Page 3 of Weston (Sheppard’s Shadow #4)

“Where are you?” Weston told his brother that he was in his office. “I’ve heard that you’re not coming out. What is the big deal? So what, you’ve met your mate. Come out and enjoy her.”

“I’m not avoiding her.” Archie asked him what he was doing then. “I’m getting work done so that when she’s ready to leave, I can go with her. She and her family have a life that’s not here. I want to be able to leave here and this office in good shape so that things get done. You should see how much I’ve gotten done.”

He’d not gotten all that done if he was honest with himself. He’d find himself distracted by the smallest things. The sun shining, and he’d wonder if she was enjoying it. The phone ringing—which it did a great deal would have him sitting on pins and needles, wondering if she needed him.

Weston didn’t think that there would ever be a time when she needed him, but he could hope. She was the most capable woman he’d ever met. Asking his brother what he wanted, he saw that there were only two more files that needed his attention before he had to go out and find Belinda again to figure out what else he had to do.

After the first couple of days of him working nonstop in his office, she came in and yelled at him. She scolded him like a child about being immature about having a mate until he told her what he was doing. He could tell that she was pissed off at him, but thankfully, she was able to see what he’d been up to as well. Twenty-three projects were just waiting on approval for them to get started, and he’d have most of the school projects finished up—or at least started before he left for Tennessee for his new life. In the last three days, he’d been focusing all his energy on getting himself in a good place so that he’d be able to leave his family, too.

“Do you have time to go over the contracts for the school board that give you the okay to hire someone to come in and repaint all the walls?” He knew that the school needed a whole new overhaul, but without the funding right now, they had to work with what they had. “Also, I have the okay to purchase new computers for the library. Twenty of them to start and more as the money comes in.”

“Why are they going to the library and not the classrooms?” Weston explained to his brother about the internet not being in the classrooms as yet. “That sounds like a problem that needs to be taken care of first.”

“I agree, but without the funding, then it’s not going to happen. As it stands right now, if we were to tear out the walls to put in the internet in the school, then we’d run into more problems that would be more costly. With everything being tied up with the cash, then nothing is going to happen.” Archie started cursing. “I couldn’t agree more, but until the funds are released, if ever, there just isn’t enough money in the budget to even have the lots plowed this winter without going in the red.”

It wasn’t right that the money was there; it had been found in some offshore accounts from the time that Mayor Hathaway was in office, and they couldn’t use it. The feds were hoping that they’d get it back to their little town in the next five years. Five years was a long time to wait and see if you ever got the money that had been earmarked for so many different projects that hadn’t been done. It was like you could see at the end of the tunnel, yet there wasn’t any movement coming at the end of it.

After talking to his brother about other projects that were going on that needed money, he was disappointed when he told him that they’d have to figure out something so that the town could have some improvements. The only way he could see that was if more businesses were coming in to help out with employment or if they were to raise taxes again in a town that had been down on its luck for some time now. Even the sidewalks needed some improvements before someone was seriously hurt.

He was just headed to lunch when Rogen showed up. She looked pissed off, and he felt his cat curl around him a little tighter. She sat down—really, she flopped down in the chair across from him and asked him what the fuckery he was doing.

“Working. Same as you.” She told him the same thing that Belinda had. He was hiding out. He explained what he was doing much in the same way as he’d done his brother. That he was working so that he’d be ready to go when she was. “You’re not staying here, are you?”

“What do you mean? I’m not leaving until the training is done.” He told her that was all he was doing, and she looked confused. “I thought you’d order me to stay here with you as your family is here.”

“First of all, I’d never order you to do anything. This will work only if we work together, and I’m willing to do that. Secondly, your family isn’t here but there and I thought you’d want to be closer to them. I know that they’re all here now, but it couldn’t be much longer before you’re finished here and want to return home.” She nodded and stared at him. “I more than likely look like I’m hiding from you, but I’m trying my best to finish a job up, same as you would, so that I can go with you when you’re ready to leave. I will admit that I was hiding from you, but that’s only because I was trying my best not to piss you off by annoying you. You seemed to get annoyed easily of late.”

