Xander_Winchester Brothers_Erotic Paranormal Wolf Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  There were several kinds of sushi, something that Xander had liked when they were having sample night a few days ago. The rare tuna was his favorite. There were other items folded over the seasoned rice too. Vegetables, nori or seaweed, and fish. He loved this part and was surprised that his dad did as well. Everyone had their favorites, and he was glad that they were trying the chopsticks as well. The wasabi wasn’t well received, he didn’t think, but it was an acquired taste. And Penny loved the spicy hotness of it.

  Tempura was brought out in smaller plates—it was to be served hot. There was chicken for the most part, but Grayson had also made vegetables and fruit with the batter. Xander didn’t care for this part of the meal. He thought that it was a waste of fresh food. But Addie could eat it by the plateful.

  They had udon noodles, as well as ones made from buckwheat. All sorts of delicate little teas were there to try, all of them served in the tea cups that Owen had lent him. And in the end, he’d give each person the cups as his token for when they came to his home next week.

  For the desserts, they’d hired a friend of Addie’s to come and make them. They were beautiful, almost too pretty to eat. Addie told him that they made an art of their desserts so that the meal will be more memorable. He thought it was that all on its own.

  “Son, I have to tell you, I was a little afeard of what you might be bringing out for us. I noticed that there was a bit of ham sammiches in the kitchen there. None of us had to resort to them. You did good.” His dad hugged him. “Another grandbaby. I can’t believe my blessings, I just can’t. All these babies here now, they was more than I ever dreamed possible for an old man like me.”

  “Dad, you do know that we didn’t have children just for you?”

  He shook his head and Penny came to hug her grandda. She was calling them all by family names now—uncles, aunts as well as grandma and grandpa. She even called Harley and Conrad her brothers.

  They were very protective of her too. Even Harley would walk right beside her when they were out for a walk. Just yesterday he’d had to save her. It had been serious but funny too. The snake was no more afraid of her than she was of it, but Harley scared it away for her with rocks. Dominic had taught him to stay away from them at the camp.

  All in all he thought it was perfect. And since they were finished with the meal, they had planned on putting up their tree. But Penny, ever a bright light on any day, had decided that since theirs was the first to go up, they needed to have the family do it. So, they were all invited to stay and snacks were set out for them as they enjoyed the activity of decorating the tree. And with the beautiful ornaments that her and the family had found, they had enough to go around for everyone to help.

  Tradition was out the window with their tree that was in the grand hallway. They had done a lot of traveling lately, and would continue to do so. Every place they went, Penny and Addie would find something to hang on the tree. It didn’t have to be an ornament, but anything that reminded them of where they had gone. And when they didn’t find it to be hangable, they asked someone to fix it for them. He especially loved the little snow globes that had had a glass hook put on the top so that they could hang them.

  The doorbell rang about ten minutes after the tree was as done as it could be. There wasn’t a branch on the ten-foot tree that didn’t have something hanging from it. The colored lights were festive, as well as the beautiful garland that had been found in the bottom of one of the boxes left behind by Rayne’s family. A few ornaments as well.

  Grayson handed out the boxes that had arrived so that everyone could open them as he read the missive, his word of the day, to each of them. The gifts were from the president.

  “Hello, my favorite family. Enclosed you will find a little of DC from me. It has taken me some time to gather them all, but I finally got them for you. Enjoy them for your tree, and know that you will each receive a new ornament when it is made for Christmas for the rest of your lives. Thank you for all your support and friendship. Love you all, Ben.”

  “You know they’ve been doing this every year since nineteen eighty-one. But these here, they’re from whenever they did one. My goodness, Xander, this is a very expensive gift. I don’t know what to say about all this.” Dad knew the strangest bits of history, and since he’d been to the White House, he knew a good deal more about that place. “Oh, my goodness.”

