Chapter 15
“And how do we know we’ll be safe?” Richie snapped at Miguel. He was standing in front of Crissy, blocking her from our view. “How do we know this here ain’t no trap?”
Miguel sneered at him, his dour expression doing nothing to hide the disdain he had for my kind.
“Richie,” I said, pulling his attention away from my mate. He jerked his head toward me. “We’re all standing in a dark alley right now. If we were going to trap you, wouldn’t this be a better place than the diner down the street? Like Miguel explained, we want to go to the diner so we can sit down somewhere lit and show you papers.”
I didn’t mention that the need for light was for their benefit, not ours. Miguel could see in the dark better than most people could see in the sunlight. And since he had been feeding from me, my night vision had improved along with my energy level and strength.
“Well, iffen y’all wanted to meet at a diner, why didn’t you say so in the first place? Why’d you tell us to meet in this here alley?” he asked, completely ignoring the logic I’d just tried to impart.
“Maybe they were worried about a trap too, Richie,” my sister said quietly, likely intending for her words to be heard by her husband alone so his pride wouldn’t be damaged.
But I heard her just fine, and based on the small smirk that came and went from Miguel’s face right quick, I was guessing he’d heard her too. Along with remarkably good night vision, my hearing was sharp as a tack. My mate had truly healed me.
Feeling unaccountably grateful, I turned to him, pressed my chest to his, and circled my arms around his waist. I forgot for a moment about Richie and Crissy and alleys and maps and thought only of the man in my arms.
“You okay, baby?” he whispered into my ear as he cupped my nape and gave me a supportive squeeze.
“Better than,” I answered. “Just wanted to hug you is all.”
“Good. You feel free to do that anytime.”
“This here vampire is truly your mate?” Richie asked, taking me off guard and tearing my attention back to my surroundings.
“He is,” I said proudly. “Miguel is my true mate. We tied together and claimed each other.”
Richie flinched, seeming a mite uncomfortable, but then his stance relaxed and he took Crissy’s hand in his and stepped closer to us. “All right, then. Let’s go to that there diner and take a look at what your mate has to show us,” he said.
I smiled and leaned against Miguel, who was still standing behind me. I felt him lower his head and then his hot breath ghosted over my ear. “That’s it? We’ve been standing out here arguing because, like a typical shifter, he wouldn’t listen to reason, and now he’s suddenly willing to follow us to the diner?” He shook his head and furrowed his brow. “I think he’s up to something.”
I chuckled and turned around, resting my palm on my Miguel’s cheek. “You do realize you sound just as suspicious as Richie, right? He was being careful is all.”
“And then all of sudden he changed his mind. Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”
“No. It strikes me that he wasn’t sure whether I was telling the truth about you being my true mate and now he believes me.”
He tilted his head to the side. “And what does that have to do with him changing his mind about going to the diner?”
Richie and Crissy had reached us, and Miguel was no longer talking quietly, so they heard him.
“You’re Ethan’s mate,” Crissy said. “That there makes you family. I’m real pleased to meet you, Miguel.”
From the look on Miguel’s face, I knew he still wasn’t clear on what had changed, but he didn’t say anything else. He just wrapped his hand around my elbow and started walking to the diner.
“Wait, wait. Hold on up for just one minute now,” Richie said. He was leaning over the table, his palms flat on the map and his gaze darting around the page. “What do you mean they’re fixin’ to sell our pack lands?” He looked up from the paper and glared at Miguel. “Who said that there land is theirs to sell? Our pack has been there for generations.”
“Who said… They said. They’re the government. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been living there. If you don’t own the land—”
“What does that even mean?” Richie interrupted. “It’s land. Dirt and trees and wind and sky and such. We don’t own the land, we share in its gifts.”
At that comment, my big, strong, gruff mate rolled his eyes like a put-upon child. “That’s a very nice philosophy,” he said, though his tone sounded less than sincere. “But that’s not how the world works. Land is owned by people, and if they don’t want to let anybody else share in its gifts, that’s their right. So, if your pack wants to keep this land, they need to buy it.”
Richie’s jaw dropped. “We have to buy our own land?”
“Haven’t you been listening to me?” Miguel snapped. “It isn’t your land. But it can be. If. You. Buy. It.”
A growl rumbled in Richie’s chest, and he curled his lips over his teeth. When I noticed him clenching and unclenching his fists, I knew he was trying to restrain his anger. He took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Go on and explain it to me again,” he said.
