Nolan (10 page)
“I don’t give a shit about what you think I
might have done to them. I did what was necessary to make my life better. There
wasn’t much in the way of perks for me to stay with your sister. And to have a
son would have weighed me down in a way that you cannot imagine. I needed to be
free to pursue things that I wanted. Do things that made me happy. Why is that
a crime?” He felt himself get braver after she said that she’d not hurt him. When
he stood up, she backed from him, but the man, Nolan, stood still. “She was
boring, if you want to know the truth. I wanted…I wanted a life. Not stuck in a
marriage centered around a kid that I would have to take care of should she
finally be able to work. I wasn’t…it’s not in my blood to have a job, and there
wasn’t enough money with her to make it worth my while. And when she got
herself in trouble with that brat, I decided that enough was enough.”
“And the children you have now, with your
current wife, they didn’t cramp your style?” They had, and he told her so. “I
see. So in order for things to be the way you want them, you’ll just get rid of
the extra baggage and move on.”
“Why not? It’s not like Becky needs me to pay
her any kind of support…not like your sister wanted. And since I was smart
enough to not sign the pre-nup she kept shoving in my face, I will get to go on
living in a lifestyle that I’ve grown to like, despite the fact that Grandmother
thinks that taking my money from me is going to work. I might even ask Becky for
more since she has it all and Grandmother is a selfish bitch. And when I find
me a nice little thing, with more money than brains, I’ll get myself another
wife. But there will be no more children to have to be screaming about their
needs. This time I’ve taken precautions in the baby making department.” He
grinned when he thought of the little snipping he’d had done. “The next wife
will be just that, a wife until someone better comes along.”
“David?” He turned slowly when he heard her
voice. Looking at Becky, who was standing in the doorway with her father and
mother, he knew that he’d been set up for a great fall. And there were
witnesses to it. The fucking butler, Kason, was smiling at him like he knew
something that he didn’t. “What do you mean, until something better comes
along? You said that you would love me for all time. What is the meaning of
this?”
“Yes. That’s something I’d like to know as
well.” Mr. Poser came into the room. Becky’s father was no one he wanted to
ever fuck with, and now he had. And from the look on his face, David knew that
pre-nup or not, he was royally fucked.
~~~
Rylee was sort of…she wasn’t sure what she
was feeling right now, but not good was a little of it. David had really been a
bastard, just as her sister had said. Not that she’d not believed her, but to
see him, hear his words…it was just sickening. But she was pretty sure he was
getting his comeuppance.
“Do you suppose Mr. Poser will do what he
says to him? To David, I mean. Do you suppose he’ll follow through on suing
him?” Rylee looked over at Nolan and smiled when he continued. “He was pretty
pissed. I mean, my cat wanted to tear him apart when he said those things about
my son, but hell, that man is more vicious than me.”
“Your son?” He grinned at her. “I don’t know
if that’s a good idea right now. He’s having some…Shane is having a sort of
crisis right now. This thing with David, I think it was good that he could hear
what kind of person he is, but to have your own blood say those words in front
of you…damn it, I want to go and tear him up too.”
“He’s going to be great. Shane has a good
head on his shoulders, and he seems to know what he is about. And we talked.
Shane and I had a long talk the other day, and we’re coming to terms with each
other. I love the kid.” Rylee turned slightly and looked at Shane, who had a
set of headphones in his ears as he stared at the small computer in his lap.
She looked at Nolan and asked him what they had talked about. “Manly stuff, for
one thing. He’s calling Mom ‘Grandma,’ and he’s calling my grandparents that as
well. Grandda is in love with him too, and cannot wait to go fishing with him
again. Did you know that he caught a huge fish?”
“I did. He sent me a picture. You talked to
him about you calling him your son?” Nolan grinned and shook his head. “What do
I have to do to get a straight answer out of you?”
“Oh, I can think of any number of things you
can do to me. But for this, I’ll simply tell you.” He laughed again. “I asked
him if I could adopt him as my son. Of course, you’ll have to adopt him first.
That’s the only way I can have him as my son. You don’t want to be his aunt
living with his dad, do you?”
