one day? We had plenty of merchandise in a storage facility, but I hadn’t planned on restocking the same day.
“Bow chicka wow wow. You bought the sexy ones,” my uncle Denver said to his mate. My aunt pinched his side, and he stole a kiss before heading over to the snack table.
My former Packmaster put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m real proud of you. Someday you’re going to join a pack, and this store is going to be a huge contribution.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that my plan for opening a store wasn’t a means to impress a pack, but I knew what he meant, so I thanked him. Our kind had a long history of slavery, so it was a big deal when a Shifter found financial success. Packmasters were more inclined to accept you into their pack because of it.
When the crowd thickened, two of my aunts ushered our family out the door so new customers could move around.
“Darling, this is fabulous!” Naya purred. “I’m going to tell all my contacts about the best little boutique in town.”
“Thanks so much.” I smiled down at her two bags. “You could have gotten that for free.”
She shook back her curly dark hair and winked. “Call me when you have that red shirt with the lace in stock. It’s fabulous. The wench by the counter took the last one.”
I smiled blithely as she sauntered out the door.
Two weeks ago, I’d placed an ad in an online Breed newspaper. Word of mouth wasn’t enough for me, and I wanted to make sure everyone knew about the new shop in town. By the looks of the crowd gathering outside, the ad had been worth every penny. A few Vampires in dark shades wandered in to check things out, as well as a few Relics I recognized. Most of the crowd were Shifters, and most importantly, several Natives were admiring the jewelry display. Two of them were from a prominent pack in the territory. We’d included a guarantee in the ad that all our gemstones were “Iwa tribe certified,” and since their reputation preceded them, that was all it took to get the message across.
Toward the end of the day, sales were stellar and spirits high. Hope and I kept busy assisting customers with questions, ringing up orders, cleaning, and handing out coupons for their next visit. My feet were killing me, and I planned to burn my sandals in a lake of fire as soon as I took them off.
Most of our former packmates had gone home, but a few remained. Three of my uncles had headed up the street to a hardware store and killed about three hours in there. My aunts and a few women in Hope’s old pack had gone to lunch at a nearby café, then later returned to help us clean up after the shop closed. Cookie crumbs were everywhere, not to mention the trash cans were filled up.
Lennon and Hendrix could have taken off early, but they’d sat outside, flirting with shoppers and coaxing them inside. Redheads were rare, but a common belief that they always produced alphas existed, and since alphas weren’t born into every family, redheaded males received plenty of attention from the ladies.
At six o’clock, we turned the sign on the front door and closed shop.
“Move those out of the way,” Lorenzo ordered, pointing at a rack of clothes. “I don’t want any food or drinks to spill on them.”
Denver and one of Lorenzo’s packmates dragged a few racks of clothes against the wall to make an open space in the middle of the store. We had temporarily rearranged things, moving the outdoor tables and chairs inside so we could have dinner as a family. Though we could have gone out for barbecue, Hope and I suggested gathering together for a meal in the store. We wanted to build memories in the store, not just around it. The long snack table filled the center of the room, and they’d bought a few cheap folding chairs from the hardware store.
Sitting at that table suddenly made me miss home—miss the feeling that only a pack could give. As much as I resisted the idea, I knew my uncle Will was right. Someday the calling would be too great, and I would have to make a tough decision about joining a pack alone or finding a mate who might not support my dreams. Maybe that was selfish, but my dreams were all I