Theodore: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “They did. I didn’t.” Theo said he was sorry for talking behind her back. “No worries. But you have to come and see the kitchen. It’s unbelievable how amazing they made it look.”

  She told him that her parents had left the money in a reserve for her and her sister. “To care for her, you mean?” Jamie said that was it. “Do you have any idea how much that is? I mean, Aunt Carson told me. It’s been converted to your name, as it should have been years ago.”

  “When I left here, there was a fat argument. They told me I wasn’t to get a dime. I didn’t bother the money, even though it was still in the will that I got it. I don’t believe I was ever told how much there was.” Theo told her there was still a great deal of it. “Do you think I need to know the amount? I mean, will it be enough to keep me from having to work if I don’t want to? I’m not being a bitch right now, but I’ve been thrown a great deal today. Don’t you agree?”

  “I understand, I do. Like I said, it’s all yours now. The insurance that my aunt fixed for you is much more than Missy will need. Aunt Carson also made it so that you could collect the rest of the things they left behind. All of it is now in your name.” Jamie asked him if it was a lot. “Yes. Even by our standards, being very wealthy, you’re a billionaire several times over, Jamie. A few of the stocks you own are older than a few of the investments that my family has. You were what most would call born rich.” He laughed. “Christ, you could own this state if you wished.”

  “My parents were tight fisted with their things. I guess I’m very lucky about that.” She looked around the room, then back at him. “I’d like to be immortal. I’d like to live in this home for the rest of my days. If you’d not mind the faeries fixing the rest of it for me.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” He kissed her on the cheek. “You and Jangles work out what you want, and I’m sure that in no time at all, this place will be the showplace that it was always meant to be. I’m so very glad you’re going to be a part of this family.”

  He’d bet that by the time he was back at his own home, this place would be finished up. Jamie had been thinking of this house for most of her life. It would be just like she wanted it, and Theo knew that Milo was going to love living there. He’d not been very happy with the home that had been bought for him. Perhaps they’d work on something about it as well.

  Theo and Pem helped her with the rooms in that they made sure the faeries understood not to go overboard with the revamping of the house. On his way out the door, he noticed that someone had set the faeries onto the grounds. Yes, Theo thought, this place was going to be a grand showcase in no time.

  Chapter 9

  Sandra hated to wait for her turn. The system sucked in the way they did things around here. She thought that if a person had money, they shouldn’t have to wait in line for anything. Even in alphabetical order was stupid. Merkel would put her at the end of the line somewhere, and she didn’t think being in that slot was going to do her the least bit of good.

  The judge already looked pissed off. She stood up and waited for him to notice her. It didn’t take him long. When he put down his gavel, something she thought he should use on a few heads instead of the desk, he looked at her with a meaner look than he’d had before.

  “Ms. Merkel. Either sit down, or I’m going to null and void your question session with me and send you back to jail. I’ve got a full docket today, and you’re just adding to it. Sit down and shut your mouth until I—”

  “I don’t want to sit down. I only have a single question.” He waved at her, and she decided he meant for her to go on. “I want you to release me for a few days. A week would be all right with me. Two would make it better. I heard that they reopened Merkle’s Mark, and I didn’t authorize it. I need to go there and see what they’ve done.”

  “You want me to just release you. To say, hey, go ahead and see to your life while the rest of the inmates have to wait until such time as they’re released, or they’ve made arrangements to have someone do whatever it is for them. Is that what you’re asking me?” Sandra told him she’d return when she was finished knocking some heads around. “I see. And this knocking heads around? I’m assuming you know just who that might entail?”

  “My husband and his supposed sister.” She did the quote thing around supposed and thought by now the judge would have figured out what she felt about Rachel being Chad’s sister. “They’re plotting again, and I won’t have it. It’s bad enough that you keep telling me I have no job and no home. If you let me do this thing with them, I’ll come back and not bother you again.”

  “It might well be worth it just to make it so you can’t bother me again. You say two weeks will do it, do you? I’m supposing you’ll need some money for this head knocking event. Correct? How much would you need? A few hundred?” This was working out better than she could have hoped. Sandra told him she’d need at the very least a few thousand. “Of course. I’m guessing that head knocking has gotten a bit more expensive than I remember it.”

  She didn’t understand what he was saying. Sandra was sure he was either missing the point, or he had a sense of humor she didn’t understand. Asking him if he was going to give her the money and the time, she waited for him to answer. The man was entirely too stressed, she thought when he rubbed his hands through his hair and over his face several times as he looked in her direction.

  “Ms. Merkle, you do understand that you’re in jail for murder. Also, you have no assets. No restaurant. No home. And as I can understand this need entirely, having spent time with you, you have no husband.” She told him that remained to be seen. “Yes, well, that’s neither here nor there. You’re in jail until such time as you have a trial. Murder is a crime, and we citizens take that one very seriously. I have no idea why you think you should be able to just leave here for a few days to a couple of weeks. This is not a system that lets people out to knock heads together. The law states, and I’ve gone over this with you several times, that—” She told him she had money. “Do not interrupt me again. I’m in charge here, and the sooner you understand that, the better off you’re going to be. You’re going to be sent back to your cell, with a word to your keepers that you’re not to come back here, bother me, or even to request anything until your court date.”

