Page 2 of Weston (Sheppard’s Shadow #4)

Major didn’t care for the little man in front of him. But so far, he’d not made any moves so that he could kill him. And he wanted to, in the worst sort of way, just to get him away from him. The man was a shyster, as his mother would have said, and he needed to be eliminated sooner rather than later.

“They have the money. I don’t see why it would bother you if they’re running a little short. I mean, it all goes to someplace in the leap.” Another thing that he didn’t like about the man was that while he wasn’t telling him everything, he was just short of telling the truth, too, like what he just said. It was only benefiting him, the people paying dues, and since he was in the leap as well, he was getting the extra cash. “Is this about that Warrior family? They bitch about everything anymore. From having to pay monthly fines to having to go outside the leap for jobs. Some people just aren’t happy unless they’re complaining all the time. Or is it the Watsons? They’re getting on my last nerve about everything as well.”

“That’s another thing that I wanted to talk to you about. Once someone pledges to another leader, you can’t charge them for fees in your own. You should be bringing in more jobs if you need to have income coming from people that no longer want to be a part of what you’re doing here.” He said the name Belinda Watson. “I don’t know her. But if she’s the first person that pops into your head about what I just said, then don’t do it anymore. If you wanted her to stay in your leap, then you’d have to go another way, like having more jobs for the people here. This isn’t working the way that it’s supposed to be. It’s for the others, not just to benefit you.”

“She’s not told me directly that she’s going to another leap.” He asked him why he’d say it that way. “Well, I was notified that she was thinking about pledging to someone named Sheppard, but she has to tell me herself before I believe it.”

“It’s a done deal for her if she’s talking about Archie Sheppard. Now, there is a good leader. You should go and talk to him about having things done for the betterment of the leap. You could learn a few things.” And if he ended up dead there, it would be all the better for him. “In fact, you’re to go to him in the coming weeks to get information from him. I’m telling you this directly to your face and reminding you again that what I say goes. If you’re charging this Belinda person for fines, get together what she’s paid you and return it to her. Without more fees or penalties, too. She’s in a different leap, and that’s all there is to it.”

“That’s a bit of money I’ve collected from her. How about I just say that she’s off the hook for now and tell her that she’s fine. For now.” Major stood up and put both hands on the desk of the man in front of him. It was the most intimidating stare he had, and it didn’t take long for the man to pull out his checkbook and start writing out a check. Major told him cash and he’d made sure she got it. “It’s going to hurt me if I have to pay that back to her now. I have investments that need to be paid from that.”

“Cash. Now.” When he opened the drawer that was to his left, Major got a good look at the amount of cash that was just lying there. Instead of commenting on it, he pulled out the biggest stack of more money than he’d seen in one place before. “Is this from you charging fines from people no longer in your leap?”

“Yes. It does add up.” The large ledger was next. “Let’s see how much she’s paid in fines and dues?”

It totaled to be more than ten grand, and Major was embarrassed that he thought it might work for him, too. But only for a second. The ten thousand dollars hardly made a dent in the money in the drawer, which had him grabbing the ledger from the man to see what else he was going to be dealing with.

He had to sit down hard when he realized that families were paying for their family members to be buried on the land that was set up for them. Then, there were taxes on things like going to school on the land. Car taxes, as well as baby taxes. A family of six was paying out sixteen percent—four percent per child of their income to have children. No wonder people weren’t pledging to the leap here. They would go broke if they hung out longer than a couple of kids in their family.

“You’re fired. I can’t have you doing this to others who depend on their leap to be there for them, and you’re gouging them all the time.” He had him remove all the money from the drawer and count it. “There is fifty-eight thousand dollars here, you idiot. Why don’t you have it in a bank or something so that you can—Christ. You’re using this money as your own cash, aren’t you?”

“I have expenses, too, you know. I mean, I get paid from the accounts, but this is better for me all the way around. This way, I don’t have to use my own money for things that I can just get. You have no idea how much little things can catch up with you when you don’t have cash just lying around. I bet that I save myself fifty grand a week by just having cash around.”