“I thought you were going to demand things of me that I didn’t want to do.” He asked her if she’d met the other women in his family. “I have, but they didn’t seem to have any family that they wanted to spend some time with, so they stayed. I’m sorry if it sounds like I was…well, I was being a bitch, but I didn’t understand why you were avoiding me.”

“As I said, I have been avoiding you on some level. I didn’t want to be a pest. But being holed up in this office is making it so that things can be finished up after I leave, which will benefit the town. I’m hoping to leave it in better shape than when I arrived.” She asked him about the position he was in as mayor. “I’m no longer thinking of running. I want to make a life wherever you are for as long as I can. And make you happy too.”

“I’m rarely happy anymore.” She went on to explain about Danny and her sister/partner. How he was making things difficult for everyone that was around, too. He told her about the gaming system that he had charged to the family. “See? Right there is why I can’t be happy. He’s already embarrassed us several times since we’ve been here, and it has nothing to do with him just being a lazy fuck but more with him being a fucking bastard. He’s hitting around my sister too. Twice since we’ve been here. Sandy isn’t going to be able to come back home with him if this keeps up. You’re going to find his body alongside of the road soon, and either myself or one of the other family members—including Belinda are going to end up in jail or, worse yet, prison because we’re going to knock him around until he’s dead.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. She grinned, too, and Weston fell a bit more in love with his beautiful little mate. Rogen was everything that he’d ever hoped for in a mate and more. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t slightly afraid of her, too. She was strong and smart, too.

Inviting her to have lunch with them, he and Belinda had lunch daily to go over messages and files that she was working on with him, Rogen agreed. It wasn’t until they were eating that he realized that she had been eating at the same sub place he had daily. They even ate the same kind of double meat sub and enjoyed it with pretzels, not chips.

The rest of the day had him still locked up in his office, but he was getting more done now that he wasn’t trying to hide away. He still did, but not so much from his mate and family. By the time it was five o’clock, he was ready to go home. It was hard work knowing that a lot of the town depended on him to get things finished up even though there was no money to be had. Not even to pay his salary.

He was shocked to see a moving van in front of his house. There was a man sitting on the front porch that looked familiar. In addition to the moving van, there were several pieces of luggage there as well. He asked the man who he was and what he was doing.

“You got my father kicked out of his job.” He asked him who that would be. “My dad was the mayor, and you got him fired. I don’t enjoy the life that is going on with them now, so I’ve come here to live with you. You’ll have to give me a key. Sitting out here in the sun isn’t any way that you should be treating me.”

“What do you mean, I need to give you a key? To what?” He told him a key to his house and then called him stupid for not getting that. “I’m not going to give you a key to my house. You don’t live here.”

“Not yet, thanks to you locking me out. I’ll expect you to give me the best rooms, it’s the least you can do for making me wait all this time. And I’ll need for you to put it out there that you’re responsible for my well-being. A credit card would be nice, but if you just tell all the merchants around town that you’re going to be footing my bills, it’ll be the same thing.” He asked his name. “Yes, you would need that for the line of credit you’re going to be giving me. Hank Hathaway. And don’t be putting a limit on things for me. I’ve gotten used to the finer things in life, and I’m not going to be giving that up because you took my dad’s job. There will be a few in Columbus as well, but we’ll get to those.” He eyed him. “Well? Aren’t you going to be opening the door anytime soon?”

“Not for you. I don’t understand what’s going on here. You think that you’re going to be moving into my home and charging up credit in my name around town? That’s not going to happen. Nor are you moving in with me.” Hank told him that he’d have to, as he had nowhere else to go. “Like I care. You’re not going to get anything from me. I took over the job because your father was a liar and a cheat.”

