Loren Tate sought solace in his greenhouse, pondering what to plant next. But he found more than inspiration there — he found his mate, Hanna, gravely injured and on the run. Aurora revealed that Hanna was not only Loren’s destined partner but the magical Queen of all Shifters. With Loren as her newfound King, Hanna had the power to defeat her murderous father, who hunted her. But first, Loren had to help Hanna recover, and together they had to embrace their supernatural birthright if there was any hope of stopping a vicious war for power. Now Loren and Hanna must stand united against the darkness — or risk losing their love and lives forever.
Caitlynne’s job was difficult. Doing what she did for the government not only put herself at risk, but any friends or family she had could become a target. When her sister was hurt, she blamed herself even though it had nothing to do with her directly. It didn’t matter. It was time for her to quit before someone she cared about ended up dead.
Joel Tate had been in the building to meet with Becca Jacobson when she was attacked. To save her, Joel had to change her into what he was, a wolf. More or less guarding her in the hospital, Joel met her sister, Caitlynne, when she was brought to the hospital to see her sister. As soon as Caitlynne was close enough to him to get her scent, he knew she was his mate.
Caitlynne’s disappearing act from her job started things rolling. Her boss wasn’t taking I quit as an answer. When they tried to kill her by setting her apartment on fire, Joel thought it was time to take the situation into his own hands….
Cody Martin was a good attorney. Never appreciated at her job, she still never wavered in her loyalty. And when she was suddenly fired for no reason, she found it would be the perfect opportunity to start a business with her brother Matt.
Layton Tate was also an attorney, but he and his brother Loren were bogged down with cases and needed to hire a new firm to help with their caseload. Cody would make a good candidate as her stellar reputation proceeded her. He reached out to shake Cody’s hand. The blast sent them both reeling to opposite sides of the room and shocking the family. Layton and his wolf both knew what that meant.
Cody wasn’t stupid, she knew what Layton was to her too, but she had to make sure the ground rules were straight before she’d have anything to do with him. No one would be pushing her around, mate or no mate….
Shade Cornwall did her best to help her mother and siblings escape that maniac known as her father, but she’d never acknowledge that. Their run ended abruptly when he tossed a Molotov cocktail into their moving vehicle. Her mother was burning, and it was all she could do to help save her and her siblings from the burning vehicle. As it ended up, her mother’s prognosis for survival didn’t look too good. Cliff Tate had just returned from a long stint out of the country. It felt good to be home. He didn’t hesitate to take in the kids from the burning vehicle while the driver and their mother were rushed to the hospital. Shade had no trust in men. Her father had seen to that. Cliff seemed to be a good man, but she’d had enough of men to last her a lifetime….
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Prologue
Andy had been working with the young woman for about three weeks now. She didn’t say much. Hardly anything at all, as a matter of fact. But the two of them worked well together washing up the dishes after people finished up with their dinner in their restaurant. He was happy to be able to get out of the restaurant at a decent hour nightly, mostly because of her.
Not only did she work really well, but she’d told him shortcuts that they could use that had saved them both a great deal of time and energy. As old as he was, Andy didn’t like using up his energy by doing things the wrong way.“Twelve thousand forty-one.” She did that a great deal too. When a string of numbers was said, it seemed to him about any place in the restaurant. She would total them up quicker than the person who was adding them could. Especially the boss man.
Even with the boss using a calculator, she usually had them all added up and was correct about it as well. But she said it low so that no one would hear her, he guessed. No point in getting the boss in a tizzy when there was no reason for it. Andy was sure, too, that the only reason that he’d been able to hear her was that he was a wolf. She’d been that low.
“Twelve thousand forty-two.” Before he could remind himself that he needed to keep his mouth shut on certain things, he corrected the man who had been adding up the numbers. “What did you say, Andy? You thinking that you’re smarter than my phone is?”“No, sir. I didn’t think that at all.” He glanced over at Hanna and saw the terror on her face as she shook her head at him. “No. I was just keeping a running total in my head when you kept repeating yourself.
I’m more than likely wrong.”Mr. Hendershot walked away but did return a few minutes later to tell Andy that he’d been correct in his adding. That was another thing that he liked about working here—and there weren’t that many things—they were quick to tell you that you’d done a good job. Quicker, too, sometimes to tell you that you didn’t, but he didn’t make that many mistakes anymore just by keeping his mouth closed all the time. Best way to keep a job, he thought. After the dinner rush, he and Hanna were allowed to have a break.
There were plenty enough dishes and glasses to set up the tables again, so they were free from the hot room washing dishes for an entire thirty minutes this time. Usually, he would sit out on the steps, and Hanna would disappear someplace else. But today, she sat down next to him on the stairs. He shared his carrots and celery with her with barbeque sauce. She only took the carrots, he noticed, and not dipping them.
She didn’t seem inclined to empty her head. He’d noticed that right off if she had something to say, then she’d say it. Otherwise, she’d just sit there and not say a word for hours on end. Andy supposed that was why he had taken to listening to the radio when they worked together. It staved off the too quiet of clanking dishes and tinging silverware sounds. That was a sound that he’d heard in his sleep.
Clank-clank-clank.“There are seven men in the dining room that are looking for me.” Startled out of his thoughts, he asked Hanna if she needed his help. “No. I don’t really need anyone’s help, but I wanted you to know because they’re going to come into the kitchen in a few minutes and open fire on the people there. I don’t want you to be hurt. Will you do what I tell you, Andy? I really have no desire for anyone to be harmed, but especially you.”
“I see.” He didn’t really but thought of what she was telling him. “You’re not human, are you? I’m not either, in the event, you might not have noticed. I’m a wolf, not at all like them kind on television. This time of year, what with Halloween coming soon, there are lots of scary movies on.”“No. I’m not human. But I’m powerful enough to keep you safe.” When she didn’t say anymore, he nodded. Andy did think about what she’d said about the seven men and asked her about them. “Why are they looking for you? If you can tell me.”
“I can’t. However, if you value your life, which I’m assuming most people do, then when the break time is over, don’t go back into the building. Once you’re inside, it will be the end of your life. I can’t save you if you’re already dead. Do you understand that? They will not leave anyone alive in their pursuit of finding me so that there are no witnesses left behind.” He said he wasn’t going back in. However, he did ask about the others in the kitchen. “The chef is getting everyone out of the area as we sit here because I suggested it to him with my magic.
He’s been keeping tabs on the two of us so he can point right to us when the men come into the kitchen. He’s not at all loyal to anyone but himself. But he won’t have time to point them out to us as he’s a coward and has already left the building in favor of going home before it begins. I’m glad that I was able to have him warn the others. While he knows that these men are looking for a dishwasher, he didn’t bother finding out if they were looking for a male or female and sold us both out. He’ll be taken care of later tonight.”A chill of fear raced up and over his spine when she said that. Andy didn’t want to know what she meant by that as he was sure she meant that he was going to die.
However, he also thought that the man would suffer in ways that no one before him had ever suffered before, too. Andy couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to keep close to Hanna and keep her on his good side for some reason. He might be well into his late fifties, working this job to have extras like food on his table. He liked living too much to let someone kill him for no reason. Standing up when the little alarm he had on his phone went off, Andy made his way deeper into the parking lot, following Hanna.
There were lights out all over the lot, he just noticed, and that, too, scared him a bit. He thought that would be the best place to hide for both of them. When she stopped suddenly, he did as well. His wolf, right there on the edge of his fear, seemed to understand better than he did what was coming for the two of them. “Stay here.” Dropping down to his belly, he rolled under the car when Hanna told him to take cover. He was glad that he’d been looking at her feet from his position on the ground, or he might well have scared twenty years off his life when she turned into a cat. Not a little bitty one either, but a big one that he’d seen in a zoo one time.
Denver Tucker just wants a new start for his family, so he contacts the king of his kind, Ronan Foster, and his wife, Brook, of Foster’s Pride, for help. The Fosters are more than happy to help the Tucker family to get a fresh start in California.
Bailee Sims is having a rough time. Her former bosses in the US government won’t take ‘no’ for an answer when she refuses to continue working for them. They have made it their mission to make sure she’s lost her house and her car and made sure that no business will hire her, either. It is that situation that puts her in a long line on opening day for the Foster/Tucker Foundation to open its doors.
When the man behind Bailee in line whips out a gun to fire on Denver as he’s opening the door to the Foundation, Bailee can’t react fast enough before the gun fires, but she takes the man down before anyone else is hurt, but she is gravely injured too in the process.
Denver just wants to thank the pretty woman for saving his life, but she’s in no mood to talk, and when she finds out that Parker made her immortal to save her life, she is more pissed than ever. She has no home, no food, and no job. Living an eternity like that is nothing to look forward to.
Newsletter winner of 1st prize pack is Heather Angalet
Your packages will be mailed out Sept 11th 2023
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Happy Reading,
Tucker sat at his new desk and inhaled and exhaled slowly. It was that, or he was going to pass out. Again. The first day he’d spent in the large open office had nearly been his last. Not that anyone was going to fire him, at least he hoped not, but he’d been so overwhelmed that day that he wasn’t sure if he’d made the right decision in going to Foster’s Pride and telling them what he and his large family had wanted to do. He remembered the day he’d met with the king and queen of their kind, Ronan and Brook Foster, two and a half years ago now like it had only just happened. Thinking on it now, giving himself a much-needed reprieve of not thinking about what this day was going to be like from now on, he leaned back in his chair and smiled. Closing his eyes, he could almost smell the fresh scones on his plate while in their living room.
The feel of the crisp leaves that had fallen from the tree. Also, the sounds of the crunch of snow, even for as early and as little as it had been under his boots. Denver stood up when his king entered the room. He had to fight hard not to lie on the floor and submit to him, as it was decreed by his kind when in the presence of such greatness. And they were, too. The two of them were about the greatest king and queen of any kind that he’d ever been around. But he’d been told, no less than a dozen times before the meeting, that Ronan didn’t stand on ceremony when he was having a meeting with you. It was only in the setting of a pride meeting that it was necessary to show him your loyalty.
“Mr. Foster, I’m very glad that you were able to speak to me today.” Denver had sat down when asked. But he couldn’t until his king and Queen did. Once they were both seated, he did the same. “My family is working with our pride leader that we’re with now. We’re making sure we’re not going to devastate him too terribly bad when we leave. With our family, that would take as many as sixteen of us leaving. Not counting the children of my older siblings. “
“I’ve spoken to him. He told me that there isn’t a better family around than your family. And that while he was going to miss the lot of you, he couldn’t think of a better family to do what you have planned. He said that if anyone could make it out there, it would but the Tuckers.” Denver thanked the big man. “Why don’t you tell me what your plans are once you’re out on your own in California.” Denver pulled out his notes.
He was forever keeping up with himself by making notes. Mr. Foster nodded and smiled. “Good for you. If you don’t have something to make notes on or to read from, you’ll fail. My wife taught me that.” “Note-taking it was from my mom, my ladyship. She was a great note-taker before she passed on. She usually had about five lists going at any given time to keep up with all of us. All of them were labeled with bold letters as to what they’re for and a timeline on when she wanted to get them finished.” He smiled at the memory of his first notebook. “When we were headed to school, she handed each of us a nice notebook to take with us. You’ve no idea how many
Paige Dresher didn’t trust men. She had three little girls to raise, and life had been hard. The deadbeat who had fathered the girls denied his involvement, leaving Paige and the girls to make it on their own. It didn’t help that the only place Paige could afford was a dump, and her girls deserved better than that. They all did. When the landlord shot Paige and one of her daughters, she thought it was the end.
Jeffery Griffin knew about the new arrivals. He just wanted to come over and welcome them to the family when he found a strange man who smelled like the little girls roaming in the woods, spying on the little family. Jeffery shifted to his wolf and went to warn the little girl’s mother. When his wolf knocked Paige to the ground, he was surprised and happy to discover she was his mate. Paige, on the other hand, wasn’t the least bit happy at his revelation. She wasn’t happy at all….
Edwin Griffin was looking forward to his retirement from the Army. But it seemed his superiors were having trouble letting go. As a wolf shifter and an immortal, Edwin’s senses were keen. He had no intention of “keeping in touch” or to continue working for them, for that matter. Something about them felt off, and Edwin had no intention of being a pawn in whatever scheme they were plotting. Storm was very protective of her sister, Rain. Their parents had somehow found them, and Rain was vulnerable to their influence. The sisters both possessed magical talents that were growing stronger daily. When Charlie Griffin offered to help, Storm jumped at the chance to protect her sister. Edwin was a bit surprised to find the feisty woman Storm to be his mate. She had a hard time with trust, but Edwin was determined to work on that, but he had his own issues to resolve. Although retired from the military as well, Storm would still take on an occasional assignment. But when the assignment from her superiors was to do something about her mate. Well, things just got a bit more personal….
Tony couldn’t believe what he was seeing on the security monitor. A woman and her kid were living in the alleyway next to his office, and they were in trouble. A man snuck up on her and snatched the kid. He had to do something….
Jana Cantrell wasn’t taking the news too well. She would have been dead and her son in the clutches of that maniac if it hadn’t been for her being Tony’s mate, and she was now immortal. She didn’t trust men. She had just escaped from the imprisonment of the maniac who had nearly killed her. No way in hell would she be enslaved by another….
Garfield watched the unconscious pretty woman thrashing on the bed. He had already determined that the woman, Sable, wasn’t his mate, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. When he grabbed her hand to keep her from hurting herself, his entire body seemed to be touched by an electrical wire. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t let go.
Just before Garfield passed out, he realized that not only was Sable his mate, but she was transferring an enormous amount of power to him….
I am revamping the giveaways !!! So be on the lookout for that to come !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to the winners !!!!!!! Wendy Bricker Signed Paperback Joyce Mirabello Singed Paperback
Your packages will be mailed out the week of Aug 14th, 2023
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Happy Reading,
Prologue
Charles, Charlie to most people who knew him, was so lost that he had no idea if he was walking on the ground or the sky. He knew the difference, of course, but it was so dark out tonight that if there had been a moon shining, he couldn’t see it.
When he sat himself down on a log to get his bearings again, he paused in his thinking to look at what could have made the sound he’d heard. Terrified out of his mind when he saw glowing eyes looking at him, Charlie sat as still as he could. The eyes grew larger and incredibly more shiny as the beast made its way to him. He didn’t run, knowing that even if he knew where he was at the moment, the wolf would know it better. It would chase him down and kill him without any hesitation.
