Noah: House of Wilkshire ― Erotic Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Take a breath, son. You’re overwhelmed-ness is showing.” Noah did as his father said and felt better. “Now, slowly this time, tell me how your lovely mate made it to grand witch at such a young age.”

  He told his dad everything that had happened. And when Devon showed up, they greeted each other like long lost friends. Which, Noah thought, they were. Devon’s grandma had been a good friend of their family for a very long time—long before Devon had been born and his mom had been killed.

  “I cannot believe what a handsome man you turned out to be, Devon. My goodness, when you were just a small boy, I thought for sure that you’d be dead before you were twenty-five.” Dad flushed. “I’m sorry, son. I sometimes let my mouth get ahead of my manners. Your father, he wasn’t the nicest of people.”

  “No, he wasn’t. And I don’t call him my father. He was my sire. I was raised by the staff, and then Grandma when he was killed.” Dad apologized again and showed him the bundle. “You and Miss Lily have a baby, Mr. Thomas?”

  “No, no, this is Noah’s little girl. Lily, after his mom.” Devon looked at Noah. “He and his little mate, they’re going to take in more children like this little girl. The hospital, Snow told us, has them on a list to help them out. I have to tell you, Devon, they’ll be helping this old man out more than Noah and Bryce will them. But isn’t she the prettiest little thing you’ve ever seen? And I’m to understand that you and your wife are having a child as well.”

  “Yes, in seven months. Kelly, she has my mom’s dragon.” Dad looked shocked by that, and Devon went on to explain. “She said that she was waiting for her, Kelly, to have a place to live. It’s wonderful having another dragon with me when I fly.”

  They all three talked well past seven, and Noah realized that they’d missed having dinner with Bryce’s family. He was hungry too. When asking his dad and Devon if they were, it was as if they only just then realized how late it was. They too were starving.

  Since the women were out shopping—a scary thought, Noah realized—they decided to go into town too. So, instead of getting the cook to make them something, they decided to meet the women and have a nice meal. Lady Susanna was going to join them as well.

  The ride wasn’t that long, but Noah realized how much he needed a bigger SUV like Devon’s. Just having the car seat next to him in the back was tight, and his car was the biggest one he thought he needed. No, he realized, they’d need a semi at this rate.

  They were going to have more children, that was a given, and hauling them around everywhere was going to take some work. And room. Learning what he needed to do to figure out what to take with them was going to require a list each time.

  “You’re thinking too hard again, son.” He laughed with his dad while he told Devon how quickly he’d been shooting out statements earlier. “I thought his poor head was going to come off.”

  “I’m going to be watching Noah and Bryce closely, I think. That way when they mess up or figure something out, then I’ll have a heads up when our child comes.”

  Devon drove with ease into town. And by the time they had a table, the rest of them showed up. It was going to be loud and fun, and he was looking forward to it.

  Kissing Bryce, he asked her if they’d finished. She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed. “Did it not go well? I was thinking that the way you were all armed with cards, you’d have finished up by now.”

  “We nearly emptied the store, Noah.” He thought she was joking. “I’m not. We have so many things in the back of the two cars that we brought that it’ll take a month for us to sort them all. And let’s not get me started on diapers. Did you know there were as many kinds of diapers as there are brands?”

  “No. I’m assuming from the look on your face that you didn’t know what to buy.” She glared harder. “Okay, why don’t you tell me what happened, so I can go and slay them all for you.”

  “Keep that up, buddy, and there will be a snake in your bed. This woman, and I’m not being nice about it, went through every kind of diaper there was. I mean, every kind. There are swaddlers, one through about twenty, and then there are swimming diapers. Of course, I took that to mean, you know, they’re fixed so a baby can swim and not drown. No, they’re for the baby not to be able to pee in the water. So, my statement to her was, but after the diaper is wet from—well, both—the pee still ends up in the water.” He laughed. “Yeah, she didn’t think that was so funny. My mom did. And Grandma. They were both crying they were laughing so hard. But I couldn’t tell if it was from what I said, or the expression of total disbelief on the woman’s face. She was pretty pissed. And I’m sure if we’d not spent a large fortune in the store, she would have had us escorted out.”

  They were seated right away, mostly due to having Devon with them. He was a big deal to these people, like Noah wanted to be to his own little town. And ordering was a nightmare, he was sure, for the waitstaff, but they took it in stride and smiled the entire time. Noah was sure that at one point he would have thrown up his hands and walked away. There were just too many of them with different tastes to be an easy order.

  “I was wondering something.” He nodded at Lady Susanna. “Didn’t you and Devon have a few friends in college? I mean, other dragons? I was wondering if we should, now that we have eggs and children to protect, invite them here to help out.”

  “I don’t know. Most of our dragon friends were having their own set of issues when we were there together.” She asked him what sorts of trouble. “Well, there was this one buddy, Jackson was his first name.” When he couldn’t remember his last name, he asked Devon.

  “Jackson Williams. He had a castle that was destroyed about the time that my mother married. I think he lost a sister and was quite bitter about it.” Lady Susanna asked Devon if he’d rebuilt. “Not by the last time that I heard from him. He was...let me think. I think he might have been set to marry, to converge two lands or something. She was killed in battle, if memory serves me. Jackson had a lot of bad luck. Still does, I think.”

