Darin: The Pride of the Double Deuce - Erotic Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (10 page)

He held the young man while he cried. Darin wanted to sob too. He owed this kid everything for his quick thinking and actions. There was no doubt that he’d saved her for them, for all of them.

“We love her as well. And her mom is right. She’s our little girl. But she’s going to be living with us, Patrick. In my home, where my brothers and I are going to hold her. Her grandda too. There are a lot of people that are going to hug her simply because of what we are, and we love her. Are we going to have a problem with that?” Patrick looked at Bonnie in the other room, then at him again. “You’re going to have to tell me now, Patrick. I won’t have you jumping me every time I try to hug my daughter.”

“My wolf is calm with that. He knows that you’re stronger than us. He also knows that she’s a child, your child. All he wants to do is make sure that she’s well and safe.” Darin told him he’d make sure of that as well. “I know you will. I know that. I don’t know about later, when she’s mine. That’s a long way off. So maybe by then he’ll be okay with it too.”

Darin had no idea and said that to him. He’d never known anyone that had found their mate at such a young age. His parents had, but he’d been so young when they’d died that he’d never got to talk to them about it. He wasn’t even sure what he might have said.

Mercedes sat with Bonnie the rest of the day. No one mentioned Patrick and his claim on her, and Darin spoke off and on throughout the day to first Paddy, then Julia. Julia had the most information for him, some of it scary. When the rest of his family showed up, they were made as welcome as he’d been.

“What happens to her now?” Jace had asked him, but he just looked at Julia. He didn’t have any idea but was glad that someone had brought it up.

Aunt Georgie and the other women had gone to sit with Bonnie and Mercedes, but he and his brothers, along with Miles—Bonnie’s grandda—were out on the front porch talking to Julia. Darin wanted to go be with her as well, but he was sure when Bonnie was better, there were going to be things asked and he wanted to make sure he had at least a few of the answers.

“She’ll grow up. Mature like before she’d been converted. There will be a few differences. She’ll be healthier than humans will be. No childhood disease, as I said to Mercedes. She’ll be stronger too.” Darin asked Julia about her wolf. “She’ll be able to shift, like one of us. I’m not sure if she’ll have to wait until she’s older, but I don’t think she will. I’d like for her to wait awhile before she tries. She lost a great deal of blood, and I think she’ll be a tad on the weaker side. Being that she was changed by an alpha of the pack, she’ll also have powers that others in the pack won’t.”

Mason asked about her relationship to Patrick. “He claimed her when he changed her. No other wolf male will touch her. If they do, then they know that it will be certain death. And she’ll have us, the entire pack, at her call. Julia and I will treat her as our own when she’s here, and she’ll be able to call to us, much like you can your aunt when you need her.” Paddy handed him a book. The wolf on the cover gave him an idea what the book was going to be about. “You give that to her when she’s ready. And you and Mercedes should read it as well. It will give you a better understanding of what she’s going to face. Nothing so traumatic as her conversation was, but there will be challenges.”

“And the relationship between her and Patrick? What happens with that? I’m assuming that he’ll wait until she’s old enough to know better.” Paddy nodded and smiled at him. “Mercedes is terrified, and if you want to know the truth, so am I. Not that he’ll hurt her, but that...well, they’re both just kids.”

“They are. And I’ve only known of one other childhood mating, and that was long ago. They grew up together, my parents did. My dad never left her side, and she and him were the greatest of friends long before they came together as man and wife.” Paddy handed him two framed pictures. “That one was when they were younger. I guess my dad was about eight, my mom a few years older at twelve. Patrick is only a couple of years older than Bonnie at twelve himself. The other picture is of them after they were wed. My mother was just shy of her twenty-fourth birthday, my dad twenty. Even knowing that they were mates, they never acted on anything sexual until they were both ready. Mom always said it was like she knew that he was hers and that he would be for the rest of her days, and they saw no reason to rush things. I think they had the most dedicated and loving marriage of anyone I ever knew or have known since. I have a feeling that those two will have the same kind of love for each other. And she’s a wolf now, so her wolf will take care that she’s all right too.”

When they were called to supper, neither Mercedes nor Patrick left Bonnie. Darin made a tray for them both and took it to them. After a bit of encouragement, they both ate a little, and he was glad to see that someone had given Mercedes the book. She was reading it when he came to take the trays away sometime later.

At midnight Patrick left to go on a run with his dad then shower after. Darin sat where he’d been sitting. Darin wished he could do more for them both, but knew at this point, it was out of his hands. Mercedes spoke in a low voice as she held onto Bonnie’s hand.

