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“He also said you were wanting money out of the business.I told you before, Tommy, that I’ll forgive you that once but not a second time.You’re going to have to figure out your own way of getting cash that doesn’t involve the business.”Tommy sat down and looked at his dad as he sat in his comfy chair.“I didn’t call the police on you the first time, but I will if so much as a dollar shows up missing.I’m not kidding, nor am I joking.I will have you arrested.”

“I was joking, Dad.I promise you that I was joking around.”He gave his dad the sad look that had worked every time he wanted something from the man.“I do need some cash.Earl couldn’t even spare a couple hundred bucks for his little brother.I’m broke, Dad.”

“He told me you wanted a few thousand.”Did he say that?That’s what he wanted, but he didn’t remember saying it to his brother.“I don’t have any cash on me, son.As I told you when I let you go from Readers, I’m not going to support you when you’re well old enough to get yourself a job and hold onto it.”

“What do you mean you don’t have any cash?You always have a few hundred dollars on you at all times.I just need something to get me by.”Dad asked him what he was getting by from.“I’m going to get me a job.I have plans, too.I got my rent paid up, and now I’m going to find me a good job that will make you proud of me.”

He wanted to puke.He wasn’t going to get himself a job at all unless they had one where you could make money by spending it.There was no way that he was going to be able to work a job and be the kind of person that he wanted to be.Working for a living was for suckers, and he’d not been born to money only to have it taken away from him right now.Tommy looked at his dad when he said his name.

“I asked you where you’ve applied.And I might have some money on me, but I’m not handing it over to you.I won’t support you, Tommy.I’ve told you that.Get a real job and try to stand on your own two feet.Your sister did, and she’s younger than you are.”It was always about his sister and brother and how perfect they were.“What did you say?”

“Nothing.Well, can I stay here for a few nights to get myself together?”Dad pointed out that his rent was caught up, so he should be able to get himself together at his own home.“Are you kicking me out of my family home, Dad?Tell me, if Earl asked, you’d allow him to stay.Or even Tabby.Right?”

“They have homes of their own and wouldn’t need to get themselves together after stealing ten grand from the company.They’d never do that.”Rolling his eyes, Tommy asked about Tabby being so far from home.What did he think about that?“I don’t know what you’re implying.She’s working.Something that you seem to not understand to make herself money.”

“I guess I’ll never be perfect enough for you, will I father?”Dad told him that he didn’t want perfect but someone that worked for what they wanted.“It’s not my fault that I don’t have a job.I was working for Reader when you let me go.I won’t even have a reference from you, will I?”

“All I can tell someone is that you worked for me.I’ll do that.Nothing more.”He cursed at his father and told him that he was disappointed in him.“And I am in you as well.”

~*~

Tabby was nervous about her brother coming around.Earl had called her and Dad at the same time and told them what Tommy had said to him.Earl wanted to blow it off, thinking that he’d never do that, but Tabby wasn’t so sure.He’d do it, kill one of them, and then expect the other two to get in line with his thinking.He was that much of a terrible person.She went to find Edgar to see what he had to say about Tommy and him threatening them with getting a gun.

“He can’t kill you.Tommy can hurt you a little, but you’ll heal from that and anything else he has in mind to do to you.”She asked him what he meant.“You’re immortal, the same as I am.The only way to kill you is to remove your head, and I’m not sure he could do that.To remove one’s head takes a very sharp blade and a lot of upper body—”

“All right.I get it.So if he shoots me in the head, somehow I’ll live through that?”He told her that, yes, she was immortal.“Are my parents?My brothers?I mean, have they been given the same magic to keep them alive?”

“No.I never thought of you having that magic until just now.I can talk to my mom and have her do it for the rest of your family.”She told him, not Tommy.“All right.I can have her do it to your parents and Earl.Mandy is because she’s your daughter and my stepdaughter.There are other things that you can do that we’ve not talked about.You can reach out to my family when you need them.And if you ever need them, don’t hesitate to call for them.They can and will be there for you no matter what you might think is too small for them to care about.”Tabby sat down in the chair across from his desk.“Something bothering you?”

“You told me that I can change my clothing at will.You’ve also told me about being immortal.There is plenty more that you’re not or haven’t told me, right?”He nodded and said that since she was a human and him a dragon, he really didn’t know what sort of magic she could get.“So I could be able to shift for all you know.”

“That’s right.Amy got some of my dad’s vampirism, like an old vampire like he is.Then there are the things that she can do.She can hop in and out of fires without getting burnt and travel that way.I think you were told that part.”She told him that Layla had told her more about it.“They’d be the ones to tell you.As they can both do that burning thing.The only way that I can tell what you got from being my mate is for you to tell me.And in order for you to know, you have to play around with it when I’m around.”