The wolf, a big gray fella, just stood there within a few inches of his outstretched legs. When he laid down, putting his heavy head onto his leg, Charlie had another moment of fear. The thing never took his eyes off him either. As soon as he felt he was brave enough to try and talk to the wolf, he was gone, and in his place was a man. A fully clothed man with the gray of the wolf’s fur colored into his hair. Even his eyes were the same as the wolf, Charlie thought. Still, neither of them moved until Theman sat back on his butt and regarded him.
“You live on the property not far from here. Is that correct?” Charlie told him he was only squatting there until they found him. But he was a mite lost. “Yes, I’ve been following you for some time. And in all that time, did you harm any other animal you came across, and there were plenty too. Why is that?” “You mean the rabbit and the family of deer?” The man nodded. “I don’t have a need for meat just now. I only kill when I have to. When my belly feels like it can’t go another minute without some meat in it.
And even then, I use it up to the best I can. What I can’t use, I find some other animal that will use the rest. Why do you ask?” “I’ll get to that. You didn’t seem that surprised when I changed from wolf to man. Can you tell me why that is?” He nodded and told him what he’d been seeing a lot of lately. “Yes, war will make a man wish for better times. So you were surprised but just wrote it off as being another strange thing that had no explanation. That’s a very good reason, I think.”
“They say that the war is about over. I don’t know much about that. I can still hear shooting when I’m out and about. I don’t have any land left because the soldiers took it all when they were coming through. Not that it was much more than a bunch of rocks and stumps, to begin with.” The man only nodded. “I’m Charles Griffin. Most call me Charlie. A great deal more, but I ignore them. Not everybody was able to go to school all the time. I had my family to feed when my daddy up and got sick. Momma died a few weeks ago, and I’ve been roaming around since looking for work. I don’t suppose you know anyone that might be wanting an extra hand around or two, do you?”
Scout Golden and his five brothers were the first of their kind. Born leopards, they were blessed with the magic of being the first leopard shifters. Morgan, their mother by proxy, raised them to blend in with humans and to be good men. Blessed with immortality, they all lived together on Morgan’s Leap, a sanctuary for all nature.
When Allison went to have a bite to eat with the other Golden mates, she never expected to be caught in the middle of a robbery. But when she saw a man in danger, she acted without thinking. Little did she know, he was the last remaining phoenix, and her heroic action had unlocked more power than she and her new mate, Scout, had ever dreamed of.
Carroll Golden and his five brothers were the first of their kind. Born leopards, they were blessed with the magic of being the first leopard shifters. Morgan, their mother by proxy, raised them to blend in with humans and to be good men. Blessed with immortality, they all lived together on Morgan’s Leap, a sanctuary for all nature.
Hanna March worked for the FDA. She had always wanted to visit Morgan’s Leap, but it was closed to the public, so when she was given the opportunity to inspect their orchard on some bogus complaint, she jumped at the chance. The place was beyond anything she ever expected, and Morgan was the perfect host. But when someone took a pot shot at Morgan from the field, a huge leopard came out of nowhere and took them both down. Hanna, hitting her head on the way to the ground, was down for the count.
Carroll shifted back to human as soon as the women were out of danger, but finding out the pretty FDA agent was his mate took Carroll by surprise, and boy was she going to be mad when she woke up.
Leslie Golden and his five brothers were the first of their kind. Born leopards, they were blessed with the magic of being the first leopard shifters. Morgan, their mother by proxy, raised them to blend in with humans and to be good men. Blessed with immortality, they all lived together on Morgan’s Leap, a sanctuary for all nature.
Venetia had been thrown from a vehicle and left for dead at the edge of the Golden’s property. When found by the Goldens, she couldn’t remember what had happened to her.
It didn’t take long for Leslie to realize who Venita was to him. Everything was happening so fast to him and all his brothers. Now, a car crash at the edge of their property left them with three kids to raise. Then it hit him all at once. He had a mate, and he was a father… What else would be in store for his new family?
Bailey Golden and his five brothers were the first of their kind. Born leopards, they were blessed with the magic of being the first leopard shifters. Morgan, their mother by proxy, raised them to blend in with humans and to be good men. Blessed with immortality, they all lived together on Morgan’s Leap, a sanctuary for all nature.
Zippy and her sister, Venita, were born witches. Veni, Leslie’s mate, was the grand witch, but Zippy was no slouch when it came to magic. Zippy and their parents came to Morgan’s Leap because they had discovered that Veni was alive, not dead as they’d been led to believe, and they wanted her back in their lives. Although Zippy was thankful to have her sister back in her life, discovering she had a mate was both a shock and a blessing.
Bailey was surprised but not at all unhappy when Zippy appeared in his life. Everything around him was changing so fast. And when Zippy didn’t hesitate to take in the three abandoned infants from the hospital, his heart couldn’t have been fuller….
Marley Golden and his five brothers were the first of their kind. Born leopards, they were blessed with the magic of being the first leopard shifters. Morgan, their mother by proxy, raised them to blend in with humans and to be good men. Blessed with immortality, they all lived together on Morgan’s Leap, a sanctuary for all nature.
Sin had come into town to rescue her little brother, Cody, from her deadbeat mom. She was ever so grateful to Morgan for helping them out. When a man she’d never met, Marley, entered the room, Sin had the insane need to let him hold her.
When Sin and her little brother, Cody, came into his life, it was at a time when Sin was at her lowest. Marley promised that he’d move mountains to make sure that no harm came to either of them again.
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Your packages will be mailed out the week of July 31st, 2023
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Morgan made herself into a tight ball as she hid herself in the tall grasses in the field. She knew that the men chasing her would find her soon enough. But for now, she was going to make them work for it. Never one to give up easily, she knew that this might be her only chance of living. Closing her eyes, trying her best to calm her breathing so that no one would hear it, she did the only thing she knew to do to not think about what was going on around her. Morgan counted to fifty in all the languages that she knew.
She had awakened out here. All she remembered was having dinner in the kitchen with the staff and then waking out in the middle of the moonless night in the part of the yard that the gardener didn’t care for very well. To her way of thinking, that was the only reason the men around her hadn’t found her as yet. Morgan didn’t remember going to bed after supper. Not putting on the nightgown she had on now. Nor did she remember waking when brought out here in the cool night. She’d been drugged, she figured, and that upset her more than the dirt on her cotton nightgown.
Soon after waking, she heard the voices of the men, six she thought she’d counted, saying that the first one that found her could have her. At fourteen, Morgan knew exactly what that meant. They were going to rape her. Then more than likely, kill her. Even for as young as she was, she knew that being raped would just about do her in, especially with the six of them wanting her. Her parents would be looking for her, she hoped. She would admit, only to herself, that they’d not be too upset about her being gone. Neither of her parents was very emotional about her. Thinking that the more she was gone out of the house, the more they liked it. Morgan had a habit of getting up in the middle of the night. To see to one creature or another that had called out to her for one thing or another. So it might be days before anyone— The hot breath of air on her forehead had her whimper just a little. Lifting her head without opening her eyes, she felt it once again. It was hot but not sour smelling.
Opening her eyes, she looked right into the golden eyes of a leopard. Their noses touched. That was how close she was to her. The lick to her face scared her. While she’d seen the wild animals around the compound where she lived, she’d never been this close to one so dangerous. The farmers would kill them when they would take down a cow or something that they raised, but no one could have prepared her for the beauty of them this close. And she was a beautiful cat. The big cat put her paw on her head and pushed it back down so that it rested on the dirt. When she started to lift it again, the cat pushed her down again. Understanding that she was to stay where she was, Morgan closed her eyes. If she was going to be eaten, she was glad the cat was sparing her from knowing when it was coming.
In all his years—and Brian Tessler being an ancient immortal vampire, he’d seen many—Brian couldn’t believe one of his best friends, Banny, the king of all vampires, could do something like this to his parents. His parents had been imprisoned on Banny’s orders due to a great debt they apparently owed, and Brian had no money to cover a debt of that magnitude. Another thing Brian couldn’t understand was how they had amassed such a debt in the first place. He paid the property taxes himself every year, and his parents had no loans or credit cards, and the fairies covered the utilities. Brian was at a loss….
Hailey Croft had her own struggles to contend with personally and professionally at the Law Offices of Croft & Croft. Her father had been murdered, and she somehow had to prove it. While going through her father’s cases, she found a file on Brian Tessler. He was one of the last cases her father was working on, but so far, this Brian was a hard man to track down….
Kelly Roman was good at her job. As a forensic anthropologist, she could help the dead and help the families find closure. The one thing she hated about her job was her boss, Shamus Van. That man was out to sabotage everything she did. And when he brought in the new chief of police, Bancroft Dalton, to make her look bad, that was the last straw. She’d quit before they had a chance to fire her.
When Bancroft showed up at her front door, he asked to be invited in, and when he told her he couldn’t lie to her, it set off all kinds of bells and whistles in Kelly’s suspicions. It wasn’t the fact that he was a vampire that bothered her, it was the part about him not being able to lie to her. She knew shifters couldn’t lie to their mates. There was no way in hell she was letting a man barge into her life and take over….
Elizabeth Strickland, Lizzy, to her friends, found herself in a predicament. The last thing she remembered was attending her own bachelorette party, then waking up in a cave with six other women. They all had wounds, just like hers, only they were dead. Lizzy had awakened as a newborn vampire. She had no idea why they died, and she had lived, but she had wished every day that she had died with them.
Stanley Remy, better known as just Remy, was an old vampire and close friends with Bancroft, their leader. He had his own issues. He was being falsely charged with making baby vamps and leaving them to fend for themselves.
Lizzy just wanted the bodies of the other women found. Once they were, she had every intention of meeting the sun. What she didn’t need were two overbearing old vampires dictating to her what she could and couldn’t do. She had killed her maker, she wouldn’t hesitate to take them out if they didn’t let her be.
But then Remy gifted her with something she never thought she’d have again. To feel the sun without burning. She could have her life back. Maybe this mate thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
If only it were that simple….
Donald had been in the room with the women for a while. He knew one of them was his mate, but their scents were so similar he couldn’t tell which one it was. He took the women home one at a time. CJ and Rachel were the last to leave. It was then that Donald knew which one was his mate. He didn’t know which one of them was taking it harder, either.
Gracie had just lost the one person that meant the most to her. Craig, the ancient vampire that had raised her. He wasn’t just a father figure. He was her best friend. Now, she had been shot too, but she would honor his final wishes, find Bancroft, the king of the vampires and go to him. She wasn’t a vampire. She was so much more. The problem was that Gracie trusted no one.
As soon as she was around him, Gracie knew that Clyde, an ancient vampire, was her mate, but she was in no hurry to tell him. She had to deal with Bancroft first. The one responsible for Craig’s death was plotting to kill them all.
Someone wanted Caiti dead. Her body had been so riddled with poison that when the fairies removed it, it would take the help of CJ and Ramon to save her. Ramon was instructed to convert her to a vampire, or she would die.
Unsure how his new mate would react when she recovered, Ramon enlisted the help of the kiss to protect her. Both their survival depended on it.
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Ramon looked over the autopsy report that Gracie had handed him about the dad of the family that they were working with. The Croft family had lost their father and husband a few months ago and were told that his death had been an accident. However, there were a lot of discrepancies between what the pictures of the dead man showed and what the report said. Lying it aside, he decided that he needed to take a step back from it and read something else.
That was when Caiti came into his office with their son, Nathanial, screaming his head off. He could almost feel sorry for them both, but he knew he had to help Caiti before she never held their son again. “He hates me.” As soon as she handed him over to him, he stopped screaming and looked at his mom like he was really pissed off at her. “See? Why does he hate me? I’ve tried everything to make him like me. I even gave him the tablet that Lizzy got him. He just doesn’t want anything to do with me.”“He doesn’t hate you. Do you, Nathan? Your mommy loves you to pieces.” Caiti snorted and sat down as he looked at both her and their son. “You’re just too tense. I told you last night when you were holding him you’re simply too tense, and he knows it. You’re terrified of him, and he can feel it.”
“I am terrified of him. I’m afraid of breaking him. I mean, he only weighed six pounds something when he was born. He’s so tiny. He looks even smaller in your hands. Like he’s nothing but a twig.” Ramon told her he was a normal size for a child.“Normal or not, the little shit hates me.”Ramon laughed. “You have to hold him at some point when he’s not upset. Just don’t hold him too tightly and—”“What if I drop him?” Ramon told her that he’d been dropped once. “Well, that explains a lot. Who dropped you? Your mom? She told me that you were the perfect child. And that she wished she’d had ten more like you. I’m sort of glad that she didn’t. Having only one of you is the best feeling in the world, you know. Hopefully, Nathan will not be a womanizer like your dad said that you were. By the way, I love your parents. They’re amazing and friendly.
And Nathan loves them.”“They love you too. Here take him and just talk to him like you do me. You know, bitchy and mean like.” She glared at him but took the baby. He started puckering up the moment the exchange was made. “Just hold him like you would me.” “With my hands around his throat?” Ramon laughed. “He’s already puckering up, Ramon. How does he know that I’m the one that is holding him? It just breaks my heart when he does that with his sad face and watery eyes. Here you take him. I guess I’m going to have to love him from a distance.”“It’s not like you to give up so easily. Hold him. Talk to him.” She said she didn’t know what to say to him. “Just tell him how much you love him. How handsome he is. Just gibberish. He doesn’t care.”
“Hello, Nathan. Did you know that we named you Nathanial Cooper Burke? Cooper is your grandda’s middle name on your daddy’s side. Nathanial was my dad’s name. He’s gone now, but you and I will talk about him sometime when you’re older. I have pictures, too, that I can show you of when he did things, and my mom would take a picture of him. Mom was a ham, so you’ll see that there are plenty of pictures of her.”Ramon asked her why she didn’t start telling him about them now. “Oh, I guess I can. He was a nice enough man, I suppose. My mom, she didn’t like him. She did love him, but she didn’t like him. She wanted to go out all the time. Parties and stuff like that. Anything and everything so long as she was in the spotlight. She’d go, but she wanted my dad to go with her, but he was never the party type of man. He was more of a stay and home in his underwear, watching whatever was on television kind of guy.