“Yes, well, I don’t know about all that. I do know that you’re responsible for his losing his job and thus my income, so you’re going to take over for him until such a time as my dad has his job back. Until then, I’m sure you can understand that you need to make sure that I’m cared for in the manner I’m accustomed to so that I don’t lose out on the finer things of life. It’s the least you can do for what you’ve done to me.”

“No, the least I can do is have you arrested for trespassing. You’re not moving in here.” Hank stared at him as if he wasn’t understanding why he wasn’t doing what he wanted. “Is this moving van yours? Get it off my property, too.”

“The moving van is for you. You have to move out so that I can move in. Listen, I don’t understand why you’re having so much trouble with this. You got my income cut off by having my father fired, and because of that, you have to step up and take care of me. I’ll require a staff too. This is a big house, and I can’t be responsible for cooking and cleaning up after myself.” He sat down on the bench that the faeries had put in for him to use. “I’m calling the police. This is just stupid on your part to think that I’m going to have anything to do with your living arrangements.” Before he could get the first number dialed, his phone was knocked from his hand and flew across the yard. He asked him what he was doing.

“You’re starting to piss me off. I’ve explained this to you several times, and that’s just the way things are going to go. You’ll move your things out of this house and allow me to live in here at no cost. You owe me.” He told him that he didn’t owe him anything. “Now listen here. I’ve been nice until now, and if you don’t open that door and start moving your things out of my way, I’m going to really get angry, and you’ll not like that. This is what is going to happen, so you might as well get on board with it from the start, and things will go easier for you.”

“I have a problem here. And I need someone to call the police.” After reaching out to his family and explaining what was going on, it was Jameson that said he’d call the police, and since he was nearly to his house, he’d be there for him . “He’s saying that since I got his father fired that I need to take over his care. The man has to be at least forty years old, well old enough for him to be on his own by now. There is something really wrong with this man.”

“The police are on their way, and I’m coming up from behind the house. Christ, Weston, this is a beautiful home. I might have the faeries make mine just like this one.” It was a distraction, something that he only just realized that Jameson was really good at when things were tense. “I see the moving van. I’m going to have them leave, at least for now, and see what I can do about getting them to pick up his shit.”

“What the hell is he doing?” Weston didn’t know what Jameson was doing either, but not only did he get the moving people to gather up the luggage on the front step, but they left without saying a word to him or Hank. The man was really pissed off now. “I suppose you think this is going to get you some kind of out about me moving in. Well, it’s just as well that I don’t have any furniture. Now I’ll have to take yours. See what you’ve done? Now you have no house, nor do you have anything to put in it.”

“Mr. Hathaway, did you know that there is a warrant out for your arrest? The police are on their way as well.” Hank asked Jameson why he was being arrested. “Your part in the missing money from the office of Mayor of Dresden. Some of the dealings that I’ve been able to unearth have your name on them.”

“No, that would be my father. Weston here is going to be taking care of things for me. He’ll pay whatever fines there are, too. Is he going to be living with you now that you’ve sent away his moving van?” Jameson didn’t answer but looked at the police when they pulled into his drive. “Good. With them here, I can get this all settled up. I need to get out of the heat here, so their timing couldn’t be better.” He stood up when the first officer came to the porch. “Weston is going to be vacating this house for me. I don’t know why you’re here, but if you could see your way into getting my things back, I’ll not bother you again. Any other things that come up, you can have Weston here take care of them.”

“Hank, I’m here to arrest you for trespassing. The Feds are on their way to have a talk with you as well.” He again referred them to him to untangle any messes that had come up. “Mr. Sheppard is the acting mayor, not your landlord. You’ll come along nicely here, or we’ll have to put you in cuffs and take you the hard way.”

“You just aren’t getting it. He’s responsible for my welfare from now on. Especially since he’s made sure that my parents are unable to collect from the money they had in the banks.” Jameson explained that the money was stolen. “That’s just what I’ve been saying. The money was stolen from them, and now I’m coming here to live in this house since it was Weston who made sure that they were caught. You see? This is nothing that the police need to be involved in. I need to be taken care of, and it’s his responsibility to do so.”

