Page 38 of Until Forever Comes
“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 pressed his lips gently 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.”
Chapter 16
AWEEKlater, our time in Kfarkattan had come to a close. Miguel and Richie had talked again, and Miguel even introduced him to one of the humans responsible for selling off the Miancarem land. Apparently my mate had had other business dealings with this man and favors were owed. Hands were shaken, documents were signed, money changed hands, and by the end, my mate owned a good portion of our pack lands, along with hundreds of acres of abutting property, and the human had promised to sell the rest of Miancarem to a group of investors represented by Richie. Those investors, of course, were the pack members, but Miguel had explained which words the human would understand and which we should avoid using or risk causing confusion.
Though I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Richie liked Miguel, I think he had developed a measure of respect for my vampire. Not enough to smile at Miguel or thank him for what he’d done, mind you, but enough to swallow his pride and ask for help, or at least imply that he needed it. And that was what brought us back to the diner for a meeting with Richie.
“We can get close to all the money them humans is asking for the land we’re using, but not enough to buy all of it,” Richie said. His voice was strained and he was having trouble meeting Miguel’s eyes from across the table.
“And by the land you’reusing,” Miguel said. “I take it you mean the land with your buildings but not the common areas or the roads, not the land on the outskirts of Miancarem that’ll give you a buffer from Kfarkattan.”
Richie grunted and gave a sharp nod, then he raised his gaze for a moment before dropping it again. He tapped on the table nervously with one hand and clenched and released the other. His foot seemed to be keeping time with his hand, moving rapidly underneath the table.
Miguel spoke again without waiting on Richie to say more, without forcing the man to grovel. “I’ll buy the land holding the shops and the school,” he said. “They’re adjacent to the common areas, which I already bought, so it’ll be just a matter of me taking on a bigger plot. Will that solve the issue?”
“It will,” Richie said, disbelief and gratitude both evident in his tone. “We can take care of the rest.” He picked up his coffee mug and then looked down and noticed it was empty. “Do either of y’all need a refill?” he asked. Then he looked over to my single cup and seemed to remember that what my mate drank wasn’t on a restaurant menu. “Uh, do you need a refill, Ethan?”
“Yes, please.” I handed him my mug. “Thank you.” I waited until Richie was at the counter, and then I put my hand on Miguel’s thigh and leaned close to him. “You’re a good man,” I said.
“I’m a soulless bloodsucker, remember? Isn’t that why Richie keeps meeting us on his own? You have noticed that, right?”
“I have,” I said evenly.
“And you realize that’s because he hasn’t told any of his pack members where he got the information about the land being sold? In fact, I’d guess they still don’t know a thing about the common areas because there isn’t enough money for the pack to buy them and no way is he going to tell them that a vampire is going to own part of what they considertheirland.”
I sighed. “You’re a good man because even though you know all of this, you’re still helping them.”
“I’m helping you, Ethan. Not anybody else.”
“And I appreciate it. But you’re helping them too. And you didn’t make Richie beg. You’re not gloating.” I looked into his eyes. “You’re a good man, Miguel.”
“Here you go.” Richie slid the coffee mug in front of me and sat down.
“Listen, uh, Miguel.” He looked down at his mug and then back at my mate. “I just wanted to say that—”
“Richie?” an angry voice boomed from behind us. I recognized that voice. It was Richard Smith, Richie’s father. From the terrified look on Richie’s face, I knew he hadn’t told him about our meeting. This was an unfortunate and unexpected development.
I didn’t turn around, hoping I wouldn’t be noticed. Richie jumped to his feet, no doubt hoping to catch his father where he stood, rather than having the man walk over to us. Neither plan worked.
“I done thought that was you,” Mr. Smith said as he approached our table. “I was walking by and I seen you through the window. You didn’t tell me you were coming into town. And why are you in this here restaurant instead of home with your….” His eyes widened and he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Ethan?”
Well, all right, then. Apparently crouching low in my seat and gulping down scathing hot coffee in the hope that the mug would block my face hadn’t been enough to hide my presence. I set the mug down and looked up to meet the older shifter’s gaze. Though I tried to appear calm, I couldn’t help but squirm in my seat. That and the crack in my voice surely gave away my anxiety. “Hello, Mr. Smith,” I said.
Miguel, bless him, looked right at me, clearly concerned about my change in mood. Then he twisted his body so he was almost completely blocking me and glared up at Richie’s father. I knew he was about to speak, and though I wasn’t privy to his exact words, I had a strong sense of his emotions and they weren’t pretty.
Before the situation could go from bad to worse, I put my hand on Miguel’s shoulder and squeezed tight while trying to convey my own feelings to him—a desire for peace with Mr. Smith, with my pack. I didn’t rightly know whether it’d work, not ever having been able to communicate with anybody at that level. But I’d heard tale of true mates who could all but read each other’s minds, and I hoped that maybe my mate and I had started to develop some of those qualities and he’d be sensitive enough to hear my words without me speaking them aloud.
Though his posture tensed, Miguel held his tongue. I wondered whether that was in reaction to my silent plea.
“What in tarnation is going on here?” Richie’s father hissed. He cocked his chin toward Miguel but wouldn’t deign to rest his gaze on him. “That there’s a bloodsucker,” he added, as if that was information Richie and I somehow could have missed. It seemed being quiet didn’t make my vampire invisible, so it was too much to hope that Mr. Smith would pay him no mind.
Richie was already standing, so he needed only one step to be next to his father. He put his hand on the older man’s shoulder and tried to move him toward the door. “Let’s go, Papa,” he said.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be as easy as leaving the diner and then forgetting what he’d seen.
