Page 74 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

Monroe smirked. “You don’t actually have to pack anything,” he said just before he winked. Once he did, I felt something shift in the room, and when I looked around, the room was void of anything that had been personal. I went to the dresser and opened drawer after drawer, finding them all empty.

“What? How?”

Monroe held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. “Now that I’m here, I was able to send all of your things to the house on the mountain. They’re in the bedroom there.”

“Seriously?”

Monroe nodded.

“Can you do that for my bathroom things too?”

“Of course. I just need to know where your bathroom things are.”

I took Monroe to the bathroom and indicated which items were mine. I watched as they disappeared and wondered just how easy moving was going to be.

“Is any of the furniture yours?”

“No. The house is a pack house and came furnished. It’s for new couples that are just starting out or families that have come here seeking sanctuary. My siblings and I fit that description, not that they wouldn’t have helped us anyway. Alpha Forest and Alpha War have been amazing about welcoming others to the area when the council has rescued them. Even before that, from what I’ve heard.”

“I haven’t met Alpha War, but Alpha Forest and his mate have been nothing but amazing since I arrived. It has to be somewhat of a burden, I would think, to take in three complete strangers and house them with your family.”

“That’s just part of being alpha, I think. I don’t remember my pack’s alpha ever doing that, but he was always a bit of an ass. Us kids didn’t have a whole lot to do with them, except during runs and things like that when we had to, but I never really liked him much. Or the inner circle.”

“We didn’t have that type of dynamic in our village. Or any of them around either.”

“What is it like?” I asked as I turned and leaned against the counter.

“What? The village?”

“Yeah. And your realm. You said it was warm all the time.”

“Yes. It’s green, the weather is mild, but it’s very different than what you have here. We don’t have phones or televisions, nor do we have the same foods. It’s a bit of a shock to come here from there. There are books that we all read because, since as long as I’ve been able to read, we’ve known it’s a possibility that we could be chosen to have a mate in this realm. It goes over the basics that we can expect here, things like that. I know about your world a little, but I look forward to experiencing it firsthand.”

“I mean…I don’t know. I’m not sure I could live without a phone or a TV. But I’ve always had them. I guess if I grew up not having something, I wouldn’t miss it.” That still didn’t sound like the greatest thing, but I could see it from that perspective.

“Is there anything else you want sent to the other house?”

I thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Yeah. Follow me?”

I led Monroe out of the bathroom and down the stairs to the living room. In the corner was a small shelf that had books on it. They were all I had left from my days as a starving artist, but they meant a lot to me, and some would be incredibly expensive to replace. I didn’t have many, and the shelf was mostly empty, but I didn’t want anything to happen to them either.

“Can you please send these? I don’t recall seeing a bookshelf or anything. But if you could send them to the house, I’ll stack them and put them away in the bedroom closet.”

“There were shelves in the other room with all of the windows. I think it was supposed to be an office? It had a desk. Personally, I think it would make a great art room for you, and we should use it for that.”

I just grinned because although that sounded amazing, it wouldn’t be a reality for at least some time. I might eventually get back into my art, but I didn’t have time for that right now. I was too busy raising my siblings, and now that I had Monroe in my life, that meant I had Mason and Maelie in my life as well. They were adorable, and I knew I would quickly fall for both of them. How could you not?

“You don’t believe me,” Monroe said.

I shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t. I will admit that I love the idea. But I don’t have the time or the funds to dedicate myself to art. I have bills, and little kids and art supplies don’t always go hand in hand. Especially not for incredibly expensive art supplies that don’t come out of clothing or floors.”

“If you say so. I want you to have the things in life that bring you joy. If that’s art, then you have art,” Monroe said.

The books suddenly disappeared from in front of me, so I stood. “Thank you,” I said.

“You’re very welcome. Is there anything else in the house?”

I started to shake my head but remembered that I should probably get our important papers. They were in a metal box in the small coat closet behind the front door. I moved across the room and into the hallway, and when I opened the closet, I quickly found the box on the shelf. Just to be safe, I put in the combination on the lock, and when I saw all of the papers there, I closed and relocked it.