“Nash is going to pay for this. I want to go and find him now, but I know that he’d only kill me.” Darin said nothing but watched her carefully. She was so upset, and he was worried for her. “He actually tried to have his own daughter killed.”

“Patrick said that he was going to take her, this man Rocky. He said that it wasn’t until he attacked him to get Bonnie away from him that she was shot. Patrick thinks that his plan was to take Bonnie and then try to get you to come to him.” Mercedes asked him how he might have known that. “When he bit the man to...to get him away from Bonnie, he could see his thoughts. Yes, your ex did send him there to get Bonnie, but he was only to take her, not kill her. Nash was going to kill her in front of you to bring you to heel.”

“What happens now, Darin? Do the police arrest him for this? Does he go back to prison so that he can manipulate my life from long distance? He has before. Nash won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”

Darin had spoken to Mason, and they all agreed that Nash was a walking dead man. He just might not know it as yet. “The police can’t be called.” She asked him why not. “Because Rocky was killed by a wolf. And if even one person gets wind of that, every human that owns a gun will be hunting for them. Not just the wild ones either, but all of them. We deal with Nash our way.”

“And what does that mean? You hunt him down? Tear him apart so that.... I want him to pay for this, Darin. Our little girl could have died.” He had nearly missed the rest of what she’d said, his mind focusing on the word “our.” “I will hunt him down myself if you think I’m going to just let this go.”

“We won’t. I swear to you that we won’t.” She stared at him. “Zach is looking for where he might be staying. We know that he’s close. The car that Rocky was in had local plates on it. Once we find him, then we’ll bring him out in the open and take care of him, pack style. He’ll never leave the area alive. This I can promise you.”

“You’re going to kill him.” Darin nodded and told her he was. “Why can’t you do it now? Why are you waiting to bring him here?”

“He’s a human with humans around him. A pack of wolves and cougars that attack him will be noticed. As much as I don’t care about the man, I do about my family. Also, you should know that Emma is looking into a few things, as well as Holly. Susie too. She is...well, you don’t want to know what she’s doing right now.”

“I do want to know.” Darin told her what he knew. “You mean she’s picking over his dead body and looking into his past? How is that...? This is sort of what she does with the horses, isn’t it? She can read their minds and thoughts. But he’s dead. His mind is sort of...well, I would think it’s sort of lost to her.”

“I don’t know really how she does it. And, honey, there are no body parts left of Rocky. Not much anyway. The pack took care that no one would ever find anything about him here.” He watched her face and knew when she got it. “Right. They have destroyed all traces of his death, and not one of them will say a word about it. Bonnie is in their pack now, and they protect what they consider their own.”

“You keep telling me that. All I can see is that they failed her when she needed them most.” He didn’t comment. She was distraught, and he knew that she was lashing out. When she spoke again, he could tell that she was sorry, but he also knew this was hard on her. “I wasn’t fair. This was no one’s fault but Nash’s, and I didn’t mean to say that. Patrick saved her life.”

“He did.” As they sat there, he told her what he’d found out about what had happened. Most of it she’d been told already, but he knew that she’d not heard much of it. As he got to the part where they’d changed her, she got up and went to the window and looked out.

“Mr. Rose was out at the ranch today. He was looking over the two foals that had been born while he’d been here.”

Darin said that he’d talked to him as well and decided that if she wanted to change the subject, he would help her. “Susie said that he put in an order for a dozen more horses. One of them is the foal, I guess.” She nodded. “Jessie told me I should have seen Mr. Rose’s face when he got back from the ranch. He’d never seen a man so happy before. And I swear I think he did a little dance as he was telling me on the phone about you bringing him into the world.”

“The man must be made of money. He tried to tip me for being there to help the ranches. He handed me a thousand dollars like it was nothing to him.” Darin didn’t point out that it more than likely wasn’t all that much to him. “Mason gave me my first check today. It’s more than I made in a year as a vet at the clinic.”

“They want to make sure you stay here. You want to, don’t you?” She looked at him, and he had to laugh at the expression on her face. “I’m just making sure.”

“I don’t want to leave here. I love this place and all the people in it.” He asked her to come to sit with him. “Just let me finish this, okay? I want to stay here. I do, but I’d like some...there are a few things that I’d like to have first. Not in any sort of order, but just a few things. First of all, I want you to change me into a cat. I know that’s a big order, but that’s what I want.”

“All right. I was going to talk to you about it anyway. You should talk to Emma about it, and Holly. Susie was born a cat so she can tell you some things about the conversion, but not like the others can.” She nodded. “What else?”