“The only reason you have it around is because you’re stealing it from the members of your own leap.” He just smiled at him. “I was right in firing you. I should use you as an example of what happens to people who take advantage of people they’re supposed to be caring for. But I’m afraid it’ll get around to how you’re doing this, and others will think that they can do it.”

“Thank you.” Major growled and started putting money in a bank bag that was also in the drawer. He had to wonder if there was more money around that had been stolen but didn’t want to think about it. “To think that you want to brag on me and what I do around here makes me feel special.”

There was no help for it. He was going to have to kill the man so that word didn’t get around on what he’d been doing so that others were stealing from the very hand that paid them. As it was now, there were going to be people coming out of the woodwork on trying to figure out how things had gotten so out of hand like this had.

Having Franklin arrested was the least of his problems. He might well lose his own job from this. After spending nearly six hours going over the ledger—the man had kept good books as to where the money was coming from—he had a small accounting of what Franklin’s leap was owed. As it was now, he was going to have to spend weeks hunting down others who had been cheated and were no longer a part of this shadow. Christ, he was going to need help and decided to call up Archie Sheppard. The man would know just how to get things going to make this right.

After telling him what had happened, the man didn’t say anything for some time. He didn’t want to think that he might well have hung up on him. It would have been something he might have been tempted to do. Just as he was going to say his name, Archie spoke again.

“I’m thinking that this isn’t a single-month deal. I know that Belinda has been paying out the ass since moving here three years ago.” Major said he didn’t know how long it had been going on. “I see.”

“I don’t blame you for thinking that I should have been more up on things. I have been feeling that I’ve failed the people here myself. I’ve actually thought about stepping down from being king with this plot.” Archie asked him if he’d really do that. “I have been thinking on it hard, I must admit. What would you do had you been in my position? You’re a good man, Archie, and if you think that I should step down, then I will.”

“Someone else would just take over that would think it was all right with the way things have been going. No, you’re in a position to fix this, and that’s what needs to be done.” He didn’t care for his answer and told him so. “I don’t know what to tell you. Since I’ve been a leap leader, all you’ve done is tell me to fix this when you have your own mess to clean up after. No, I’m in no position to tell you what to do. I’m grateful that I don’t have anything going on here that might cause me to quit what I’m doing.”

Major had known that Archie was an honest man. He’d not thought that he’d be so honest with him. But he didn’t want to go get into who was to blame, so he decided to make things right. And he would. Not living up to someone’s expectations was a painful pill to swallow, especially when it came from such a good man as he knew Archie to be.

They spoke about giving the money back, and Archie explained to him that might not be the way to go. People would be coming to him for more money than he might have, and that wasn’t going to be helping anyone. So, for his help, it was decided to give the money back to Belinda because, without her help, it would never have come up. He was also going to use the money found for projects that poorer shadows might need help with, like new schools and better homes for the elderly.

After another hour of talking to the younger man, he had a better outlook on the way things were going. There was something so wonderful about having fresh eyes on things that he was glad now that he’d spoken to him. Archie was going to be taking his job when he retired or, for that matter fucked up again, and Major knew that he’d do a great job. Much better than he thought he’d done since taking over the position from his own father.

Major spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening going over books. They’d been right, or Archie had been in saying that this thing with Franklin had been an ongoing thing. As soon as he was ready to call it quits for the day, he’d found the account for Franklin that had several hundred thousand dollars in it, as well as the ledgers on where the money had come from.

Needing to have a good run, he decided that he was going to disband Franklin’s leap. There were only twenty-four people in the leap, six of which was Franklin’s family. Almost as soon as he made it known about the leap, he heard from four of the families asking to go to Archies. Giving them the permission to do so had him thinking that in the next few weeks, the same thing would be happening to the rest of the people. Good for them both was all he could think about.

