Matthew: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  Every room was like a new adventure. Matt was looking for outlets, and she was looking at the views. Each of the rooms showed a part of the castle that couldn’t be viewed from the other windows, the orchard behind the house, the barn that once held dragons like her. There was even a large waterway, used, Patrick told her, as an underground vault for the house.

  “There is a place under the water in the back on this side of the water. It’s deep. I guess a person in a wetsuit nowadays could do it, but before that invention, there was only a dragon or some other creature that could take a breath and have it last until they were able to get there. Once you get there, all you need to do is shift and take care of business. You should take her down there, Matt. There are some treasures there that we’ve not had out in more years than I can think about right now.”

  It was arranged. As soon as they were all moved in and it was warmer weather, the two of them would go down and see what was there. Patrick told them that he’d even had special crates made to keep the water out if something was unable to take the wet. She had never been as excited as she was right now.

  Aisling had a mate, a home, and she was working on something that she liked. As soon as they dealt with her mother and Rolland, they’d be ready to start their life on an even keel, whatever that meant. Aisling did add to her mental list that she also needed to talk to Angel. That was something that she was looking forward to rather than dreading. It was going to be good for the young woman to have something good in her life right now. Aisling only hoped that she believed them.

  Chapter 7

  Rolland was pretty pleased with the way things were going. He had an attorney that was coming to see him in a couple of hours. His food had changed to something better. Rolland refused to think that he was just getting used to what he had. Even his breakfast, a meal that he’d not had any contact with in a few years, was something that he looked forward to.

  “Rolland?” He stood up and backed against the wall opposite of the bars that held him in. “You have thirty minutes to hang out in the yard. Make sure that you stay away from the fences.”

  He knew that too. When he’d been outside the first day, he’d seen a deer and her babies. Getting too close to the fence had gotten a warning shot fired too close for comfort, and he was tackled to the ground by no less than four men. Christ, he’d been sore for two days after that.

  This was his second time being able to go outside because he’d been punished after the first one for six days. No one else was out there, and he was sort of happy about that. There was no one to disturb his time out of the cell, and he didn’t have to share the air with anyone of the bad people that were in the jail with him. It was like his own little piece of the earth.

  How’s it going?

  The man on the other side of the fence was just standing there. It wasn’t until he asked him the question again that he realized that the man wasn’t speaking to him with his mouth. Rolland knew a few shifters—they were a nasty bunch—but this man was dressed in nice clothing and wasn’t being aggressive toward him. Rolland decided that with the fence between them and the guard walking around, he’d be fine speaking to him.

  I’m doing just fine. How about yourself? The man told him that he was just enjoying the view. As am I. It’s cold out, but it’s not too terribly bad right now.

  They seem to be making sure you don’t escape from this jail. What did you do that has you so locked down? He told him that he didn’t know, not really. Are you sure about that? If you’re Rolland, I’ve heard that you killed a couple of cops. That might be the reason for the way you’re being treated.

  I’m not saying I did anything like that, but if I had to kill a cop, he was in my way of pursuing the American dream. He laughed, but the man didn’t. I’m supposed to have killed one of the cops when he tried to arrest me. The other, I don’t know how they can pin that one on me. But I might have hit him with a car. Turns out, it was supposedly his car. I just don’t know where they’re getting their information from. But here I sit on my ass and doing nothing. My brother said that he wasn’t going to help me, but I think he went ahead and did what I wanted anyway. I have someone coming to talk to me soon. I cannot wait until I get out of here. I have things to do, and they’re not getting done while I’m stuck in here.

  I can see that, I guess. But when you think about the other lives you took, I’m sure they had things to take care of as well. Like their families. Rolland told him that wasn’t his concern. Why not? I mean, if you ended their lives, don’t you think that you should be thinking about what sort of lives you left behind for their families to deal with?

  I have been in this place for a while. I think it’s been about a month now. The man told him it had only been a few days. Well, it seems like a lot longer than that. That should count for something, I’d think. I mean, I’ve been just as out of commission as they’ve been.

  They’re dead. You’re still walking around. Mores the pity. He asked him what that was supposed to mean. Everything. I don’t think you’re the least bit sorry for what you’ve done to end up here, are you? I mean, you’re just going to go on with your life as if nothing happened to you or those cops.

  Nothing did happen to me. I was smart enough not to be out running along the road when someone was coming through. Nor did I try and arrest someone like me. As police officers, I think they’d be counting on this to happen someday. To be killed in the line of duty. Their families are probably better off now, what with the insurance money and stuff coming to them. You’ll see. It’ll all work out for them. Just like it will for me. The man asked him how that was working. I’m going to be out of here soon. I know that my brother helped me, even though he said that he’d not. When I’m free, I’m going to go and live with him and his pretty wife. After that, I’m going to have him make me a lord. I think I already am, but he said that I’m not. What are you going to be doing?

