Phillip: Lanning's Leap - Paranormal Erotic Romance (3 page)

The trucks came and went, never doing anything more than dropping things off in the front part of the open garage or picking them up in the section marked for them to take. Then she and Charlie would close up the doors and take all the things they had to the big barn in the back. The barn had no windows but plenty of storage space, and when needed, she would store things in the basement. It worked well for her company and the clients that she had, and Dottie supposed that was good for Charlie. Dottie hadn’t even missed going out to lunch with her friends, but enjoyed working with Charlie.

Then one day her daughter came from the barn with a book, and nothing had been good since. “It was packed in one of the boxes from that closeout place we got the deals on.” Dottie sat with Charlie thinking the worse, knowing that it was going to be worse than that even. “I don’t think it was supposed to come with the stuff. I’m pretty sure that whoever this belongs to will come for it, and they won’t be happy I have it.”

Taking the book from Charlie, she only had to read the first page to know that Charlie was right. This was a book that would get them both killed. Dottie had asked her what she wanted to do with it.

“I don’t know. Give it back to them? Surely if I tell them I found it, they’ll be all right with that?” Dottie didn’t think so and said as much. “I have to do something. I can’t worry about this all the time. And you know me, I will. It looks like one of Dad’s books. Is it? I mean, I never saw one, but I did watch everything about it on the newscasts.”

“I think this is way more than an accountant’s notes.” Charlie had told her she thought so too. “We should just wait it out. Maybe they won’t know we have it. If no one comes for it after…say, a year, then we can toss it. Otherwise, we’ll give it to whoever wants it. All right?”

The plan had lasted all of three days, two more than Dottie had been told it would take for someone to come and get it when she made a few calls on her own. There was money to be had on this thing, and she was going to collect. That was when the man with the gun had shown up and demanded that they go with him. How he’d gotten into the house without them knowing was still a mystery to Charlie, and Dottie had let her think that he’d gotten in and not been let in. Nothing about the whole ordeal had gone according to plan.

“You’re both coming with me.” The man had said he was there to collect. Dottie was nodding as she reached for her purse. “You’re not going to need that shit. Just get by the door and bring the fucking book with you.”

“Book?” The gun had hit Charlie hard enough to make her cry out, and Dottie nodded again. “I’ll get it now. It’s in the kitchen. I’ll get it, just don’t hurt my daughter.”

The man laughed, and she made her way to the kitchen. It wasn’t in there, of course, but Dottie was going to call for some idea about what was going on. He was supposed to have come to her with her money when she was alone to get the book. When he came in behind her, Dottie had seconds to make a decision. Picking up the sharp knife that she’d been using the night before, she slid it into his throat before she could think what she was doing.

“Mrs. Grant?” Dottie stood up, her heart pounding already from thinking about how easy it had been to kill a man, and she braced herself for the worst. “Mrs. Grant, they’re finished.”

“Finished?” Jackson nodded at her. “My daughter? Is she all right? Did she die while they did this?”

“I don’t believe so. She was doing well when I left them a short while ago. Exhausted, mind you, and still unconscious, but her heart is stronger.” She asked him about the tumor. “I don’t know, ma’am. I only know that her heart is stronger and that Master Phillip is with his mother.”

Dottie was surprised to see that it had been several hours since she’d walked out of the bedroom on the second floor upon leaving them to their work. As she made her way up the stairs again, she tried to think what she was to do now. Her daughter, she had no doubts, was going to be very upset about this. When she entered the bedroom, it was to find that there were others there now, brothers of Phillip she was told, and Maribel introduced her to a man by the name of Danny Hudson, their family doctor. Charlie was on the bed, and she was dressed in a man’s shirt instead of the clothing that she’d had on before. Misha was sitting next to the bed, but he didn’t move when she came into the room. When she was close enough to see Charlie’s face, Dottie started to cry. There was a marked difference in her appearance already.

“Phillip had to go take a shower and get something to wear. He said to tell you he’d be back if you needed him.” Dottie nodded and sat down when Misha offered her his chair. “She…it was touchy there for a while, and we didn’t think she was going to make it, but she’s a good deal stronger than we thought.”

“The tumor?” Misha told her that Linyah was going to check, but she wasn’t back yet. “I’d like to be here when she takes her to be checked. Do you have a medical facility on site?”

