Finn: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance (Xavier's Hatchlings Book 1)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Good for you. You’ll be the first person we’ve been able to help out.” He told her what kind of things she could get from the Manning Foundation. “We’ll even help you with the purchasing of a building and getting it ready for your opening. It’ll help you in ways I don’t think you realize.”

  “I have something for the two of you as well.” Before he could ask her what it might be, she touched her hand to his cheek. “You will enjoy the benefits of this until the end of all time.”

  Staggering back, he was sure he was going to fall right on his ass. However, before he could steady himself, his body started to hum. Then the trembling began. Finn wasn’t sure what was going on but knew he had to get down to the ground, or he was going to fall hard. Sitting down, however, didn’t make anything better.

  “Are you all right?” He looked up, realizing at some point he must have passed out. The sun was definitely lower in the sky than it had been when he’d talked with Shadow. Then he wondered what it was he was given. “Finn, if you don’t answer me, I’m going to kick you awake.”

  “You’re just rude, and you know it.” Rachel sat down beside him as he lay there. “What did she give me?”

  “I don’t know, but we both got something. While waiting on you to wake up and tell me you’re going to be fine, I did discover this.” She put out her hand and snapped her fingers. A blue ball of flame appeared in her hand. “I was thinking about a nice warm bath when I put out my hand. Suddenly there it was. A ball of flame in my hand. I don’t know why someone would want this as a superpower, other than a dragon, but there you go.”

  “See if you can toss it away from you. Like you’re throwing a ball.” She did it, and the little ball of flame skittered and bounced until it stopped. The fire burned for a moment, only to be snuffed out by a faerie. “I think it would be useful if you were ever in a situation where you need to hit someone.”

  “Okay, I can see where it could come in handy. What about this?” She stood up and closed her eyes before looking at him again. “Just don’t freak out. I don’t know if I wouldn’t run when I see this, and I know what is going on. I figured it out when I realized my hand didn’t blister or even get warm. It was then I discovered I could actually set myself on fire. Ready? And don’t touch me.”

  She closed her eyes again. When she caught fire, no other way to describe it, he felt his heart pound harder than he could hear over it. Standing up, he reached for her, and she told him no.

  “I’m a red dragon. I can withstand heat better than anyone.” He put his hand on hers and wasn’t surprised when the flames engulfed him as well. “We share this. I’m betting we’ll be stronger and hotter as a couple. I don’t know what we’d need to share our power like this for, but we have it. Where did Shadow go?”

  “She went into town with your mother to look at buildings. I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? I mean, in telling her we’d help. Well, I said I’d help her, but you added the Manning part.” Finn asked her what she meant. “I don’t know. Stepping on toes or something along those lines. I have money. A lot, just so you know. While I worked, I did have time to look at stocks and such while the computer was running.”

  “The foundation has a great deal of money as well. More than enough to give everyone a million dollars, and we’d still be wealthy. I’m not sure if he was right or not, but my dad said that to each of us all the time. Then he’d say, just because we have it doesn’t mean we keep it. Helping people is a way to make sure that while you’re having a nice dinner, you can feel good knowing someone else is having one too.” Rachel told him she liked his answer. “I do too. By the way, my parents both like you a great deal.”

  “I like them too. I love it when your mom is trying to get answers by skirting around to it. I usually end up embarrassing the shit out of her until she gets frustrated then blurts it out.” He laughed with her. “I do have some serious things to ask you, Finn. Are you going to tell me what you’ve found out about what I am? If so, does it repulse you?”

  “Yes, I know what you are, and it isn’t repulsive. I think I might even be able to tell who you are. But not right now. I have a few things I need to research yet.” She nodded but looked disappointed. “Don’t be sad, Rachel. This is a good thing. At least now, you’re going to know just what you are. I promise you it’s nothing you need to worry about. It’s all good. I’m just wanting to put my ducks in a row before I tell you.”

  “Don’t wait too long. I’d hate to have to murder you in your sleep.”