“No.” Weston was getting sick of this and told the man that. “You’re not moving into my house. I’m not going to be taking care of you, nor are you going to have a line of credit around town so that you can live in a lifestyle that got your parents into this in the first place.” As Hank was being taken away, still telling Weston that he was going to regret this, Rogen and her family showed up.

For a few minutes there, it looked like she was going to knock the shit out of Hank, but in the end, all she managed to do was laugh in Hank’s face when he started telling her the same story that he’d been telling him. That he was responsible for him from now on.

~*~

The house was lovelier than she thought it would be. However, after meeting the little people, she understood why the house was changing. It was to suit her. And even though she wasn’t sure they should be accommodating her in this, she did enjoy seeing all her dreams in a house come to fruition. It was, simply said, the most beautiful house she’d ever had the pleasure of being inside of.

They toured the upper levels first. The very fact that it had five bedrooms on the second floor made her realize how much she wanted to settle down and have children. It hadn’t occurred to her before today how much she wanted a child of her own. And with Weston.

“There is a butler’s house on the land. One of the faeries had heard about having one and decided to put one on the land. I have to admit, it’s beautiful too, and the gardens around it make me want to eat at home every night just to see what sort of herbs they use on my food.” Weston showed her the pantry. “My brother has one too. It came with his home. It’s nothing that I would have put in if asked. Are you seeing a lot of homes with them put in nowadays?”

“Quite a few. But they’re using it more as overflow from the kitchen cabinets than things stored for larger parties. The last house that Sandy and I built had two of them put in. One in the kitchen then one in the laundry room for dry goods. I don’t know what she was actually going to use it for, but that was what she wanted.” He then asked about laundry rooms. “We’ve put in three in the last few houses. One for the upper floor and then the main floor for the kitchen. Also, one in the garage so that soiled things can be taken care of out there so as not to bring nasty stuff into the house. I have one in the garage where I live, too.”

“I can see the need for that. Also, being a shifter, it would be nice to have one out there for things to put on if you were coming home from a good long run.” She said that she has a shower for that as well. “Good. Yes, I like that. Do you get to do a lot of long runs as your cat at home?”

“Not nearly as much as I would like. I don’t have the land like you guys do here. In fact, last night, I went on a run with my brothers just to chill out. Toby and his family are going to be hard-pressed to leave here when the time comes. He told me that having all this area is great for his kids, too. I know that his wife, Elizabeth, is enjoying having all the extras around. She loves that she can walk to any place that she needs to go and not have to worry about getting the kids out, too. She’s a great mom. I don’t know how she does it, what with working full time and taking care of the house and kids.”

“I don’t have a good role model for that.” He told her how his mother pitted him and his brothers against one another all the time and had set out to kill off their mates so that they’d not make her a grandmother. “Our grandda was just as bad at beating us when we didn’t do what she wanted us to do. There are some people in town who think that we’ve done her memory wrong by not being better boys. I don’t let them bother me all that much.”

By the time they were in the master suite, four rooms just for the master and his mistress of the house, she was about as sappy in love with Weston as she could have been. At one point, she held his hand as they toured the backyard, and she thought that the two of them could make a good family by just being able to hang out with each other. She knew that she wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. Right here in this house.

“I love this place. Its being finished has a lot to do with that. Knowing that I’m not going to have to go home and do something about a wall or a door is nice, too.” Weston told her how the faeries were very good at keeping things repaired. “I have to admit having a year-round garden, even though I have no desire to work in one is nice as well. You told me that they made sure you have fresh vegetables and fruits, too, right?”