“Maybe we’ll just go back to that apartment
that you first found us in and cut you out altogether.” He looked wounded and
she laughed. “I don’t think that would work either. Shane really likes his new
room. And I have to thank your mom, too. Did you know she got him into the
private school without going by way of the waiting list?”
“She said she had pulled some strings.” He
glanced at her as he drove. “She has a scary amount of strings she can pull.
Grandma as well. Grandda told me once that she could call the president right
up if it suited her needs, and he’d not be the least bit surprised if the army
was on our front porch should she need them.”
That didn’t surprise her at all. She’d even
gotten a call from her old captain from the service the other day. He’d told
her that she could do them and the service a great deal of good should she want
to come and work for them. As a recruiter, not on the front line again. He’d
explained to her that according to Katie Bentley, she was needed at home, not
there. He went on to tell her to make that woman happy at all costs, to never
make her mad, and to try and find the bodies she’d buried of those that had
done all the above. Rylee had thought he was kidding, but now wasn’t so sure.
She decided to tell Nolan what she’d been thinking about for a few days now.
“I don’t know what to do with my life. I mean
now that I’ve met you and I’m not in a constant panic about what to do to make
the next rent or how to buy food.” Nolan asked her what she meant. “I don’t
know. I was army all the way for so long that I don’t think I know anything
else. Then there is the fact that with Shane not needing me so much with this
new school, I’m at a loss for what do to.”
“Okay, first, why do you think that he won’t
need you as much? That kid will need you more and more as he gets older. I do
my mom. She’s my world. She scares me, but she’s there for me. And secondly, I
need someone to help me with all this stuff I have going on.” She asked him
what stuff. “When I purchased the building for the homeless shelter, I kind of
took on a few more buildings too. One of which, as you know, is a warehouse.
The others—there are nineteen of them total—are in need of work and businesses
at the end of five years or the city takes them back.”
“Take them back why?” He told her. “So, if
you don’t make some improvements and have a business in a building that you
own, they can just come in and take it back from you? No questions asked, just
take? That’s bullshit.”
“Yeah, well, at the time, I thought it was a
wonderful idea.” He frowned, and she wondered what was going on now. “I want to
turn a few of them into apartments. Not like the one that Chris and Joey have,
but something like studio places for people to just live. Maybe…I was thinking
of something like a studio apartment where they can work should they want to.
Also, I wanted to see about an antique place. Mom said there is one in the next
town over that does a good business, but the couple who own it are wanting to
sell their inventory and convert the place back into their home. I thought…I
was going to see about buying it from them.”
“Consignment. You could take it on consignment
for a while. And I know this guy who has some old crap, too, that he wants to
get out of his house.” She was warming to the idea of being a person in
business for herself…well, the two of them in business for themselves. “He’s a
vampire of considerable age, and when I talked to him at Shelby’s funeral, he
was telling me he wants to clean house.”
Her mind was working over the idea of getting
in touch with Barron. He’d always been there for her when she’d needed him. But
with this thing with money and such, she’d felt bad enough that he’d bailed her
out of something when she’d been hurt, she didn’t want to bring him in on that
too. He would have just paid everything off and given her enough money to live
on for the rest of her life. Sounded good, she supposed, but it wasn’t her
style.
“So, you’d be willing to help me out with
this stuff? I have my practice too. And while I’m on call, you might have to
take on a business of ours by yourself.” She was nodding and thinking about
what she wanted to do for this to work. “You really want to do this, don’t
you?”
“I really do. And I don’t know which building
you were talking about to convert into a shop, but I’m sure we can make it work
out.” He just shook his head at her. “You know, I think I might need to start
on this tonight instead of running in the woods behind the house with you.”
“Oh no, you don’t. I have been looking
forward to this all day, and you are not taking this from me now.” She just
grinned. “I might have forgotten to mention that Shane knows what I am. He’s
sort of okay with it, but he doesn’t want me to shift around him, not yet
anyway.”
She could understand that. The few times that
Nolan had shifted in front of her, it had been sexy. But with Shane, it was
something new. And scary new to him. As they drove the rest of the way home in
silence, Rylee wondered what they were going to do now as a family.
Beckman met them at the door as soon as they
came up on the large deck. He didn’t look to be stressed, but he did have a
look on his face that made her think he’d been pinched. Smiling at him when
Nolan asked him if everything was all right, the gentlemen only shook his head.