  “Then you tell me how I’m supposed to be in here and running my restaurant at the same time? There are things going on that you’re just too stupid to understand. I swear. Did you get your judgeship from a bubblegum machine?” He just stared at her, his eyes wide in shock. “I can see you’re disbelieving that I’m smarter than you. It’s true that I’m smarter than most of the people in this room. Even if you were to put all their brain cells together with yours, you’d see that I’m telling you like it is. You have to do something about this, or I’m going to take matters into my own hands regarding your inability to see reason.”

  “Did you just threaten me?” She said he could take it any way he wanted, but she was getting out of there today. “I see.”

  When he turned to the police in the room with them, he put his hand over the microphone on his desk. He spoke to them for a good ten minutes while she just stood there. Sandra didn’t know why he had a microphone up there in the first place. He was forever yelling at people.

  The police came toward her with their hands on their guns. As they spread out around the room, she wondered what the hell was going on now. Didn’t these people have better things to do than to act like they were bad assed? Sandra could take them on all by herself if they didn’t have her chained up like some sort of animal.

  “Ms. Merkel, you’re under arrest for threatening a sitting judge. Come with us quietly, and we won’t have to hurt you.” She snorted at the man talking. “Are you going to be nice and come with us?”

  “What is it you’re planning to do to me, and I’ll tell you if I’m going to be nice or not. I don’t have time for this— Did you just say you were arres
ting me? You do see that I’m already a prisoner in this town. What is it you think you’re going to do? Add more time on my staying in that outrageous cell?” He told her again that she was under arrest and started reading her rights to her. “Oh, for Christ’s sake. I’m not going anywhere with you idiots until this thing with the supreme chump up there has been taken care of. I think you all have come from the same gene pool. I want the fuck out of here now.”

  They leapt at her. Perhaps that wasn’t right, but they did all converge on her at once. Even as she fought to get away from them, her chain kept tangling her up, and she was falling down with each movement to stand up. Finally, all movement stopped, and Sandra had one of the cops wrapped around the neck with her chains.

  “You need to let him go.” She moved to tighten the grip she had on the cop’s neck. “Ms. Merkel, I’m going to shoot you if you don’t allow him to be released. You’re forcing my hand in this.”

  “I’m forcing your hand? What about my hand? You jumped me, not the other way around. Undo this monstrosity of chains from my hands and ankles, and I’ll let him go.” She wasn’t stupid enough to think they were going to just let her get up and leave, but she was in charge this time, and she loved every second of it. “I don’t want to have to hurt him anymore, but you’re going to do what I say, or he’ll die, and it’ll be your fault. I want to get out of here to make sure my business isn’t failing. That’s all I want.”

  “All you’re going to get is a longer prison term if you kill that man. And if you do, you can be assured that I’m going to kill you.” She asked him if he was threatening her. That the judge got all nasty when she did it. “I’m not threatening you. I’m telling you what is going to happen. We don’t take kindly to having our officers killed. We’ve had enough of that for several lifetimes if you ask me.”

  She moved. It was only to release the pressure on her leg, but the loud snap had her thinking she’d broken something. It didn’t feel painful, but all the same, she had them just where she wanted them. Then she was falling down a deep dark hole.

  There were a woman and a man sitting on a couch when she opened her eyes, talking to someone, a person she didn’t see. In fact, she didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there. As she looked around, she realized the woman was ignoring her, sitting next to a man that looked at her with a sickly smile. Who were they, these people? What was her own name, for that matter? Turning back to the couple, she realized they were now staring at her.

  “Where am I?” The man, a person she didn’t know, but on some level knew he was in charge, smiled at her. He asked her the last thing she remembered. “What the hell sort of question is that? If I knew that, I’d have an idea where I am. Christ, is everyone stupid except for me?”

  “I know the answer to that as well, but I’m not going to tell you until you start to cooperate. I will tell you that I’m so very happy to see you here at this time. It does my heart good to know that something happened.” He was talking in riddles, and she asked him to tell her who he was. “You know me. You know my wife as well. That was put into your memory the moment you opened your eyes.

  “Xavier. Your name is Xavier. Her name is Cindi.” She hadn’t any idea why their names were there when she didn’t even remember her own name. “How did I get here?”

  “You came here because it was here that you were meant to be. It’s all in the rules that are now in your memory. What’s your name? Do you remember that?” She shook her head, then remembered something. She asked him that. “Yes. You’re Merkle, but that’s not your first name. What is it?”