“No. Linyah is…she can tell by just touching her.” Dottie just looked at him. “I assure you, she will know better and faster than any x-ray will ever tell you.”

Holding Charlie’s hand, she looked at her daughter while she spoke. “Those people at the hospital told us that had they had more time, seen it earlier, that they might have been able to take it out. They also told us that it might not have given her the quality of life she’d had until then, but she’d have lived longer if they went digging for it.” She huffed. “He said it like it was our fault that no one had detected this tumor before it was as big as a ping-pong ball. By then, he told us it was too late to save any part of her.”

“As soon as Linyah comes, we’ll know for sure. But I’d not expect her to wake for a while. Danny said that it was hard on her, being as weak as she is.” Dottie nodded. “And we don’t know about her sight either.”

“I don’t care about that so long as I have her.” Misha told her he’d be back and left her. Dottie held Charlie’s hand and spoke to her quietly. “I let him do this to you. I know that you might have said no. In fact, I’m sure you would have. And while I was down there thinking the worst that could happen by agreeing, I realized what you were doing when you told Nic to take me away. You were going to end your life, weren’t you?”

It had occurred to her that Charlie was going to try and spare her of her painful death. The doctor had told them, in very detailed information, that it wasn’t going to be long, but it would be horrific. Charlie would be in pain, and no amount of drugs was going to touch it. The pressure in her head from the tumor growing larger was going to push her brain into all kinds of overloads before it shut down her bodily functions, including her breathing and heart. It would be, he assured them, the most painful way to die. Dottie was sort of glad that her daughter had been planning to take the easy way out. It would have been really hard on Dottie, and she was sure that in order for her to get to the book, she would have had to stay until the end.

“See what he knew.” Dottie brushed her daughter’s hair out of her eyes and then ran her fingers down her cheek. “I hope you think I did the right thing, honey. I know that you should have made this decision on your own, but there just wasn’t any time. I’m just…I have no idea if anything that young man told me is true either. For all I know, he could have just changed your clothing and then put you here for me to think that you were better.”

“I’d never do that.” She turned to look at Phillip as he stood by the door. “I would never do that to you or her. She’s going to live. I’ve talked to Nic and he said that the tumor is gone, but that she’s been through a great deal and it will take her awhile to recover. But she’s not going to die.”

“Never.” Phillip nodded and sat down in the other chair. She looked at him then and could see that whatever he’d done to Charlie to get her here, to this point, had taken a great deal out of him. “Do you need to rest too? You look like you could use a nap.”

“I need to sleep, yes, but not until she’s out of the woods. Danny said that she’d need to be watched for the next twenty-four hours. He’s not really worried about her heart now, but he doesn’t want to take any chances with her health.” Dottie asked him what else could go wrong. “I’m not sure, really. She’s weak, as I’ve said, and we did stress her out a great deal by doing this. So we’ll just watch and wait.”

Dinner was brought up later. Jackson sat with the two of them as they ate in silence. Dottie wasn’t hungry really, and from the looks of how much food Phillip left on his plate, he wasn’t either. As their nearly full plates were taken away, she sat back in her chair and watched Charlie’s chest go up and down until she felt herself drifting off.

The dream started off very slowly. It was her and Charlie, and they were in the barn filling orders. It was a beautiful day, the music was blaring loudly, and the fans that were always on were competing with the noise around them. Looking at Charlie, Dottie smiled to see her so happy.

“Someday you are going to make a man very happy.” Charlie snorted at her and told her the man would be in deep shit if she ever married. “No. You’ll marry. How else will I have lots of grandchildren?”

Then Charlie was laying on the floor. Dottie didn’t see her fall, didn’t even witness her being ill. She was just there. And when she walked up to her, kneeling down to help her, a hand, small and childlike, touched her.

“This is a dream.” Dottie looked up at the young man. “I’m Max. You know this is a dream, right? That dreams can’t hurt you. Nor are what’s in them true. This isn’t a memory, but a dream. Understand?”

“Is she dead?” He smiled at her and she wanted to touch him for some insane reason. “Who are you? I mean, we don’t know each other, yet here you are in my dream.”

“I’m Max, like I said. My mom is married to Carter Lanning. You met some of them, I think. There are six Lanning men.” He smiled again and moved back from her, and they were in a large forest with brightly colored flowers and birds. “This is better. I can take you somewhere else if you want, but the other dream is all yours.”

