Dad, she’s out of surgery, but I’m going to pop in and see how Dan is doing in the other room. He won’t need me, but I’m going to check anyway. He asked about the woman. I don’t know. I’ve done about all I could for her. She’s going to need skin grafts as well as lots of care. You were right to warn me about how bad it was. It was the only thing that kept me upright when I saw her. Damn, I hurt for her.
She more than likely would have done it again too, I’m betting. They’re all safe, the Conrads. And Shane, he knows her brother, and he was going to go by there and talk to him. I don’t know the situation there, but they’re renting the old Parker farm. You remember that place, don’t you, son? Thatcher said that he did. It was a sore spot for a long time. I surely hope they’re not paying that much.
I haven’t been by there in twenty years. But I’ll be down in a few minutes. I want to check on my patient. Dan has finished up with Mr. Conrad, and he’s going to recovery now.
Thatch told Mrs. Conrad, and she seemed so relieved that he hugged her when she started crying.
Taking the baby out to the lobby, he was told that someone from the pack was coming for the children. Levi, their brother, was going to have to stay overnight. His burns weren’t that bad, but he had broken his leg.
Thatcher came down about an hour after the babies left, and he looked a little worse for wear.
“Son?” Thatcher waved him off, and he wondered what had happened. Thatch just knew that Rogen had died, and he was having a hard time thinking of how to tell him. “It’s all right, son. She did a good thing, and she surely helped a lot of people. I’ll tell her brother for her so that—”
“She’s not dead, Dad. I told you, she’s in recovery.” He looked around like he was afraid of being overheard. In a harsh whisper, he told him what he’d discovered. “She’s my mate. You and Mom, you saved my mate for me.”
Thatch was still standing there when Maggie came to get him. He was sure that he’d heard his son wrong. Or he’d heard what he wanted to hear. Maggie was forever telling him that’s how he heard things.
“What’s the matter, you old fool? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Thatch wondered if he should tell her when he realized that he needed to tell her. “Thatch, something happen to that young woman? Please tell me she’s going to be all right.”
“She is now, I’d say. I think I heard Thatcher say she was his mate.” She did the same thing he had—stood there with her mouth gaping open like a fish ready for a fat worm. After closing her mouth, he took her hand so that they could have a seat. And just then, he saw Shane.
“Where is my sister?” The young man with him was screaming about his sister, and that’s when Thatch realized this was Rogen’s brother. “Someone tell me where I can find my sister! They said she’s been hurt.”
He made his way to the younger man and got his attention. Before he could ask again where Rogen was, Thatch took him to where he had left Maggie. Jamie, he’d heard his name was, just asked again where she was.
“Recovery. My son, he works here, he worked on her. She’s been burned badly.” Jamie started crying, and he looked over at Maggie. He didn’t know what else to say to Jamie, but Maggie thankfully did.
“She’s doing all right now, son. And as soon as they let us, we’ll go up and see her. She saved the lives of an entire family.” The police were coming toward them when Maggie spoke again. “Now, you help these nice policemen out, and when they’re done with their questions, I’ll take you up to the surgery floor myself. All right then?”
“Rogen is all I got in the world. We only have each other now.” Thatch wanted to tell him that wasn’t true anymore but didn’t. He wanted to wait on Thatcher to tell them. “Our parents are gone. Dead. We came here for a fresh start. To keep the newspaper people from hounding us again.”
Thatch didn’t know what that meant but didn’t get a chance to ask. Andrew, the chief of police, was asking him about Rogen and her habits. As much as Thatch wanted to stay and listen, he needed to find his son. Thatch needed to confirm what he’d heard from his boy. And if she really was his mate, then he was surely glad that Maggie had started what she’d done for Rogen.
Chapter 2
Jamie watched his sister breathing. He couldn’t see her face; they had her on a bed that would move up and down, and a hole where her face was. She was breathing, but she looked really sore. The doctor came in and Jamie stood up. He did it every time the man came in and he knew it was getting on his nerves, but he could no more not do it than breathe.
