Page 103 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

Ben: Is everything all right?

Me: Fine. Just something unexpected, yet important. I’ll let you know about it later. Give the twins hugs and kisses for me.

Ben: Will do. I hope you get things dealt with.

I grinned, and placed my phone on the table beside my laptop. Asher had already returned and was sitting on the couch once again, this time with a pillow on his lap and his feet tucked under him. A quick glance toward the door told me he’d removed his shoes. I smiled as I went over to join him. It was time to get to know everything about my mate that I could.

Chapter 4

Asher

Already so considerate and nice. Would he stay that way? Would Calum remain nice and thoughtful for a long time? Would he act that way toward our children? I’d talked to my older siblings, and they had all said that our parents’ attitude toward me was completely different than it was toward them. I was truly a surprise. Or an oops, it seemed. My parents were just uninterested. I really hoped that now that I was gone and they no longer had to worry about me, they would be happy.

“You mentioned getting a job,” Calum said. “And you are perfectly welcome to, but it won’t be necessary.”

“I’m not sure how I should respond to that. I don’t want to take advantage of you or our situation. I don’t want you to think I’m only a mooch.”

Calum’s brow furrowed. “You…I would never call my mate a mooch. Even though I’ve only known you around an hour, not even, that’s not how I would ever feel.” Calum turned on the couch, raising one leg to rest on it so he was facing me. “Tell me something. In your realm, what do the couples do after they’re mated? Do both continue to work? I’m not necessarily referring to your parents, but all couples there? Do they both work?”

I shook my head. “No. Most of the people that work are us younger people. There are older ones that are mated and have families, but they are usually the business owners. Does that make sense?”

Calum nodded. “And the newly mated couples. What do they do? Are they both working?”

He had me there. “Not usually. The village takes care of them. They help with foods and things needed for the baby. Until the baby is one, and then the alpha can go back to working.”

“So why would you expect it to be any different here?”

I tilted my head to the side and leaned it against the back of the couch. “Because there’s no village. I know that things are different here.”

“Yes. And we have more of a ‘village’ than you think. It’s true that I currently don’t live with mine. We are in Egypt because I was here for work.” Calum paused for a moment before he continued. “Our families are our villages. Our covens, packs, dens, prides. Things of that nature are our villages, and the good ones, they are much like you were describing your village. They will look out for the others.”

“Which do you belong to?” I asked.

Calum chuckled. “My sire is a warlock, and we grew up in a warlock coven. Dad and I are fox shifters, but we weren’t the only shifters in the coven. There were a few others, but it was mostly other warlocks.”

“So we will live near them?” I asked. He had mentioned he was considering moving closer to his parents.

“My parents don’t live with the coven any longer. They did when I was quite a bit younger, but we had moved away when I was certainly old enough to be on my own. That house I mentioned in France?”

I nodded. I remembered him mentioning it.

“It isn’t near a coven, or a skulk for that matter. It’s just a house that is near the university and museums. That made it easier for me to go to work, depending on where that was. For the most part, I’ve spent the majority of my career working for universities.”

“So you teach?”

Calum nodded. “Yes. And just a few days ago, I was discussing going back to that with my dad. They are in Montana, which is where the paranormal council is. There is a university there that has job openings for professors. I was going to look into applying.”

“All right. I’ll go to Montana. Is it nice there?”

Calum chuckled. I honestly didn’t care where I lived. I was here to be with my mate, and if he was going to take us to France, I’d go to France. If we were going to Montana, so be it.

“It’s certainly different than here. Montana is in the United States. Up by Canada. It’s incredibly cold in the winter and can get really hot in the summer.”

“The fae realm is always the same. Green and nice. It doesn’t get cold or hot. It’s just nice.”

Calum shook his head. “I’m not sure where that’s possible here. Tropical islands, most likely.”

I held up my hand. “I wasn’t saying I wanted to live somewhere like that. Just that the fae realm is always the same. I think it will be fun to live somewhere that is different throughout the year. You mentioned that it was cold. Does that mean it will have snow? We don’t have snow where I’m from, but it’s in the books that we have about the shifter realm where the humans live.”