Page 48 of A Light in the Dark
“Maybe. It’s questionable. Maybe we should salt the steaks now so that’s fifteen less minutes to wait.”
Jolena narrowed her eyes, nodded, and went to the back and retrieved a bag of salt, carefully opened each package of meat, and handled making sure all of the meat was appropriately seasoned for the trip. “That’s a good idea, and I’m going to have to start offering that as a service for those calling in. Joel, buy her a musk ox roast as a reward for being smart.”
“Sure. Valerie, I’m buying you a musk ox roast because Jolena said so.”
“I’m not going to say no to trying a new meat on someone else’s dime. I have decided that in addition to my craft store conquests, I’m a true apex predator, able to eat more meat than even a wolf.”
“Are you a shifter?” Jolena asked, raising a brow.
“No. I’m just really hungry, and Joel hasn’t fed me yet.”
Joel laughed, waited for his cousin to repack the bag with our lunch and dinner to grab it, and said, “That’s my cue to get her to my parents’ place so we can wait until we can throw everything on the grill and feed her. We’ll be back tomorrow before we head back to Stonecreek.”
After exchanging hugs with his cousin, Joel herded me to his SUV, opened my door for me, waited until I was buckled in to close me inside, and placed everything in the back before climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the engine. “We got carried away.”
“I started it, and I finished it. I’m the one who got carriedaway. You’re just a hapless victim of your family.” Understanding that Yolana and Jolena were family helped me accept the man’s playful tantrum in the craft store. “Your cousin took you totownon those silks, though. Standard silk is only fifteen a yard—up to thirty if you’re getting the excellent stuff.”
“Shifter silk is ridiculously expensive,” Joel complained. “And then, when I became successful at my job, I decided I’d wear nothing but shifter silk to work. Luna moths are the only local shifters that produce silk. When I do wear material other than silk, I try to buy from shifter-owned businesses. My jeans cost a hundred a pair because there aren’t many shifter-owned companies that sell denim.”
Ouch. “I buy the cheapest clothes money can buy for when I’m not at work, and I wear much fancier clothes than my position suggests I should wear, except with the bonus, I now feel I’m appropriately dressed for my job.” I rubbed my hands together. “For the first time in my adult life, I got a bonus that was not part of the budget, and I spent it with wild abandon!”
“You definitely went wild over Shifter Five’s silk. I can’t say I haven’t done the exact same thing. And being completely honest about my purchase today, I’ve been saving up specifically for that purchase for a long time, so the money was just sitting in a savings account waiting for the bolts to become available. I spent less than I had budgeted for the bolts. I can be reckless with money, but I’m notthatreckless.”
“Without the bonus, I would have splurged on one of her kits. But that project holder isbeautiful.”
“I thought you were going to swoon when you saw it. Youwere delighted. I was going to get it for you if you hadn’t gotten it for yourself, just as a thank you for bringing peace to our street and making this year’s flood recovery sane.”
“I appreciate it, but I was okay getting it. The bonus helped. I really didn’t need two entire bolts of silk, but I won’t need fabric for a while. How far out of town are your parents?”
“We have to go about fifteen minutes down a dirt road, and they’re the only ones living on the dirt road. They are the farthest property still associated with town. Honestly, unless you want to go back to that specific spot from earlier, all we have to do to see luna moths and waterfalls is take a walk down a trail from their place. They’re walking distance from one of the falls.”
“It sounds nice. Do your parents let people camp on their property?”
“Yes, camping is allowed with permission. They have a few campgrounds set up.”
“How much land do they own?”
“They have about fifty acres,” he admitted. “There are alotof luna moths on their land, and they gather mundane silk and use magic to maximize the amount of viable silk they get from the cocoons. In exchange for stealing all the cocoons, my parents manage the land so the babies have plenty to eat. They actually watch for the hatches and when the larvae are most active. They pay to have leaves brought in to preserve the ecosystem. The larvae actually leave behind small amounts of silk, which my parents use magic to gather. Normally, it’s not practical to harvest silk from luna moths. Well, mundane ones.”
“And how do shifters produce silk?”
“You know that whole digestive system thing that shifters have that mundane moths do not? Well, luna moth shifters expel silk after digesting nectar and when they shift. They expel it by spitting it out.”
I bowed my head, understanding my fate. “I’m in love with moth vomit?”
Joel snickered. “Yep. You have been fondling shifting byproduct and moth vomit.”
It didn’t take me long to determine I had no problems with having been bewitched by shifting byproduct and moth vomit. “I accept my fate. Not only will I be fondling it, I will be making it into a blanket so I can cuddle with it at night.”
“You are remarkably relaxed about this.”
“Shifter Five’s silk is that nice.”
“It did not take you long to develop a bias.”
“It’s the nicest silk I’ve ever touched, and I spent plenty of time deciding which silk was the best. I might have to get enough of the mundane silk to make something out of, though, but I’m afraid of how much it costs.” The hint of jealousy in Joel’s voice amused me.
If he was a silk producing luna moth, I would be getting into a fight with his cousin over his silk. While I’d only spun cotton, rabbit fur, and wool, I bet I could figure out how to make a decent hank of silk yarn or a good spool of thread. I’d even done some dyeing, but I preferred mixed colors rather than the solids the store mostly featured.