But they worked it out. Dad would walk around the parties that Mom would go to for a little while then he’d leave. That way, he could camp and go on hikes while she slept the morning and afternoon away. He also loved to cook out on the fire. I only know this because my granny told me about them. I don’t remember either of them.” Ramon noticed that Caiti seemed to be relaxed enough that Nathan was staring at her and not crying. For a two-week-old, he seemed to be awake more than Banny’s daughters. He thought his son was just about the most perfect child ever born. But he thought Banny would disagree with him painfully, so he kept his observations to himself. Ramon decided he liked his teeth right where they were. Ramon turned Caiti out when he picked up the autopsy report.
Barkley Strong had had a rough day. He was starving, so he stopped at the mall for a quick lunch. Normally, he would stay out of other people’s business, but when he heard two women shouting at each other, he was worried for the two children in the strollers next to the fighting women. When the sound of a gunshot rang out, he knew he had to do something….
Carrie Boone hadn’t seen her sister Mattie in over fifteen years. She nor the rest of her family didn’t want anything to do with her. Mattie wasn’t a good person. But when Barkley Strong called her to tell her that her sister was dead, killed by her own mother-in-law, and her sister’s twin girls were in protective custody, Carrie wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She had already written Mattie out of her life. She didn’t want to care. But when she received a threatening phone call warning her to stay away from her sister’s babies, she knew something wasn’t right. She would get to the bottom of this….
Jade Anderson would miss the restaurant where she had worked her way through school. The closing was bittersweet, but she was happy that Ms. B was getting to retire. It wasn’t the money. She had more lucrative endeavors than waiting on the tables. It was the regulars that came in she’d miss the most. Especially the elderly Strong couple that used to come in all the time before they passed away.
When Clay Strong was admitted into the hospital for emergency surgery, he first thought it was the worst thing to ever happen to him until he laid eyes on his OR nurse Lizzie. He could only see her eyes but knew he wanted to see more of her. She laughed and told him it was the medicine talking, but Clay knew better. Clay had been working with Jade in a complex job for NASA for the past five years, developing intricate equipment for them, and a new position was opening. Clay was a shoo-in for the job, or so he was led to believe. But when the idiot told him his girlfriend’s “pedigree” didn’t meet their standards, Clay was livid, and so was Jade. Heads would roll for this….
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Chapter 1
Barkley watched the people in the mall. He didn’t come there often, but he’d been close to the place when he decided he was starving and couldn’t wait the extra thirty minutes to get home and fix himself something to fill the void. So now that he was finished eating, he just watched the people while keeping an eye on his laptop for news from a couple of firms and people that he was finding out if they’d sell to them. And at a reasonable price. He was always in the market for a floundering company to restructure. In the end, everyone benefited from the deal. He liked to people-watch and noticed that most of the people walking around were women.
For the most part, today, the place was nearly empty. Most of the women there today were fairly young. Some had small children with them, from about the age of four down. Infants, too, in strollers that more than likely cost more than his first car. But what boggled his mind the most was that about eighty percent of the mothers or nannies, he supposed it could be, were carrying the babies and piling their purchases into the infant’s seat. He just didn’t understand people nowadays. Looking down at his laptop when it dinged that an email was dropped into his box, he pulled it up just as shouting down by one of the anchor stores began. It wasn’t just shouting, but the two women were using language he’d not heard since he’d been in college. Boy, oh boy, they were both pissed off about something. He had a very scary thought about the two strollers that were near each woman as they screamed something about clothing and a sale.
Opening the email, he thought about how angry people seemed to be about the dumbest things nowadays. He supposed there was reason for it. Money was tight everywhere. People were being laid off right and left. And children, older married kids were moving back home to save money on necessities such as food, transportation as well as just being able to take care of their children. He read the email twice before he realized this person was serious.“Since we both know you and your family have more money than sense, I’m going to need four million dollars for my place. That way, I can get me something out of the deal after having had to wait on my mother to die so that I can have it. I don’t want it, you understand. But if I’m going to sell it, I want to get as much as you’ll give me.” He laughed before starting a response to the man. The fight at the other end of the mall, however, had him putting away his things and heading to the closest restaurant that was still open.
The gun firing off had both women down on the floor surprised him. The older woman had pulled her gun out from under her shirt and just fired at the purple-haired one. The people who had been watching what was going on scattered, heading to the doors. He watched as all the stores at that end of the mall closed up their heavy sliding doors. Barkley knew for a fact it was an automated thing that had been recently put in service. Barton had been working on the design with Jade since she’d told him how much it would save in the long run for stores. People were rushing by him to get out of the mall. Not that he blamed them, as one of the women stood up with their firearm still in their hand and pointed it at the woman still on the floor. Barkley shoved all his things into his briefcase and handed it over to the restaurant that was closest to him for safekeeping.
“Call the police.” The kid just stared at him. “Wake up, damn it. Call the police and tell them there has been a shooting at the mall. Do it now!” The kid, because he couldn’t have been much more than sixteen, finally got over the shock of what was going on not ten feet from him and closed the doors to the little place. The manager, someone he thought he knew, told him he’d put his things in the office and it would be locked up.“Good. Get out of here. And make sure you pass it along to others to get out as well. And to lock the door behind you, only letting the police in when they arrive. You can do that, right?” Nodding, the man called the police as Barkley was making his way to the two women. He was terrified out of his mind but more afraid for the two strollers that did have children in them around the two women. The babies were screaming loudly, no doubt terrified of the yelling and the gun going off so close to them. Barkley hoped that neither of them had been shot or injured when the gun had been fired.
He got their attention by whistling. Loud and long that he’d perfected over the years with five brothers in the house. They both looked at him. “I could care less right now if you kill each other. But there is no reason those children should be harmed in the process. If you’ll allow me to take them to—”“Stay the fuck away from my grandkids.” He nodded, putting his hands up when he was told to do so. “You’re not the fucking police. Why are you even here? Mind your own business.” “I was until you two started up. The police have been called and are on their way.” He heard the sirens just as he finished telling the blond woman, the one who had claimed that the babies were her grandchildren. “Hear them? They’re not going to be very happy when they get here.”Barkley looked at the other woman. Her hair was bright purple, and it didn’t suit her skin tone at all, he thought. It washed her out until she was almost clear with it.
However, it occurred to him then it could have been from loss of blood. But it soon wouldn’t matter to anyone what color she had her hair dyed. Because the way she was losing blood while sitting back down on the floor meant she wasn’t going to make it to the hospital, no matter what sort of tricks the medic’s tired. “This is all her fault. If she’d just backed off when I told her to move, I could have gotten the little dresses I wanted before her. She took them all. She started this. I don’t understand one bit why my son went and married her. She’s useless.” Barkley wanted to ask her if prison was something she was willing to go to rather than have a dress on sale. But he didn’t. He wasn’t stupid. “You tell the police when they get here you saw the whole thing, and it was her fault. Or I might just shoot you too.”
“I didn’t see anything. Just heard you two shouting at each other.” The police announced that they wanted Blond to put down her gun. Barkley didn’t move when he heard them coming up behind him. But he did tell them what was going on when asked. “This woman here killed the other woman that’s on the floor. They’re in-laws to each other. The son is married, I guess, to the purple-haired woman. If she’s not already dead, then she will be soon enough. I only came here to see if I could get the babies out of harm’s way.”
Purple had fallen back on the floor. He couldn’t tell if she was still breathing or not, but then he wasn’t a doctor. The police told Blond to drop the gun, and she fired at the cop standing next to him, and that was all it took to have the other officers open fire on her. It was going to be difficult, he thought as he sat down on the floor to determine which bullet had killed the older woman. It looked as if they’d emptied their clips into her head and chest.
Barkley held the two babies in his arms, keeping them entertained while the police were doing whatever was needed to make the scene clear. He’d been asked by Officer Buddy Morgan to see if he could get the little girls to calm down. All he’d done was sit on the floor when they were handed to him, and they quieted right up. The mall had been pretty much emptied before the police had arrived, and now they were waiting on the coroner to make his decision on what was the cause of death of the two women. Not that it wasn’t obvious. Morgan told him they were doing this by the books so that when it went to trial, it was over for the first time. The entire thing was being recorded, and he was glad the mall manager had turned over all the camera footage as soon as it had been asked for. “Barkley, are you sure you’re all right?” He said he was fine and he’d not been hurt. He also told the officer, someone, he’d gone to school with, that he’d only been trying to get the little ones out of the way.
“Yes, the cameras show that you only happened on the scene when the daughter-in-law was shot.”He’d realized the two women were related, and he could tell the babies were twins. Barkley was one himself and enjoyed watching over the children until the right people came to pick them up. Barkley had been told the daughter-in-law didn’t get along with her mother-in-law from the start. Now they were both dead, and the young woman’s husband was on his way to the mall now to talk to the police. Jade showed up just as the husband did. “I’m here to make sure you’re all okay.” He said he’d told them several times that he was. “Yes, but Buddy over there, he said that he knows you, said that shock might make you not feel any pain for hours. I don’t see any blood, so I’m assuming he’s a worry wart.”
“Yes, that’s his first name. I couldn’t remember. But I’m fine. However, this little girl seems to be too fussy. Not that I know a great deal about babies, but she’s nothing like her sister. I can’t seem to be able to put her in any position that she seems comfortable in.” Taking the little girl from him, Mick, the girl’s father, came to ask if he could hold them. “The police said to wait until they were examined. Then you can hold them until they take them to the hospital. They want to check them out, I guess.”Mick watched as Jade stripped the little girl—Mick said her name was Sunny—down to her bare skin. Finding bruises all over her legs and arms alarmed them all. Jade asked Mick if he could explain the reason for them. They were in different stages of healing, and the most recent ones looked to be about two hours old. “I don’t know.
I mean, my mom, she watches the girls from time to time. She had them both last night. But I’m working on-site in Virginia now and only arrived home an hour ago. I didn’t even know they were meeting here today. This place is a good hour from where we live.” Buddy Morgan was taking notes and asked for his boss’s name and number. After giving it to him, Mick cried. “She, my mother, beat me as a child. But since the girls have been born, she seemed to have changed a great deal. We didn’t use her as a sitter all that often, but the girls, even for as young as they are, never seemed to mind her holding them. Christ, my wife is gone. What am I going to do now?”Jade didn’t speak to the man, but she did want to make sure the other little girl, Bethany, wasn’t bruised as well. But the fact of the matter was, there seemed to be more on her than on Sunny. Instead of allowing Mick to hold his daughters, he was told that they’d have to be taken to the hospital for x-rays as well as a full workup. Mick was so over the top upset that Barkley was having a hard time believing that he didn’t know what was going on with his own children.
Even being away from home as much as he claimed, it bothered him that he’d not noticed what was going on. He certainly would have. After the children were taken by ambulance to the hospital, Jade sat with him on the floor. He didn’t say anything to her about what had happened, nor did he tell her what he was thinking. But when she asked him his opinion, he couldn’t help but let her know his feelings about the dad.
“I mean, even though I don’t have any knowledge of babies, I knew that one of them was in pain or at least upset about me holding her. I didn’t undress her, well, because that would just make me a target on all kinds of levels I don’t want to have to deal with. Anyway. What do you think?” She said she’d felt the same thing. That even she noticed the children were more happy being with a stranger than they wanted to be with their own father.
“I didn’t think about that. But you’re right. Neither of them reached out for him when he showed up. Like they didn’t want their own father to comfort them.” “It’s something I see quite often, I’m afraid. But the hospital personal will look into things. I mentioned it to the medics when I followed them out with the children. Hopefully, I get to kick some asses to get them to see what the larger picture is.” An elderly man showed up just as the bodies of the two women were being taken away. He only had eyes for his son and no one else. He didn’t ask after the babies either, or the women for that matter. “This is going to be a tell-tale meeting. A thought just occurred to me that he got here fairly quickly for a man who lives an hour away. That is what he said, right?”
He hadn’t any idea what she meant until the father came up to his son and spoke. Not loud, but loud enough for him and Jade to hear what he said as they were that close to them. “Don’t worry, son. It’s going to be just fine now that they’re both going to be blamed for what happened to the girls.” Mick told his dad that his mom had killed his wife. “That’s fine too, right? Now we have them, and the girls will be just ours now.”Jade didn’t say a word but looked at the officers that were with the medical examiner right now. Barkley didn’t know what was going on yet, but he was sure it was something huge. And he’d bet anything that this ‘incident’ that had happened today had been planned out. Perhaps not that the wife of the man being killed, but it seemed to be all right with the two of them that it had happened for some reason that sent shivers down his spine.
~*~
“Carrie, there’s a phone call for you. Something about your sister.” She told her secretary to take a message. “It’s the police, honey. They said they can only speak to you.”“Christ.” Punching in the numbered line the call was on, Carrie barked out her name and told the person on the other end she wasn’t going to bail her sister out, no matter if she only needed money for a ticket. “Also, tell Matty that since she married the fucking prick, then she’s going to have to deal with whatever has happened to her. I not going to get caught up in her drama again.” “I’m sorry to tell you this, Ms. Boone, but Madeline Cartwright was killed yesterday evening by her mother-in-law, Jane Cartwright. Who was then killed by the police when she wouldn’t put her gun down.” Well, that was nothing she expected, and she told the man that.
“I thought not. Right now, the babies, you did know she had a set of twin girls, didn’t you? They’re in protective custody.” “I had no idea, to be honest with you, that she was still alive.” He didn’t say anything, for which she was grateful. She thought that she sounded cold and heartless. But she couldn’t deal with this. Not anymore. “Look, Mr. Strong. I can’t help you out with anything, including the babies. My sister parted ways with us a long time ago, and we’ve not spoken in…let me think. At least fifteen years. I can’t raise her children or even take them in. I just can’t. If you’ve been able to find me, you’ve more than likely found out Mattie has four brothers. They’re not going to help with them either. You can ask them if you want, but I know they’re going to tell you they can’t do it either. Mattie is…was a handful when we were children, and she burnt all her bridges and used up all the goodwill she might well have had from us a long time ago. Thank you for informing me of her death. But I’m sorry. I won’t be able to help.”
