Connor: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Even my parents have washed their hands of him. I don’t do much for him anymore. Not as much as I did when he was first brought into my little world.” She asked him what had changed. “He became a pest. One that I didn’t think that I could squash.”

  “Oh, you’ll need to learn how to do that. It’s difficult. I’ll warn you, I had the worst kind of trouble dealing with her. But after a while, you simply cannot take it anymore.” Matt told her that he was at that point. “Good. If you need any help with him, even going so far as to bury him in the back yard, I’m here for you.”

  She turned away and he called her back. At the top of the stairs, she turned and looked at him. Beautiful, he thought. But it was more than that. She was like that inside and out. Her spirit and kindness shone through her part of her.

  “I’m going to take you up on that, Kelly. I don’t think that I could face my parents if I deal with him on a permanent basis.” She asked him if they had really washed their hands of him. “Yes, some time ago. Julia is my stepmother, but she’s been the nicest person I’ve ever known. My mother had lost her mind at some point, and there was no coming back from it.”

  “If they’ve washed their hands, then you have nothing to worry about. I’m not saying that you need to kill him. But, if it comes to that, and it well might, then you have to think hard on whether or not you’re doing the world a favor by taking him out.” He nodded. “Matt, it’ll be just fine. We’re here for you, and him if he really needs it. But from what I’ve heard, he’s not worth the shit that he might step in. We’ll be eating soon. Come join us, please.”

  “Does Devon know you’re not all sweet and innocent like you appear to be?” She smiled at him again, and he could see that she had a twinkle in her eye this time. “You’re not one to fuck with, I think. I’ll remember that, but I don’t think that I’d like to ever tangle with you.”

  “You won’t have to worry, Matt. Devon loves you. However, your brother, he’s not going to last long if he fucks with you much more.” He watched her descend the stairs, and he had to laugh.

  Matt was pretty sure that Devon knew just what a spitfire he had in a wife. She was quiet in nature, but she carried a weight with her that would kill a man without a second thought. As he made his way down the stairs, he heard his buddy laugh. Devon was one lucky man, Matt thought. If only he could be so lucky.

  Dinner was just as he remembered it being at this house when he’d come home with Devon. There was a group of them, most of them all here. He asked when Cole was coming to join them, and Anna tisked. He was all ready for a story that would more than likely involve a woman, knowing Cole as well as he did.

  “He had to rush home after only just arriving, because there was something going on at his business. I told him years ago that he needed to get rid of that pig of a man.” Matt asked who that would be. “I don’t remember his name, because all I ever called him was poop head. I think you might have coined that sometime when you were staying here, Matt.”

  “I think I might have learned it from Devon.” Devon glared at him when his grandma asked if that was true. “No, it’s not, but since he won’t allow me to take his lovely wife from him, then I have to get back at him some other way.”

  “Stay away from my wife.” There was a tone there that told Matt that others had tried and had not lived to talk about it. “She’s the only thing that keeps me in line. As well as happy. Besides, I don’t think you could handle her.”

  “I believe that you might be right on that one.” Matt looked at Kelly. “She has a scary calmness about her that makes me think that when she tells you something, you’re better off just doing what she says to save time in having to do it her way later. Am I right?”

  “Finally. Someone that knows that I’m much smarter than I appear.” Kelly looked at Devon, and he wasn’t at all shocked by the love that he could almost feel between them. “Devon is correct most of the time too, but I don’t allow him to get away with it. He can be a bully when he wants. I almost didn’t stay with him, he was in such a rotten mood.”

  “I was.” Devon turned to him, his face looking like he was ashamed of himself. “I nearly lost the best thing in the world because I was a fool. Then I invited her family here, thinking to cheer her up, and that nearly had me going to jail for murdering them both.”

  Matt wanted to find out more about this family. He would too. Just finding the right person to ask might be difficult. As the meal progressed, the rest of the family came to join them. He was as happy to see his friends again as he was to meet their wives. There wasn’t a debutant in the bunch of them. Or if they had been at one time, they’d shed that façade quickly enough.

  Devon took him around town after their meal. Kelly and the women had plans already to go to the toy warehouse. Since she’d come to the family and the other wives had joined her, Kelly had been working on several projects. The one that they were all working on tonight was gathering, wrapping, and giving away tons of Christmas gifts for all the children that wouldn’t have otherwise gotten anything for the holiday.

  “She’s gotten enough donations to have holiday baskets made up.” Matt told Devon that was wonderful. “I’ll say. We paid for the hams and turkeys that go into each of the baskets, and the town rallied around her to get the rest of the meal. I swear, Matt, she could convince a man selling snow cones in the winter that he needed more product if she set her mind to it.”

  The gang, all the guys he’d gone to college with as well as had business dealings with, had joined them on the walk. All of them had a story to tell about each of the women. Mostly they were all scared of Bryce because of her powers. But it was Roxanna that terrified them the most. He asked why.

