Donahue: Foster’s Pride – Lion Shapeshifter Romance (Foster's Pride Book 2)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I would gladly help you. But as I told you before, I haven’t had an occasion to use my magic all that much since my son was murdered.” Parker said he’d do fine. “Thank you. When would you like to do this? It also says that the longer the dead is in the living, the more difficult it is to get him out.”

  “Eight years.” Peter nodded, knowing it had been a long time. “What if we just did this today, before we have dinner with the family? I’d like for you to be able to speak to my mom. Get to know her a little better.”

  “I’d like that. All we need is room. Between the two of us, I’m thinking we have ample magic. And with the lions here, there will be added support from them as well.” Jane asked him how that would work. “Long ago, an uncle of mine told me a secret to making magic stronger. He said, pulling from the shifters that might be around you, which are all magic, will give your magic a boost you might not have even thought about.”

  It was settled then. Meggie was called to tell her what they were doing, and one of the brothers went to get her. Parker and he went outside to the sunshine and worked on where the best place would be to do this. Peter did warn her she would have to have someplace to put the specter of Park when she pulled him free.

  “If you don’t, he could find another host to terrorize.” She asked him what it could be. “Anything really, so long as it’s sealable and can withstand a little abuse. Glass works, or a stone. I’ve seen both used.”

  “I can cast him to a stone?” Peter told her how it would work. “So I just pull him free and tell him to go to a stone. How would that seal? I’m not being stupid, but it seems if there was a rock big enough to hold him, it would easily break.”

  “It could, and actually, it happens a great deal. But you’re forgetting something. A stone is nature made. And as a white witch, we rely on the earth more than we do anyone. When you cast him to the stone, it will take him inside of all of it because of what we are. Then, if a single chip is taken from the stone after he’s put in it, he can never be released from it. Even if it’s ground down to fine sand. He becomes the stone.” She grinned at him. “I don’t think I like that look. It looks to me as if you’re plotting. Are you?”

  “I am. But I don’t know that I’m going to use the stone at all. It’s a good thing to put him into, I think. However, I’d like for him to suffer, and to suffer for the rest of the days, there is an earth for him to be upon. I have a couple of spells I can use that will be as effective as the stone. I don’t want him to get off so easily as just being put away. Do you?” Peter decided he never wanted to make this woman his enemy. “You have nothing to worry about, Grandda. I can’t hurt you. We’re blood-related, and it’s against the rules.”

  He wasn’t sure if she was kidding him or she was actually trying to comfort him. It wasn’t—comforting. Again, to himself, he vowed never to piss her off. Peter had a feeling she’d kill him slowly and with a great deal of pain if he should harm her in any way. Hurting her new family would be a reason for her to kill. Yes, Peter thought he was going to forever keep on her good side.

  They had the wording, and the spell all worked out. Everyone knew their places, and he was going to be support to her. Don said he’d stand by him, just in the event something went wrong and he could protect him. Peter didn’t tell him, but he thought if anything went wrong, they’d all be screwed.

  When Meggie showed up, he could tell how worn out she was. Her face was gaunt, and she looked to be exhausted. Right then and there, he decided he was going to take her home with him. The two of them needed each other now. Yes, he thought, he’d have his friendship with the family, and make amends with Meggie for all she’d been put through. It was a good and solid plan, he thought. Also, a way to get Parker and her new family to come and visit them some. He missed having a family and was going to do something about that. Today if he could.

  Chapter 7

  Park felt himself being torn from his hiding place. Not even being dead was keeping the pain at bay. He knew who it was and why she was doing this, and he wasn’t going to do anything she wanted. After reading all the books he had on spells and casting, he knew that as his daughter, she would have to give him what he wanted. And what he wanted was for her to hand herself over to him so he could live again.

  Snarling at her when Park pulled halfway from her mother, he saw Parker smile at him. Christ, it was painful when she did that shit. First of all, the sun was much too bright for his tender eyes. Then there was the fact that he couldn’t use his magic while he was half in and half out of this body.

  As soon as they were finished with this shit, Park was going to kill Meggie. She’d been useless since the day he’d married her. It had bothered him on so many levels that he’d been tricked into wedding her. Perhaps tricked wasn’t the correct word, but he’d been something. Her family should have had more power than they did. Park had also thought that since she’d been engaged to a Windchaser, her fiancé would have given all he was to her when he died. Nothing had gone right.

  He wouldn’t admit this to anyone but himself, but he’d rather enjoyed killing Peter. He was strong. It had been one of the reasons he’d murdered him. But the magic never appeared. Nor did he get any of the jollies one gets when killing a being that is stronger than yourself. It, in addition to the magic, was why he murdered so much. For the jollies. Glaring at Parker when she laughed, he wanted to strangle her right now. If he didn’t need her as badly as he did, Park thought he’d do just that.

  “Well, you’re not looking all that good, are you?” He snarled again at Parker. “Yes, that’ll get you some brownie points, won’t it? Park, I’m to understand you have a request of me. Go ahead and ask me so that I can turn you down, and we’ll get to more enjoyable shit today.”