“What can you tell me about your sister?” Jamie looked at her. They’d said that she might die, and he didn’t know what he’d do without her. “Jamie? What can you tell me about her?”
“She’s good to me. Never yells unless she’s had a bad day.” Jamie looked at the big man, and when he sat down, so did Jamie. “I’m not right in the head. I’m not allowed to say that I’m slow—Rogen gets upset with me when I say that—but I’m slow in things.”
“What happened that made you like you are? I’m assuming that you’ve not always been this way.” Jamie shook his head and smiled, but let it go almost as soon as he realized that he’d done it. “You’re very smart. I can tell that someone has taken the time to help you. Was it your sister?”
“Yes. When I was a little boy, my mom—she didn’t like me—she tried to strangle me. I was two. And when I died, Rogen brought me back by pushing hard on my chest. But it was too late for my noddle. That’s what Rogen calls it. I love her, you know.” The doctor said that he could tell. “My mom and dad were so mad that I came back not right. Slow. I didn’t have enough air to my noddle, and that made my thinking slower.”
“And Rogen, she’s been taking care of you since then? Is she older than you or younger?” He said she was two years older. “So a four year old did CPR on you and brought you back?”
“Rogen, she’s really smart. She tells me that she is off the charts. I’m not really sure what that means, but she can do anything she sets her mind to. But she don’t...doesn’t remember little things well. She said her mind is too busy on other stuff to make the little things work. Like phone numbers and grocery lists. But she can talk in a lot of other words, languages. She works for the government on some computer stuff. I don’t know what it is, but she works really hard.” The doctor told him to call him Thatcher. “I can’t do that. I can’t do that until Rogen says it’s okay. I’m too trusting, she told me, and I don’t do anything without her saying it’s okay. It’s why I can’t let her die. I don’t know what I’m to do.”
“She’ll be all right. I promise you.” Jamie looked at his sister, then back at Thatcher. “You know what a shifter is? Like a man that can change?”
“Yes. The man that rents us the house, he is a wolf. But I don’t know how to tell what people are. Only the nice ones from the bad.” He looked at Rogen again. “You’re a shifter thing, aren’t you? That’s why you know she’s going to be all right.”
“Yes, I’m a tiger. Bengal. And when my parents, who are both tigers too, came upon the accident where your sister was, they changed her into a tiger to save her life.” Thatcher asked him to look at him, and Jamie had to work hard at looking him in the eye. “Jamie, they changed her into a tiger, and she’s my mate, my other half. Do you understand that?”
“Yes.” Jamie started crying when he realized that this man would own his sister and make her do things she’d not want to. “If you send me away, I won’t see her again. I need Rogen. And if you beat her, she will die anyway. Please, I don’t know what I can do for you, but please don’t send me away and kill her spirit.”
“I’d never do that.” Jamie didn’t believe him. “Jamie, I won’t hurt her. Ever. She will never hurt again if I can help it. Did someone tell you that? That I’d beat her?”
“We had neighbors that were bears. They were mean and would scare me all the time by chasing me around the town. And when they’d catch me, they’d hurt me with their claws, and
I’d have to have the hospital fix me up. Rogen told them that if they did it again, that she’d kill them. I believed her, but I don’t think they did.” Thatcher asked him what had happened. “One night they were trying to get me to run, but I’d been sick with the flu. Rogen heard them and came out of her room with a gun and shot the biggest one. She even put a special bullet in the gun to make it hurt bad. The man died, and she didn’t go to jail because they were in the house. Mom and Dad, they were so angry that they beat her up bad.”
“That’s not right. You know that, don’t you? Where are your parents, Jamie?” He looked at Rogen, then back at the man again. “You can’t tell me?”
“I’m suppose to tell everyone that they’re dead.” Thatcher seemed to get it and nodded. “You won’t tell on me, will you? Rogen won’t be mad at me, but she might not bake cookies for me. She makes the best chocolate chip in the world.”