  Rolland thought that he was being polite. He really was. But when the man waved at him and walked away, it was sort of hurtful. Instead of lowering himself to the man’s level and being rude, he simply enjoyed the rest of his time outside. All too soon, he was back inside and in his cell again.

  Like the last time he’d been outside, they tossed his cell. He had no idea what they were looking for. He didn’t even have a pencil and paper, much less a cell phone. Even if they had allowed him to bring his phone in here with him, it had long since stopped working. Another thing that he had to talk to his brother about.

  Matt had it made, Rolland had always thought. Not only did he have good looks as well as being built like he did sit ups every hour, but he also had a dad that had stuck around. Rolland’s dad hadn’t hung around after he was born. Of course, he was dead, but that wasn’t any reason for him not to have left him wealthy. Or, for that matter, to have left him with his mom.

  Rolland didn’t much care for his mom. He supposed that he loved her. Wasn’t that the way it worked? You loved your mother and father, no matter what. He just wished she had treated him better. After his dad had died and left them alone, Mom had gone on a journey, she called it. For four weeks, his mom was nowhere to be found. Even calling her cell phone had gotten him nowhere. Rolland had been so pissed at her that he didn’t keep the house cleaned up for when she returned. And then she told him that she was in love and had gotten married

  “Dad hasn’t been gone that long. What do you mean, you’re in love?” She told him that she’d not been in love with his father for a very long time. “I don’t care if you loved him or not. You still aren’t going to be in love with anyone, unless he’s wealthy. Is he?”

  “Not that it matters to me one way or another, but yes, he is. Very much so.”

  After she’d told him that, it was all good. Rolland had even tried to call him Dad a few times. Patrick put a stop to that right away.

  “You can call me Patrick. Or you may call me either of the ot
her three titles I go by. The Duke of Green Gables, Lord of Lilac Castle, or Lord St. James. But never call me Father or Dad again.” That was when Rolland had asked him when he was going to get a title. “You won’t. Not ever. You’re not my son, not even of my bloodline. The only person who gets a title besides my son is Julia. She is Duchess Julia St. James.”

  No matter how much he tried to get him to ordain it—or whatever it was that would make Rolland a lord—Patrick would not do it. Matt wouldn’t either. Rolland didn’t even bother asking his mom if she’d make Patrick do it. She seemed to be pissed off at him all the time lately.

  “I have a brother? That’s wonderful news. You think we’ll hang out together?” Patrick had told him that he doubted it very much. “What’s wrong with him that he’d not want to hang out with me?”

  “I would say because he can see just what sort of person you really are. Not to mention, he is a good deal older than you.” After meeting him, Rolland never understood why Patrick thought that Matthew was older than him. He didn’t look a day over twenty-five. He did ask Patrick what sort of person he thought Rolland was. “Did you know that your father was beating your mother? Did you know about him sending her to the hospital several times a year?”

  “Of course, I did. As my father told me and I’ll tell you, it’s really none of your business what happened between the two of them. If she didn’t like what he was doing, then she should have fought back.” Rolland had shaken his head at Patrick. “What does it matter to you what he did to her? I mean, it’s not like he didn’t have the right to do anything he wanted to her. They were married. And when I get married, I’ll do the same to my wife. It’s just the way things are when you’re married.”

  “I have never hit a woman that was smaller and weaker than me.” He wanted to call Patrick a pussy for not hitting women, but he didn’t. He wanted to stay on his good side so that he’d give him money when he needed it. Or just when he wanted some. Patrick, however, turned out to be not as generous with providing money to Rolland as he was to his mom. “You’d better never hit her again either, Rolland. Or so help me, they’ll never find your body.”

  “You’re joking, right?” Patrick just stared at him. “Whatever, Patrick. You know as well as I do that the only way a woman will listen to you is if you get their attention first. Hitting my mom? Well, I’m not trying to hurt her. I’m making her understand that whatever she’s saying to me or trying to get me to do isn’t anything that I feel I should. Like the house. Did you know that she is demanding that I clean up after myself? I’m a man. I don’t do clean up. Besides, that’s her job, as my mom, to make sure I have clean clothing and my room cleaned up.”

  Then two weeks later, while he was out with some buddies, not only had the locks been changed, but the house had been sold as well. That had made him mad enough that he’d gone to the police about it. When he told them that his mother had sold their home without even consulting him first, they’d laughed at him. Then he said that he’d had things in the house that he should have been able to retrieve. The officer there handed him three large black trash bags and told him that was what his mother had packed up for him.

  It turned out that it was simply trash in the bags. Rolland could tell that she’d just packed the crap on his floor, as well as the rest of the house—empty pizza boxes and pop cans, mostly—and had saved it for him.

  Rolland thought of himself as a laid back sort of guy. He didn’t get all up in the face of people. Nor did he let things bother him. There were a few exceptions to that, like getting people to call him lord. Also, the fact that Matt had done just what his father had said he’d do and would have nothing to do with him. Like he was some kind of pervert or something.