“Please,” Crissy added.
I put my hand on Miguel’s knee and squeezed it. Then I rubbed his thigh.
“All right,” he said. “Here is how it works.”
Miguel wasn’t as patronizing the second time around. Instead, he put paper after paper in front of Richie and Crissy, showing them maps and price sheets, explaining which land would remain national forestland and which would be private property. He answered their questions patiently, and though it was clear that Richie was distressed, he was no longer glaring at my mate.
“Does the pack have that there kind of money?” Crissy asked her husband.
“Richie’s father is one of the pack Betas,” I explained to Miguel. “So he has a good handle on finances.”
“I don’t rightly know,” Richie said as he dragged his fingers through his hair. “If we all pool together, we might should be able to buy most of it, like the dens, and probably the school, but—” He gulped and pointed at the map. “The human town will come right up to Miancarem. And I don’t think we’ll be able to get enough funds to buy the open areas.”
“Why is that such a bad thing?” Miguel asked. “Maybe it’s time your kind integrated a little better with the humans. If you did more of that, you wouldn’t need me to tell you what they plan to do with your town. You can’t continue to be so isolated. It’s threatening your survival.”
“Maybe so,” I said. “But how can cubs shift and play if they’ve got humans as neighbors? How can pack members go for runs or talk openly among themselves? I think you’re right about changes being necessary, but the pack can’t live among the humans, Miguel.” I lowered my voice. “It’s like what you told me about where vampires build their homes,” I said, referring to his explanation that one of the benefits of cemeteries was that they were mostly empty, particularly at night, so vampires had a safe space, away from prying human eyes.
Crissy chewed on her lip nervously as she looked over the map once again. Richie scanned the paper that held all the numbers, his brow furrowed and concern etched on every line of his face. None of us spoke for several minutes, the atmosphere tense.
“I’ll buy the open areas in Miancarem,” Miguel said, cutting through the silence. “And I’ll buy enough land on the outside of your pack lands to create a sufficient privacy barrier. But that’s all I can do. You’ll need to work with your pack or your Alpha and buy the land that holds your houses and shops and schools.”
Richie flicked his gaze up and squinted at Miguel. “Why would a bloodsucker do that for our pack?” he asked suspiciously.
“I wouldn’t do shit for your pack,” Miguel answered roughly.
Richie opened his mouth, no doubt to say something equally kind and diplomatic, but I beat him to the punch.
“Thank you,” I said to my mate. “I appreciate it.”
Miguel grunted and threw his arm around my shoulders.
Crissy beamed and put her hand on Richie’s bicep. “He’s Ethan’s mate, Rich,” she said.
My brother-in-law looked at me and clamped his mouth shut, the pieces finally falling together so he understood exactly why my mate was willing to spend his money on land he’d never use.
“Are we done here?” Miguel said more than asked as he pushed his chair back. “We need to get going.” He got to his feet and reached his hand out toward me. I stood right up. “You can keep those papers,” he said to Crissy and Richie. “I have other copies. Show them to your pack, do whatever you need to do, but act quickly. I’m not the only one interested in buying land in the newly expanding Kfarkattan, and once they start advertising, offers are sure to come pouring in.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and walked toward the door.
Crissy scrambled up out of the chair. “Ethan,” she said. I went over to her and she hugged me tightly. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do nothing,” I said as I shrugged.
“Oh, you surely did. If it wasn’t for you, our land would be gone. But now we have a chance to save it, to save our pack.” She pulled back and gazed into my eyes. “You done that, little brother.”
I shook my head. “Not me. Miguel.”
“Crissy’s right,” Richie said. “That there vampire is helping us because he’s your mate. No other reason.”
“That’s right,” Crissy said. “So you see? You’re saving us.” Her eyes clouded and suddenly she was looking through me. “And this here is only the beginning, my special brother, just the beginning.”
“Ethan,” Miguel called to me.
I looked back over my shoulder. “Coming,” I said to him. I kissed Crissy’s cheek and squeezed her one last time, happy to see that her eyes had cleared. Then I rushed over to Miguel.
“You take care of my brother, hear!” Crissy shouted after us.
Miguel clutched my elbow and pulled me up against his side. He turned back to look at my sister. “That’s not something you ever need to doubt,” he said. And then he led us out the door.
“Miguel?” I whispered later that night when we were in bed, naked, our sated bodies curled together. He was on his back, and I lay on his chest, alternately licking and sucking on his brown nipples.