  “She looks at you sometimes like she doesn’t have any idea what the hell you might be talking about. Then a second later you realize that she was plotting your demise if you thought what you might have said was important.” He laughed with Jackson as he continued. “A few weeks ago I went to see her about one of the projects going on. I was having issues with the line, and when I asked her about a ghost in the building, she just stood there.”

  “Was there a ghost in the building?” Jackson nodded. “Did she help you get rid of it? Or did she make you do it?”

  “Neither. She told me that there were ghosts, and I quote, ‘All over the fucking place, you fucking moron. If you don’t want your lines fucked up, then find out what he wants.’ Turns out she was right.” They were both laughing. “After a couple of days of him changing things around in the building, moving carts that were being shifted, it occurred to us that we were disturbing where he was staying or something like that. I didn’t have any trouble with him after that. But she is right. There are a lot of ghosts just hanging around causing trouble when they’re bored.”

  “What sort of creature is she? And I have met her once since I’ve arrived. She is scary calm when you ask her something. So are all the women here.” Jackson said that was right, then told him what she was. “A necromancer? I had no idea that they were still around. When there was the time of the witch burning, I thought that they’d killed them off too because they didn’t know the difference.”

  “She’s a very powerful one, too. With a great deal of witch. Her grandma was the first Grand Witch.”

  Matt was impressed. Maybe he’d talk to her about his brother.

  He knew that Rolland had killed before. Not the how or why of it, but he knew that he’d been in jail for it. Julia and Dad had left him to rot there. So had he, for the most part. But he did go and visit him on occasion, and somehow, he never understood how it had happened, Rolland was released because of his relationship with him.

  “Your brother called my house yesterday. Well, not him, but a friend, I guess. He’s looking for you.” He told Jackson that he knew that. “I thought you might. I also thought that by now you would have killed him or something. Rolland is nothing but tr
ouble.”

  “I’ve stopped bailing him out. Not that I did it that often anyway. But I like that he’s in jail this time. As you said, he could die in there for all I care.” Matt didn’t like thinking that way about the other man, but he did. He’d tapped him out for friendship, as well as money. He was finished with him.

  ~*~

  Roxanna watched the two men argue. They were getting louder by the minute. Today was the first day of court. The very first one of many, she hoped, that would cut down ghosts coming to see her at all hours of the day or night.

  Since meeting Connor, it was as if she had a constant line around the block for people to come and talk to her. Most of the time it was just bullshit stuff, like they didn’t think they deserved to die or some fucking shit like that. Like the two men in the line to talk to one of them.

  It was strange now. She not only knew what the person had died from, but also if they were at fault, as well as who had done it to them if they were murdered. She’d been making notes on things like that to give to the police. There were magical deaths that she would take notes on, and run whatever was going on by Bryce. This partnership was really working out well.

  Connor was deep in a conversation with a woman that had been killed by her husband. The police had even sent them a man to help expedite things on their end. The cop would call into the station house, ask about whatever he’d been told, then send out a car. Usually they would have their man by the end of the day. Or woman. A murderer was a murderer to her and Connor.

  The two men came up to stand in front of her. She raised her hand up when they both began to speak. “One at a time. Figure it out or go the hell away. I don’t have time to listen to you bicker about shit that has no relevance to what you’re here for.”

  The older of the two of them spoke first. “This person here, he cut my tree down that has been there for nearly as long as I lived in that house.” Roxanna didn’t even bother commenting. They’d not hear it anyway. “He just cut it down like it meant nothing to him.”

  “It didn’t, you bastard. Your tree was on my land. It was my tree that just happened to hang over into your yard, and you claimed it. How the hell did you expect me to put in my new pool when the tree was in my way? It wasn’t going to work.” Older man said that he’d been sitting under that tree for decades. “Well, I guess it sucks to be you. You should have planted you one when you moved there, and I’d not have to listen to you whine about a tree that wasn’t yours in the beginning.”

  She let them fight it out a little longer before she’d had enough. Putting both her fingers in her mouth, she let out a shrill whistle that stopped everyone from talking.

  “You’re dead; you know that, don’t you?” Both men glared at each other. “The tree is gone. The pool isn’t going to be built. Do you know why? When the tree was cut down, it fell on the fence and impaled you in the throat, killing you almost instantly. And you? You were sitting under a tree that you could obviously hear being cut down, and the log body of the tree fell on you. You’re both stupid. Now shut the hell up and go about your business, or I’m going to banish you to The Field.”

  The Field. It was someplace that she’d never heard of until recently. In fact, her grandma had been the one that had told her about it. It was a place that was nothing—no houses or bars. There was nothing there. No wind, no noise, and no color. Not even a whisper of sound came into the place that you were sent when you fucked up so badly in the world of the dead that you were banished. She wished that she’d known about it sooner. There were a great many people that should have been there already. But she’d catch up to them. Of that she had no doubt.

  When they walked away from her, Roxanna knew that she’d be seeing them again. There was nothing at all for them to argue about, especially a pool that wouldn’t be built by the man who wanted it in the first place. Nor a tree that anyone would sit under again.