  “As my daughter, you have to do as I wish. I demand that you, as my blood daughter, give yourself to me so I may live my life that was cut short.” Parker asked him if that was all. “What do you mean is that all? You’re not doing anything I demanded of you. You have to do what I tell you.”

  “Not really. First of all, I hate you. Secondly. I really loathe you.” Park told her he didn’t really care. “No, I didn’t think you would. However, you’ve made your demand, and I’ve refused it. What other things do you wish to say before I take care of you? If nothing, I’d really love for you to be gone.”

  “You have to do what I tell you.” He felt a stirring in Meggie’s body. It took him a moment to realize she was laughing. “What are you doing? You’ve nothing to laugh about, bitch. Did you know that as soon as I’m finished with you, you’ll be dead?”

  “No. That’s not okay with me, either.” He told Parker to shut up. The adults were talking. “Yes, well, it might have slipped your mind, but I’m an adult too. I have boobies and everything now. And you’re not going to be around long enough to kill anyone. You’re going to suffer in ways you never have before since you murdered for the joy of it.”

  “You think you’re all badass, don’t you, Parker? Well, you might be powerful, but I’ll have you know that you don’t know half the magic I do.” She asked him what he knew that he thought she didn’t. “As my blood relative, I can demand that you hand over what I want. I tried being nice, but you’ve made it so now I have to take what should have been mine all along.”

  “You see, right there is where you’re wrong. Not just that, but this entire thing about you being able to demand anything of me. I’m not your daughter.” He told her she lied. “Nope. Not about this. You see, I’m the daughter of Peter Windchaser, one of the most powerful warlocks ever born. As his daughter, I inherited all that he was when you murdered him. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but it’s looking kind of sucky for you right now. Don’t you think?”

  He felt a change from Meggie then as if she was suddenly in possession of some kind of magical surge. Turning to look at her, he saw an elderly man holding her from behind like he wa
s going to fuck her or something. He told the man to get away from his wife.

  “You’ve really bitten off more than you can chew, Park.” The man laughed. “As father to Peter Windchaser, and grandfather to Parker Foster, I lend my power to Meggie to be able to rid herself of you.”

  Park screamed at the pain surging into him like volcanic waves. There was little time between one surge to the next. As soon as it stopped, he felt his body weaken more, his magic drained. Pulling back to hide away in Meggie’s body, he found that not only was there no room for him, but he also hurt every time he tried. The magic she had been given was pushing him out. It wasn’t fair, damn it.

  “What have you done to me?” Parker said she’d done nothing. Not yet at any rate. “I demand you stop this right now and be gone with yourself. I’m going to stay here for the rest of her days. There is shit you can do about it either.”

  “Oh, but you are so wrong on that score.”

  Taking a step back, Parker lifted her hands into the air. Park could feel the magic as it tightened around him. It was stronger than anything he’d ever felt before. As much as he hated to think about this, the man might have been right. He had bitten off more than he could chew, for this pain was far worse than when he’d been killed.

  “Earth, wind, fire, and love of the purest heart, I ask you for your help in ridding this monster from the body of my biological mother.”

  As he was being ripped from the living part of his wife, he tried his best to hang on. It was horrific, the feelings he was getting. Not just hatred, although there was more than enough of that, but he could feel love too. Parker to Don. Peter to Meggie. Meggie to Parker. There was so much of it he was beginning to be ill from it. Physically, he was sure he couldn’t throw up, but his body didn’t seem to know that. As he was dry heaving, he felt himself being pulled from his host. The pain was incredible. Park screamed with it.

  “Take me.” He looked at Parker when she backed away from him. “You must take me. I’m your father.”

  “I’m glad to say you’re not, as I have said to you before. You’re not anything to me but an abusive bastard.” Rising up, he was weak, his magic all but gone. Reaching for Parker, he encountered a large lion. “I’d like for you to meet my mate, Park. And even though Don cannot touch you until I tell him, he can, however, take the rest of you from Mom. Don, tear him apart.”

  The lion swiped its paw at him. He felt it as if he were whole again, but only for the second, he was removed completely from Meggie. Several more times, the claws tore through his ghostly body, until he was nothing more than ribbons of himself laying on the ground. Parker and Meggie stood over him, and as he looked up at them, Meggie kicked him hard enough to scatter him to the winds.

  “Park Emerson Carter, you are hereby ordered—from now until there is no more earth—to live as you are now. You will have no magic. No one will aide you. Not a witch or other creature will come to you when you call. From this time forward, you will blow along the winds as you are now. Separated from the rest of your parts.” Parker grinned at him. “I sentence you to feel each breath that blows over you. Every time a wound happens to you, it will never heal. Each of your parts will know pain, and you shall feel each wound every time you are injured. Get yourself away from here forever.”