  “He was stripped of his title too. Something about his father siring several daughters and having them killed.” Bryce looked at him, shocked, and Noah explained. “It doesn’t make it right, but a great many lords did that to females born to them. I think that there were several of them, and since he couldn’t marry them all off to bring him more land and money, he simply killed them. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it was.”

  “It’s a good thing that I wasn’t born back in those days. I might have had to murder a few fathers in their sleep.” Snapping her fingers, Bryce brought up an image that danced above the table, showing a man sleeping. Then she appeared in the corner of the room. “See, I’d sneak into his room, stab him in his heart—if he ever had one—and then hang him out the castle window by his tiny dick.”

  Each man at the table covered their groin and moaned. Bryce, of course, laughed. Bea asked her when she’d gotten so vicious. She laughed and explained.

  “The moment that they put that little girl in my arms and told me that she was mine. No one, not one person, is going not harm her without paying the consequences.”

  Again, they laughed, but Noah knew that she wasn’t joking around. He would do the same, protect Lily with his life, but he had a feeling that Bryce would be a bit more vindictive about it, make the person suffer in ways that he never could. Yes, he thought, he was afraid of his mate. And with very good reason.

  The dinner was nice, a loud friendly dinner. And when they were all ready to leave, he noticed that everyone put money on the table for a tip. He estimated that the waitress was going to leave with about four hundred dollars tonight. Smiling, he dropped another hundred on the table. Noah wanted to be able to come back here with a crowd, and not have no one want to wait on them. When they got out to the car, he stopped and just stared at the way each of the windows were covered up with bags. All but the windshield, thankfully.

  “My goodness, you weren’t kidding.” He laughed with Bryce when she showed
him what was in the back of her little car, as well as how much Kelly had been able to stuff into hers. “I take it we’re going to have to go hunting for a crib tomorrow.”

  “No. William took care of that, he told me. As well as a dresser and rocker. Snow made the mobile that will hang from the bed, and there is a bassinet that will be delivered with all the things that we couldn’t get in the vehicles.”

  They were getting used to carrying around a child. The car seat was still something that they had to play with to get in, and it wasn’t until Devon showed them how to slip the seat on the base and hear it click that they got it. Sometimes, Noah thought, it took a visual to get it.

  “I’ve been watching other people with their equipment. I don’t think they actually call it that—something dirty, I was told, is what they call their equipment. Anyway, I’ve asked around, gotten the best ideas on stuff.” Noah asked Devon where he could get the information that he had. “I’m telling you, Noah. You tell some woman that you’re going to be a father soon, and they come out of the woodwork to give you a lesson on just about anything you want.”

  “Yes, but you must make sure that that’s all they’re giving you.” Bryce laughed as Kelly continued, and Devon’s face turned a very deep shade of red. “He was invited to this woman’s house to see how the stroller worked to be put away. He told me he barely got out of there with his clothes still on. I’ve never seen him so shaken before. So, from then on, he took me with him on his hunts for information.”

  “Yeah, I found it to be safer. Not to mention, I got real information and not propositions.” Devon hugged him and kissed Bryce on her cheek as the others loaded into their cars. “Come over tomorrow and we’ll go over some of the things I think you can make an improvement on in your town. Things that we found out quite by accident. It might help you.”

  “Thanks.” Noah started away when he turned back to his friend. “I have over forty eggs stashed away by my parents. Hatchlings of fallen dragons. I think, if we can, we should gather our forces. Perhaps bring in a few more like us to help out.”

  “I think you might be right. Are you and Bryce planning to raise all of them as your own?” He nodded. “Need any help with that? I mean, we’re about to have our own; we could put another one with ours. I heard that it’s best in raising dragons without real parents to have a mate, so to speak, to be with them.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea. But we really will need help. Just as your grandma said.” Devon looked at the mountain, then back at him before Noah asked him if he was serious.

  “I am. I’ll talk to Kelly, but I don’t think she’s going to have any trouble being a mom to one. And maybe we can all learn from each other. I don’t know any breeding pairs anymore. And even knowing ones from long ago, I wasn’t into keeping up with what they were doing to keep them safe.” Noah said that he’d not either. “All right. We’ll add that to the talk. Also, if I were you, I’d not tell anyone but me about them. I’ll tell Kelly and my grandma, but I’d wait on the others. I’m not saying that your parents will get them hurt, but it’s been a very long time since dragons were born, and we don’t want them to get overly excited if it doesn’t work.”

  “I never thought of that.”

  Noah started for his car again and was inside and buckled when he turned to look at his daughter. She was facing the back seat, as she should be, but they had a mirror now that showed her face.

  She was sleeping peacefully, her little mouth puckered up like she was having a bottle. Bryce was in her car or they’d be riding together. Not that there was room in her car for the seat. Noah started the engine and started talking to his daughter.

  “When you grow up, you’re not to have a boyfriend unless I approve. You’re not even going to date until you’re about three hundred years old, all right?” He laughed at himself. “I love you, Lily girl. And I will forever. You just stick with us and we’ll make sure that you’ll be loved above everything else.”

  He was home when he realized again that he was a father. Being a dad, he thought, was better than sex. Noah glanced in the mirror, happy that Lily couldn’t read minds. Laughing at his silliness, he took her out of the car and to the house. Life as he knew it was about to get very interesting.

  Before You Go…

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  Kathi Barton, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband who is an artist and potter.

  Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi online and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. aaronskiss@gmail.com.

  Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/