“So it’s sort of hit-and-miss kind of thing?”He smiled and told her that was it exactly.“I did discover one thing.I can bring things to me.It’s not like they float through the air towards me, but they just pop in my hand when it’s something that I can carry.Also, I’ve received a bag from your grandmother.She told me that it would never weigh more than it does when it’s empty, but I could carry a car around in it, and it wouldn’t lose its shape.That one is kind of scary if you ask me.”

“Amy and the other women have one too.It comes in handy when they’re shopping.You’ll like that, too, I’m betting.”She asked him what it was called.“An endless bag, I think, is what it’s called.And so you know, if you want something from the bag, all you have to do is tell it what you’re looking for, and it’ll be right there for you.”

“Now that’s awesome.”She wanted to learn more, but she was worried about her family.“Can we talk to your mom now?I don’t want anything to happen to my family so long as Tommy is out there causing trouble.I don’t believe my family thinks he’s capable of doing anything like that, but I know better.He’ll kill us without a second thought.”

“We can go now if you’d like.I have some things that I need to tell my parents anyway about the contracts that they sent over today.”When he stood up, she did as well.“I’m not rushing you, Tabby, but I want you to know that as soon as we bond, you’ll have considerably more magic than you do now.And that’s when you’ll need to play around with it to know what you’ve gotten.It’ll be there to keep you safe.”

“All right.I’ll start messing around with it as soon as we get back.I’m worried about my family right now.”He put out his hand, and she took it.“You’re very good to me, Edgar.I don’t know whatto think about how I feel about you, but I think that I’m falling in love with you already.”

He kissed the back of her hand.“I’m already in love with you as I’ve ever been with anyone else.And I will love you tomorrow and all the tomorrows beyond today more than I do the day before.”He pulled her into his arms and held her.“I love you so much, Tabby.You can’t know how much I do without being in my heart.Now, let’s go see my mom so she can help us out with keeping your family safe.I love them as well.Earl is like a brother to me, and I dearly love your parents.”

His parents were at their home in this realm when they went by to see them.After explaining to them what was going on, Storm said she could do that with no problem.When she sat down at the dining room table with them, she said it was done, and just like that, all the worry that she had over her brother just rolled off her shoulders.

“Thank you so much.I owe you a great favor for keeping them safe.”She said that she’d have to get with them and give them a faerie each.“I can do that.I have one, and I can’t believe how much I use him for things.And he seems to love helping me, too.”Alex, Edgar’s father, said that they get jealous when they see one of them getting to help one of the brides.“Brides?”

“What they call the mates of our sons.They think that helping you is a huge boom, that they were specially picked to help you ladies.And if they can help you with your magic, which I’m betting that they already know what you have, then that makes them twice as proud.”She asked if that was true.They’d know what she had.“I’m sure of it.They did help me with the magic that I received when I first came to be with Storm.I found them to be quite delighted to help me out with some of it, too.”

“I’ll get with them.How do I go about getting my family a faerie?I don’t want to put anyone out, but I really want them to be safe.”Storm told her that her family was as safe as she could make them and that their houses, including hers and Edgars, were fixed as well.“What do you mean fixed?And I have a lot of faeries at the house now.”

“I’ve fixed it so that no one with ill will or ill intent can enter your homes.That would include your yard as well.”She asked what the difference was.“Good question.It came to me that someone having an ill will wouldn’t be able to get into your house, but if they saw you out and about, they could harm you.They cannot kill you, but they can harm you.Ill intent means that when they see you out and about, walking down the street, they could harm you then.So I’ve made it so that nothing untoward can harm you or your daughter, who I like, by the way, then either.”

“Thank you.I’m assuming that you’ve given it to my family as well.”Storm told her that everyone that she loves has it in their homes, but for Tommy.“Good.Thank you.I know that you don’t understand why not him but I’ve not trusted Tommy for a very long time.He’s sneaky and sort of mean.Well, I mean, he’s a great deal mean, and I’m afraid of him.Or I was.He scares me to death sometimes when I see him looking at me.Like he’s looking for a place to put a bullet into me that would make his day.”

“I’m going to put a faerie on him as well.Not to help him but to keep an eye on him.If you don’t trust him and him being your brother, then I don’t trust him at all.I’ll do that now.”She snapped her fingers, and three of the little people came to her.After she told them what she wanted, to keep an eye on Tommy but not to engage with him, again, the fear that she had for her family rolled off her.Not completely, but enough that she wasn’t as worried about them as she’d been before.“They’ll be able to warn you, too, when he’s coming toward you.Also, you might not have thought about this, but the more you know about your magic, the better you’ll be able to keep yourself from getting harmed as well.”