Page 41 of Meant for Them
Wiley wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side as we keep walking toward the town square. “You're not acting spoiled at all. And even if you were, we'd want to do it for you anyway. Just let us at least talk to the guy and look into it. No promises, but if it's within our means, it would be a good idea. That way we don't have to worry about stocking up on supplies before winter hits, we could just come down here andget our groceries whenever we needed them. Kind of mad that we haven't done it yet, to be honest.”
It's close to dark now, and I know we should head out, but this town just feels so magical. Some of the shops are starting to close while others are just starting to open for the night, and the only thing that gets me to walk back to the car is knowing I can come back to explore more another day. I don't even really want to go shopping and buy stuff, just the thought of walking around and seeing what's on offer holds a lot of appeal to me.
I feel like my world has kind of turned on its axis, because I'm seeing rough around the edges, leather clad men on motorcycles chatting and smiling with older ladies that look like they just got out of church. There are kids running around and laughing at the town square where there's a small playground, and for the first time in maybe ever, I start to build a little fantasy of what it might be like to have a kid or two of my own at some point. Ones that could grow up in a town like this, with men that actually like me and want to be around me and take care of me. Men that care about me.
They're giving me space to process everything as we walk, joking with each other and shoving each other around, talking shit to each other as they hold my hands. It's all so domestic, and I close my eyes as we walk, trusting they won't walk me into a telephone pole or something so I can breathe in the crisp night air.
“Well, I'll be. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this the Flint Pack out in public, holding hands with a woman? Pause. Picture!”
Obviously, I open my eyes for this encounter. It's an older gentleman with a bow tie, black framed glasses, and tiny wisps of hair sticking out from his mostly bald head, carrying around a professional camera. He pulls out a business card from his pocket and hands it over to me. “Bruce Ellis at your service,miss. Oh my, bite marks as well? This is quite the news. Would you all be willing to sit down for an interview? I'm sure the town would be so invested in this development.”
Jake wraps his arm fully around my waist. “Bruce, this is our mate, Morgan.”
“Did somebody just say that was your mate? Ladies! Look who's off the market finally! Honey, I sure hope you're ready to unstopper are these fine men. We've had women trying to snare them for years, all burly and masculine up in their cabin in the woods. To my knowledge, they've never partaken a single time. Left many broken hearts behind them, you see. My goodness, you're going to have a lot of pent up needs ready to satiate,” some random lady literally pops out of nowhere to tell me as she fans herself. That’s unsettling.
Okay, maybe I'm beginning to see why the guys don't come to town all that often. People are (maybe literally) magically appearing out of the woodwork now to stare, and they’re not even trying to hide it. They're getting any details about us they can, and since we're basically in the middle of town square at this point, I guess the guys decide to just get it all over with at once.
Wiley hops into the little pergola they've got in the middle of all the grass and whistles loud enough that everybody in the near vicinity is going to hear it. “Listen up. I'm saying this one time. No Bruce, there will be no interview. Sorry. You guys know we were cursed, because I know how fucking nosy you all are,” he says as people laugh good naturedly, so apparently there's still a good rapport between my pack and the town.
“I will tell you that yes, we have found our mate. Her name is Morgan, and she's lovely and perfect. She's never lived in a town like this, so don't overwhelm her or we won't bring her down tosee y'all. Also, that giant rock in front of the spell shop? That's our asshole brother that cursed us in the first place, basically broke Morgan's heart, and then tried to attack Lenore. Feel free to deface that rock as much as you want. Lenore assures us his consciousness is still hidden within that rock, so he'll likely enjoy every kind gift you decide to give him.
“That's all you're getting out of us for now. We just want to spend time with our new mate and get her accustomed to living here. Try and hold back the crazy for a little bit while she gets acclimated, would you? Appreciate it.”
He hops off and dusts off his hands like he's proud of himself, stopping when he gets to me because the crowd is starting to chant, ‘Kiss her!’
Wiley goes for it, not waiting a single second to decide if he wants to. Clearly, he already knows he does. He dips me low to the ground and lays one on me, spinning me back upright in time for Jake and then Troy to do similar things in different poses.
I'm flushed and warm by the time I'm set back upright for the last time, amidst catcalls and whistles, clapping even, and then the crowd disperses and we're left to our own devices once more.
“Are they always like this?” I ask, feeling slightly blitzed from the attention.
Troy tows me by the hand back to the truck now. “They get excited when somebody new comes to town. It doesn't happen often, so I'm sure you'll get lots of invites for different events. Everybody's going to want to get to know you. You don't have to say yes to any of them, you can say yes to all of them though if you want to. We want you to have friends here, Morgan. You're not stuck up there with us, okay? There's a whole life down hereyou can be living as well. I vote we do the portal because I think it'll make you happy. And that really is our only goal.”
I mean, I can't argue with that at all.
I get sleepy as we start driving back up the mountain, the truck rumbling me into a state of near sleep. Until the truck skids to a halt anyways, giving me a nice shot of adrenaline to wake me up. “What happened? Did we hit something? Flat tire?”
“No, nothing like that. Come here, we want to show you something.” Jake throws me on his back as we leave the truck right in the middle of the road, and it doesn't matter because nobody else comes up here. We don’t hike that far into the woods, but there is a smallish pond, and from the looks of it, I estimate we're maybe halfway back to the house.
When he sits me down and spins me, I gasp. It's so dark up here away from the small town, and the air is full of fireflies. I've never seen them in real life, but it's something I've always wanted to see.
“They’re... beautiful. They look fake. What a weird little bug.” One of them flies too close to my face and buzzes, flashing his ass light right in my eye. “My bad, you're not weird at all. Carry on.”
Troy laughs. “Wouldn't be surprised if that was a shifter. We've got all kinds here.”
I don’t think I like the idea of that. “I can't tell if you're serious or not.”
“Oh, I'm serious. Can't find towns like that one everywhere, so we have more than just mammal shifters in town. I don't know everybody so I can't give you the exhaustive list, but I've heard talk about furniture that people can shift into. I promise, Trash Heaven is unlike anywhere else.”
“Yeah, I think I'm getting that.” But it's in a good way.
I tip my head back and watch the fireflies for a few more minutes, letting the guys hold me. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect day; made even more perfect by the fact I don't have to deal with Alex anymore. That might be the best news of all, and for the first time in my life, I'm looking forward to discovering who I can be when I don't have so many limitations put upon me.
seventeen
Epilogue
“It’s. Fucking. Christmas!” I groan as Jake yells to the rest of the house, already overwhelmed and overstimulated. I knew they’d freak out when my heat finally hit, but I didn’t think they’d go around claiming it was Christmas.