“I don’t understand. You’re a real person?” He nodded. “But I don’t know you. How are you in my dream?”

“I can do a lot of things. And this is only one of them. But I could feel your pain from the other dream and wanted to help you. I guess now that Uncle Phillip and your daughter have come together, you’ll be in this family too.” He moved and sat down, and she joined him. “You’re hiding something. Something…someone is keeping me from figuring out what it is. You have to tell them. They need to know what you’ve done.”

Then he morphed into her husband, his body big and so healthy, as if she’d seen him just a month ago, that she wanted to run to him. Then he smiled at her, and she could see other things too…the bullet to his chest, as well as the one that had taken out his eye. Her love was truly dead now, and she opened her mouth to shout out the wrongness of it all.

Her body lifted up. She felt the scream just at her lips as she stood up, her daughter laying quietly on the bed, the man who had saved her asleep in the chair. Dottie felt her skin crawl with something horrific, her eyes itching with something as well. Leaving the room, she decided that she was overwrought and needed to get some fresh air. Leaving the house, Dottie decided that her Charlie was in good hands. But she’d be back, and when she did return, she’d get the book. It was going to be her saving grace. Hopefully.

Chapter 3

Charlie woke. It wasn’t like her alarm went off and she could linger quietly in the bed for a few more moments, but that her body was awake and alive right now. Not moving, she looked around the room and tried to think where she was. The woman across from her made her blink several times just to make sure she was seeing her. Then it hit her like a bat between the eyes. She could
see
her.

“Take it easy and slow down your heart.” Charlie nodded but didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. “You do. Just think of calming yourself and you will. Slow your mind and your heart will follow. When you’re ready, I’ll explain what I can.”

“Where is my mom?” She said that she had left. “Left? When? I want to see her. Can you tell me where I am?”

“I can. When you’re calmer. Being calm is very critical right now.” For some reason she believed her. The doctors had told her that it was important that she tried to have less stress in her life or she would tire herself out. “You’re doing much better. Much. My name is Maribel Lanning. You met three of my boys the other day. Misha, Thomas, and of course, Phillip.”

“Can I sit up now?” Maribel helped her to lean back against the headboard of the bed, then sat back down. She was knitting, Charlie noticed then, and looked at the woman’s face. “I can see you. I’ve been…what’s happened?”

“Ten days ago you and your mother were brought here. Someone—and we are still trying to piece that one together—found you and fired upon you and the rest of the group. Do you remember that?” Charlie told her that she didn’t. Then a man came in with a large bed tray and sat it across her lap. When he left again, Charlie looked at the food before her. “That was Jackson. He’s the cook for this household. I had him on a holding pattern for you. Eat, child, and I’ll explain.”

“I can see. I’d really like for you to tell me now why that is possible.” The woman nodded and set her knitting aside. Charlie busied herself with fixing her cup of tea, almost afraid to know the answer now. “I have a tumor in my head. Near the frontal lobe. It was pushing against the optic nerves and causing me to be blind.”

“It’s gone.” Charlie had already figured that out. What she didn’t know or understand was how. “What do you know of shifters? Of men and women who can change into something else? Or vampires, for that matter?”

“Know about them? Only what I read. I mean, they must have a book about every kind of animal becoming a person. I even read this entire series about a group of them that formed a clique, and they were everything. Including a dragon.” She tried to think what the name of the series was but was coming up blank. “Why do you ask? And what does this have to do with my seeing?”

“You’re mated to one of them. My son, Phillip. He is a leopard, as are the rest of us.” Charlie nodded. Her mind was buzzing with all kinds of things and she tried to think how to get the woman out of this room, or herself out of here safely, for that matter. “I need to get you on the right track soon because of all the other things that you will encounter now that you can see and are awake.”

“Of course. I understand.” She ate a bite of her toast and wondered if there was a phone close. She didn’t know where she was, but this woman was nuts and she needed to get away from her. “Have you been here long? I mean, are there others like you?”

“Yes. All of us are.” Something clawed at her skin, and Charlie nodded while trying to think what to do now. “You’re not taking this well, are you?”

