Page 37 of Until Forever Comes
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 was lying 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.”