  He kissed her, loving how she was so loving and violent at the same time. He loved her so much and felt lucky she’d come into his life.

  ~~~

  Pem looked out beyond the bench where she was sitting. The ocean was as pretty as everyone thought it should be, she supposed. Today was a slow day, but still, there were perhaps fifty people walking along the beach. Few were actually in the water—most of them were walking along the water’s edge. It was too cold for anyone to be out there for very long. By the time lunch came, there would be wall to wall people. Sighing heavily, Pem stood up to go to her doctor’s appointment.

  It hadn’t been her idea to see a psychiatrist. In fact, she would have been fine with not seeing anyone at all. Pem figured she’d been going to see someone about her mental state since she’d been a child. Now, as an adult, it was ten times worse than before. However, there were better drugs out there.

  Her depression would take all sorts of tolls on her, both mentally and physically—sometimes at the same time. She’d not only been unable to work since she’d been home, but she’d also not been able to do much of anything, not even drive a car. These last few months had been utter hell. Even trying to end her life once and for all had been a failure.

  Entering the building, Pem ignored the kids in the corner who were playing with the toys. One of the little buggers had snot running down his face onto his lip. When he realized what was going on, he wiped the entire mess on his sweater sleeve.

  Pem looked at his mother. Without knowing a thing about her, Pem decided she didn’t care for her. Her hair was like all the other women in the room with her, sporting the same haircut. Also, if they were to stand with their backs to her, she’d not be able to pick one out from the other. They were wearing the same stressed jeans and the same short boots with frilly socks out the top. And their cell phones were plastered to their faces.

  Snot Nose was looking at her when she turned her gaze from the mothers. While she didn’t have a lot of first hand knowledge about kids, Pem figured Snot Nose was about five. She had a niece and a nephew who were about the same age. Thinking about them had her thinking about her brother, Austin, and his typical rich wife.

  His wife would have gotten along just fine with the women here. Donna was a joiner. Not a doer, never one of those, but she would join all sorts of committees and clubs only to drop out when it got too trying, stressful, or just plain boring. The one that came to mind when she thought about Donna and her quitting was the women’s tea dinner.

  Donna had been asked to bring in a dessert to the dinner. That’s all. There wasn’t even a rule that she had to make it herself. But according to Donna, picking out a cake at the bakery was too stressful for her delicate condition.

  Another reason she didn’t care for Donna was her inability to use terms so everyone could understand her. Her “delicate condition” could be anything from a headache or to being too busy today getting her hair done at the parlor. Pem thought about her own hair and how messy it was. Tied to the back of her head with an old shoestring, Pem purposely let parts of it hang out of the string just to piss her off more.

  “Pembroke Black?” Standing up to follow the nurse, Pem answered her questions as they walked down the hall. “Have you been taking your medication every day? On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your depression? Any changes in your diet?”

  “Yes, I’ve been taking
all my meds. Diet? I’m not on one.” Just as she thought, the nurse didn’t hear her answers. She just went about her business, taking blood pressure and temperature. As for the one to ten question, the number would be well higher than a ten. “Is my paperwork sent on to my new doctor in Texas?”

  “I’ll have to check on it for you.” Pem nodded, knowing when the nurse left this room, she’d be going on to the next patient and forgetting about her and her request. Pem was told to go back to the waiting room where she’d been called from. “The doctor will be out to get you in a few minutes.”

  Going back to her seat, Pem sat then lowered her head, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the crazies. There were all manner of people in the waiting room with her this time. Pem wondered if they were in a group setting if they would tell their stories about what brought them to this place. Hers had been court ordered because she’d failed at her attempt to end her life. She thought there was a saying, third time was a charm. It hadn’t been. Even after the sixth attempt.

  Going into the office to speak to the doctor when he called her name, Pem sat only when she’d been told she could. She, like the people she’d been with when she was hurt, followed orders to the tee.

  “What have you been doing these last couple of weeks? Have you been taking your medication every day?” He looked at the paperwork the nurse had given him when she’d brought her into this office. “You’ve lost eight more pounds since our last meeting. Pem, I don’t want to have to put you into the hospital again. Why don’t you try and make yourself eat more? Get yourself a malt or have a banana split. You need to be adding more calories.”

  “Yes, sir.” She wouldn’t, and she was sure he knew it. “I’m moving back to Texas, today if I can manage it. Has my paperwork been sent to the doctor you recommended?”

  “I made sure it was sent on its way personally. I’ve also taken care to make sure he knew the complete circumstances as to why you were brought here in the first place.” Pem wondered what he’d say if she told him he wasn’t close to having the entire story. “Ms. Black, why is it you’ve decided to leave now? You’re working at a job you seem to love. You have a nice place to live. It seems…. Well, I’m going to just say it. You know your health issues better than anyone. So I have to think it’s dangerous for you to be alone. We’re here for you, and we’ve been there for you when you needed it.”

  “I have to settle my grandpa’s estate.”

  He looked at her but said nothing. She wasn’t one who needed to fill the silence, so she didn’t speak. For two entire minutes, he sat there across from her, as if waiting for her to speak. Pem supposed he was waiting for her to explain.

  “I didn’t know you had any living relatives. What else is it I’m not privy to?” She only stared at him. “Pembroke, I’m disappointed in you. This isn’t the way to ensure trust between us. Do you have more things you’d like to share with me?”

  “No.”

  Again he stared at her. Pem wondered if he realized how much better she was at mind games than he’d ever be. When there didn’t seem to be any more to be said about her grandparents, he moved on. Thankfully. The sooner she could get out of this office, the better off she’d be. Closed tight spaces made her ill with the need to be out of doors.