Putting the phone back in the cradle, she sat there for a while, thinking of her last conversation with Mattie. It really had been fifteen years ago. Carrie herself had only been ten or eleven at the time when Mattie had had her arrested along with her parents. She claimed that they’d had her chained up in the basement of the home and had starved her over the last six months. While she was in jail on those trumped-up charges about abusing her older sister, Mattie had gone through the family home and stolen everything of any value. Including Mom and Dad’s social security check, their bank card, and credit cards. It wasn’t until they got out that they saw what they’d lost. Picking up the phone again, she called Robert. He wasn’t working today, so she knew she had a fifty-fifty chance of getting in touch with him. His life partner answered on the first ring.
“Hello, my lovely. What can I do for you today?” She asked if Robert was home.“No. He’s gone to the—what’s happened? You sound very upset.” She told him everything.“I don’t know what the guy wanted for me to do. I didn’t ask him, but I’m not going to take on her issues anymore. She hasn’t been a part of our lives forever, it seems.” Dan agreed with her. “I’m going to call the others and let them know what is going on. Could you please tell Robert for me? You’d more than likely be nicer than I’d be telling him that she’s gone.” “I will. But I can almost guarantee you he won’t want anything to do with—did he tell you she called here about five months ago? She wanted money, of course, and said that he had to pay her for all the pain and suffering she had to go through being a sister to a faggot. I kid you not, Carrie. I thought he was going to blow a gasket. But all he did was hang up, and he asked me to have our number changed. I did that the very next day.” She asked why he hadn’t told her.
“You have your own demons about Mattie, honey. I’m sure that was the only reason he didn’t tell you. But it’s all water under the bridge now, and we’re going to keep going the way that we were before. She’s not been a part of our lives for so long. We’ve gone on without her. Right?” “Right.” She didn’t feel bad about her sister dying, not even the way that she had died. It had been too long, as Dan said. Carrie pulled out her cell phone and called the others. None of them, as she had predicted, wanted anything to do with Mattie. Not after all that she’d done to all of them over the years. Going back to work, she was just finishing up for the day when Robert called her back. He wasn’t upset either but invited her over for dinner.
Any chance she had at not having to cook for herself or go out to eat was something she would jump on. Telling him she’d be there in twenty minutes. She was just leaving the office when her phone rang again. She didn’t know the number that came up and almost didn’t answer it. When she did, she had to sit down on the floor. “This is Mick Cartwright, your dead sister’s husband. I need to make a few things clear to you. Are you coming here to try and take my precious daughters from me?” She asked him what he was talking about.
“My daughters. I’m sure you’ve been notified by now that Mattie is dead. My mom is too. Stupid cow. Sunny and Bethany are staying with me. I’m their father, and you’ll keep away from us. Do I make myself clear?” “As mud. Why would I want to have anything to do with my dead sisters, as you put it, kids when I’d had nothing to do with her long before you were in the picture.”He laughed and told her she’d better be thinking that way forever. They were his daughters. “So you keep pointing out. Why is that, I wonder?”
Pulling out her cell phone, she messaged Robert, telling him to just listen in on the conversation. Then she called him to have him listen too. As Mick went on and on about how he was going to be raising his daughters, she had a feeling that there was something off about him and the conversation. He spoke to her for another thirty minutes. Mostly it was to threaten her about coming around, but he also made it a point to tell her, several times, that he and his father were going to raise the twins and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Again, she had an eerie feeling he was trying hard to brag to her about something, and it was up to her to guess what that might be. “I’m going to have her cremated too. That way, there isn’t going to be exhuming her body later down the line when you or your brothers get a burr up your asses about something and try and sue me. I’ve won.” She told him congratulations. “You bet your sweet ass it’s going to be congratulations all around for me once I get her insurance money.” “I’m assuming this was all planned? That my sister was to die at your mother’s hands, and you’d get to collect on both their policies that you just happened to have taken out a few months ago?” She sat at her deck and looked up the name Strong. The man who had called her to let her know that Mattie was dead. She had to ask what Mick said when she realized he was probably waiting on an answer from him.
“Well, did you? Take out the policy just to have your mom kill her?” “I guess we’ll never know. And I hadn’t expected my mother to be killed. It’s a shame but nothing that we can’t overcome.” She asked him what that was supposed to mean. “Well, I’ll tell you this, it’s going to mean that we have to find us someone we can trust to watch over my daughters while Dad and I make plans for them.” The most profound feeling of sickness rolled over her. While he didn’t come right out and say it—and hopefully, she was wrong—but it sounded to her like he was going to be selling off his daughters to anyone with the right amount of money to have them. They were just babies. Finding the newspaper article, just a few lines about a mall shooting, had her thinking that it was about Mattie. As she and Mick spoke, mostly him doing the bragging about shit, she found the name of a Strong family nearby. Looking up his phone number with the tools she had at her disposal, she also found a phone number and address for the Strong Foundation. Taking a chance, she emailed a plea for someone to call her back in about an hour. She needed desperately to talk to someone about her sister’s husband and daughters.
Putting her phone back in the cradle again, she sat there for several minutes thinking about the shit he’d said to her. When her cell rang, she was glad to see the face of Robert there. The first words out of his mouth were that he’d recorded every word of what was said between her and Mick. “Thank you for that. I’m going to have to talk to this Strong guy that called me this morning. Also, I’d like to be able to get in touch with the insurance company that is holding the policy on Mattie.” Robert asked her if she could do that, find the policy. “Yes. I mean, that’s what I do. Find information on insurance policies and determine if they are bogus or not. Do you suppose they lived in the little town that the shooting happened in?”
As she did her research, Robert told her he was going to look into something as well. That he’d call her back in a bit. While still searching for where the policy might be held by, her cell phone rang again. It was the same number that had called her earlier that had started all this. Without waiting for the person on the other end to speak, she launched into her feelings that she’d had about Mick. She also asked him if he possibly knew who the insurance company was so she could put a hold on that.“Also, he told me he’s having Mattie cremated, so I couldn’t come back later and have her exhumed for whatever reason. I’m not sure what he thinks I’d do that for, but now that’s all I want to do. Or am I too late to have her get a full autopsy?” The man laughed, and she felt stupid, which, as usual, flared up her temper. “Listen here, you bastard. I was doing just fine in my life, not having a clue about what Mattie was up to, as I said, even if she was alive. She was the most horrific person I know—knew.
Now that you’ve opened up this can of worms, you’re going to be helping me out so that whatever plans that idiot has for those children, I can put a stop to. I’m serious here when I tell you that I think he’s going to be selling them off for sex to perverts. And if he does that, I’m going to kill him myself.” “I agree.” She’d not expected that and told the man that. “I know. You seemed to have a full head of steam going as soon as you answered. And I do have answers, or at least partial answers, for some of your concerns. Mattie hasn’t been cremated as yet. Her body and that of Mick’s mother are being put on hold until the state can bring in a person to do the autopsy on them. Nothing will be done to them until that time. Also, the girls are in protective custody. He made some odd comments around the police that had them keeping him away from the girls for the present time. Also, you’ll be happy to know he’s already tried to cash in the policy on her but can’t without a death certificate. Could be another reason he wants her cremated so quickly.”
“I’m an insurance investigator. If you can tell me the name on the policy, I can get more information on it than you can.” After he told her the company and the policy number his dad had found, she started to work immediately. “It’s for one million dollars. I’m betting if you have a look around like I’m doing right now—bingo. He has seven policies on Mattie worth a million each. And he’s the benefactor on all of them. However, there isn’t one on him. I guess he plans on never dying. All right. Let me dig a little deeper here and find out about his mother. Yes, the same thing. One million with each of the seven policies. Also, there are none on his father. Which to me it’s a giant red flag.”Her desk phone rang, and she answered it. Robert told her he’d found a few things. Telling Mr. Strong that she was going to put him on speaker phone with her brother and her, Robert started telling them what he’d been able to find out.
“There are several records of the little girls being in and out of the hospital emergency room over their lifetime. The first one was when they were two weeks old, and Sunny suffered a broken arm. Mattie told them that she’d been picking her up in the middle of the night and had dropped her on the bed railing. They must have believed her because there isn’t any record of a police report filed. It happened again, a burnt hand for Bethany when she was flaying her hands around and touched her too-hot coffee. That was investigated as well, but no arrests were made. There are a few for Mattie, too, but nothing like the girls.” Mr. Strong asked about the mother-in-law.“Hang on a minute. I can pull that up right now since I’m already in the system. Yes. I have fifteen times where she was brought into the hospital by ambulance over the last twelve months. The husband or her son would go and get her, take her home, and there wasn’t any follow-up made to any local doctors. Let me see here. Broken leg. Broken jaw.
There is also a couple of times when she was unconscious when she was found. Blunt trauma is what I’m seeing here. Again, she didn’t stay any longer than it took for one of the others to come and get her out.” “What is it you do, Robert? Carrie said she is an insurance investigator. You have to be something similar to that.” Robert told him what it was he did. “So you’ve gotten into the hospital system and gotten what you need. I don’t think that is legal.”“Depends, I suppose. Neither is trying to kill off your wife or sister. Nor selling off six-month-old babies to perverts. I do what I do in order to help Carrie with her job. It pays well, and I have no reason to leave the house unless I want to. If you have a problem with me and—” “No. No, I’m sorry if I gave that impression. What you’re doing for this case, and I’m thinking that it’s going to have to be taken before a judge sooner rather than later, is going to be a great deal of help keeping the little girls safe.” Robert thanked him. “No worries there. But I do have to ask again. Will any of you be coming here to help out with your sister’s murder? If for no other reason than to help the children of her be safe?” “I’ll be there on the next flight out. That is if you’re accepting of my husband being with me.” Mr. Strong said he didn’t care who he was partnered with so long as they could get to the bottom of this. “Carrie? You’re going as well, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’ll be there. If for no other reason than to see Mick put in jail for the rest of his life.” She didn’t want to ask but needed to know. “I’m assuming the children were examined by a doctor. Have they been sexually abused?”“Yes.” Nothing more was needed than that answer to have her hurting for them.“I’ll wait to hear from the two of you when you’re arriving and have a place for you to stay. We’ll get this prick.” After they all hung up, she sat at her desk for a few minutes just to think about what had happened to those babies. Then it occurred to her that Mattie more than likely knew it. She had to. And that made her hurt all the more for those two little girls.
Sherman Archer was feeling good about his trip to DC. A vacant seat had opened up as a sitting judge, and he’d been recommended for the job. He wasn’t sure that he wanted it, but he was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.
FBI Agent Marcia Hammond was in charge of the nine candidates for the four vacant positions for sitting judges. She made a point to meet each candidate personally before the testing began. Sherman was the last man to arrive, and his familiarity with the President and Vice President didn’t sit well with her. He was infuriatingly handsome and—nice. In her line of business, men weren’t nice unless they had an agenda.
Sherman just couldn’t figure Marcia out, but he was enjoying pissing her off more than he should….
Merce was a go-getter. She ran a contracting company with her father, and when she saw something that needed to be done, she did it. Archer’s company had a new product that needed to be produced, and Merce knew her company was in a perfect position to fulfill that order. She just didn’t understand why they weren’t on the list for consideration. She’d see about that. Del was exhausted. The banging on his front door in the middle of the night was beyond infuriating. He didn’t bother getting dressed to answer it. If whoever was at the door didn’t like it, then so be it. That’s what they get for being so rude. In all his naked glory, Del threw open the front door. Merce didn’t skip a beat in getting right to the point of her visit. The sparks fly as two stubborn souls clash for the first time….
When Heather Grey received the phone call from Merce Archer that her brother was dead, she wasn’t surprised, but when her sister-in-law, Judy Grey, claimed to be pregnant with her brother’s child, Heather knew better than that. There was no way in hell that child was his. Heather decided right then and there that she’d go to the small town and set things straight.
Peter Archer was acting as the Archer family’s attorney. He was looking into the possibility that an employee of theirs, Judy Grey, had embezzled money from one of the business owner’s personal accounts.
When Heather stormed into their lives, bringing her mentally challenged aunt with her, demanding Judy be investigated for her brother’s death, Peter was captivated with her. And when Heather said they came as a package deal, Peter didn’t hesitate because, from the moment he kissed her, his life had changed forever.
Elizabeth Monroe moved from Chicago to a small town in Ohio to live with her grandda, Bingo. He owned the construction company updating Peter’s house. Elizabeth was helping out until she could take her medical boards to transfer her license to Ohio.
Nothing was going right for Tally. Her brother was threatening to sell his kid off again if she didn’t pay up. She was afraid he’d do it this time, too, if she didn’t come up with the money. Now, the neighbors were fighting again. When the gun next door went off, Tally took a bullet. William Archer was already in a bad mood. The woman had taken a bullet for him, then slammed the door in his face. He would help her, and that would be the end of it.
The entire family had been trying to marry him off, and the last thing he wanted was a wife. He made no bones about it, either. Tally didn’t like him much, either. And when he implied that the situation with her brother and her nephew was her fault and she should have done more, she knocked him on his butt. Realizing too late that he might have been a little harsh, William scrambled to rectify the situation, but Tally wasn’t having any of it
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Sherman was feeling good about this trip he was taking to Washington, DC. Whatever was going to happen, he thought that he was about as prepared as one could be ingoing to see an FBI agent about whatever she wanted. Because he knew full well that he could and would say no to something that was offered to him, and he didn’t want to do it.
That was honestly the only reason that he was here today. Sherman felt empowered by that ability. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he really didn’t have any idea what was going to happen once he was there. Yes, he knew he was going to be asked to be a sitting judge. That much had been made clear to him when Agent Marcia Hammond had called him to tell him of the passing of a sitting judge. The death of The Honorable Attorney General Brant Kent, who had passed away about a week ago, now had put his name in for his replacement.
But was this a permanent position? Or was he only going to be doing it until they found someone more qualified for the job? Either way, he didn’t care. It would be a good gig, as his grandda said, for as long as it lasted. Not that, at this point, did he know if he was going to take it or not. He was asked to wait in front of one of his favorite places to get something to eat for someone to come and pick him up. His car was in long-term parking, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it being towed for just staying in one spot. While standing in line to get him a snack to hold him over, he was tapped on the shoulder. Turning around slowly, not sure who would know him other than the agent, he laughed when it was his good family friend, Gilbert. The hug settled his nerves almost as well as his mom would have.