“Mmm,” he answered as he stroked my hair with one hand and massaged my nape with the other.
“How is it you can buy all that land on your own, but according to Richie, our whole pack combined doesn’t have the funds to do it?”
“Because unlike those shifters, I pay attention to the world around me and I realize the bartering system is a thing of the past.”
Though I didn’t understand exactly what he was saying, the fact that it was intended as an insult to my pack was clear. I flattened my palms on either side of his torso and pushed myself up so I could look into his eyes. I conveyed my disapproval without words.
His expression softened immediately and he pulled me back down against his chest. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said, kissing my head and petting my backside. “There’s no reason for me to bark at you.”
I snorted.
“You think that’s funny, do you?” he asked, amusement clear in his tone. “A barking vampire.”
My shoulders shook and I grinned at my mate. “Yes, I surely do find it funny.”
Miguel returned my smile and leaned up so he could kiss my forehead.
“I know you were raised on your pack lands and you probably don’t have a clear picture of the human world, but people earn money and they use it to buy land and goods and services. Then the people who provide those items use the same money to buy things for themselves. But shifters aren’t like that. They barter within their pack and with other packs.”
“We don’t barter,” I corrected.
“Don’t you?” he asked, as he arched one eyebrow. “What would you call it, then? You have pack members who grow produce. They give it to other pack members who teach at the schools where they send their kids. Or maybe to pack members who raise cattle or chickens. And those pack members provide eggs and milk and beef in exchange for clothing from pack members who sew. Am I right?”
He was, sort of. “It isn’t quite like that, Miguel. We don’t exchange one thing for another. Every member of the pack has a job that provides for the pack. Folks take what they need and give what they have, but it ain’t like how you make it sound. We don’t barter.”
He sighed. “Call it what you want, the point is that shifters deal almost exclusively with other shifters within their packs, and they don’t charge each other money for anything. That means very little outside money enters the pack. So when something like this happens, when the shifters are forced to deal with the humans, they’re left vulnerable.”
“And you’re not?” I asked.
“No,” he said as he shook his head. “I’m not vulnerable to the human world because I live in the human world. I own businesses that cater to humans. Those cemeteries I told you about are just one example. And any land I buy that I don’t end up using for myself, I rent out to others. That’s a source of income too. I’m four hundred years old, Ethan. That’s a long time to build a nest egg.”
I thought about what he said, running the words over in my mind. I had a lot to learn in this new life away from my pack, away from everything and everyone I knew. And though it terrified me, I wasn’t going to run from it. But—
Miguel interrupted my impending panic attack. “What are you thinking about that’s putting that frown on your face?”
“I don’t have a…a nest egg,” I told him. “I don’t have land or businesses. I have a couple of sets of clothes, a pocketknife, and a box my sister made for me when I was a kid. When I lived on pack lands, that was okay. The pack gave me what I needed, and if I’d been healthy enough, I would have found a calling and I would have contributed to the pack. Now I’m plenty healthy, but I don’t have my pack and”—I sighed deeply—“I don’t have anything to contribute.”
“Sure you do,” he said. “You have plenty to contribute.”
I looked into his eyes, hoping there was truth to his words. I didn’t want to be a drain on my mate, didn’t want him to regret having me in his life.
“Like what?” I asked.
He licked the vein in my neck and then sucked on it when it started to pulse stronger. “You’re feeding me now, remember? Just you.”
I scoffed. “That’s as much for me as it is for you, Miguel. I enjoy providing for you in that way. I crave it, even. Plus, I don’t want you dipping your toes in somebody else’s ocean, so—”
Miguel’s deep laugh cut off the rest of my words. His broad chest rumbled beneath me and he held me tight.
“Now, you see there?” he said once his rolling laughter had died down to a light chuckle. “That’s what you’re contributing. I don’t know when I’ve ever laughed as much as I do with you, wolf. And if you want to do more, I’ll teach you what you need to know to help me with the businesses and the land.”
“Yeah?” I asked hopefully. “Because I’ll work real hard to learn. I want to help you.”
He pushed my hair off my forehead and tenderly pressed his lips to mine. We traded slow and gentle kisses until my eyes felt heavy and my limbs weak. Then I tucked my face into my mate’s neck and breathed in his scent as sleep overtook me.
“You’ve already helped me, Ethan,” Miguel whispered quietly. “You’ve reminded me what it’s like to feel.”