  “He’ll have to have some sort of feelings for me. I mean, I have an attorney now, and I didn’t before.”

  There was something so low about having someone say you had a court-appointed attorney. His family had money, and they should have their own attorney. Not someone that was just there because they’d been told to. Rolland knew for a fact that Patrick and his mom had one. Matt did, as well.

  He’d met both of them on occasion. Mostly it had been to tell him to do this or that. No more charging things in the family name. He wasn’t their blood family. The other thing he’d been called to the carpet for was trying to take out a car loan in his mother’s name. It wasn’t like he thought she was going to fuss about him having a brand new car. But she had.

  After spending three days in jail, Matt had bailed him out, talked to him about stealing peoples’ identities, and then left him there in front of the police station. He’d not even offered him a ride or anything like that.

  “Rolland, your attorney is here. Also, Lord Matt. His lordship would like to have a word with you first if that’s all right with you.” Rolland said that Matt wanted to tell him that he’d gotten him an attorney. “Yeah. I’m doubting that. You can see him in the visitor’s room; then, your attorney will meet you.”

  “All right.” He was nearly skipping as he made his way to the visitor’s room. After attempting to give Matt a hug, he just sat down. “You’d think you’d be friendlier to me than you are. For all the stuff you’ve done for me, I’d think we’d be closer. But you keep pushing me away.”

  “Because, as I have said to you before, Rolland, I don’t like you. You’re a liar, a thief, as well as a murderer. And that was since long before you were caught and ended up being here. You murdered long before my father became your stepfather. Having you around is like having this little bug that keeps buzzing in your ear, and you don’t know if you can kill it or not, but you can’t put up with it anymore. But things have changed, thankfully.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? You know what, I don’t care. You did me a solid by getting me an attorney, and I appreciate that.” Matt looked at him oddly. “You did get me an attorney, didn’t you? Or do I have to thank our dad for that?”

  “He’s not your father but mine, and he wouldn’t have gotten you one either. Neither did Julia before you ask me.” He didn’t bother telling him he was wrong. Matt would do things like this. Pretend not to do something when they both know that he was the only one that could. “I’m here to find out two things from you. I believe that I already know the answers, but I’m going to ask you anyway. Did you produce and make meth in the basement of Julia’s home, when you lived there, and sell it off? The second question is, did you really tell that man outside earlier that the cops’ families were better off without them? You can’t seriously be that stupid or cruel.”

  “Look, it was taken out of context. I told him that I was stuck in here, and that should have been payment enough. Then he asked me if I thought that being in here would make up for losing their family member.” Matt asked him what he’d told him. “I told him that he was right, that it should be enough. I mean, I would never have killed that cop if he hadn’t tried to arrest me. What am I supposed to do? Just let him handcuff me and take me in? No, I don’t think so. The second cop left his car in the lot to go take a run. Why would he do something like that? It was like he was begging me to steal his car. Hitting him wasn’t in the plan, but then, if he’d not been out like he was, I would only have stolen his car, not hit him. Do you see what I’m saying? I didn’t do anything wrong. They were for putting themselves out there—where are you going? Aren’t we going to have some brotherly conversation? Matthew, don’t leave me yet. I’m sort of lonely here.”

  “No. We’re not brothers. After hearing you just now, I don’t even want to be in the same room with you.” Rolland asked him what he’d done. “You actually believe that since the car was locked in a parking lot, it justified your stealing it and running a man down to be left for dead?”

  “Yes. You’re just hitting the highlights. I’m sure if you’d just sit down again, I can explain it to you. I don’t want you to be upset with me, Matthew. We’re family. All we have left after ou
r parents die. We need to be closer than we are right now.” Matthew still went to the door. “I don’t understand you. You’re going to be the type of person that leaves all the crap that goes with burying our parents on me, aren’t you? Well, count on it being really expensive then. If you don’t help me, then I’ll get everything new instead of used for them.”

  “Everything is new anyway, you moron. As for them dying, they’re not. The same as I’m not going to.” Rolland just laughed. “You think I’m kidding you? Here, let me show you.”

  The knife seemed to come out of the air—it was just there. When Matt sliced it across his throat, the blood splattered on them both as it ran over his shirt. Before Rolland could call for the cops to get someone to help his brother, the wound was healed. It was a good trick, Rolland thought and begged his brother to come back to him so that they could talk again.

  When the officer came to get him, he had Rolland’s coat again. Excited to be able to go out again, he was led into a part of the jail that he’d never seen before. There was his usual guard, who didn’t speak to him again, and his boots were by the door of a large room that looked like an old hospital room. Picking them up to carry as he was told, Rolland entered the room and looked around. The door behind him slammed shut, and then he heard the lock engage.

  He wasn’t alarmed about anything. He supposed it was just their way of getting him ready to go outside again. When the man from earlier, the one from the other side of the fence, came into the room with several people behind him, Rolland asked him if he was his attorney.