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. ”
Calum chuckled. “Yes. There is certainly snow. There’s snow on the ground right now, and my brother was talking about how they were expecting it to snow more tomorrow night.
They’re celebrating the winter solstice with a festival up on the mountain and are hoping the heavy snow holds off until they are able to have the party. ”
That sounded like fun. “We had gatherings like that. It was more of a big market gathering though. We would get booths and sell our things to others. Sometimes trades were done. It just really depended.”
“Perhaps we could go next year? This year, it won’t be possible, but if we are in Montana next year, I would love to take you.”
“I would like that.” I honestly would. I loved to be around people.
I wasn’t normally shy by nature, but I could be a bit hesitant when first meeting them.
I quickly picked up on the fact that Calum’s aura was showing concern when I first entered his room.
I was nervous, I would think understandably, and I had no idea if he would even be receptive to having a mate. “Do you have any questions for me?”
“What did you do in your village? You mentioned that it was the younger ones that did most of the jobs and such.”
I grinned. “Yes. I helped my parents, but I also worked in a bookstore. I know it’s not really that interesting, but I love to read. It’s where I found most of the different books that were about this realm. I’m not sure where they came from or how they got there, but some were really fascinating.”
“We’ll have to go to a bookstore here. And a library.”
“Do you like to read?” I asked.
Calum nodded. “Yes. It’s a large part of my job, really. I have to read for research for both expeditions and papers I write. It’s all part of being a professor.”
I sighed. “That sounds like fun.” I wouldn’t dare ask because I knew I had no right to ask if I could go to university like he’d mentioned.
It was another thing that was briefly covered.
I knew that when we came here, papers were created for us and were put with our things.
I’d not looked in my bag yet, but I was sure my papers were in there with the money they’d mentioned.
“Would you like to go to college? It’s not an issue. Maybe we could flip things around, and I’ll stay home with the kids and you can go to college. You won’t be able to attend while pregnant though, unfortunately.”
“I could do that?”
Calum chuckled. “You can. We can get you some information on different programs, and you can pick one. I meant it when I said you wouldn’t have to work. I’ve made more than enough funds in my lifetime already to support us for a very, very long time.”
I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I could do that. Leave my kids. I think I would want to be with them.”
Calum gave me a huge smile. “Well, eventually, they will need to go to school. If we’re planning on settling near my family, I know there is a shifter school in Timber Valley that all of the kids go to.
There is also a childcare center on the pack’s lands.
There are some couples that are still having children and both parents are working, so childcare is needed.
It will ultimately be your choice though. ”
I wanted to do both. “Do I have to decide now?” I also knew that once we started having kids, I might change my mind. There were a couple of friends my age who were already mated, and I loved spending time with their little ones.
“You don’t have to decide anything at the moment. Everything will be on your timeline, so we’ll do things how and when you want.”
I nodded and then realized what he’d said.
“Wait. Everything? You mean if I said I wanted to wait a couple of months to claim each other, you’d be all right with that?
” That would never happen because as a fae, we all knew that we only had about a week at most to claim our mates and be claimed by them once we met them.
If we went beyond that amount of time, the tingles and vibrations in our bodies when our auras recognized our mates would become too painful to bear.
“If that is what you wish, absolutely. I will do whatever I can to romance you. I want you to accept me and our claim on each other,” Calum told me.
“I already do, and I would never make you wait that long.” I remembered something he’d said about his family. “Your sire is a warlock,” I stated.
Calum nodded. “Yes. As are my older and younger brothers.”
“Do they, too, not have the tingles?”
Calum looked confused. “The tingles?”
“Yes. The tingles. They are what our body experiences when our auras talk to our mate. Unlike you, I’m not a shifter.
I don’t recognize my mate by scent. I recognize him by the tingles.
When we are near our mate, those tingles increase.
It’s like vibrations on our skin. As time goes on, they increase until they become painful. ”
“I can’t say I remember any of them ever talking about it.
Maybe they did and I just didn’t pay close enough attention because it didn’t really pertain to me.
I’m not sure.” Calum seemed thoughtful for a moment.
“So you’re telling me that if we don’t claim each other quick enough, you will be in pain? ”