“I won’t tell her.” Jamie thanked him. “You thought that I’d send you away. I’m assuming that this is from your parents as well?”
“Yes. They said that nobody would want a….” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They’d not want a retard around all the time. And if you didn’t get to send me away, then you’d beat Rogen until she said okay.”
“You have a home with us as long as you want.” He nodded. “Jamie, I’m not just saying that. I swear to you on the life of my parents that I’d never send you away. You are my brother, just the same as Rogen is your sister.”
He cried again. Jamie knew that he was too emotional sometimes. It was all he could do not to hug the big man. But he stayed where he was, thankful that someone wasn’t going to hurt him or Rogen. At least that was what he was saying now.
“I have to help your sister’s wounds. And to do that, I need to change into my tiger. My mouth has healing powers in it that will keep her from getting an infection, and the sores will go away much faster. You can stay if you’d like, or you can wait in the hall. But I have to do this daily in order for her to get better.” He asked if he’d bite him. “No. Not unless you want me to. Do you?”
“No thank you.” Thatcher laughed and stood up. “I think I’d like to stay. If you really don’t mind.”
“No. You should get used to the tigers anyway. But don’t allow anyone to come in with us, all right? I have to take some of the bandages off her skin so that I can get to it as a tiger.” He looked at Rogen as he continued telling him what he was going to do. “I’m going to lick the worst of them, then I’m going to nip at her skin again, just to give her a part of myself she needs.”
“Rogen told me a long time ago that you could be able to talk to me if you took my blood. Can that help too?” Thatcher said that he’d have to bite him gently as a tiger. “If it helps my sister, then I’ll do it. But not too hard. Okay? I’m a big baby.”
“No, you’re a good man who loves his sister. And I thank you for that.” Touched, Jamie waited in the seat while Thatcher went into the bathroom. “I won’t be long now.”
Jamie was careful when the big tiger came out of the bathroom. He was huge, his head about to Jamie’s when he was seated. And when he laid his head on his lap, Jamie reached out his hand slowly, just to touch the pretty fur.
“You’re very soft, aren’t you? Like a stuffed animal.” He petted him more and smiled at him. “I know you have big teeth, but when you bite me, please only use the little ones.”
Jamie put out his hand, but it was shaking a lot, so he was embarrassed. The huge tongue that licked his hand was rough, like sandpaper that he used when he had projects to do. Thatcher bit him and it wasn’t so bad, and then he licked away the blood. The wound was gone except for a little scar on his hand.
Hello. Jamie laughed out loud, something he rarely did. I forgot to lock the door. Can you do that for me? Then I’ll get started.
When he turned back after locking the door, the big tiger was up on the bed and licking at the wounds on Rogen’s back. There were a lot of them. And big blisters too. Jamie’s heart hurt for her, and he walked closer to the bed to touch the big tiger.
“When I was ten, my mom wanted to send me away. She kept telling me I was worthless every time I saw her.” The purring of the big animal calmed him in ways that he’d never had before. “She killed cats all over town, telling people that I’d done it. Then dogs when that didn’t work. Rogen caught her doing it by recording it on her cell phone. Then everybody didn’t like Mom anymore. She had to pay money to everyone that she’d hurt that way. Then when Rogen was going to college, my dad tied me the tree out back all day while she was gone.”
I’m sorry about that, Jamie. No one should treat their child that way. He nodded and moved back when Thatcher moved off the bed to stand near Rogen’s legs. Can you pull the sheet away for me? I can do her legs this way too.
“Rogen came home early because her class was canceled because of the snow. And when she found me there, she was very angry. And it scared me what she might do.” Thatcher moved away from the bed a little and bit down on Rogen’s leg. “She’ll be better soon, won’t she?”
Yes. What did your sister do to your parents? And how old were you? He told him how old he was. Your sister was in college at twelve? That’s impressive. She must really be smart.