“There is a person here. A vampire. He wishes
to have a conversation with the lady of the house.” He looked at her. “He said
that you are his little lady, and that he only just heard of your finding a
mate.”
“Can we see him in the living room?” Nolan
and Beckman both shook their heads at her. “Okay, he’s the friend I was telling
you about earlier, and if he’s not welcome in this house, I’m not—”
Nolan put his hand gently over her mouth, and
then he kissed her nose. “He can’t come in until you invite him. And there has
to be rules too. Beckman is a witch, in case I forgot to mention that.” Shane
whooped with excitement, and Nolan looked at him with a cocked brow before
continuing with her. “You have to invite him in and tell him that no one,
especially the witches that are here, can be his meals. Witches and vampires do
not usually get along.”
“Will you turn him into a frog, Mr. Beckman?”
Smiling at her nephew, Beckman took him into the kitchen as the two of them
stood there.
As they moved to the front of the house,
having come in from the kitchen, Nolan asked her about her friend.
“His name is simply Barron. He told me once
that if he had a last name, he’d long since forgotten it.” She moved to open
the door and looked at Nolan. “He’s a bit odd. More so than you are. But I
think that his is more due to the fact that he’s eccentric rather than him just
being odd.”
From the other side of the door, she heard
Barron tell her he heard her, and she opened the door to find him not one day
older looking and just as flamboyant as he’d ever been. “Hello, my little
chickadee. How are you faring now that you have yourself a nice mate?”
Barron simply loved her mate and the young
man, her nephew. When he’d first met the younger woman, she’d been in her cups
and he’d thought to take advantage of her. But she delighted him so thoroughly
that he hadn’t the will to harm her. But he drank from her. It was their pact. Should
she ever need him she needed only to call to him. Which, it seemed, she no
longer did. That both saddened him and made him very proud to know her.
“Nolan and I are going to open an antique
shop. I was wondering if you still had some things you wanted to get rid of
cheaply.” He smiled at the thought of her as a merchant. “I’m not sure how much
we can pay you, but I think we can make it work.”
“I can put it in there for now, and if you
sell it, you can pay me. I have no need for the money.” He didn’t either. Barron
had been around for a very long time, and money had lost all of its appeal to
him. “I have come here on a very important matter, however. I should like to
know if you have the time to listen to me.”
He knew they had had plans for tonight. Even
hated to intrude on them, but he needed her, as she was his last hope. Nolan
said he’d be back and left them alone. To have a panther, even one as newly
mated as they were, to leave a man alone with his mate spoke volumes for the
man and his trust of his mate.
“Is it about your daughter?” He’d told her
everything one night. It had been a mistake, he’d thought at the time. But it
had turned out to be the best thing he’d ever done. She had more information
about him than other vampires he had known for centuries, and she had never
told anyone. This he knew to be a fact. “Did you find her?”
“I have. But to say that she is upset with me
still would be grossly understated. She blames me for her lot in life, and I
find I cannot really blame her. It’s not as if I didn’t love her, but when her
mother died…it took more out of me than I had for the child. So when I had to
go and recover…well, as I have told you before. Leaving her in the hands of my
brother was a mistake. This I know now.” Barron had told her this story before.
“She will not even let me talk to her. Has not allowed me to come to her home,
and…and I have heard she has her own mate now, and there is a child.”
“You have a grandchild.” He grinned and
nodded. “Congratulations. Have you seen it yet? What is it? Boy or girl?”
“A young man. He is older than the young man
in the kitchen. Your nephew, I believe?” She nodded, and he could see the
happiness on her face. “My grandson is nearing his age of turning. To becoming
a full vampire. And I would wish that you talk to her for me. Not intercede on
my part, but to see if she will see me, and soon. I should like to make sure
she has what she needs, and I would like to make sure that what I have been
told about my grandson is true.”
“And what is it you think she might need?
Besides you in her life? This grandson, what might he need that you can give
him after being out of his life for so long? I don’t mean to be a bitch about
this, but it has been a very long time, Barron.” Barron wanted to tell her
everything, and knew in that moment he more than likely would have to before
she would help him. He looked at her when she cleared her throat. “You’ve had
her investigated. What is it you’re not telling me?”
