Page 30 of Until Forever Comes
I gasped, lost my grip on the apple I’d just picked up, and dropped it onto the table. “Wait,” I said.
Miguel tore his gaze from the map to my face. “What’s wrong?” he asked, making me realize I must have sounded as upset as I felt.
“You said the dark line is the edge of Kfarkattan.” I tapped my finger on the map. “That there’s Miancarem, right inside the dark line.” I looked up and met his eyes. “And it’s shaded. But that can’t be right. Them humans can’t expand their city into our pack lands. They can’tsellour pack lands.” I gulped nervously. “Can they?”
Chapter 13
“WELL,”Miguel said, drawing the word out like he was trying to formulate his response. “The owner of the land can sell it at any time. If the pack set up house someplace, they shouldn’t be—”
“Shouldn’t be?” I shouted, interrupting him. “How can the humans say the pack shouldn’t be there? How can they just take it over? Make it part of Kfarkattan? Miancarem’s been our pack lands for generations!” I slammed my finger on the map as I spoke.
Miguel pursed his lips and sighed deeply. “Now, you see? That’s the problem with shifters. Always thinking they’re better than everyone else, that their way is the only way. Well, there are rules about where people can build houses. Shifters can’t just go around taking what they want if it already belongs to someone else. But that’s exactly what they do because they think humans are so inferior that they can be ignored. But humans greatly outnumber shifters, they outnumber vampires. And it’s that kind of superior, arrogant—”
My jaw dropped and whatever appetite I had left deserted me. “You’re saying I’m superior and arrogant and… and… and I think I’m better than everyone else?” The hurt was clear from my tone.
“No, not you,” Miguel said in a rush. He leaned toward me and took my hand in his, kissing my palm. “Of course I didn’t mean you.”
I took a deep breath to calm myself and waited until our eyes met before speaking again. “I am a shifter, Miguel. I’m a mite different from the others, I suppose. And I’m your mate, so I’m leaving my pack. But that don’t change who I am. No matter how far away you take me, I will always be a shifter, hear? And I’m right proud of that. I’m not saying my kind’s perfect; nobody is. But there ain’t nothing wrong with valuing family and community, with setting down roots. Taking care of our own don’t make us arrogant or… or superior.”
He scoffed. “You’re saying shifters consider humans to be equal? Half-souls. That’s what shifters call them. Because only shifters have complete souls.” His final words were dripping with sarcasm. “That belief in their superiority is arrogance, pure and simple. And it’s been the death knell for many a pack.”
Miguel had answered his own question, and I couldn’t dispute it. But neither was I willing to agree with him. It didn’t sit right, bad-mouthing my own, my pack.
“And I suppose you’re saying your kind are different?” I snapped. “At least we leave the humans in peace. We’re not out attacking them during the night.”
“No, you’re just out attacking us!” He shoved his chair back and it tumbled to the ground. “Isn’t that right, Ethan? I mean, we met when you and your little friends decided to seekusout. We didn’t come to your precious pack lands. No, just like all the shifters, you sought us out. And why? Because shifters have decided that vampires aren’t worthy of being alive.”
He was right and I knew it, but my blood was boiling and the need to defend my kind was all I could feel.
“It’s no different than what you do to the humans. Don’t forget that I done saw you. You sought them out, attacked them,hurtthem.” I was hitting below the belt and I realized it the moment I saw Miguel flinch. It was as if I couldfeelhis reaction to my words—his shame, his pain. Immediately regretting having hurt my mate, I reached my hand out to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay,” Miguel said. But the sorrow rolling off him told me it was anything but okay. “I know you’ve seen me at my worst. It isn’t always like that, though.” He paused and furrowed his brow, looking lost in thought. “Actually, it’s almost never like that. We need the humans to survive, so we don’t aim to hurt them, not really. They’re a part of us; their blood runs through our veins. And, don’t forget, we started out as humans, all of us, before we were turned. Also, like I already told you, some humans like how they feel after we’ve fed from them. They seek us out.” He dropped his gaze and chewed on the side of his lip. When he spoke again, it was quieter. “Most vampires can usually get by feeding every two or three months, depending on how much they take. And it doesn’t have to be enough to really hurt the human. It’s been different for me in recent times, harder to control. I need more blood than the others. But no matter how much I take, it’s never enough.”
“It is now,” I said. “You weren’t hungry after you drank from me. That’s what you said,” I said, trying to soothe the pain I’d caused, and also wanting to remind him that he belonged to me now.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, there you go, then. They weren’t enough for you, the humans, and I am. I’m a part of you now. It’smyblood running through your veins.”
Miguel beamed and reached for me. “Come here, wolf,” he said as he picked his chair up, settled in it, and patted his thighs.
I got up off my seat and went to my mate. He clasped my waist, those big hands reminding me of his strength and power, which made my breath catch in my throat and my heart quicken. Without saying another word, he pulled me down so I was straddling his lap, our groins pressed together, my backside on his thick, muscular thighs. Then he pushed one hand under my shirt, rubbed circles on my back, and combed the other through my hair.
“Are we through fighting?” he asked me.
“I wasn’t fighting none,” I mumbled disgruntledly and dropped my chin.
“No?” He tangled his fingers in the hair on the back of my head and tugged until my eyes met his. “My mistake.”
He stared at me, his gaze unwavering, eyes unblinking.
“I want to kiss you,” I said breathlessly, the need sudden and powerful.
“I’m all yours, wolf,” he replied, the words designed to ramp me up further.
We leaned toward each other, and our mouths met in the middle, lips tugging, tongues tangling. I relaxed in his lap, rested against his broad chest, draped my arms over his wide shoulders, and combed my fingers through his silky hair.
“Mmm,” I sighed after several long minutes of necking. “I like kissing you.”