Getting home that night, he told his mate what he’d found. He knew that she would not say anything to anyone about how he’d taken the advice of Archie but she did point out that Archie might well be better at his job than any other leader he had. She didn’t even cut him any slack when she said he’d be better than him about it as well. It hurt to his core, but she was right. There was a good chance that not only would Archie make a better king, but he’d be a better person for the job all the way around, too.

That night, when he went to bed, he felt the guilt of what had happened right under his nose. He should have paid more attention when people were complaining about Franklin and looked into it. Major knew that Archie would have. Looking out his window as he was closing his curtains, he decided that he was going to groom Archie for his position if it was the las thing he did. A better man needed to be in his place, and soon.

Getting up the next morning, Major was feeling better about his job. He’d not do the things that he’d thought of in the darkness of the night, but he would be a better king. Starting today, he was going to start visiting other leaps if for no reason than it was necessary for his own peace of mind. That alone made him feel like he was doing the right things, things that he should have been doing all along.

It took him until that evening to come to an understanding of himself. He had been lax in his job, and doing something about it made him feel better. Now that he had a plan, a good one, he thought, Major even felt better about his thoughts on the money. He’d use it for good. His ideas of using it for all leaps had him making notes even as he was readying himself for bed that evening. Yes, he thought to himself. He was going to be a king that Archie could be proud of.

~*~

Belinda was excited to have her money returned to her. She didn’t even mind that it was all in cash. It was easier to use but harder to explain. But use it, she did. The first thing she did was to put a downpayment on her own home. She’d been living in a small apartment since moving to the little town, and it was too much for her. Getting herself a little home with two bedrooms felt right. Also, she had enough of a yard that she would have herself a garden come spring. Something that she had missed since her family had been killed.

Walking home from work, she saw Danny, Sandy’s soon-to-be ex-husband, coming out of the local store with several bags of something. Standing in front of him when he stopped at a curb, she asked him what he was doing.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m buying myself a treat. I’ve been stuck in that crummy house for two days, and I need something to do.” She told him to get a job. “I will not. I have a wife who works, and that’s going to change soon enough, too. Sandy is going to have my baby soon, and we’ll be living in the high life with the money that we get from Rogen when she buys out our part in the business.”

“She is not going to have your baby. You’ve been told several times that you’re not her mate and she won’t have your baby.” He told her that was an old wives tale. “No, it’s the truth. As for the business, Rogen won’t have to buy her out because they’re partners, splitting everything down the middle. If Sandy leaves, then all the business will go to Rogen. It’s in their contract that they split everything down the middle, including costs and pay.”

“I’m getting me an attorney.” She told him good luck with that. “You’re always so mean to me. What did I ever do to you that has you hating me so much?”

“Several things come to mind. One of them being that you’re a lazy fuck. Where do you get off spending Sandy’s hard-earned money when she’s trying to make ends meet?” He told her his opinion on that. “So you set up a charge at the store in the name of the Sheppards? You can’t do that, you idiot. I’m going to take care of that right now.”

She saw Weston coming toward her and told him what was going on. Making Danny turn over the bags while standing there, she went with Weston to take the things back to the store. He made it known that the Sheppards weren’t going to be footing the cost for anything that wasn’t business-related for the Watsons nor, as it turned out, for the Martins either. Weston didn’t find it funny, but she did when Weston tried to explain to Danny about children as well. The man was a moron, just as she’d been told about him since he married Sandy.

“What do you say about firing Sandy so that the two of us can hang around here in the house while the others work?” Weston asked him why he’d do that. “Because I’m bored, and since you hired us to make some business in your town, the least you could do is pick up the tab while I’m here.”

“No.” She nearly burst out laughing when Weston told him no. The man was good at it, too. He never felt the need to explain why he didn’t want to do whatever it was, but just simply said he wasn’t going to do it no matter what he said. “Not that you’ll have any luck from now on but don’t be charging things to accounts your ass isn’t able to cover. And so you’re aware, if, for any reason, Sandy quits, she’ll be out of a house and income. I read over the contracts like you should have done. No work means no pay.”