“You were always too smart for your own good,
my child.” He got up to sit near her. Not close enough to touch—he knew the
ways of mates—but to hand her a picture he’d had taken of the boy. “His name is
Dennis Barron Richards. I think she likes me a little with that name, but he
is…because her mother was not a vampire when Constance was born, there have
been…complications for Constance’s child. He will not live a long and fruitful
life, as I have been told by someone. I wish for her to allow me to help him.”
“He’s dying. Or he will die, right?” Barron
nodded sadly. It hurt him that his wife and longtime lover had gotten with
child before he’d thought to convert her. Then when he had, there were things
that had gotten them…well, gotten her into trouble. She was protective of him,
and that had gotten her killed one day when he’d been in his slumber. Connie was…had
been a day walker…someone who could stand the sun yet be a vampire too…a trait
that was coming to his grandson because his mother was not a full blood either.
“What can you do to help him? Change him?”
“Yes. If he is not converted before he
reaches his time, then he will surely die. His father is a pureblood as I am,
but I’m older. More powerful in the simple fact that with age, considerable magic
comes to me.” He got up to pace. “You know what a day walker is, am I correct?
But do you know they have powers within them that even their maker does not
have? My Connie had such powers, but they were…when she was angry or stressed
because of the actions of others, she would shift. There was no control over it
for her, or, I think, she never cared to have control over it. Back in those
days, it was safer for us to be…less gentle with humans than we are now. More…I
guess you could say we were monsters then, and have, in my opinion, come a long
way to change that. So when she did it at the wrong time, she was killed.”
“And your grandson, he does this too?” Barron
shook his head. “Then what is it you feel you can heal him from?”
He’d known that it would come to this. Not
that she’d demand to know answers, but he knew her well enough that she would
not just go blindly into something without first making sure she had all the
information. This, even helping him, would be no different.
“He has no fangs, and because of what he is,
if he does not have them, he will not survive.” She asked him how that was
possible. “He has the teeth of a human, something that has been passed to him
from his grandmother through his mother. I should like to…if I do not help him
with a conversion soon, he will starve to death after only a short time once he
is changed.”
He watched her face. Barron knew that she
didn’t want to help him. He wasn’t sure he really blamed her either. But it was
written on her face. He’d realized a long time ago she would not be one to win
at poker, because her face told it all. It was difficult enough for him to come
here and ask. He could not imagine having to go into a den of vampires she did
not know to convince one of them to let another vamp…Christ, what was he even
doing here? He decided he was going to go. As he was moving to the door, she
said his name softly and he turned to her before speaking his heart, something
he did so seldom that it tore deeply into his chest.
“This was wrong of me. To come here and
impose on you and your mate. Especially since you are newly mated and of no
need of problems that are not your own. I am truly sorry, love. I am.” He
opened the door when she said his name again. “I will have those things
delivered to you as soon as—”
“Shut the fuck up.” He turned to her, both
impressed and a little pissed that she should shout at him so. “Damn it all to
hell, but you do go on when you have to be right, don’t you? Where is this
grandson and how do I contact him?”
It took him several seconds to realize what
she was asking him, and a few more to find a place to sit before he fell over. She
was…she was impressive in her ability to fool him. And he also had to think
that her mate might be in for more than he’d known from this woman.
“You wish to do this? You do know that he is
a vampire and that as such, his family is as well. And being a friend of mine,
it will not….” He looked at her face and noticed the cocked brow at him. “Yes.
I will get you the address. It is not far from here.”
After Barron sat back down after going to his
home to get the information she’d need, her mate returned. The man was very
protective of his mate, and had more than likely known she was distressed about
this.
Barron told the both of them all he knew
about what had happened and how he knew what was going to happen when he
changed the boy. Soon, the younger man, Shane, came into the room and joined
them. After shaking his hand during the introductions, Barron had a sudden
thought as to how he could return the favor for what she was doing for him. He
would have to give it some thought, but now that the idea had formed, he was
brimming with the need to make it happen. He would help the young man in a way
that only he could. A little part of him would protect the boy no matter the
time of day or the need. It was the least he could do after she was willing to
help him like this.