“You couldn’t have been but a few minutes ahead of me when I left the house. How did you get here so quickly?” He told him. “Yes, well, I guess having flown herein the jet would have saved me time, too, but William and Tally have it today. They’re on their honeymoon, as you know.”“Nice couple. I like that little one, Clay, too. Do you suppose they’ll be coming back with their own announcement in a few days?” Someone cleared their throat, and Gilbert turned.
“Darn it, young man, I nearly forgot why I was here. Sherman, I’d like to introduce you to Agent Marcia Hammond. Marcia, this is the young man I was telling you about.”“Whatever he said, it’s more than likely not true.” He put out his hand and she stared at it rather than take it. Sherman wasn’t even offended. More amused than anything. “You don’t want to start off being rude, do you, Agent?
Since I’ve come all this way at your request, the least you can do is take my hand.”“I would like to get this over with. And the sooner we get to the office, the sooner it can be done.” She finally took his hand when he didn’t move his extended hand back to his side. “Mr. Archer, Vice President, a car is waiting for us.” She turned on her heel so quickly that he wondered why she didn’t fall. Sherman looked at Gilbert.
“Nice lady. Does she bite or just snarl all the time? Or is this one of her better days?” Gilbert laughed. “She’s the one that set this up. I could have just stayed home if she didn’t want me to be here.” “You could have, but then we’d not get to have some fun, you and I. AgentHammond is a little put out because I know you better than she’s been able to dig up on you. Which was nothing at all, so you know.” Sherman did know that, but it was nice to have it confirmed. The two of them started walking toward the front of the airport as Gilbert continued talking. “There are nine other applicants that she will be testing today. I believe you to be the best person for the job, but I have no say in this. Had it been up to me, I would have asked you to do it, and that would have been the end. But she is a stickler for rules. Pretty little thing but stubborn as a mule when she is assigned a job.”
“That must make her a good agent, I would think.” Gilbert nodded. “And so you know, Gilbert, calling her pretty is an understatement. She’s absolutely gorgeous. Uptight but a stunning woman. I wonder if, at any time in her adult life, anyone has heard her laugh? Or, for that matter, gotten a date with her more than once?” “I don’t know, but I don’t know that I’d mess with her. To be honest, she frightens me a bit.” Then he laughed. “I think you’re right. That all would work in one’s favor if she were assigned to watch over someone. Yes, I think you’re right about that.”
When they reached the car, Marcia was standing next to it with her arms crossed over her breasts and tapping her foot. He might have laughed at her if she hadn’t been armed. He wasn’t stupid. If nothing else, his sisters-in-law taught him not to mess with a pissed-off woman. They fought dirty and for blood. But he simply slid into the awaiting limo and didn’t say a word after she got in ahead of Gilbert. “We’ll drop you off then, sir?” Gilbert asked Marcia if she minded if he came along to meet the others. “No, sir. I do work for you, sir. I’ll do whatever you wish of me.”
“I’d like to ride along then. I’ve not seen this young man in some time. And I’d like to catch up with him.” They talked for most of the journey, but Sherman kept his eyes on the young woman. She was indeed extremely beautiful and even dressed as she was, black suit, tie, and white blouse with a gun at her hip. She was very sexy as well. Sherman had a feeling that she wanted to say more when she told Gilbert that he could do as he wished, but she bit her lower lip. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that he was going to enjoy being around the woman. If for no other reason than to see if he could tip her over the edge of her apparent tightly held anger. Because there was little doubt that she was about as angry with him and the VP as he’d seen a young woman.
“Why don’t you tell me what I’m here for, Marcia. That might take the edge off your being so pissed off.” She glared at him, and Sherman couldn’t help it. He laughed.“I have five brothers, four sisters-in-law, and a mother that glare much better than you do, Marcia. How about you try and take it down a couple of notches, and we talk.” “It’s Agent Hammond.” He nodded but knew he was going to call her anything but Agent the entire time he was here. Her tight control was amusing to him. And he only then realized that she was a challenge he wanted to conquer. “We’re testing attorneys to see if we can find a few to run the seats that have been opened of late. The testing will take most of the rest of the day since we’re running behind now and into tomorrow. After that, we’ll weed out the ones that didn’t do well enough and go on to the second step. That would be an interview with the President and Vice-President that will take a bit of time, too, with each person that makes it that far will need to be interviewed separately. Which I’m assuming, if you make it that far, won’t need to happen for you since you seem to be on good working terms with them now.”
“I’m not. On good working terms. They’re friends of the family going back as far as my mom and Gilbert here going to school together. And as such, my family avoids politics when we’re all together. As in, we never talk about it unless it’s just between the family. Outsiders, such as Gilbert, would be at our home would be…how shall I say this? Extremely discouraged. Yes, that’s it. Extremely discouraged from bringing up or talking about anything and everything political. Which isn’t all that often now that they’re both in office.” He watched her face. “You’re confused.”“I was told that you were a working attorney.” He said that he could be when he was pressed. “All of your brothers are, but two of you are working attorneys. Correct?” We are qualified attorneys. Yes, at least four of us are. However, we’ve since decided that it’s not a job that we enjoy any longer. Especially since my brother Peter was shot one day in the courtroom while defending someone. It still gives us all nightmares since not only was he hurt, but a lot of other people were hurt, too.
Including the judge. You remember Judge Antonia Hathaway, Tori to her friends, don’t you?” She said that she had seen the reports on that shooting. It should never have happened. “No, it shouldn’t have, but it did. And I’m sure that it will happen again. I just hope that we’re just as lucky again when it does.”“You don’t trust the system.” He told her that she was making assumptions and that wasn’t a good thing to do with him. “Do you? Trust that the system will improve rather than let something like that happen again?”“No. I don’t trust people who think that something like that won’t happen when there is always someone out there that is going to try and make it happen simply because someone said it wouldn’t.” She was still confused. “Let’s agree to disagree, Marcia, and move on. What sort of tests will I be taking with the others you’ve brought in?”
As she explained to him what the tests were about, he listened with half an ear. Some of the tests she was talking about seemed a little over the head of most attorneys she knew. But then, he’d never been asked to take over the judgeship before, so this could be something that was standard across the board. The interview process, he supposed, he could see that needed to be done. But as far as the kind of tests, hyped-upstate board testing that he and all other attorneys had to take when becoming an attorney seemed just a little over the top. But then, he wasn’t in charge.“After this first day is finished up, there will be a meet and greet at the WhiteHouse tonight. There will be trays of food as well as an open bar. That way, you get to meet the rest of the people that will be testing with you. It’s formal.
I do hope that you brought more than just jeans and a tie?” He told her he had a suit that had been dropped off at the hotel where he was staying along with his other things. “Good. I should have mentioned that sooner, but I have a great deal on my plate at the moment. Me being in charge of this testing was last minute.” When she glanced at Gilbert, he did as well.“There are going to be some changes soon that will affect a great many people. Good changes, we believe. Nothing you have to worry about right now, my boy. However, if you’d not mind, after this little party is over with, I’d like to have a word or two with you. Nothing bad, I promise, but some questions that I have on that man, Washer. There are a few things that I think I can help you with to keep him out of your hair.
He’s a nasty sort of man, isn’t he? I’m glad that his young son is out where he can be safe. I’m to understand that one of your brothers has adopted him.” He said he’d enjoy talking about whatever he needed from him. And then explained that his brother William and his new wife had adopted him. “Good. Good. Also, I don’t know if Marciahere has mentioned it or not, but tomorrow you’ll be fed breakfast with the president. Try to act as if you don’t know him as well as you do. Me either, for that matter. I know that you won’t, but I just need to have that put out there so that you’ll understand if we’re a little put off toward you in the morning.”“I can do that. I can see the need for it as well. But I do thank you for the heads up and reminder.” When the limo came to about one of the smoothest stops he’d ever felt, he waited for someone to move. “Are we here?”
“Yes. You and Marcia get out. I’m going to need to hang back a bit here. Don’twant to make things seem as if they’re impartial. I didn’t take a ride with the other candidates when they got here. Also, I’m to tell you that when you’re finished, the government will be picking up your bill for the hotel as well as any meals you don’t have with the group.” When his door opened, Sherman got out. Then he put his hand out to help out Marcia.
He knew that she didn’t want to take it. Gilbert was laughing hard at something he heard, apparently. Smiling when he was able to escort the beautiful woman to the door, she stopped so suddenly that he bumped into her from behind. Perhaps he did bump a little harder than he needed to, but it was just too much fun to see her all flustered as she was.“I’m not one of your debutants you can manhandle all the time. Will you please back away from me and give me some breathing room? And behave yourself.” He told her that he’d never dated a deb before, and she was the one that had stopped.
“I want you to stop being nice to me right now.” Sherman couldn’t help it. He tossed back his head and laughed. He knew he was pissing her off, but he just couldn’t help it. “Did you just say that? For me to, I don’t know, be mean to you? My mother would have my head on a pike if I did that, and she heard about it. And trust me when I tell you, Marcia, my mother hears and knows everything. I don’t know what I’ve done or said since we have only just met an hour ago, but I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done to upset you to the point where you’re barking and being pissy all the time.” He moved some of her lovely hair from her mouth and smiled at her. “You’re very lovely.
I bet somewhere deep inside of you that is a very wonderfully nice woman just waiting to come out. Is she?”“No.” She realized when he did that she shouted. He could see the embarrassment on her face when she looked around them. When she turned back to him, Sherman knew that he’d done enough. She was more than just a little bit angry. She was also very upset. “No, I’m not a nice person. I can’t be because of what I am. You don’t get to my position by being nice, pretty, or even smarter, even though you know you are smarter than the man standing next to you. Or letting people, men like you, walk all over them. I need to be professional. Hard and rude, or they’ll be on me like flies on a dead body. Do you understand?”
He stared at her for several seconds before nodding at her. “I’m sorry that this world and your position make it so difficult for you to be a woman. I’m doubly sorry that you have to pretend to be such a hard ass that it makes you push away people who might well like to get to know you. You nor any other woman in any position deserves to be treated like what my grandda calls a bimbo.” He looked around before kissing her quickly on the mouth. “However, I’m made of sterner stuff and don’t scare all that easy. I’ll tell you right now that I’d like to see you dressed up in heels and nothing else.”
He opened the door for her and waited while she stared at him. He couldn’t read her face, not yet on this, at any rate. Sherman had a feeling that she’d been hurt and hurt badly by someone, more than likely a man. It made him want to find the person and beat the shit out of them in the way of teaching them a lesson. When she didn’t move into the doorway, he still waited, asking her if he’d done something wrong. Again. She shook her head and went into the building with him right behind her. Having a feeling that doing that small act of kindness, the gentlemanly thing had both surprised and confused her. There was something about this woman that was both frustrating and fascinating at the same time. And Sherman was excited to get to know them both. She led him to a room that had to be badged into. After opening the door, she pointed for him to go in ahead of her. Since he didn’t know what was going on norwhere they were going, he did just as she asked.
The room, a very large conference room was bright with sunlight and rich natural colors. But it was a room for business right now. The room was lined with a single table down the middle. There were three men and one woman on the left and two women and two men on the other. Sherman sat at the head of the table that was closest to him. He hadn’t been one to do what others did in school, and he wasn’t going to take sides today. Besides, he’d always found that sitting at the end or head of a table would allow him more room. He was a big man and didn’t want to feel squashed in doing whatever was going to happen now. When Maria stood at the front of the table opposite from him, she glared at him for a moment before handing out the files she had to everyone at the table.
“This is a timed test. Do not open it until I say so, please. Once you are finished with the test, you can hand it to me and then leave the room by the door that you came into here. There will be aides beyond this door that will guide you to where you might wish to go. Either to the bathroom or down to get something to eat. The cafeteria will have a place marked off for the group of you to sit where you can talk among yourselves but not intermingle with the other staff members that are here.” He raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Archer.”
“Will we be able to have a bottle of water while in this room? I tend to get thirsty while working.” Which wasn’t a lie. Sherman knew that he could drink a case of water in a day while going over reports for his family. She told him that there was a cooler behind him where he could get drinks from. “Thank you so much.”When he got up to get his drink, so did most of the other people. He didn’t mind taking the lead in things like this or any other thing that he was involved in. However, if someone had more experience than he did, he would gladly relinquish the lead to them. Getting the access to water or anything else was something that he had always felt that he was born to do. Ask questions when others would not. He did wonder how long the others might have sat there before asking for something to drink. Once they were seated, he stood again to pick up the box of pencils that were about a foot from him and took two out of the box before handing the entire box to the man next to him to be passed along.
Marcia also told them that since the test was timed that if they didn’t know the answer, to move on. That way, if time allowed it, they could go back to the question and work on it more. If Sherman didn’t know the answer to a question on a test, he would guess rather than go back. Also, he never looked over his answers or second-guessed himself. It would cause him all kinds of anxiety if he did. By the time the tests were all handed out, he had asked for and received scrap paper to make notes on, napkins for the water bottles, and the fan turned on in the room.
One other person, a woman from the left side, asked if she was able to take her jacket off and put it back on if the room became cooler. Jackets of the others came off immediately in the stuffy room. Getting his test from Marcia, when she handed it to him face down, he didn’t touch it until she said to start. After getting the file open, Sherman never looked up again unless it was to stretch his neck or to drink some water to quench his thirst. It was time to get down to serious business, he told himself as he filled out the top portion of the test with his personal information.
have too much fun at her expense if she would have asked him to move to the side. Marcia didn’t have a file on the people here as she normally would when working on a case. Other than their names with a recent license photo, she knew nothing about any of the candidates. She had learned very little about them, too, when she was with them, bringing each of them to this place, one at a time, so that she could get a feel for them, with the exception of Sherman Archer.
The only one she didn’t like, and she was sure that it was all on her, she supposed, was Mr. Jack Widmer. He was too touchy-feely if she was honest. Before pulling out her gun and telling him once again to keep his hands to himself, she saw that he was like that with other men too. Mostly while shaking hands with him, he’d touch their shoulders. Put his hand on their back and sometimes lead them away. To her, it was too much. Shifting in her seat to get a more comfortable position, she winced when she hung herself again. Being shot two weeks ago had put her out of commission for a while. She still had three weeks more to go before she was able to show up at her desk. Then another month, if she was lucky before she could go out on assignments again. Being shot wasn’t anything that she was pleased with herself about, but it was part and parcel of the job that she had as an FBI agent.