  Each of the ornaments had been hand painted and crafted. There was a note with each of them, telling of the designer as well as who had painted it for them. The cards with them, each a blank card with Benjamin Baker scrawled over it, had also been by his own hand, and meant so much more as he had put the recipient’s name on each of the cards. Xander was as touched as his mom was.

  “These need their own tree. I think I might have one.” He took off to the basement to find the wire tree that he’d unearthed when looking for Christmas lights. Coming back up, he found his family in the living room with the second tree, this one closer to the fireplace. He set down the wired eight-foot tree with curls at the end of each branch, which seemed to be the perfect place for the special ornaments.

  As Penny hung them for them, she read what year it had been designed and who had done it. His favorite was the car with the tree hanging from the back. There were others too. Wives of the presidents. There were also candid shots of them with their wives. His mom had loved the Kennedy one, and Dad, of course, enjoyed the one with the horse drawn carriage.

  He knew that they had to leave day after tomorrow. Addie had two jobs to do, neither of which, as far as he knew, had anything to do with her killing anyone. But she did have to check on the security of a building, as well as go to the camp that the president went to for the holidays and make sure that there weren’t any issues. He was going to spend two days with his daughter and wife there, just because it was empty.

  When his family left the tree was finished, both of them, and the mess had been cleaned up. He and his little family went to the living room to watch some television. He was both shocked and sort of glad when he heard on the news that both Ava and Con Macintosh were finally on their way to prison. He watched several times while they shouted to the camera for Clare to come and get them.

  “We should invite them to go with us.” Xander asked Penny what she was talking about. “Aunt Clare and Uncle Owen. They’d like to get away, I’m betting. And Conrad too. We can have lobster, like you said we could. And I know that I don’t know how to eat them, but Conrad said that it’s easy once you get the legs cut off.”

  “How does Conrad know how to eat a lobster?” She told him. “Oh, well, I guess he would understand that, working in a restaurant like he had. Yes, if they want to come with us, I’m sure no one would mind. We can have a weekend full of walking on the beach and having fun.”

  “It’ll be cold, right? Too cold for the water, I guess.” He told her it was. “Well, we can go shell hunting and have some good food. I can write a report on it for extra credit too.”

  She didn’t need the extra credit. Since they’d put her in private school, due to the job that Addie did, she’d been excelling. Reading at a senior level, she also excelled in math and in French. Spending a couple of weeks listening to videos on the Internet had been fun and educational for them all. And since that had worked out so well, she’d been taking courses on learning as many languages as she could. He loved every bit of her enthusiasm. And her.

  When Caleb’s boys came over a few hours later, to spend the night and to go fishing in the morning, Addie and he lounged on the couch. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. First of all they had to pack up, then they had to make arrangements to get things delivered to DC for the work she had to do.

  He never asked and decided that was the best way to go about this. He wasn’t squeamish, but he thought that he might look at her differently if he knew what she did when she left to go to work. Perhaps not differently, but he would worry more.

  Chapter 13

  Dominic loved the outdoor
s, even the cooler weather that they were having now. But it was much too cold for the kids at the camp, even with the large fire they had burning. He tossed a couple more logs on the fire and decided that it was pointless to keep it going. The buses would be here soon, and they would all be gone for the rest of the year. He glanced over at the table full of Christmas gifts and smiled. This year was the first one he’d been able to do something like this.

  The money that he’d been given by Mr. Cartwright had gone a long way in making things better for the children here. Just last month he’d been able to replace the furnace that had been going bad for months now. So instead of just having heat on the cooler mornings, they also had air conditioning for the hot days of summer, which even the people cooking loved. Dominic moved toward the kitchen area now.

  “Mr. Winchester?” He turned, thinking it was one of the volunteers again, just ready to tell them to call him Dom, when the man smiled. “You don’t know me. I’m Mr. Burt of Burt and Burt.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you. As you know, I’m Dominic. Everyone around here just calls me Dom. It’s easier for them.” He nodded as if he knew. “If you’re waiting on someone to go home with you, I’m afraid without written prior permission, I can’t let you take anyone. Not while in our care.”