  “Sandra. My name is Sandra Merkle.” She thought about the chains she was remembering and looked down at her wrists and legs. “They finally got their shit together, it looks like. I’m finally fucking free.”

  “Sort of.” Cindi stood up and asked the man if he wanted anything to munch on before supper. That couldn’t be right. She’d been in the courthouse early in the day. “It’s the tenth of August. It’s been several days since you were in the courthouse.”

  “No. No. It was the end of July. I had to stay—I was staying someplace I didn’t want to be.” Her head was pounding, and she asked the man if he had anything she could take for it. Then she remembered something else. “Chad. He’s my husband. He’s somewhere around here. I want you to find him for me so I can tell him something.”

  “I can tell him what you want. However, he’s not going to come here. You’re in no shape to have any conversation with him that will make him feel any better than he does at this time. You really did screw up.”

  Not remembering her name had been something she didn’t like, and now that she remembered it, she thought she should also be able to remember what had brought her here. She looked at the man again and saw that the woman had returned and that they were both in different outfits. Something was going on, and she didn’t care for it.

  “You’re back.” She asked him what he meant. “Since you’ve not been able to recall enough to know your circumstances, I’ll tell you the date again. This is August twenty-fifth.”

  “What are you talking about? There is no way I’ve been here that long.” He told her she’d left and had returned. It was exhausting for her to be there with them. “Why am I with you, anyway? I don’t know anything about you.”

  “You’ve been making your way to us since July twentieth.” The date. It rattled around in her head, and she wondered about it. “Until you come to the realization as to why you’re here, you’re going to keep coming back. As soon as you do, however, I’m going to send you on.”

  “Send me on.” It wasn’t a question she said to him, but he told her that was what she had done to herself. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Tell me what I’m doing here, and I want you to have Chad come here. There is no reason whatsoever why he’d not come to see me now that I’m free.”

  “Chad is here. When we last spoke, I told him you were coming here. He said he had a few things to say to you. Would you like for me to call him?” Sandra was afraid for him to call Chad, but Xavier yelled out Chad’s name, and he came into the room. Christ, what the fuck had he done to himself? “He’s been walking a great deal. Getting to know the people in the town. Being relaxed has been good for him. And he’s happy. Something that he rarely got around you. Also, he’s having a wonderful time working for my family. He’s here. Talk to him.”

  “What am I doing here?” The woman repeated what she’d said to Chad. “What the hell are you doing that for? He can hear me just fine. Why don’t the two of you go away so I can have a real conversation with him? Now. I don’t have time to fuck around with the two of you and Chad today. I have shit to do. I want you out—”

  Something rushed at her head, like all the memories that she needed to know were suddenly just there. Her name was Sandra. Sandra Merkle. There was a restaurant named for her. A home that she had burnt up. Sitting down on the floor, the only thing she could seem to get close to, Sandra let the memories of her having a chain around one of the cops, and something hit her hard in the head.

  “They did something to me. The cops. That’s why I’m confused. They hit me with something. I was holding the cop in the chain, and then I woke up here.” She could understand why she was, but she refused to acknowledge it. “You people. You’re the death watchers. You have something to do with the dead. I’m not dead.”

  “You are, as a matter of fact. Have been for over a month. We wondered if you’d remember being shot. But you were. When you broke the neck of the officer you were holding hostage, you were shot six times by the other officers. Overkill, but worth it, I believe the paper said about you being dead.” Chad sat down next to the couple. She looked at him while Xavier filled in the blank spaces as to what had happened up until she’d come here. “You were cremated the day after you were killed. I think that is why you took so long to find us. Yo
u didn’t want to believe you were dead.”

  “I’m not dead, damn it. I’m as living as you are.” She knew on some level that she needed to take care with this man and woman. That they could and would send her away, what they had told her they would do before. “I’ll show you that I’m not dead.”

  Getting up, she made her way to Chad. He didn’t move when she kicked out at him, but she did fall on her ass. Cindi told Chad what was going on, and he laughed. At her. Standing up again, she paused when Xavier said her full name.

  “You will cease and desist in this now.” She couldn’t move, not even to blink. When he told her to look at him, her entire body turned to the man without her having any control over it. “For the crimes against you, I sentence you to the white room. You will stay there for a period of ten thousand years. Leave.”

  The room she was in was white. Laughing, she told herself that was why it was called that. Looking around, she wondered what she was supposed to do there. There wasn’t a window she could look out. Not any kind of television she could turn on. It was then that Sandra realized there wasn’t any sound. Not of her breathing, her heart beating, or a slight breeze to make her feel welcome in the room.

  “Hello?” She wandered around but had no idea if she was getting anywhere. “All right. You’ve had your fun with me. I’ll try and be good.”

  Nothing. Not an echo even. Sandra had a feeling that when he told her ten thousand years, he meant just that. She sat down. Suddenly a wall was behind her, and she leaned into it. Something was wrong with this place, and someone was going to pay for her being here.