The first person done with their test was one of the women. She didn’t look pleased with herself. Simply sealing the test with the acquired strip of papers, they both signed off on it as well as Marcia put the time too. There was still an hour left to go, and she wondered why she’d not worked on the test more. As it was none of her business, she put the test away and pointed to the door. After she got up, Sherman was the second to leave. Marcia happened to have her eyes on him when he simply closed up the booklet and got up. No checking his answers or any other thing that one might do when taking a fill-in letter for the answer test. It was the way that she did things too. No second guessing. If the answer that you put on there was the one you thought it was, there was no point in changing your mind now.
Three others followed Sherman out after they sealed their tests with her. She was somewhat disappointed that Sherman didn’t speak to her, but then, she had warned them all about talking while others were testing. As soon as the timer went off on her computer, she had the last three close their tests and put their pencils down. The two women and one man seemed very disappointed. In what? She had no idea. Gathering the tests up, Marcia handed them off to the courier that was waiting on them. After signing off on the paperwork that came with sending it to the facility that would mark the tests, she made her way to the building’s basement to grab some lunch. Again, she was disappointed to not see Sherman with the others. Counting them all, she noticed that two people were missing. Sherman and one of the women.
Before she could convince herself that he was off with another woman, not even understanding that herself when she thought of it, the woman came back alone but for her aide with her. She’d been to the bathroom, Marcia assumed. It really was beginning to bother her that she was so curious to know what Sherman was up to all the time. Giving herself a good hard mental shake, she ate her small meal by herself at one of the many open tables. At precisely one o’clock, the aides with each of the candidates gathered them up and started for the room they’d been in previously. She followed behind, and that was when she saw Sherman and his aide coming in from the outside. There were no rules that they couldn’t go outside, but she did wonder what he’d been doing out there.
Marcia, frustrated even more with herself, gave herself a good talking-to as she rode up in the elevator with half the group. Sherman made his way to the back where she was standing and touched, ever so lightly, his hand to hers. Before she could open her mouth to tell him to behave again, he nodded to the front of the elevator, and she saw Widmer talking to one of the women. Every time thewoman tried to back away from him, he would move that much, if not more, closer to her.
Startled when Sherman sneezed, she nearly fell on her ass when he bent to the waist to sneeze, knocking the woman that was nearly back against the wall from Wilmer next to her. Sherman stood up, apologized to everyone about the sneeze, and stood between Widmer and the woman. She looked so upset that she thought that she was going to cry. Widmer wasn’t happy with the turn of events, but she was. The man was going to learn to keep his hands to himself, or someone was going to pop him one. Not necessarily with their fist, either. A gun? A knee? Anything she thought to make him back the fuck off. The woman made her escape as soon as the doors opened. As she fled to the doors of the room they were using, Marcia moved on too. Not wanting to be near the other man for any longer than she had to. As she opened the door for those who were already by the door to the room they were using, she noticed that Sherman and Widmerhung back.
Widmer seemed upset, but Sherman was his, what she’d come to realize as his normal mood was calm and his voice low. While she didn’t know what they were talking about, she was sure that the two of them were not going to be getting along for the rest of the three days that they were going to be working and testing together. She wondered what was going on, but her attention was taken away from them to remember the things that she had to do next.“Tonight, you will all be required to be dressed in your best to have a meet and greet with the vice president. It is unknown at this time if the president will be there, but you will all be picked up in vans with the purpose of bringing you all here together.” She cleared her throat when some of the others began talking. “You will be asked to be on your best behavior tonight. There will be light food, so if you wish, you can have dinner in the restaurant in the hotel where you are staying before you’re picked up. There will also be an open bar. Any questions?”
Sherman, of course, raised his hand. “What time? For the pick-up so that I can figure out how much I need to eat to last me until I get back here. Also, if you don’t mind me asking now, what time are we going to be required to be back here in the morning?” Widmer asked Sherman if he was planning on getting lucky tonight. Sherman ignored the man awaiting for her to answer him. After doing so, he stood up to move to the fridge to get himself another bottle of water for the next round of tests. She didn’t think that he was at all happy about something, but she supposed time would tell what he wasn’t happy about.
Brandon Wilkerson couldn’t believe the luck he was having. He had only gone to the auction for a table, but the house was too good a deal to pass up. It would be perfect if and when he ever found a family.
Shelby Maynard was as pissed as she’d ever been. Her ex, Allen, was late as usual bringing back their son, Kelly. She knew she’d made a mistake when she said she’d take him back to court for back child support. Allen was on her before she could even bring her hands up to protect herself.
Brandon saw it all. He only wished he’d been in time to stop Allen before he hit Shelby in the first place. Brandon wanted to hit Allen again, but the man was out on the first punch….
When Marsden Wilkerson received the phone call that his mother had been in a car accident, he wasn’t letting anything get in his way to get to her. Not a pushy boss, and especially not his Aunt Eita. Then his world crumbled when the doctors told him that his mother, Holly, didn’t make it. Gabriella Farley, Abby, could hold her own, and she wasn’t about to take any flack from a rich bitch like Penelope Wilkerson.
Amy Hamilton never had much of a home life growing up. Her sister Phoenix and her mother demanded all the attention, so much so that she and her father didn’t have a relationship at all. Now that her father was filing for a divorce, he felt guilty for not being a part of her life and wanted to make up for it, but Amy wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
Rayne just wanted to finish nursing school and take care of her grandda. He was all she had left. She had only left the house for a short time, and when she returned, he was gone, and there was blood everywhere. She panicked. She called the number her grandda had written down for emergencies. When Watson answered his phone, he had trouble understanding the hysterical young woman on the other end. And when he got her to calm down enough to find out what was going on, being a doctor, he was ready to help where needed. When he arrived at Mr. Oliver’s house, he was met with the most captivating woman he’d ever seen. She was perfect. Wats was so smitten, he was afraid he’d screw up before he even had a chance to ask her out.
Charlie had been gone from the small town for several years, attending medical school with Rayne. She only returned when she got the news that her mother, the sitting judge, had been murdered. Rayne convinced her to come back home. The town needed good doctors.
Pete Tolliver was doing just fine, and when a man came into the tavern she owned asking for a Pete Tolliver, all sorts of warning bells went off in her head. She went by Pete for a reason, to keep her identity a secret. She didn’t like people and didn’t want to be bothered. She was Petunia, a well-known romance author, but she didn’t like the attention her fame brought her, so she simply went by Pete.
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Happy Reading,
Brandon was bored, and there was an auction going on close by. Calling up his dad, he said he’d meet him at his house, and that was how they had ended up together at one of the largest auctions he’d been to all summer long. “You’re not feeling sorry for me, are you, son? I mean, if you are, that’s fine too, I guess, but I don’t want you to have to mess up your plans when you’re thinking that I need to get out of the house. All right?” He said he was bored just sitting around the house waiting for someone to call and ask him a question about anything. “What about the building that you’re having remolded? I was sure you were working on it or something this week.”
“The contractors said that if I came by one more time, they were going to have me arrested. Or they’d stop working.” Brandon laughed with his dad. “I know he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, but he said all the changes I was making were driving them all nuts. So I’m staying away.” Dad laughed again and said he knew it was killing him. Brandon grinned at his dad. “I think it’s going to be nice having a place just for myself to work on what I want. I’ll know where my stuff is, and I’ll know when I have to order things. Also, when and if I find myself a bride, she’ll not have a hissy fit with me for having all my tools and equipment laying on the dining room table and wires everywhere. Today is for trying to make my house a home. No matter how hard I try to make it feel like it’s my place, it’s not a home. It’s just a place I lay my head at night. So today, I have a list of things I’m still missing. At least a dining room table so the guys don’t make fun of me as much when I have them over, and they have to stand up to eat pizza. I thought we could get a couple of them today.”
“Good plan. I’m looking for a better desk than the one I got last month. It’s all right, but it’s not nearly wide enough for what I need. I still write checks, and there isn’t enough room on it for the keyboard and whatnot.” Brandon told his dad he needed to get an online account to pay his bills. “I know. But you have no idea how seeing only my name on the checks and then putting them in an envelope is freeing to me. I don’t think, even after being as old as I am, I ever had the chance to have my own bills and my own checking account. I just charged everything and then had an accountant pay the bills. You know something? Mars made fun of me for giving him a check for my rent. He said that he didn’t want us to pay anything. But I don’t care if he tears the checks up. I just feel good about doing this on my own.”
“He’s a good guy.” Dad agreed. “Okay, remember the rules for buying things at an auction. No, lingering on something you want so someone realizes you want it too. You don’t take the first bid because that’s way too high for the item. And most importantly, you never have a gun pulled on you.” Dad laughed. “I like that last one the best. All right. You hang around with me for a bit so that I can get things straight in my head.” They got out of the truck and wandered around the items that were still being brought out. It was early yet, so they could look all they wanted. “Do you suppose they ever get the first price they toss out there?”
“They do. A lot. Because someone usually jumps in then and gets it. Excitement will have you paying way too much for something.” Brandon saw just what he’d wanted when he’d found the auction online. He made a beeline for the dining room table. Making his way around it, he could see that the table looked much larger than he had expected. There were even extra leaves to make it even longer. “Dad, can you see us all sitting around this sucker around the holidays? Or better yet, when a game is on, and this table is loaded with snacks and drinks? I’ll have to figure out something for chairs, I guess, but I love this table.” Dad said that he did as well. The men who were bringing out the other items looked like they were exhausted already. It was only nine in the morning. One of them asked Brandon if he was interested in the chairs as well.
“It didn’t say that it had chairs in the description. Yes, I’m interested.” He followed the man into the house when he told him he’d show them to him. “Do you know how many there are?”
“No. We stopped trying to count stuff last night when we got here to look things over. It wasn’t until we started pulling stuff out this morning that we found the chairs in a couple of the upper bedrooms. This place is a mess, not trashy, mind you, but my goodness, it sure is big and filled with furniture. Had I known this when I took this on, I might not have done it. It will take a second auction to get it all sold.” Brandon asked if he was allowed in the house. “Yes. It’s going to be sold too. Today if I can get enough people around here to want it. This auction was a late sale, and I didn’t have time to advertise it all that well.” The man stopped and turned to Brandon. “Go on. Make me an offer on it, and I’ll see what we can do.”
Brandon didn’t need a house. The one he had was big enough for him and a wife if he found one, and a couple of kids. Maybe. When he was looking for a place to live around here, that’s all he thought of. Just a house and that’s exactly what he got. Now that the other cousins were having their dads live with them, he wished he’d gone larger rather than smaller. Live and learn, he supposed. But he was tempted to make an offer on the house, just for its size.
As soon as he walked into the home, he was blown away by the amount of furniture and other items just in the front hall. But as he let himself adjust to the things around the place, he saw that the house was beautiful. The front hallway alone was enough to make him want to put in an offer for it. But he’d wait for the auction. He thought he’d get a better price.
Finding the chairs, he was happy to see there were fourteen of them plus two armed ones that went on each end. It was much larger than he thought anyone would need, and then he remembered that he had a very large family now. Thinking of how he’d get it home, his dad joined him in the room. He was sitting in one of the chairs and offered for his dad to have a seat in one too.
“My goodness, son. I don’t think I’ve ever sat in a more comfy dining chair before. I was just walking around the place. There is a lot of stuff here. The man downstairs who told me where you were said he was going to have to do a second day of it. These chairs match that table downstairs beautifully, don’t they?” Brandon agreed with him and told him about the house being for sale. Dad sat back in the chair and looked around the huge room. “It’s a big home, son. You going to be all right with that?”
Brandon grinned at his dad. “If you come to live with me in it. It will be the perfect size for the two of us.” Dad hugged him. “Have you been thinking about that too?”
“Yes. All the others, they live with their sons. I knew your other home was smallish in comparison, so I thought I’d be the odd man out.” Brandon told him never. “I’m glad to hear you say that, Brandon. I’d love to live with you. What will your future wife say you think?”
“She’s not going to be mad about it. I’m thinking that the way the other wives are about their fathers-in-law, she’ll be begging you to live with us. Or perhaps beating you to a pulp for not being there.” Dad laughed, and they both got up to look at the rooms on the upper floor. “This house has four floors, Dad. Have you ever seen anything so big around here?”
Finding a baby’s room filled with all kinds of things for a child, he decided he might get the furniture if he could for Shawn and Pete. There was not just a crib but a couple of dressers, changing table, as well as an old rocker that he fell in love with. He told his dad his plans.
“Oh, I like that idea. Yes, I do.” The auction was set to begin in a few minutes, and they made their way down to the yard. Looking in the kitchen, Brandon couldn’t believe it was in the same house.
It was devoid of clutter. Other than the large center butcher block table, there was no other furniture in the room. And it had recently been updated, like in the last couple of years. Making his way out into the yard after getting himself a number, he was ready for this to begin. Dad had seen a few things he wanted, so they were set to have a wonderful day.
The box lots were first. He figured they’d be going first thing just to get them out of the way for the other things they were bringing out. There were a lot of them too. On top of the tables and under them, too. He’d never seen so much in one household before.
Brandon got some of the boxes to go through, and Dad was getting into it as well. Between the two of them, they ended up with twenty box lots and all for less than ten bucks. There were only a few people there, and he thought that was the main reason they weren’t selling all that well. The second and third table of boxes was tools, and they both looked around at the other things as they were coming out. When the auctioneer said he was going to sell off the house at noon, Brandon pretended not to care. Christ, he wanted this home.
After another hour, they started on some of the furniture with a second auctioneer to move things along, Mr. Pettiford told the people lingering still. Dad was too nervous to bid on the desk he wanted, so Brandon did it for him. Twenty-two dollars for it, and Dad was nearly doing a dance he was so happy. In addition to the desk, they found that it was filled with office supplies too.
There were other pieces that Brandon bid on. Mostly he won what he wanted and wasn’t too terribly disappointed about the things he didn’t win. One of the things that he did bid on and won was a workbench made of steel. He was going to use it in his business as a work table. It was just big enough, he thought. It would come in handy with several projects he had going at one time.
