion. Well, everyone except Akakios. The minotaur kept his head down and
his mouth shut.
    Narrowing her eyes, Ari got up and stomped across the
room. She sidestepped Vane's wings, ignored Michael and Ella's intertwined
bodies on the floor, and avoided Lon's bulk where he stretched out on the
couch.
    Her destination was the brooding minotaur and she was
not going to get distracted by any of the intriguing things between her and
him.
    "Akakios," she said sweetly, "I'm talking
to you."
    The room held its collective breath as she stood in
front of him, impatiently tapping her foot. It felt like an eternity until he
raised his head and looked her in the eye.
    Ari waited. Akakios stared. Someone behind her sighed in
annoyance.
    "Give it up, minotaur. The nymph isn't going to
leave you alone. You know this." Michael, her best werewolf friend and
sometimes partner in crime, untangled himself from his mate and sat up.
"Besides, she usually has good ideas."
    Ari shot him a dark look over her shoulder. She always had good ideas. And Michael, the leg-humping fucker, knew that.
    “Although there was that one time…” he started.
    Hissing out an annoyed breath, Ari turned on the
werewolf and scowled. “Shut up, Mikey.”
    Batting his golden eyes at her, Michael settled back and
pulled Ella into his arms. “Face it, Akakios,” he said to the silent minotaur,
“Ari gets her way. Always.”
    Leaning against the wall, Liam grunted out a half-laugh.
If the big, green lunk wasn’t her absolute favorite person in the entire world,
Ari would have called him on that laugh. Instead, she settled for a smile that
dried up his laugh mighty quickly.
    Yeah, if he hoped to his have knob polished tonight,
he’d best not laugh too hard.
    “Akakios, why don’t you help me in the kitchen?” She
phrased it as a question, but it wasn’t. Not really. Curling a hand around his
impressively thick biceps, Ari tugged and pulled until she had manhandled him
into a standing position. “We’ll be back,” she chirped. “Don’t drink my beer.”
    Liam’s amused gaze followed her as she dragged the
minotaur down to the kitchen and the relative privacy it provided.
    Relative being the operative word. With their
supernatural hearing, it was likely every one of them behind her would known
what they were about to discuss.
    Well, what she was about to discuss. Akakios was being
his usual bull-headed self and staying silent.
    Getting down one of the oversized mugs Liam used, Ari
poured her minotaur friend a beer. God, he even looked sad when he took that
from her hand.
    “Akakios,” she said, snuggling up to him, “are you
happy?”
    The minotaur frowned down into his cup and shrugged.
“I’m not unhappy, little nymph.”
    That was a non-answer if ever she’d heard one.
    “You’re not unhappy, but you’re not happy either, are
you?”
    Another shrug. “This world has changed a lot since I
first came to these shores. The labyrinth was all I knew for so long, I find it
hard to take in at times.”
    Sadly, Ari understood that. Akakios had known the way
out of the labyrinth under the college, but he’d had no reason to leave it.
He’d hunkered down and made the dungeon-like place his little kingdom. He
hadn’t been happy there, either.
    As one of the last of his kind, there was little hope
he’d find a mate. Years upon years of being alone could wear on a man.
    Beast or not, Akakios was a gentle soul and he deserved
more than he currently had.
    “Do you like living with the wolves?”
    The minotaur didn’t answer right away. The local werewolf
pack had taken him in and given him a sanctuary of sorts on their land. But he
wasn’t like them. He couldn’t step out into public like the wolves could. He
stayed hidden for the most part, only coming out to see her and the others on
occasion.
    “The wolves treat me with respect. The