Belinda met up with her family later that afternoon. Telling them what had happened about Danny had them all laughing, including Sandy. She felt sorry for her sister-in-law. Being in a loveless marriage was hard on people. As soon as she left to go back to her own home, her new home, Belinda began knitting her first blanket in a very long time.

By the time she was ready for bed, she’d gotten nearly fifty rows finished and a start on the pretty little baby’s blanket that she decided to do for Wrangler and his wife. While she didn’t know the sex of the baby, the first scents of her being with child had her wishing for her own family again.

Benson had been a good man and a great father. They’d met when she’d been barely a baby and him being ten years old. Knowing that they were mates their entire lives had made them not just husband and wife but best friends as well. When their first child had been born, Benny, she thought that the world was the best place a person could have been. Then Sarah had come along, and life was suddenly perfect for the four of them.

After five years, they decided to have another child. She’d been out with her own family, her parents dying not long after her own family for her father’s birthday. The kids who had been playing in their pool all evening were too exhausted to go with her so Benson had stayed home with them. He had thought to make things romantic for the two of them and had lit candles all over their bedroom that night.

She’d been gone all evening, having only to come home to a fully engulfed home and her family gone. It still, to this day, broke her to think about it. If only she’d made them come with her, they might well all be alive. When her phone rang, she nearly didn’t answer it.

“I can feel your pain.” Bursting into tears, she spoke to Rogen when she answered. Telling her that it wasn’t as bad as the first few months but that there were times when she just couldn’t function. Like tonight. “I’m so sorry you hurt. When I think about my big brother being gone, I can’t help but think about Benny or Sarah, either. I’m so sorry, honey.”

They talked for hours, and it wasn’t until Rogen told her that she was nearly to her house that she remembered that she’d been finishing the house they’d been working on before leaving there. The house was finished now, and all the things that went into building a new house were completed before they could leave. Rogen was going to be staying with her for the duration of the contract to help the other leap, and she couldn’t have been happier. At midnight, the two of them were crying in their popcorn, talking about all the things that had happened since the death of her brother and Belinda’s family.

“Once, when Benson was younger, before you two got married, he told me that he was going to have himself a bachelor pad and never come out of it to date anyone. Mom thought that he was insane and had that look on her face like she didn’t believe it either. Being the oldest, Benson had this weird code of conduct that the rest of us would laugh at all the time. He actually used to tell me that he was going to go on each of my dates to scare men away. Like I date all that much now.” She told her that she should be dating. “No thanks. In my line of work, I see all kinds of human couples and their stupid fights. It would just like the fates to give me a human mate so that he’d turn out to be just like Danny.”

“Danny was never the right person for Sandy. Even before they started dating, I could see what an ass he was.” Rogen said that she’d forgotten that she’d known the other man. “Yes. We were in some classes together in high school. Even then, he was forever trying to get out of work by being sly.”

“We all tried to warn her, but it’s going to work out fine in the end. He’ll be stupid enough that someone will have to kill his ass, then he’ll be gone.” She told her about the game system that he’d tried to charge to the Sheppard’s account. “You know, that doesn’t surprise me in the least bit. He would think that it was all right that he’d be able to do something like that.”

After a time, it was bedtime for her as she had to work in the morning. Rogen said that she had a meeting with Archie in the morning about some things that had come up in the local pack and was having her usual breakfast with Sandy, too.

“You should join us. It’ll be fun to have you around.” She said that Weston was going to be at the meeting too and that she needed to open the offices. “I forgot about you working again. I’m glad you are.”

She didn’t mention the extra money that she had that would have made it so that she’d not have to work so hard as she’d been asked not to do. But when Rogen hugged her, telling her that if she needed any extra money to let her know, she told her what was going on.

“That’s wonderful. I’ll take that off my list of things to talk to Archie about when I see him. I was going to be a bitch about it, so thanks for letting me know.” Belinda told her how she’d purchased the house with the extra income and was going to be saving a great deal of money by not having to pay for the extra fines. “They’re not going to be charging us for staying here either. Not to mention providing housing for us. I heard that Toby and Rachel are having a wonderful time while here with the kids.”