The house was up for bidding next, and he looked around at the people that seemed interested in it too. However, when he began talking about the home and how it was going to need to be emptied before anyone could take possession, some of the crowd moved away. He knew it could have been a ploy, so he didn’t read much into it. Brandon had called Mars, someone he knew he could trust on not telling anyone what he was thinking to ask him for a guessing price for a home this large in this neighborhood. He told him he’d not go over fifty grand for it if it needed to be updated, especially the kitchen. After telling him that the kitchen seemed to be the only updated room, he asked about the furnace and such.
“It’s newer, but that could be anything from ten years old.” Mars pulled the specs up on the house while he was talking to him and told him it was only four years old. That it also had a new roof. “How many bedrooms does it have?” Mars was able to answer all his questions about the house and some that he didn’t know to ask. There were about forty acres that went with the house. He told him that someone might be buying it for the land.
“I guess I can see that.” When he was ready with an amount, Mars told him good luck, and they hung up. The more he thought about it, the more Brandon was excited about bidding on the property, but being a seasoned bidder, he knew he’d have to hide his interest from everyone. After Mr. Pettiford was finished with the specs on the house and land, he started the bidding out at a hundred grand. Mars had told him to go no more than seventy for it. It wasn’t a good bargain after that. It went lower and lower, and no one was bidding on the house. When it got down to five thousand, several hands went up. He still waited. Brandon was sure people would start to drop out when the bidding got to the fifties again. When the bidding stalled at twelve thousand, he finally raised his hand. Two people were left in the bidding war, and he didn’t think his chances were going to be in his favor the way one of the men held his card up without putting it down. Bad sign, he thought.
Just when he thought he would lose the house to the other bidder, the other bidder dropped out. The amount was stalled again at nineteen thousand, and he was the winning bid so far. He didn’t smile, not even when his dad came to stand with him. But he did keep an eye on the man doing the bidding. Pettiford was a good auctioneer and tried to get someone to bid just a bit more. When the man with the card said he’d go to twenty, he easily said he’d go twenty-two-five.
The bidder said it was too rich for his wallet, and Brandon was declared the winner. He smiled now. Looking at his dad when he whooped it up, he hugged him tighter than he had before. He was a homeowner. Twice over, as a matter of fact. The rest of the morning was box lots, and the balance of the furniture had been brought out earlier in the day. Dad pointed out that the men who had been bringing the things out had disappeared at some point, and he wondered if it was because the auction was going to have to go for a second day. Brandon thought that would be cutting it close. Box lots alone would take another whole day of bidding, he thought. Brandon not only got the table and chairs that he wanted, but he also got a China cabinet that matched it. He also bid on the large rug that he’d been told had been in the dining room and a couple of large planters that still had ferns in them. There were other things too that the two of them got. He thought it was the best day he’d spent with his dad in a really long time.
When Pettiford came to speak to him, Brandon was sort of weary about what he was going to tell him. He’d been to auctions with Holly when the family wasn’t happy with the price that the house went for and were reneging on his bid. “I’m happy you got the house, Brandon. Mr. Millner was going to tear it down and plow up the fields for his farm. You can see for yourself that we made hardly a dent in the things we’re pulling out of here.” The man sighed and shook his head. “I don’t really want to have another auction, and I’m sure you don’t want people walking all over your property, either. So I have a question for you. You make us a deal on what’s left inside and the things that don’t sell out here, and we’ll call it a day. I’m not going to make enough on this auction as it is. It’s an estate, and the judge told me to get whatever I could. It didn’t matter because there wasn’t any family to care.” He asked him to give him a price. Brandon shook his head.
“You tell me what you want for it all, and we’ll work from there. That way, you don’t have to pay rent to us for storing your auction things in our home, and we’ll take care of it all.” Brandon laughed; he’d not do that to the man. “You tell me what you want to make it worth your while, Mr. Pettiford.”
“You’re a Wilkerson, aren’t you? The people that have that second chance place that we auctioneers drop stuff off at that’s not far from here.” Dad said that he and his brothers did. He wasn’t keeping it from anyone. “No, I didn’t mean that. I only mentioned it because I’ve been dropping things off there for a while now, and you guys are always honest and pay well for the stuff. I’ll make you a good deal, sir. Just because you have me in the past. How about ten grand? That’s about how much I’d probably be able to make after selling all this when it comes down to it. But this way, I’d not have to pay anyone working for me and use up my gas coming out here. Because I know it’s going to take at least two to three more days, like today, to get this stuff sold. Does that sound good to you?”
“Yes, it does. We’ll take it.” The man whooped it up louder than his dad had when he got the house. “You’re a good man, sir. And it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”
They were still looking around the house when their purchases were brought inside. Brandon hadn’t thought of that, just storing his and dad’s things in the house while they got things taken care of. Mars called him while he was in his new kitchen, having a look around. He told him what he’d paid for the house.
“Great job. My goodness, that’s wonderful news. And you got the household furnishings too. I might have to take some lessons from you sometime. I was just thinking of Mom and how she’d get the best prices on things when she went to auctions. I know she helped a great many people out while she was having fun.” They were both laughing when Dad found an entire room of box lots to go through. “Sounds like your dad is in heaven. Box lots were always Mom’s favorite thing to get, too.” “I remember spending hours going through them and figuring out what pieces were. She always seemed to know what items were a good flipping price and was junk.” When Mars said he and Abby were out, did he want to have dinner with them, Dad was all for it. “But come by the house. I got Shawn and Pete a nursery set.” “Oh, buddy, they got one today. I’m sorry.” He was disappointed but not overly so. Brandon told him that he was going to keep it as a good luck charm to raise his own children with. “That’s the spirit. But you really need to find a wife first, I’m thinking.” They both laughed.
Ending the call to Mars after making arrangements for them to come to the house, he told his dad to pick out the rooms he wanted. After hugging him again, he went off to find himself a place to call his own. “Hello?” Brandon looked at the elderly woman that came into the house. He asked her if he could help her. Everyone from the auction had left about an hour ago. “I was wondering if the house sold yet. I had it in my head that it was too large for me, but I had to see.”
Brandon told her it had sold, but he didn’t say he’d purchased it. He didn’t know her, and while she did look elderly, there were scams every day that someone would get hurt or killed by someone they underestimated someone. Brandon felt stupid as soon as he thought that this eighty-something-year-old woman was going to be able to wrestle the house from him.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get here in time to bid.” She said it was all right that it was too big for an old woman anyway. “I don’t think you look a day over forty. Or younger.” Brandon prided himself on his ability to flirt with any woman. It was obvious to him that she was closer to eighty, but she grinned at him, thanking him for halving her age. He asked her if she was from around here. She shook her head and said she’d moved here a few months ago to get away from her family. “That bad, huh?” She said that they weren’t really hers, but they were the worst of the lot. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Do they know where you are? Or have you cut ties with them all together?”
“My great-grandson knows where I am. He’s just a kid, but he’s brilliant. I’m waiting on him and his momma to come back from getting him from his daddy. Sorrier man than I’ve ever seen that man is. Kelly is my great-grandson’s name. He told me he hates spending time with his father during the summer. All they do is have parties, and he has to stay in his room because of the way they party. I’m not sure what he means about that, but I’m going to have Shelby, my granddaughter look into it when she gets home. She’s been working overtime at her job for the past month to take Kelly on a special trip this summer.”
“That’ll be nice.” He offered her a chair to sit in, and he pulled a box toward him while waiting on Mars. “I do hope you have an attorney looking into things for you. I would hate to hear that you got yourself or your granddaughter in trouble over this.” “Yes, that’s what Shelby said to me. She’s forever scolding me about this and that. She would have had of had a fit if she knew that I was looking for a different place to live. I was hoping that this might have been a good place for her and Kelly to live with me. But even with that, it’s too large of a home, I’m thinking. Oh well, I’ll just have to keep looking.”
Mars and Abby showed up when she spoke of looking for a little house she could call her own. Brandon introduced her to his cousin and his dad when he came down from the upper levels.
“Mrs. Cartwright? My goodness, I’ve not seen you in years. How are you?” Abby hugged the older woman. “You look amazing. How is that nasty family of yours?” “The same. Abby, you look beautiful as ever. This must be your new husband?” Abby explained how she knew the woman. “She was my student when she got herself hurt one day. Oh, the times we had, didn’t we?”
“Yes. You taught me a great deal that summer. Things that I’ve never forgotten. You’ve heard about Holly Wilkerson, didn’t you?” She said that it was a terrible loss. They all agreed with her. “Mars, my husband is her son.” “Oh my goodness, how wonderful. You are the most perfect pair.” While they were preparing to leave the house, Dad invited Mrs. Cartwright to have dinner with them. She agreed, and they loaded up in their cars and trucks after locking the house up. Brandon didn’t know how it happened, but he was thrilled to be spending time with the family and Mrs. Cartwright.
Getting in his car, he turned back to look at his new home. Knowing he’d have no trouble selling the other house, he thought of himself living here. With all the land and the trees, he was almost too excited to have dinner with everyone. He wondered if now that he had the home of his dreams would his dreams now be fulfilled by having himself a wife and someday children. He hoped so with all his heart.
Ruby Thimble didn’t have anything left to lose. She had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and now her days were numbered. She sold everything and decided she wanted to spend what time she had left with her sister, Rosie.
Rosie struggled with dark thoughts. Ending her days here on Earth remained forefront in her mind. But when her sister just suddenly showed up on her doorstep and her days were numbered by no choice of her own, Rosie wasn’t having it. She had to do something. She knew a bear shifter and knew he could help. She’d get down on her knees and beg if she had to.
Calhoun Meyer didn’t know what he could do to help, but he and Rosie were supposed to be leaving to work for Hamish in a few days, so he said he’d help her sister if he could. When he arrived at the camper to see what he could do, if anything, it hit him that Ruby was his mate….
Lander was good at her job. What she wasn’t good with was people, most people, in fact. Especially attornies who weren’t prepared when they cross-examined her as a witness. She didn’t care. She had work to do. Leaving the courthouse was the last thing she remembered when she woke up in the hospital. Happy to have finally found his mate after all these centuries, Hamish, an ancient vampire, had been following her scent all morning. The scent led him to the courthouse, where he decided to wait until she came out. But shots rang out when Lander stepped out of the building. Hamish would have to move fast, or he would find and lose his mate at the same time.
Robin had been born a vampire, but when she failed to develop fangs at twenty-five, her family deemed her worthless and left her at the mercy of the vampire council to do with what they pleased. Being a slave was all she’d ever known.
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Colby had had enough of Levi following her everywhere she went. He was a creep, and she wanted him gone. The idiot couldn’t get it out of his head that she wouldn’t marry him now, not ever.
Hadley only had a mind to keep the pretty woman out of harm’s way. The dragon hatchlings were running wild and about to bowl her over. When he touched her, Colby knocked him on his ass.
Hadley couldn’t do anything but grin, he’d found his mate.
Finn Manning had so much on his plate, he wasn’t sure which end was up. He’d been there six months, and the pile of work on his desk hadn’t diminished by one sheet of paper. None of the construction projects the family had lent the money for had even been started. The foreman was a bully, and Finn had had enough.
Pembroke Black had always had a lot on her plate. As a child, she could not tolerate her father, and Pem had moved in with her grandparents when her mother died. When she was old enough to move out, she joined the Army and served the front lines as a doctor. Stitching people up was what she did best. Coping with her own emotions was another story—Pem found little joy in this world.
Jamie Darkhouse had inherited the large historical house when her parents had died. She had always hated living there and joined the Army to get away from the house and her parents. But when her parents died, she had things to take care of. So returning home seemed her best option. With the others gone, the house had lost the oppressive feeling, and she was now happy being home. Jamie and Pem were good friends, and the Mannings were more than ready to accept Jamie into the family even if she hadn’t been Milo’s mate. Milo Manning wasn’t a dragon shifter like four of his brothers. Yet, he wasn’t entirely human either. Immortal and magical, he still fit right in with the rest of his shifter brothers and large extended family. The Mannings were a large and well-respected family. It only took moments for Milo to confirm they were mates, and Milo moved into the old house with her. Each discovering the new magic that came to them daily. What came to them as a shock, though, had Milo’s mother, Cindi, rolling with laughter. Neither Milo nor Jamie found seeing and talking to the dead the least bit funny.
Imp had been alone in this world for so long she had forgotten what she was. It only took a little nudge from Winnie for her memory to come flooding back. She was a powerful earth fae and one of only three of her kind. She missed her siblings terribly, but it was too dangerous for the world for them to be in the same place. Imp was tired of being alone.
As soon as Hudson Manning realized who Imp was, the rest of the Mannings knew as well. Imp had created the first dragons. Cooper, the king of dragons, wanted to do something, anything, to repay her. Imp, however, didn’t want to hear any more about it and was getting pissy when he wouldn’t let the subject drop.
George knew almost immediately that Imp was his mate, but convincing the stubborn woman would take a little work. When the two come together, their combined magic will be more powerful than any of them could ever imagine….
Toby Deaver had been searching for George Manning for quite some time. The teapot had spoken to her and made it quite clear that she needed to find George. Loading up her family, her grannie, and her son, Shawn, into the car, they headed to the small town in Ohio.
George had already discovered the gem beneath the clay, but he and Imp weren’t quite sure what Toby’s involvement might be and were taken aback when Toby announced that she knew they weren’t human. Imp sensed that the boy, Shawn, wasn’t human either.
Although welcomed by the family, Toby felt she had worn out their welcome and wanted to return home to find a much-needed job. But when Shawn sensed a cloaked assassin, Toby reached out to the Mannings for help. Dover, a Manning she had yet to meet, responded to her plea for help. And when an older woman at the market wrapped her arms around Dover’s neck for an affectionate hug, Toby had never felt such a violent, jealous rage consume her.
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Prologue
Long ago, at a time when all creatures—including large dragons—roamed the earth as only their true self, things were much different than they are today. Working with and helping humans in whatever way they could, the creatures, large and small, worked side by side with them, helping both the dragons and the humans. It was a place where magic was celebrated. And dragons darkened the skies every day. It was then man figured out there was magic in the dragons and hunted them to almost extinction. This is the story of one such family. The beginning, but never the end of the Manning Dragons.
