Page 38 of Meant for Them
I wrap my palm around her upper thigh, smiling when she winds her fingers through mine. “We get that, and we’re not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything. Think of it as…spending Alex’s money. It all comes from him, and it’s because his bitch-ass locked us up here that we even have it.
“Sure, we’ve worked to live off of what were given, but we never spend it, not really. You’re part of our pack now, and basic living expenses are more than doable for us. We’re not taking you to fancy boutiques or anything, but we’ll make sure you get some quality stuff that won’t fall apart the first time you wear it.”
She seems to relax after that and seeing as we’re all a bit self-conscious about our lack of wealth, even though we have everything we need, it’s good that the mate we were gifted by the goddess is okay with living a somewhat humble life. We’d stretch and do what was needed if she needed more from us of course, but she’s fitting in so seamlessly with us that it’d be hard to imagine her actually wanting a different lifestyle.
“Oh, by the way, I was looking at that paperwork you said the lawyers left and found an interesting loophole I wasn’t sure you were aware of. Not that I want the money or anything, but like you said, it’s kind of fun to take shit from Alex.”
Wiley perks up in the back, the first to respond to Morgan. “Loophole? What kind of loophole? I’ve read that thing so many times, I thought I knew it forward and back.”
Morgan starts playing with the ends of her hair, and I make a mental note to stop by the salon to see if she wants a trim or anything. “Maybe I read it wrong.”
Wiley leans farther forward, testing the limits of his seatbelt. “Doubt it, you’re smart. What part are you talking about exactly?”
“Oh, well, it was like the second page at the bottom? There was a clause in there that if you guys did take up a mate, your income would be doubled. Seems a bit much to me, but you should see Alex’s house; it’s ridiculous. Plus, he did tell me he was fucking that other woman at the same time I was trying to make stuff work with him. I guarantee that clause was thrown in thereto taunt you, knowing you’d be stuck up here with no way of interfering with Alex getting to me. He was trying to take it all from you anyway.”
“Oh wait, no, I remember that. I guess I forgot it was there because we never expected to get mated, either.” I smile over at Morgan and wink, trying to keep the tension out of the cab. Then another thought hits me. “Wait a minute. Wasn’t there wording somewhere in that document that if Alex gave up his fated mate to us, that he’d lose control of the family company?”
Morgan gasps, turning in her seat. “What?”
Troy is quick to reassure her in case she thought that’s the real reason we chose to mate her. This is becoming a theme. “Morgan, that has nothing to do with us, you know that, right? None of us were thinking about that when we decided we had to have you.”
She waves him off like he’s being ridiculous. Good. “No, I know. I wasn’t thinking about that. It just... it brings me a lot of joy to think of fucking him over.”
There’s a moment of silence and then everyone starts laughing at the same time while I park, and I can’t help but sweep her into a hug as soon as I’m around the front of the car. “You’re so damn perfect. Love how bloodthirsty you are.”
She sighs as she melts against my chest, taking a look around the town. “Wow. This place is adorable. I can see why they try to keep people out; they’d have commercial shit in here in a heartbeat if corporations thought they could make money here. Oh my gods, are those gas lamps on the sidewalk? I love that.”
There are a few people walking around the sidewalks, definitely curious about Morgan. We knew we’d have to field some questions, but that’s okay. We want Morgan to be a permanentresident here and feel comfortable coming down here alone if she feels like looking around.
We’re only a few steps away from the truck when the door to the spell shop opens, the owner running out to us, waving her arms. “Thank goodness! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you three—oh, hello. How do you do? What is your name and are you with them willingly? Because I have some spells that could fuck—”
Morgan cuts the eccentric woman off, laughing as she winds an arm around mine. “Very willingly, thank you. Appreciate the offer, though.”
The owner, Lenore, waves Morgan off. “Offer stands if they do something stupid. Anyway, welcome to town! We hardly ever get a new resident, be ready for the gossip!”
“You said you’ve been trying to get a hold of us?” I interject, trying to get everyone back on track.
Lenore freezes and starts twisting her hands together, looking back over her shoulder at her shop.
“Get a new rock? That thing is massive. How the hell did you get it into town?” I step closer to it, admiring the black and gold veining in it. It’d make a hell of a something if you carved it right.
“That’s…that’s what I needed to talk to you about,” Lenore says anxiously. “You see, your brother, he, well…”
The three of us instantly give her all of our focus, ready to throw more than fists if Alex did something to this lovely lady. Terrifying, but lovely.
“He came to see me after he was, er, treated by healer Elvira, and he didn’t heed the warning on the door of my shop…”
My eyes nearly bug out of my head as I get whiplash from looking back and forth from the rock to the spell shop over andover again, not sure if I’m hoping if she’s saying what Ithinkshe’s saying, or if I’m horrified by the thought.
Then I have a vision memory of Alex throwing it in Morgan’s face that he was actually fucking a woman he claimed was his sister, which, ew, amirite? And the state Morgan was in when we found her because she was so messed up by his soft rejection, and it’s the former.
“Are you—I’m sorry, did you turn our brother into a godsdamnedrock?” Wiley asks, about as shocked as I am.
Morgan’s hand flies to her mouth and she inhales so loud and quick she starts coughing. Then she’s stumbling over to the rock, falling to her knees as she runs her hands over the rough edge of it.
There are tears gathering in her eyes, and I’m kicking myself for making the mistake of bringing her to town before verifying that Alex was fully out of the picture. Probably would have helped if we bothered plugging in the phone. It was just so damn nice pretending he didn’t exist for a few days.
Troy joins Morgan on the ground, not quite sure where to put his hands.