“Toby and Lenord are also helping with the construction training. I didn’t remember until then that you’d all been in the construction business that your parents left you guys.” Rogen told her that it had been in the family for a couple of generations before they’d taken it over. “Lenord said that he missed it but didn’t. He loved the physical part of it but didn’t care for being indoors all the time. I think that Toby loves being inside, but not the physical part. He’s more of a farmer who drives the tractor, though they both make it work for themselves. And a nice income as well.”

As she was getting ready for bed later, she thought about Weston and her family. He treated her well, and she wished they lived closer to her now. Weston and his family were so close that she couldn’t imagine thinking about one of them without the others. They were that tight of a family. She supposed it had a lot to do with their mother and grandfather, but she didn’t ask. She loved having enough of them around so as not to miss her own family at times.

Belinda usually didn’t sleep well in a new bed. But since she’d been living in her own home with her own things around her, she’d been sleeping better. Having Rogen in the house helped as well. She was someone that she could rely on, more so than her own brother and sister, and she would have gone to the ends of the earth for any of the Watsons. More so with Rogen.

Rogen was hard on people. She didn’t hold back on things when she needed to say them. That was something that she’d enjoyed…well, not enjoyed but valued about her after Benson had been killed. She’d been up in her face daily when she thought that she’d been feeling sorry for herself long enough. She’d been right in saying it, too. Belinda knew that the only reason that she was a functioning person was because of Rogen. And she’d never forget that.

When she got up the next morning, Rogen had left to go on a run. That was another thing that she’d forgotten about her was that when she wasn’t working, Rogen ran. It kept her in shape and satisfied her cat when she couldn’t get in a full day on the job.

By the time she’d gotten to the office and opened up, she had four messages for Weston and two for his brother. While Archie was setting up his own office, she suggested that he had his calls forwarded to her so that she could help him out. The man had been so grateful that he’d gotten her a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates as his way of saying thanks. She enjoyed it as it was teaching her some more about the cats that she worked with and had as family.

By noon, when she’d not heard from anyone, she closed up and made her way to the diner to get some lunch. She had been eating at her desk, but Weston had nipped that. He said that she needed downtime as much as anyone did and for her to leave in the middle of something if she had to just to eat. So that was what she was doing when Wills, son of Wrangler, joined her. He was such a wonderful little boy that she decided that he’d make a good companion for lunch.

“Dad gave me money. He said that since I’m working at the pack house that I need to be paid for lunch. I’m helping them pack up the main house so that it can be torn down for a better place.” He snapped his fingers. “Pack house. That’s what it’s called. They have all kinds of books in the place about their kind. I asked Uncle Archie, and he told me that he was still finding things in the leap house before they did the same and started on something new.”

They had an enjoyable lunch, and he walked her back to the mayor’s office. Weston was there but locked up in his offices, so she didn’t bother him. It wasn’t until Rogen came in that she found out that the meeting hadn’t gone as well as they had hoped because she was mated to Weston.

“You’re kidding.” She didn’t look any too pleased about being a mate any more than she’d been for paying double fines. “Weston is a great catch. You remember me telling you about him, don’t you?”

“He’s not happy either.” She didn’t understand that either, as she thought Weston was a great guy. “Yeah, to you. I’m going to have to uproot my entire life just because I’m mated to him. I just got things where I want them.”

“Did he say that to you? Tell you that you were going to have to do that?” It didn’t sound like him, so she was glad when Rogen told her that he’d not. “Good. You should talk to him before jumping to conclusions, Rogen. It’s not like you to do that either.”

Leaving at five o’clock, Weston still did not come out of his office. She thought that she’d give him one more day before she started pounding on his door. It wasn’t going to change things, the two of them being at odds, but she wasn’t going to allow either of them to not bask in the idea of being mates either. Idiots.