“Oh no. I believe you. I was just wondering where the doctor is. Have you seen him today?” The woman huffed at her. “I mean, you more than likely get the run of the place…am I…I lost my mind, didn’t I? That’s why I’m here and my mom…she brought me here? Or am I dead? I mean, really dead, and this is…whatever that might be called when you die.”

“No, darling, you’re not dead. Not even close. Phillip brought you here. And we’re not in an asylum.” The woman got up to pace, and Charlie put her hands under the covers. She was shaking so hard that she could hardly hold her fork. But she felt something move in her head, and she thought about the tumor. Then a man’s voice spoke to her.

What is it? Is someone there with you?
She looked around the room and wondered how they were doing this to her.
Answer me, please? I’m in the middle of a rescue and I’m afraid I’m not…I’ve sent Max to you. He’s there with my mom. Is that who you’re upset with?

“Someone is talking to me.” Maribel smiled and nodded. “How are you doing this? How are you making it sound as if he’s in my head?”

“He is in your head, darling. What did he say to you? I’m guessing it was Phillip.” The door opened and a young man walked into the room. He didn’t come any closer to her, but she pulled the sheet up to her neck, nearly knocking over the tray. “This is Max. I’m assuming that Phillip sent him to check on you?” The boy nodded.

“He said she was terrified.” They both stared at her, and Charlie felt her skin crawl again. Looking down at her arm, she could see something moving…fur…and she watched as her fingers seemed to change too. Long claws sprouted from her fingers, and she— “Look at me.”

The boy was holding her face in his hands and making her look into his face. She whimpered when he told her to breathe, but she was so terrified that she didn’t know what to do. Then the man in her head started screaming at her, and Charlie just closed her eyes and willed herself to faint.

Charlie opened her eyes this time to see a man in the room. He had his head tilted back, the open newspaper in his lap, and a blanket over his feet. He looked…normal, she supposed. She looked around the same room and was glad that at least that was the same…normal.

She supposed that the woman had been too, knitting something in the same chair, but it was the voice and the way Charlie’s body had felt that made her lose it that last time. When the paper moved, she looked at the man, and he smiled at her.

“I’m going to try something different this time. I’m Nildale. You don’t know me…I’m not what you’d call the best apple in the pot, but I’m not going to upset you, hopefully. Maribel feels just horrible about what happened before. Are you ready, child?” Before she could say anything, he stood up and sat down on the floor near the bed. “There is some urgency in getting you to understand what has happened to you. Your mother, as you have been told, has left the house. We don’t know where she is, but we do know that she has made it difficult for you right now.”

“I want to see her.” He told her that they did as well, but as he’d said she was gone. “I don’t know where I am. Or what has happened to me.”

“No. I’m sure you don’t. And Phillip isn’t here to talk to you. He’s been on a case for the last several days. He didn’t want to leave you just now, but there is…well, we won’t go into that right now. How are you?” She told him all right. “Good, good. All right then. You’ve been changed into a leopard. It was necessary to save your life. Now, I know that you’re not believing me, and that’s fine too. We’ll get to that. There are men after you, as you are also aware. And they’ve been making some noises, very loud ones, to get you to come to them with the book. I do believe that we should talk about that as well, but for now, we’ll just go with you and your mother.”

“I don’t know what they…it’s the book, but I think they want to kill me too. For something that I might or might not know.” He nodded and told her that was right. “I don’t…why can’t I lie to you?”

He laughed. “Because—and this will get you nervous again, I’m afraid—I am a king. My people are the genjar. I know that means nothing to you at the moment, but we are a very powerful and magical race. Since you are related in part to this family, as am I, then you cannot lie to me. Nor can I lie to you. All right?”

“Yes.” She thought about the part where he couldn’t lie to her. “You say that I’m now a leopard, but we both know that’s not possible. They only exist in books.”

“You’d be surprised how much they put in those books that is actually real. I do believe that a few of them have been written by actual shifters, but I don’t know for certain. But you are as real as I am. If you would put out your hand for me, I’ll show you.” She didn’t want to, and curled her hand closer to her body. “No matter. If you don’t believe me, this will be all the more difficult. As I was telling you, you are a leopard. And as such, there will be times when she will get away from you, like happened yesterday when you were upset. You shifted, into your cat.”

“That’s not possible.” He nodded but said nothing more. “I really do want to see my mom. Right now. Please. Right now.”