  As the day wore on, she realized how much more they were getting done. The hours to be seen by them were printed up, and everyone had to abide by them, unless there was an emergency. Which, after you’re dead, she thought, what could there be in the way of emergencies? At least none that she could think of.

  At noon she and Connor went to have lunch. They enjoyed this time, just the two of them, and she thought that they enjoyed it better today because there wasn’t any chance of anyone bothering them. She didn’t count the living. Roxanna was starting to enjoy their company. Connor waved at Noah when he entered the pizza joint.

  “I was just looking for you. I have a deal I’d like to talk over with you.” Noah sat down and started talking like he always did—fast, convincing, and in a great deal of detail. “There are two buildings that are going up for sale in the district. One of them was the nursing home that has since been moved to a better location. The other is just a building. Honestly, had I not seen it with my own eyes, I’d not have believed it. It’s a three story building with not a single floor in it. Just a floor and a ceiling. I was thinking of ways to make it useful, but all I can think of is a grain elevator. Even that wouldn’t last long, I don’t think.”

  “So what is it you have planned for the other building?” Noah smiled at Connor. “Whenever you had that look in your face in college, I’d run and hide. I’m made of better stuff now, so throw it at me.”

  “There are thirty rooms in the place. Most of them have their own bathrooms, as well as showers. The only five that don’t are double rooms that had been converted into offices. Those five had only a toilet and a sink. Still usable for what I have in mind.”

  Roxanna loved watching Noah’s mind break something down into compartments. When he had it just where he was comfortable with telling you about it, he’d lay it out the same way as he’d thought of it.

  “The twenty-five rooms used to hold two beds. As the place became in more disrepair, they would put the patient in another room and leave the leaky side empty. It didn’t help that most of the time the leaking ceiling had more to do with the air conditioning in each room that made the mess.” Connor asked him what his plan was, trying no doubt to hurry him along. “I’m getting there. I was put in contact with a nursing home on the other end of the state. They have several veterans that need a place to stay. There would be a nursing staff on duty all hours of the night and day. What I like about this is that the medications would be delivered via carrier the day before they’re needed. Not much of a chance of them being taken, I think. The men and women will have a physical therapist here to teach them skills that they will need once they are home.”

  “You mean people that have lost a limb or more? Injured vets.” Noah looked so disappointed that Connor had figured it out before he could finish that he nodded sadly. “I’m game for that. I’ve known a lot of vets coming home that were no longer whole. And I don’t mean just ones that you could see where they’ve been physically hurt, either.”

  “Yes, that was the plan. They currently have seven such vets that could use the alone time. A place that they can go to and sort of chill out, and relearn how to be around just regular people. Their families can’t help them. Or won’t, I guess.” Roxanna said that she could see that happening more than anything. “You have no idea how much these people just need a place to call their own for a few months.”

  “What do you need for me to do?” Noah had a file that he handed them both several sheets out of. “This is repairs, correct? That doesn’t seem so bad.”

  “Those are the repairs that need to be done before we can be approved for this venture. The issue would come in making ramps for the veterans in and out of places. The showers would need to be retro fitted so that wheelchairs can be used in place of them standing up alone. Even the offices need to be updated so that a wheelchair or any other kind of equipment can easily get in and out of the rooms.” Connor nodded as Noah continued. He was looking at her now. “A lot of these men don’t know what happened to their comrade
s. They might know that they were hurt, but nothing more. They need closure more than anything else, I was told.”

  “What you’re not saying is that they might need to know what’s up for them if they just let go and die.” Noah said that he was trying to be delicate. “Don’t be when talking to me. I need you to be as upfront with me as I will be you. They’re not going to like knowing that the man in the next foxhole or whatever had his head blown fucking off. What do I tell them then?”

  “There will be help for that as well. Not for you, but for the men and women that need it as hard hitting as you can give them.” Roxanna asked if they were the clean-up team. “I guess you could call them that.”

  “So are you asking for money or help?” Noah told Connor that he needed both. “I’m betting that in no time at all we can have the building in excellent shape. That will include all the extras that they’ll need. The faeries would absolutely love being able to help on a project like this one. What do you need right now from us?” Noah handed Connor a sheet of paper. “Books? No trouble there. All of us have plenty that we could lend to a library of sorts. Clothing wouldn’t be an issue there. We all have enough money to donate to this so that they’d not have to worry about that.”

  As he read down the list, Roxanna looked over at Noah. There was something there. When she reached out beyond him, she could see the two ghosts that were behind him. They were both service men, one male, the other a young female. She asked them to come closer.

  “We’re not to break the rules.” Roxanna told them that this would be considered an emergency. “Thank you, my lady. We have tried all day to get in to see you both. Thank you for seeing us.”

  “Noah, there are two people with you. One of them is a master sergeant, the other is a sergeant. If you tell me what it is that you want from him, I’ll tell him and we can see if we can work it out.” The female, the master sergeant, moved closer. “I’m not going to say names. I don’t want anyone around here to know who you are, if they might know you.”