“We do. I have a cook now. Mae. She’d part faerie and brownie. Brownies tend to be slightly larger than faeries, and it makes it nice that she can organize the magic around the house, too.” Weston told her about the walk-in closets and how, when he first got to the house, they were as big as a bedroom. “You have to be careful when you explain to them what it is you want with magic. They tend to think that bigger is better. I do wonder if it’s because they’re so small, but who knows. You should have seen the barn that Archie wanted put up on the leap land. It was twice the size of the house here. They thought that all the leap was going to live in it and wanted to make it as comfortable as they could for so many. He’s since then had them pare it down, but it was funny for a while there.”

“Archie did a great job with Belinda getting her money back. We all have taken care of her since our brother was killed. I don’t know that she needs us to do that. She’s showing us that she likes to take care of herself pretty well.” He pointed out that she took good care of him as well. “I heard about the playground equipment men. She had a lot of fun helping you out, she told me.”

“I was never really afraid about them. Just getting hurt, but—I forgot to tell you now that we’re mates, you’re an immortal as well. We can extend that to your family, too, if you’d like. Sunny, she’s the daughter of the mother of earth and has somewhat adopted us into her family. Anyway, we can make sure that everyone in your family is safe as well.” She didn’t know how she felt about being around for a long time and told him that. “I’m sure if you didn’t want it, Sunny or her mom could work something out.”

“No. I don’t want to…I need my family around me as much as I think you do. They’re my life and my heart.” Weston said that he could understand that, being that he needed his brothers around him as well. “But you said you’d move away with me if that was what I wanted? Do you still believe that?”

“I’ll go where you go. I want you to be as happy as I can make you.” She told him that he was to have some say over where they lived as well. “I hope you wanted that, but as I said before, I want you to be happy, and if that means moving away, then I’m all for it just to be with you.”

They didn’t talk all that much more about leaving after that. She wanted him to be happy as well, and if that meant she left her family for him, then so be it. It startled her that after such a short time with him, she was as willing to give things up as he’d been. It scared her just a little to know that the two of them were so suited, too.

“Rogen? Is that your brother-in-law with those kids?” She had to pull herself from her thoughts when he touched his hand to her shoulder. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it looks to me like he’s trying to get them to do something that they’re not comfortable with. Do you suppose he’s trying to get them into trouble?”

“More than likely.” She started toward Danny and the half a dozen kids who were trying their best to back away from him. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” She told Danny that it didn’t look like nothing to her and that the kids looked a little scared. “Oh, them. I was trying to get up a pick-up game, that’s all. They’re going to be hanging out with me while I’m around town. I got nothing better to do.”

“There is plenty that you can do, but you refuse to do it. I spoke with Sandy, and she’s going to have you go back home until we’re finished here. You’re causing us too much trouble not having a sitter all the time.” She kept an eye on Weston as the kids disbursed quickly. “What were you going to do with a bunch of kids half your age? Stay away from people, Danny, or so help me, they’ll be sending you home in a box. If there is enough of you left to send home.”

“You’re forever taking me out of my comfort zone.” He looked at Weston. “I surely hope that the two of you aren’t hooking up. She’s a real cunt when it comes to having fun. Or anyone around her having fun too.”

“Is that so? I like her kind of fun if it means knocking you around a bit.” Weston seemed to grow, and she could see his cat as he ran along his skin. “You talk about my mate like that again, and she won’t have a chance to send you home in a box, I’ll take care that you’re never found around here again. You can count on that.”

“I’m only going to ask you once more what you were doing with those kids? Then I’m going to rape your mind to find it.” She didn’t think that he was going to answer, but when he did, putting just a little compulsion in her voice, she was about as shocked as she’d ever been. “You were going to have them cause an accident at the leap house to kill my sister? Why?”

When Archie suddenly showed up, Danny was put into cuffs and hauled away. She was still reeling about what he’d said about having Sandy killed off when Weston pulled her into his arms. He really wanted her dead? Wanted to kill someone because they weren’t allowing him to have all the spending money he wanted? What sort of person did that kind of thing?