“She is. When she figured out that they’d been doing that to me all along—I wasn’t allowed to tell her—she had a hissy fit.” He so loved that word, hissy. “She didn’t do anything to them then. She said that one more day and she’d have them. I didn’t know what she meant, but the very next day, she went to college and told me that I’d be safe after that. I was really sad for her. It looked like she hurt all the way to her toes.”
Thatcher asked if he could change before he told him the rest. Nodding, he sat back down on the chair, thinking that he’d never felt this safe with anyone but Rogen. And when Thatcher came out of the bathroom, dressed like he was before, Jamie couldn’t help himself. He hugged the big man and cried again when he hugged him back.
“She made it so everyone could see it. I don’t know what it was, but people would come by and throw things at the house. The police came and came, and then took me away. Rogen had to visit me in a place that I hated. It was forever before she came to get me, but I was free at last. Then we came here. She said that we’d be safe.” Jamie looked at Thatcher and could see his pretty cat in his eyes. “You won’t let them hurt her again, will you? She doesn’t like people anymore, and we came here to start over. Help her start over, will you, Thatcher? Please. I don’t want her hurt again.”
“She won’t be. I promise you. And if they come here, they’ll be sorry as hell that they fucked around with the wrong family.”
Jamie was twenty-seven years old and he had his first friend, he was sure of it. And he believed that if anyone could keep her from being hurt again, it would be this giant, gentle man.
After hugging him, Thatcher invited him to lunch with him. “I’m off duty until tomorrow, and I thought it would be nice if you got to know my family. And I’d like it if you come and stay at my house. You’ll be safer there.” He told him that he had to watch over Rogen’s plants and computers. “We can bring it all to my house too, if that will be all right with you. I’m worried now, you see. The newspaper has put out an article about how Rogen saved all those people. It might just bring your parents here.”
“No.” Jamie felt his body tense up, his heart pounding in his chest. “They’ll hurt us. They’ll come for me and hurt us.”
“They won’t. Not if you allow me to keep you safe.” He wanted to be safe. Jamie wanted his sister to be safe. Nodding, he thought it was a good idea if her things were safe too. Rogen loved her plants, and the computer, he’d been told, was special. “All right, I’ll have it moved over today. And her plants. All right?”
“Yes, all right. But no matter what, you have to keep Rogen safe from them. They don’t like her. and they will hurt her bad.” He promised that he would. “Okay. You can move us. I have stuff too
, but I can leave it there. It’s my projects.”
“I can get you completely moved to my home, Jamie. Including your projects. You come with me to my parents’ house, and then we’ll work on getting it all moved from there.”
Jamie wasn’t sure that Rogen was going to like anyone messing with her computer, but they’d be safe, and she told him all the time that he was able to make big decisions on his own. And he did this time. He only hoped he wasn’t too trusting, like Rogen said he could be.
~*~
“Thatcher, you might want to have Jonas come and take this stuff to your home.” He asked him why he couldn’t do it. “Because I have a feeling that if I unhook any one of the things she has hooked up in there, I’m going to go before a firing squad. And that’s before your new mate touches me. Come look.”
“Holy shit.” There were eight large monitors mounted on the walls, each one of them with a different scene going on somewhere. It wasn’t all the United States, he could tell that, but from all around the world. There were different computers too, each with their own monitor, mouse, and keyboard. “I wonder what she does, and if she’s on our side.”
“She is.” They both turned around and looked at the men there. The man who spoke, a well-dressed gentlemen, asked if they’d come out of her room. “She’s working for the US government. And we’ve been unable to contact her for some time now. Why are you here, Dr. Robinson?”
“You know me.” The man nodded. “Are you going to give me your name as well? And for that matter, let my brothers go?”
Each of them were on the floor with a gun to their head. The men standing over them were dressed for war. All but their eyes were covered, and they did not look like they’d stop at anything unless given the command.
Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 2