  “No, no. I don’t want to do that. I would, however, like a word with you. You see, I’ve been sent here.” Dominic nodded and waited. “When the children are all gone, then you and I will talk. Can I keep the fire going? It’s been a long while since I’ve been free to stand near a fire as I am now. Warmed, I guess you could call it.”

  “Yes, all right.”

  He turned when he heard the buses pulling in and then looked at the man. But he was already at the fire, tossing logs onto it from the pile. Dominic shook his head. He could have sworn that the man sparkled.

  The kids were both ready to go home to see their families and wanting to stay. He wanted them to do both as well. Handing each of their caretakers their package and then an envelope for each of the volunteers, he had the first bus loaded in no time. The second one didn’t go as quickly, but he waited while the young man who didn’t want to leave at all gathered himself some control.

  “Come on now, Davey, don’t you want to see your cat? I’m sure that she’s missed you.” Davey was non-verbal but he could speak ASL. They taught American Sign language to all the students on some level, and this young man was no different. “I don’t remember your cat’s name. What is it?”

  He spelled out Skittles. That was it. A great name for a domestic cat, but not so much for a shifter, he’d bet. And Davey was a cat who had no control over his other self. So, his sister, the Skittles in this circumstance, was helping him be calm at home.

  It happened, sometimes, that a shifter would have a handicapped child. Not because of a birth defect, if they were both pure bloods, but due to a faulty cord or perhaps a fall or something. It made it difficult for those children to have any kind of normalcy to their lives. That was why, three times a year, he had a camp now for shifter children and adults. But to Dominic, they were all children.

  Getting Davey on the bus was made harder by the fact that his cat came out. The big cat was just like his counterpart—mentally handicapped, but gentle for the most part. As soon as he figured out that they were both all right, he became himself again and was redressed. It was smooth sailing after that.

  Five brand new buses, all thanks to Harley’s dad and the foundation that he’d set up for them. There were blankets now too, plenty enough to send home, with their names on them, as well as what was wrong with them along the bottom.

  It was a safety measure. The name of the child, whether or not they could talk, and the severity of their disability was imprinted on the blanket. It would help them if they were in an accident. There was also a code, as well as a phone number that they could call to get in touch with the family. He loved that part most of all.

  The man was still by the fire when he was able to go to him. The fire had died down a little, but it was still warm, and the wood looked as if he’d never touched it. Dominic was exhausted after this week and was sure that he’d just imagined the lack of wood being used.

  “Mr. Winchester, my name is Shamus Burt. Everyone calls me Sham. Like the pretty little clover in the spring.” Dominic took his hand and felt the small tingle of magic. “You’re a good man—has anyone but your family realized that?”

  “Every person that works here is a good person, Mr. Burt. You said you had to talk to me. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m exhausted. Why, earlier I thought you were sparkling. That’s how tired I am.” He nodded and grinned, taking off his hat. “My goodness. You look just like a leprechaun.”

  He didn’t just change in appearance, but he got smaller too—like only a foot or so tall, when before removing his hat, he’d been nearly as tall as Dominic. Rubbing his eyes, trying to make himself see what he was actually seeing, he smiled when the man laughed.

  “That’s good. Because I am one. A good leprechaun too. I’ve come to talk to you about your camp. You’ve— Something wrong?” The red-haired man stood up, then sat down. It was then that he noticed that he was sporting a red mustache and that he had freckles all over his nose. And when he pulled out a pipe, Dominic didn’t just sit to the ground, but slipped off the seat to it in one motion. “I’m a wee bit too much for you, aren’t I, sir?”

  “Yes, a wee bit too much is about right. What do you want with me? I’ve not seen a pot of gold around. I’ve not trapped you into anything, and I don’t remember ever picking a flower without smelling it.” Burt laughed. “Yes, I know all the rules of the wee people. My mother’s aunt was married to one.”

