A Love That Lasts Forever

Chapter Ten

"Quin. What a nice surprise. Didn't expect you in so soon." Eliza stood up from the desk as Quinton entered the warehouse office.

"Just thought I'd check on supplies." He smiled warmly at the older woman as he picked up the clip board hanging on the wall and looked over the request sheet. "Rubber sheets?" He raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

Eliza softly chuckled. "One of Sara's pups has been having accidents. She's worried he'll ruin the mattress."

"Ah." Quinton hung the clip board back on the hook and grinned. "I suppose that's something I'll have to deal with at some point."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Congratulations on your mating. I must say, there are quite a few disappointed omega's around here, but I'm happy for you. I always thought it was time you settled down and had a family."

"Well, the mating is only temporary. We just needed to secure a place in Black River for Caleb and his pup but I intend to be in the boys life as much as possible. Even if only as his cool uncle Quin."

"Only temporary? That's a shame. To hear Annie talk, the two of you are suited to each other."

Quinton sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I'm not sure Caleb is ready to even start thinking about taking on a new mate this soon. He only just lost Rhys."

"Well, either way, I'm glad he has you in his corner. From what I hear, the young man could use all the love and support we can offer. It's a dirty shame how his old pack treated him."

"It is." Quinton agreed. "He definitely deserved better."

An unspoken sense of solemnness hung in the air between them before Quinton finally broke the uneasy silence. "So, anything you need signed?"

"Just a few vouchers for building supplies. Shamus wants to get the new roof on his barn before winter hits." Eliza shuffled around the papers on her desk until she found the documents she was looking for and handed them to Quinton. He looked them over, signed them, and handed them back to her.

"If that's all." He said, "I'll go have a look around the warehouse."

Eliza nodded. "That's all I needed." She smiled as she sat back down behind the desk. "I'll have the order reports sent to your office at the end of the month."

"Sounds good." Quinton gave her a quick nod then excused himself from the room. The warehouse was one large storage area about the size of a small discount store. The open space was utilized by arranging multiple shelves throughout that held anything from canned goods, to discounted clothing items. It very much resembled a thrift store with an assortment of second hand items as well as new.

One shelf near the front of the building was used to store personal orders until they could be picked up or delivered. The majority of items were things that were common place, everyday items, that every pack member had access to. Orders would be called in to Eliza for items needed and the price would be deducted from personal accounts. Specialty items could be ordered as well however, those took longer to procure than the other items.

Pack members were, of course, allowed to shop in town if they wanted though many chose not to as the humans weren't always agreeable to having shifters in their stores. Quinton held several contracts with locals vendors who supplied the pack with inventory though they charged an arm and a leg. Quinton had no choice but to pay the outrageous prices though since finding humans who would actually sell to him wasn't the easiest of tasks.

Quinton would love to have the pack more self sustaining so he wouldn't have to rely on humans for so much but that wasn't an easy feat to accomplish. The pack had no manufacturing plants and frankly, no room to build any. The land utilized for farming was far smaller than what they actually needed and they yielded mostly vegetables, as there wasn't enough room for live stock other than a few chicken coops.