  Doctor Shivas talked about the things from their last meeting he felt needed more conversation. Pem was aware he only had part of her medical records. He might know every bullet hole, every burn mark on her body, things that couldn’t be hidden away like her emotions were. Pem also knew he didn’t have all of the information about her emotional state.

  Like, he wouldn’t know that while lying on the hospital bed two years ago, she’d assisted in her surgery to remove the bullets from her belly. He wouldn’t know that as soon as the surgeon was finished with the operation to remove the bullets, she’d gotten up. The doc had put a towel around her belly with furnace tape to secure it so Pem could operate on a couple more people that were hurting worse than she’d been.

  “Are you listening to me, Ms. Black?” She repeated everything he’d been saying. Having a brain like hers meant she could multi-task better than anyone she knew, even if it was talking, listening, and translating all at the same time. Pem could do more than two things at one time. It was what made her job easy on her. “Good. There are some things I think we need to go over before you leave here. When are you leaving again?”

  “Today. If I can manage it.”

  Pem knew she was pissing him off. She could only do what she knew how to do—like her short and curt answers to his questions. Not engaging with people if they didn’t start talking first. Also, she didn’t want to keep answering questions that had been answered every day this week.

  If he wanted answers about things, he should know well enough by now that he had to ask for them. They’d been seeing each other in this building for the last five months. Surely some of the shit she was dealing with would have come out. Like her inability to just lock a door and be done with it.

  There were many habits she used to deal with her life. Like the door. The locks had to be checked three times while she counted them. Laundry had gotten easier to do, as she only wore black T-shirts and jeans of the same color. There was a time when she’d have to leave her laundry to when she felt better. Which never really happened often enough.

  Before, when she’d had colors in her shirts and different pants, Pem would wash all the shirts of the same color. Even if there was only one shirt of a particular color and nothing else, it was washed all alone. Same with panties and bras. They each had their own time in the washer to get clean.

  The silence alerted her that he was finally finished talking. Standing up, he stood as well. Pem knew he had something on his mind, and she was sure she didn’t want to hear it. Pem let him speak, knowing he could, of all the doctors she saw here, make it so she’d be in here another month.

  “When are you coming back? We won’t be in a patient/doctor relationship then. We could have some dinner, then go back to my house. Unless you would want me to take you out tonight? I’m a barrel of laughs when I’m not in the office.” She turned on her heel and reached for the door handle. “Come on, Pembroke. It’ll be fun, enjoyable for us both.”

  He put his hand on her arm, and she stared at it for several seconds before turning to look at him. “Release my arm, or I will hurt you. I’m only going to warn you once. Remove it or lose it. It’s up to you.”

  “You’d hurt me for touching you like this? Christ, you’re not going to be in love with the way I have sex with you either.” He let her go only to run his fingers up and down her forearm. “We could have a good time, you and I. And for having sex with me, I’ll make sure you can drown all your issues in coke if you want it. All the beautiful women who come here resist at first, but after they get their payoff, no one cares what I do to them. Anything you want, I can get for you.”

  She didn’t comment on his statement, even though it disgusted her to no end. Turning her body to the camera she knew was on the wall, Pem knew it also had sound. There wasn’t any way she was going to let him get by with this shit while she was here. Pem asked him again to not touch her.

  “Come on, Pembroke. You know as well as I do you’re not nearly as depressed as you say. I think—and you can agree with me or not on this, but I know that I’m right—I think you’re doing this entire dance and pony thing for attention. I mean, after seven tries, you’d think you might have gotten it right one of those times.” He smiled at her; his front teeth still had food dangling between them. “I’ll even be nice to you for your first time.” He touched his hand to her back, and she’d had enough.

  Reaching for his hand that was still on her, Pem jerked his arm back, dislocating it. When he screamed, she pulled harder, just enough to make him pass out from the pain. Opening the door, she whistled for someone to come to her. The two nurses and three other doctors came to the room wh
ere Shivas was still out cold on the floor. No one moved to check to see if he was all right.

  “I warned him twice not to touch me.” She told them to call the police. Pem watched as they all stood there looking at their boss. “I’d also like for you to give them the recording of this session with me. I have that right as an injured party.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The receptionist went to get the recording while one of the other doctors finally got down on the floor to have a look at him, just as she’d commanded him to do. There would be hell to pay on her end, but Pem wasn’t taking the chance of someone “losing” the recording of events here today.

  “You broke his shoulder.” Pem told the other doctor, she thought his name was Tyler, that she’d dislocated it, it wasn’t broken. She wasn’t sure if it was his first or last name—not that it mattered now. “You know this how? Are you by chance a doctor, Ms. Black?”

  Pem told him she was. “I’m retired military USAT—U.S. Army Transport ship. I’m an army surgeon.” He asked her if she was joking. “I don’t know why you’d think I would make a joke about my credentials, but no, I’m not joking. I dislocated his shoulder because he was taking liberties I never implied I wanted him to do.”

  When the receptionist came back, she had a CD with her and the phone. She told her the police wanted to talk to her, and for her not to leave until someone got there to do so. Pem didn’t take the phone. Phone calls could be edited to have her say anything. It was why she never used the phone if she could at all avoid it.

  “I’ll go to the cafeteria and wait for them there.” No one tried to stop her as she went to the reception desk and put the CD in the computer. Pem found the exact place where she’d entered the room and turned the volume up. The receptionist and the doctor came in while her session was being played out. “I had to make sure you gave me the correct data.”