As he left the house of his now good friends,
he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and gave him a little of himself. The
rest, he knew, would come to him soon, more in the way of monetary gain, but
for now this was going to have to do. The child would go far in his life, and
Barron wanted to be a part of it. Would be a part of it. Leaving, Barron felt
better than he had in weeks, centuries really.
~~~
Rylee made the call as soon as Barron left
them. She knew a little more about his kind than she had before, but it didn’t
give her any more of a good feeling about what she was going to be doing. The
man who answered the phone was polite but not very helpful.
“I will give the lady of the house the
message that you called.” She told him that it wasn’t going to work for her. “I
beg your pardon?”
“You will need to have her come to the phone
now. It’s a matter of life or death.” The connection was closed, and she
growled out her frustrations. But as she turned to tell Nolan she was going
there, Beckman and the most…well, colorful did not even come close to describing
the woman who was standing there with him.
“My lady. This is Myra. She is the royal witch
to the queen.” She asked him who the queen might be; just kidding really, but
he nodded and smiled. “That would be my queen, Lady Chris. Your sister-in-law.”
“I see.” She sat down and felt her body
tingle. “Why is…is there a reason that the royal witch Myra is here in my
living room? I mean, is she…why are you here?”
“You are so adorable. I’m here because you
are set on a quest that I wish to help you with. Barron and I have been…well,
not friends, as you are to him, but we had a thing some time ago. He is a
wonderful lover and at—” Rylee raised her hand and Myra laughed. “Yes. That is
for another time. But I am here to help you, should you like for me to. While
it will be up to you, it would make me…I want to help our friend as well.”
“What’s it going to cost me?” Myra tisked at
her, and Beckman looked shocked. “There is nothing in this world for free,
Myra. Even you have to know that. Chris is a really wonderful person, as is
Reggie, but the fact that you’re here and not them makes me think you haven’t
told them you’re going to help. Why is that?”
“You are brilliant, aren’t you? But to answer
your question, I am here because it is personal to me. You can and will do this
on your own should you want, but with my help, my…magic, it will go easier for
you. And a good deal safer for you.” She asked her why she was going to need
safety. “Because the man you seek is a man that I do as well. Ansel Vegas is a
man who, for all appearances, is a good one, when I know for a fact that he is
not. I should like to confront him on a couple of things, that’s all.”
“No one, no matter what they say, has always
been a good person. You’ll have to do better than that.” Rylee reached for
Nolan and hit a wall. “Are you keeping Nolan from coming to me?”
“I am.” Myra sat down on the chair and that
was when Rylee noticed the change in her color. The dress as well as her hair
and shoes were all one color. A green so bright she was sure that neon would
not have even come close to matching it. “I should like to make you aware of a
few things about this house that you do not…that you should know. First I would
like to start with the room your nephew is in. It is—”
“If you hurt him, I will hunt you down and
tear you apart. I’m not a shifter like the rest of them, but I will die trying
should you touch him.” Myra nodded and smiled. “I should just let you finish,
right?”
“Yes. The room he is in, it is magical. All
of it. But it is the dragon on the door of his closet that you should be made
most aware of. It is real.” She wondered for a second if she meant the doors
were real or…. Rylee asked her to explain. “You have it right. The dragon is
real. It is his protector. And soon, on his next birthday, the dragon will move
to his body and mind, and he will keep him safe even out of the room. He must
be of an age where he can make decisions. While he can now, there are guidelines
even I must follow.”
“Why? Is something going to happen to him
that he’ll need the extra protection?” Myra told her there was always need for
extra protection. “You know what I mean. Don’t be obtuse.”
“Not that I am aware of. He will live a
somewhat normal life. But the dragon will be there should he need him. And he
might.” Rylee wasn’t sure if she believed her or not, but asked about the rest
of the house. “The house is also protected, as you have found out tonight when
you needed to invite your young vampire in.”
“Young vampire?” Myra nodded and ran her hand
over her hair to her waistline, and Rylee was distracted by the color change
for a moment. She looked at the other woman and wondered if she’d done that on
purpose. Her smile made Rylee think she was reading her mind as well. “Barron
is very old, thousands of years old. How do you get off calling him young?”