  He watched as he was lifted up by a strong wind. The long strips of his body flew in every direction. As one part of him was knocked against a tree, the rest of him felt it. One part of him was caught in a lawnmower that cut him into smaller pieces that flew again. Dizzying heights made him wish for one more chance. One more bit of magic so he could kill Parker. However, all he did was float upwards, then down. Over things, then on them. Parker had done him wrong. And he was going to make sure, somehow, that she paid him back for all of this ill treatment.

  ~~~

  “Did you read this?” Mae shoved the newspaper in her brother’s face. “This says that cheap whore is getting married. We have to warn him. At least see if he can take a bribe and not marry into our family. You know as well as I do that she’s not going to amount to anything. Much less marry into anything other than someone like herself.”

  “Mae, I’m working here.” She didn’t think putting together a model car was any form of work, and she slammed her hand down on the pieces he’d been painstakingly putting together. “Why would you do that? You know this is the only thing that makes me happy. The one thing I do so I can put up with you as you live in my house. I should knock you into that wall.”

  “You can try.” He picked up the pieces, broken all over the table and floor. “Did you hear a darn thing I said to you? Parker is getting married. Who would marry a slut like her? Not anyone we’d want to have around.”

  “Since she’s never made any kind of move to come around us, I think that’s about the most truthful statement you could have made.” He shoved the pieces that were still left to break off the plastic holder into the box it had come in this morning. “I haven’t any idea why you hate that girl so much anyway. We’ve never had a thing to do with her or her mother. Also, you never cared for Park. I’ve gone along with all this stuff you wanted because I don’t want to have to argue with you. But it would be nice if you were to explain to me why you have such a burr up your butt about her.”

  “I don’t explain myself to anyone.” She was sure he said he knew that under his breath, but he wouldn’t repeat it. “I’m the younger sister, and you both should have listened to me when I pointed out that marrying someone was going to cause you all sorts of bad things befalling you.”

  “So, you did. However, I’m of a mind that had you not murdered my fiancée, she might have made me incredibly happy. I know being away from you certainly would have.” Mae couldn’t understand why they just didn’t do what she wanted in the first place, and she wouldn’t have had to resort to murder. “You go on thinking that. I know for a fact that I’d never been happier than when I met and fell in love with my Alex.”

  Mae decided to just ignore him for now. She had more important things to do today anyway.

  Picking up the phone, she called the newspaper the article was being run in. As soon as the person answered, she knew she was going to have to go down there and show them that the customer was always right.

  “I would like to know where this picture was taken.” The woman asked her what picture. “The one in my hand, dumb ass. Where was this thing taken? I also want to know the address right now.”

  “Ma’am, since I’m not there and we’re not on a video call, I cannot tell what picture you are speaking about.” The girl laughed. “Not that it matters, really. I cannot give you any address that an article might be running from unless it is with the permission of the person we were interviewing.”

  “I’ll wait.” Mae sat down at the table she used for a desk when she was on the main floor of this monstrous house. Her desk in her room was neat and orderly. There wasn’t even a pencil out of place. “Hello, are you still looking?”

  “I’m not sure what you think I should be looking for, ma’am. I’ve already told you I don’t know what picture it is you’re talking about.” Growling at her made the person laugh. “That doesn’t help either. If you don’t cooperate with me to help you figure this out, I’m going to hang up.”

  “You hang up on me, and I’m going to come down there and beat the crap out of you. I swear to Jesus. I’ve asked you nicely about the picture, now—”

  Raymond jerked the phone from her and glared. “You’re the stupidest person I know.” When he started using his nice voice, one to talk to people other than her, Mae knew he was talking to the girl. “She wants to know where the picture came from of the announcement of Parker Carter and Donahue Foster getting married. I believe it’s their engagement picture or something like that.”

  She couldn’t hear what the woman was saying to her brother. She must have said something about her because Raymond looke
d at her and laughed. The cheeky girl was going to be in trouble if she didn’t get her answers. Mae was thinking she’d go there anyway. There was some lesson learning to be done.

  “Yes. I understand. I know privacy is an important thing nowadays. I don’t suppose it would matter that Parker is our niece?” She must have told him no. He didn’t even sound pissed either. “Yes, thank you for being so patient with my sister. She has no manners at all. You have a good day.”

  When he hung up the phone, she asked him what the address was. He told her he’d not gotten it. Mae wanted to slap that smile off his face when he turned away from her and went back to his chair.

  “You should have given the phone back to me if you weren’t going to do what I wanted. That girl wouldn’t help me at all. I will need that address to warn the young idiot marrying Parker. What sort of name is that anyway? Parker.” He told her the same thing he said to her every time she mentioned how stupid the name was. “Yes, I know she was named after Park, but that’s not a name for a girl to have. They should have asked me if I approved of it or not. That would have been easier.”

  “I’m sure, like me, Park didn’t give two noodles as to what your opinion was about things that weren’t a concern to you. And I’m especially sure he didn’t care what you wanted to name his child.” Raymond flicked the newspaper as if he was trying to irritate her. “Just leave them alone, Mae. If you don’t, you’re going to be put in jail again, and you can be sure I’m not going to be making my way down there to bail you out. It’s not fair of you to bother someone that hasn’t done a thing to either of us.”