Calm your cat, Charlie.
The voice in her head again
. Calm her, love. I need you to listen to everyone for me. Nildale is trying to help you. And he’s helping me out while I can’t be there. I want to be, but there is too much going on here that they need my help with.

“There’s a voice talking to me. It’s Phillip and he said he needs me to listen. And that I must calm my cat.” The man in front of her nodded. “I’m overwhelmed right now.”

“Of course you are. I can see that. We can all feel it. But you need to be calm. There is a problem that only you can solve. You see, your mother has been less than honest with you. I know that is nothing you want to hear right now, but there you have it.” She asked him what he meant. “How much do you remember about your father? Much at all?”

“No. He was killed one day. I don’t remember...I wasn’t living at home when he was killed, and he was cremated before I was able to come home for the funeral. I…we didn’t get along well, Dad and I. He did things that I wasn’t…I’m not sure if it was what he did for a living or what, but he was a thief and I knew it. And Mom knew that while I loved him, I didn’t much like him. I think that was why she had him cremated before I got home. He was killed on his way home from work or something like that.” Nildale nodded. “Has something happened to my mom?”

“Your father isn’t dead, child. And the woman that you have called mother for all this time, she isn’t your birth mom. Neither of them were your parents. You were being watched, I guess is a good term for it, by them for someone else. Someone that is now after you.” Charlie sat up on the bed then and turned away from the man as he continued. “I really hate to tell you like this, but there really is a problem. I need—we all need—for you to remember as much about him as you can…the man posing as your father, I mean. Max…you met him…said that he can’t find any memories in your head about him and that someone is blocking him. And from what you just told me, you should have a great many memories of him. But for some reason, they’re being blocked, and that’s not good for any of us. I think…we all think that he is key to you being chased by this—”

“I’d like to go now.” Nildale nodded and stood up. “I want to leave here now and go back to my house. My…my other house. The real one. I have orders to send out, and I need to get them out or I won’t have…I want to go home. Right now. I want to leave and go home right now.”

She was panicky again. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and it felt as if her mind was closing down. Or moving too fast for her to sort things out. Her skin itched, moved on her body. Refusing to look at it, she was afraid. The man in her head was telling her to be calm, to take deep breaths, but she ignored him. And when something…someone screamed, it took her several seconds to realize it was her.

~~~

Phillip felt the moment that she shifted. And short of screaming at her again, out loud this time, he gripped the arms of the seat he was in and closed his eyes. The touch of the person next to him had him whimper, but Rider told him to just breathe.

“I’m breathing, damn it.” He let out a long held breath and sat there with his eyes closed. “Why is she being so stubborn? They’re trying to help her and now she’s turned into a cat again. I can taste her fear.”

“That’s why we’re headed home.” He looked at Rider. He’d not wanted to come with him, but Misha had asked him to not leave Phillip alone. It was probably the best move he’d made. Twice now if it hadn’t been for Rider, he would have shifted and killed someone. He might not have been in so much pain then—the throbbing in his leg would hurt more if he didn’t shift soon—but he’d been in a hurry to get there. “I don’t know why we had to take a flight when we could have simply jetted home on our magic. You suppose it was to calm you before we get there?”

They all had these freaky assed powers now. One—Rider had started calling it jetting—was to move through time and space. Not like they moved, he supposed, but they were just there. But this, he would agree with Rider, was just a ploy to calm him. Because Phillip was anything but calm right now.

“You can’t move like that if you’re tensed up. That was one of the things that Kendra told us, remember? Remain calm, you must.” Phillip looked at Rider when he spoke in that little green guys voice, all Yen like. Phillip decided to change the subject to safer grounds.

“Mom said that she’s a beautiful cat. That her fur is golden and black.” Rider said nothing, but he knew he was listening to him. “She’s going to be really pissed off, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” He glared at Rider. “Well, if you don’t want to know the answer, then don’t ask me. You think this is something I want to do? Travel with a tensed up cat that is looking to kill anyone who touches him?”

A woman with a large basket of bagged snacks came by them, and Rider flirted outrageously. Phillip would have, too, under different circumstances, but he had a mate now. One that he knew absolutely nothing about. Phillip looked at his brother’s bounty when she finally left them and shook his head. He had five bags of peanuts, six bags of pretzels, as well as an assortment of cookies. And an entire bottle of water with a glass of ice, too.