“I’m afraid there is no hope for us.” No one made a sound as their leader continued. “Once the humans found out about us and what we can do for them dead, we have been doomed. I’m so terribly sorry.” Coop looked around the room. There were so few of them now he could easily count them. When he had been younger, thousands of years ago, there would not be enough room for all of them to share this room. Now they were down to having a quarter of them share the space because so many, his own wife included, had been murdered so needlessly. Coop was saddened by it all. He was fearful that he’d see the end of his own family, his own children if something wasn’t done and done soon. Turning to leave the large cave, he was stopped by his brother, Xavier.
“The boys, they are well?” He nodded and smiled. Coop felt it all the way to his heart. A place that had been dead for so long, it seemed. “You have the spell? Are you going to use it on them? I should so wish I had thought of this before my own family was taken from me, Coop. You are a brave man and a good father.” “Thank you. And I shall use it tonight. It is the only way to save them.” Xavier nodded, his own heart heavy with the losses they had suffered. “You know I would have shared should I have had it sooner. I am so sorry, brother. All of my heart, it’s sorry for you.”
“I know that. I do. But they are all gone now. My other half, my children. Killed for things are not fair to our kind.” Coop knew all too well. “Ava was a good woman, Coop. A good woman and mother to your sons. She will be missed forever.” “Aye, in my heart and that of my sons as well.” Xavier stood there for several seconds, and Coop told him he must go. “They’re waiting for word on what is to happen with us all.”
“One more thing, if you please. It will not take but a second. I have left them all I have. It is where you keep them hidden away, the boys. Deep within the cave, it’s all there.” Coop asked him what he meant. “I cannot go on, brother. I cannot. There is too much grief in my heart for me to live. I have left my things for them there. They might survive this; with the magic, you have to give to them. And if so, they’ll need more than you have to help them.”
“Xavier, please, you mustn’t do this. They’ll miss you as much as I.” Xavier nodded and said it had begun. “You can come and stay with us. You’ll live with us in the caves.”
“Nay. I cannot. I must go. Just tell them I love them. With all of my heart.” There would be no stopping him once his heart was made up, Coop knew this, but it made his heart no less full for it. “Goodbye, my brother. Take care you are not caught by the humans.”
Coop made his way back to his hidden cave and sat before the fire. The boys, he knew, were resting, their bodies getting stronger daily with their age. Soon they would be as big as him, a dragon of worth and size. When his eldest son came to him, his eyes full of fear, Coop knew it was well past time he did what he had been practicing. The magic would keep them safe.
Gathering his sons, six of them of varying shades of blues and greens, he asked them to have a seat. He had a story to tell them. It was not a story, not truly, but a tale that would, hopefully, keep them safe.
“I have been studying things—a witch told me once of a great magic only few can do. It takes a loving heart and a strong dragon to make it work. I have asked her, and she has told me how to make it so. In this magic, it will keep you all safe from the humans.” They nodded, each of them knowing it was a human blade that took the life of their dear mother, and they were fearful daily that the same fate awaited himself and them as well. “I will perform this upon you, each of you, at the same time and give you some magic you will use when you need it. This magic, strong and powerful magic, will let you roam with the humans, learning and teaching them, I hope, and they’ll not know your true self is just below your flesh.”
“You mean we’ll be humans as well?” He nodded, then shook his head at Cooper, his oldest. “I don’t understand, Father. Will you explain?” “Yes. The magic I will give you will let you change into your true self when you are alone. But when you are out in the world, you will need to be a human. A man.” Cooper looked at his brothers and then back at him as he continued. “With this magic, I will also give you a gift. Something you will need to keep yourself safe should they find out. A stronger armor than any other dragon before you as well as the same immortality you have now, as man or dragon. That does not mean that you can be foolhardy with the humans. You will still need to keep yourselves safe from them at all times.”
Hudson, his second son, stared at him for long moments. He was the thinker, and if he could think of a reason for this not to work, he would voice it loudly. He was much like his mother in that. She would be the first to say when she did or did not like something. And the first to say the plan was perfect. He only hoped she would have approved of this.
“I think you are very smart, Father. To try and keep us safe. But I can only think this will not work on you. Or is your plan?” The boy was much too smart, Coop thought. “If you change us, who will change you?”
“There will be no one to change me, son. I will… It is my wish to join your mother in this earth.” He watched them, seeing if they understood the love he would loss when she had been murdered. “Giving you this magic, it will be something I can tell her I’ve done for her sons. You know as well as I that she loved you more than anything on this earth, including herself.”
“She died saving us.” Coop nodded at Lincoln. “I’m not happy you’re going to die, Father, but I understand wanting to be with mother. I miss her more every day. There are times even now that I have to think about it to hear what her voice sounded like. The color of her eyes, the green that they were, eludes me too.” “As it does me as well.” He looked at his sons, all of them growing into dragons of worth. “I must have an agreement from you all. Even if one of you does not want this, then it will not work. I would say you should think on this hard. For once, I have given this to you. There will be no going back.”
“I wish to have it.” He knew Cooper would be the first. Not that he did not love his father, but Cooper would see things in a way most would not. To not have this done would mean a certain death for them all. Dragons were too valuable dead not to be hunted for all time. “I will do whatever it takes to make sure you are proud of me as well.”
“I am already, Cooper. Forever.” The others nodded too. They were ready for this as much as he was dreading it. Because once he started the process of changing his sons into men, then he would begin to die. It would take all he was to change them. Not that he would ever regret what he was doing for them. Not ever, but he would miss them very much.
Standing up, spreading his wings out behind him, Coop told them about the things their uncle had left them. They knew where the family jewels were, the things their mother had left them as well. Once they were standing, their bodies strong and healthy, he felt his heart swell and break for what he was about to do.
“I, Cooper Manning, of the Manning Dragons of the earth, give to my sons, Cooper, Hudson, Lincoln, Lucas, Tristan, and Xavier, all I am. Each of you will take a part of the earth with you when you are converted. The part of you that is unique in all ways will be strengthened and enhanced. You will be immortal, forever, and those you take to your heart will also be.” His sons bowed before him when he told them to. He said the words over them that would change them into men. Coop could feel his body shutting down, his heart beating a little less. But he had one more thing he wished to bless them with and held himself upright to give it from his own dying heart. “One day, true love will come to you. And you will have more than you have ever known. It will fill you in ways you cannot ever imagine. Love will be yours for all times. For only then will you become a true dragon, a Manning Dragon.”
~~ Cooper sat with his brothers while their father lay dying. His heart was weak from what he had done, and it was tearing him apart. Father was weak, yes, but he continued to tell them tales of their mother, of their adventures when they were only small dragons in whispered words that touched each of them in different ways. They were going to be alone soon; their father was so close to joining their mother that it hurt Cooper in ways he had not expected. “What shall we do with his body?” Cooper looked at Tristan, the fifth child of his parents, and asked him what he meant. “He will not be able to lie here. If the humans were to find him, they would surely cut him up into pieces. I do not want that for him. We were never able to bury mother in the proper way after what they did to her. I don’t want to think of his body being picked over like meat in a spit. We must be able to do something for him.” “We could burn his body.” Cooper wondered how it would work when Hudson continued. “His scales will be worthless to them should they come upon his body. The magic he held within him also will be useless to them. He will be nothing more than a carcass.
They’ll leave alone.” Burn his body. It was something to think about. But he did not want to, not while he was still breathing, his body still alive. Even if it was just for a few more hours. Anytime spent with him was more than precious for the six of them. When he laid his head upon his father’s chest, hearing his heart beating slower and slower, Cooper wondered what his father would think if he knew the magic he had given them had not worked. They were all still as dragons. “He gave his life to keep us safe. But it did not work.” No one said anything to him as they each watched their father. Tears, gems of varying colors leaked down their faces as they thought of all their father had sacrificed for them for nothing. “Dragons such as we are, we’ll be hunted and killed by the humans. There is nothing we can do but wait for them.” “We will survive if we stay here,” Cooper told Xavier, the youngest of them, they would have to leave here eventually. “To feed and to fly, yes. But perhaps we could do it only at night. To keep to the skies and not let them see us.” “They know we are about and will have spies out looking for our lairs. We will have to kill any man should he come for us, and still, we will not be safe. We are, after all, dragons who have a great deal of magic.” Cooper stopped breathing. He needed it quiet so that he could hear his father’s breaths. Cooper did not hear his father’s heart and knew it was at an end. He was quiet for a bit longer, waiting, hoping for just one more beat. One more sound would mean he was still alive. But there was nothing.
Their father was dead. Sitting up, he told them he had passed this world into the next. None of them had ever seen a dragon die before. Their mother had been dead when they found her the day that she’d fallen from the sky. Each dragon they had come upon when they were out had been dead long before they found them. Their bodies were stripped of every part, so they resembled less of a dragon than just a pile of bones. Sometimes not even that, it seemed. Their scales were used for roofs for their homes and for shields. The very meat of them was roasted and stored away so it could be used for medicines and potions. Hearts were cut up and dried, then ground into a powder to use for other things the humans would use to keep them from sickness as well as magic to have a grand garden and trees heavy with fruit. The only part that would be left was the bones, and sometimes even those were carried off and used for something. Cooper hated all humans. “We will do as suggested by Hudson. It is the only assured way we can—” Before he could finish, he felt the stirring of the earth. It shook so hard it knocked each of them off their feet. As they lay there, terrified someone was coming for them, their father appeared before them. His body was still aground. But instead of dark in death, he was brilliant in light. Faeries, thousands upon thousands of faeries, seemed to be covering his body as it lay before them. Before Cooper could tell them to stop, to leave him alone, father spoke. “I love you, my sons.” Each of them nodded. Fear was almost something he could touch.
“I will now and forever join my true love, your mother. I must warn you, when you find your other half, and you will, you will have to be careful of the slayers. They will know what you have found by the magic you both will share. The earth will celebrate you finding your loves, and that will bring them to you. My sons, you will leave this place and take your place among men. Becoming someone I will be proud of.” “Father, the magic didn’t work. We’re still a dragon.” Cooper felt shameful to say a thing to his father. To tell him his sacrifice had not worked. “We will be hunted and killed.” “Nay, you only need to think of being your other half. Becoming a man is simple. The same when you wish to be your true self.” Cooper was not sure what he meant, but his father continued before he could ask. “Go, now before men come here. The magic to hide me will draw them here.
Be safe, my sons, and know I love you more than I do any other creature on this place. I shall tell all the tales of our adventures to your mother too. She’ll love it, as will I in the telling of it.” Cooper stood then. The faerie was still working, taking the body of his father apart. But as he watched, he could see they were not doing anything but preserving his body. Faerie ropes—golden and strong were all around him, and strings of magic were wrapped around him like a cocoon. It made him invisible to all. As Cooper stood there, his brothers beside him, he knew, like him, they mourned the loss of yet another parent. “You are the eldest.” He nodded to the faerie when she asked. “We have a gift for you. For all of you, but you will receive the most. Your father was a great man, your mother a queen among her people. We wish to bestow upon you all your father had.” “My brothers, they will need it as well. I should like to share.” She smiled at him and bowed. “What have you done with his body?” “He is being prepared to be moved. We will make a grand garden upon him. Flowers will be there for all to see, but only a few will know a dragon is there with his other half someday. His love and light will join him there.” He nodded. It was as it should be. “You will take this gift? You will share, but as I said, you will get more than the others.”
“I don’t care. Please, just do what you must so we can hide.” She nodded again and touched her fingers, small, tiny ones, to his forehead. Then she did the same to the others before coming back to him. “It is done? You have shared it with us?” “I have, Lord Cooper. But you must leave here now. There are humans coming. The magic we used to do this thing has given them cause to come here.” He nodded and looked at the ground where their father had been. “He is safe. Just as your mother will be soon. Go before they find you here and murder you as well.” He thanked her for her help and left. The exit from this part of the cave was hidden so well that only they knew about it. As they made their way into the night, he thought of the human inside of him, and the pain of it took his breath away. In seconds, he was down on his knees. Whatever was happening, he was surely going to die.
“You’re a man.” He looked up at his brothers as they began to transfer to one themselves. “We’ll be safe now, all of us. We’ll be humans for them until we can find a place where we can be ourselves.” “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again.” Hudson nodded and held his head tightly as he did so. “We will need to train ourselves in their ways. Become what they are. But never monsters.” “No, never.” They made their way to a building; any would do for now. Hudson, like him, was staggering a little, but they were getting stronger as they moved. He turned to look at him as they were settling into the empty shell of a house. “We will need to buy things, houses, and such.” “Yes. But tomorrow. I am too tired to think beyond how much we have lost.” Hudson and the others agreed. “When the humans are gone from our cave, we’ll go and find what father was telling us about earlier, about the wealth will keep us safe.” “I only hope there is a great deal of it. I don’t know how to work nor drive.” Cooper told Xavier, the youngest brother, they would soon learn. “I hope so. I hope so.” He did as well. It was going to be hard enough for them to learn to eat and dress like them, much less get around. Cooper hoped this worked. For he was as afraid as he had ever been in his life. Just to be such a smaller version of himself was frightening enough, he thought. ~~ After a time, thousands of years, each of the dragons turned into men and forged their way into a world that was so different than the one they had been born to it seemed as if it were a different planet. But survive, they did.
Having their mates come to them was more than they could have hoped for. The children born to all of them gave them hope and love. A small and fragile thing after such hardships they were born to. Cooper became, as his father had been before him, the king of dragons. His mate, Carson, is their queen. It had been and still is a time for celebration. To this day, they commemorate often and hard at each new birth of the dragons turned men and women.
The others, his brothers, prospered too. Finding their other half, making their magic stronger for having their love. Their children, much like their fathers, were good men too. They worked hard to keep everyone safe and well-fed. Humans or other dragons alike. No one, not anyone in need, would have ever been turned away from their generosity. The Manning Dragons, true to their father and mother, became the most powerful dragons ever born.
The six sons, Xavier’s sons, four hatchlings, and two humans moved far away to be the next generation of Manning dragons who would open their hearts and doors for all creatures. Even the sons of their hearts, the two human-born men carried powerful magic. They used it with their brothers to help as many people as possible, humans and dragons alike, to live in the ever-changing world. To help them not only succeed but to perhaps help someone else when they needed it. These boys, now men, have stories to tell.
And it is my pleasure to tell their stories and their lives. The Manning Dragons, all of them are the best magic, brotherhood and men that have ever been born into this world. And they will continue to be well long after the earth changes for the better once again.
Author Kathi S Barton 