  “Yes, so she was. But I’m here as a friend of that same uncle. He’s sending me here to talk to you, and to make sure you have what you need to keep the wee ones here happy. We’re coming to help you.” Dominic shook his head. He wasn’t sure if he was saying no or that he was shaking lose the cobwebs, but he did shake himself. “You’ll be fine in a bit there. Would you like a wee dram of whiskey? Might cut through the confusion.”

  “What does my uncle want with me? And no, I don’t drink. It does very little good to my kind.” He nodded and took a drink of something from his pocket. “While I’m pretty sure that I’m dreaming, taking a nap here on the bench with the fire dying down, I don’t understand how it is you can help us.”

  “You see, we see them here. When they’re out and about, we turn them back, the wee ones—back to the camp when they slip by you. They don’t wander far, but when they do, we help them. And in return, they help us. Did you know the touch of a wee one like them can bring all kind of coin to a man like me self?” Dominic said that he’d not heard that one. “Well, we’ve a pot of gold for you to use. And as I said, our help.”

  “The pot of gold might be useful. I’ve used the last of my money buying up the rest of the acreage around us.” He was kidding, but as soon as the pot, bigger than a car, was in front of him, Dominic stood up to look inside. He was loving this dream—too bad that it wasn’t real. He might have to take out a loan for the next couple of seasons. “This is a lot of gold. I don’t understand why you’d be giving me this. Or for that matter, if I’m dreaming or not.”

  The pinch to his ass startled him, and he turned to see who had done it. The wee little woman moved to stand next to Burt, and they both held hands.

  “To see if I’m awake, I guess.” The woman nodded, and it was then that he noticed that she was handicapped as well. “May I be permitted to ask?”

  “She fell down a well when she was no more than a babe. Not breathing hurt her mind, but she’s a good girl and we care for each other. Maggie is my sister. And your uncle is our king. Good King O’Reilly Shamus James. He has been since he met with your aunt. But now that he’s taking on so much more, he’s delegated me to come to talk to you. To give you some help, as I said.”

  “Am I really awake?” Sham asked if he wanted Maggie to pi
nch him again. “No, that won’t be necessary. What does this plan of yours involve? I mean, how will you be able to help me? Besides the money. This is real, right?”

  “Oh yes, very real. And the fact that I’ve brought it to you, once you touch it, it’ll be more into what you can handle. Gold, as you know, is heavy.” Dominic felt like he was on one of the carnival rides that took you around and around, and then let you off while you were still spinning in the head. “You’ll be right as rain, Dom, I promise you.”

  “This money, what’s it for?” He told him. “Why would he want me to buy more land? We have more than we can use now.”

  “You do. Here. But not where you might do more good. A bigger city perhaps. And the funding that you have now will only be a drop in the bucket compared to what you’ll have in way of help from other clans. And there will be clans helping you gather the land up too. With houses and buildings. No more furnaces going out either.” Dominic asked what the catch was. “Catch? No catch. Just use the money for the little ones here and around the world, and the rest will be easy. You must use it for them. You understand?”

  “I would never steal from the funding we get.” He said he knew that, but he did have to say it. “And this money, it’ll be there for all kinds of things? Like new buildings for the wee ones, as you call them? The blankets that we send home with them?”

  “Oh aye. That and more, my sir.” Dominic didn’t know why he was having such a fanciful dream, but he wasn’t going to complain. But he did know that he was going to be sore, if he was indeed sleeping on the bench. “You’d not be sleeping, my lord. You’re as awake as I be.”

  “Yes, all right.” Dominic touched one of the coins and felt the magic of it all the way to his ears. But when he looked at the coin that he’d touched it was green money, cash that he could use for anything. He looked at Sham. “This is strange—you know that, right? I mean, who believes in leprechauns? Who believes in pots of gold?”