“I want children. With you. And I’ll have to talk to her about it, but I want you to adopt Bonnie. If you want to. I know that she’s another man’s child, but I don’t want her to think that, even for a minute, when we have children of our own.” Darin didn’t get the chance to say anything before she continued. “Also, I know that everyone has been calling me Douglas, and as much as I love that name, I want you to make it legal if you don’t mind. Holly said that her and Mason were married at the court house. That’ll be fine by me. But I need...I really need to distance myself from the Crosby name. Also, my dad. I know that he has it in his head that him living with us is sort of temporary, but I’d like to make him as welcome in your home as we can.”

Darin stood up. “It’s your home too. And Bonnie’s. And if you want the entire neighborhood to come and live with us, then I’m happy if you are. I’m not so sure about Fox, but I have a feeling that he’d be content as well with the extra people to cook for.” He moved toward her, watching her as he thought of all the things she wanted. “I’d love to adopt Bonnie. I wish I had thought of it before now. But no matter if I do or don’t, she is my daughter as much as any that you and I have. I shall never treat her any differently than children of my body, and none of my family will either. She’s family. Children. I was thinking a dozen or so more if you’re up to the challenge.”

“Dozen? No, I don’t think so.” She grinned at him when he pulled her into his arms. “I was thinking at least half that many more. But I want them as a cougar. I want to give them as much of a head start in life as we can give them, and them being cats will help them. Oh Darin, I’m so glad that you came into our lives.”

“I am as well, love. Every day I have with you is like a slice of heaven here on earth. I love you so very much.” He held her, even after he sat down. Darin watched Bonnie rest and knew that they’d all be better now. Because Nash was going to die.

Chapter 10

“Rocky Bends? I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of that name before. You say that he gave you this address as his own?” Nash held onto the door tightly. The urge to pull his gun and shoot the officer in front of him was overwhelming. But he knew that someone somewhere knew that he was here, and it would only be a matter of time before he was converged upon. “I’m sorry I can’t help you with that. Poor guy must be off his head a little, huh?”

Nash wanted to ask about Rocky. It had been three days since he’d called him to tell him that he was bringing the brat to him. He even sent him a picture of her, just to show him the prize was he was getting. Then nothing.

No phone calls, no visits. Up until this police officer had shown up, he’d thought the man had taken the kid off somewhere and was doing his best to her. Nash had been angry when he’d opened the door to the house, thinking it was going to be Rocky telling him how he’d fucked up and already killed her. The man had a need for killing like everyone else did for breathing.

“We’re just checking out as much information as we can right now.” Nothing. No information and nothing to go on. “You hear from this man, you’ll let us know.”

“Sure. I’ll do that.” As he started to close the door, the man turned back to him. It scared Nash a little how the man seemed to be looking for some clue on his body. And when he inhaled deeply, Nash had the frightening urge to run. Like the man was smelling him for some reason, and that Nash was going to be hurt by it. “You need anything else?”

“Nope. I think I’ve got it all. You have a nice day, Mr. Crosby.” It wasn’t until the man was gone and the door locked behind him that Nash realized what he’d called him. Not Donaldson, like was on the mail box out front, but his real name.

“Mother fuck.” Nash started for the bedroom to pack. He was going to have to go and regroup and find another way to get to Mer. But as soon as he was across the hallway and about five feet from the stairs, he saw the big cougar. Stilling, not even lowering his foot to the floor, he watched him. Nash knew that if he reached for his gun, he was as good as dead. The man walking up behind the cat made his balls feel like they moved up around his throat.

“Hello, Nash. I’ve come to talk to you. Not that I think it will do any good. So I’m not going to stand here and tell you what I want you to do. Both of us know that you’re going to go ahead and force my hand so that I end up killing you.” Nash asked him if he was going to sic the cat on him. “No. When you’re killed, and you will be, it will be by my hand and not my brother’s.”

“Brother?” Nash pointed to the cat and froze again when he growled at him. “You say that you’re related to a cougar? How the fuck does that even come into play?”

“Does it matter?” Nash supposed that it really didn’t. “My name is Darin Douglas, by the way. This is Mason. He’s here...well, he didn’t want me to come alone, and this way if you get stupider, he can take care of you. I’d like to do it, but I’m thinking he’ll be faster and I’d be shit out of luck.”

“So you and your brother the cat are here for what reason? I’m assuming you think you can get something from me. I can tell you right now that I’m not going to give you shit. No matter how many animals you bring here.” Darin looked to his right, and Nash nearly whimpered. There just in the doorway to the dining room was a giant fucking brown bear. He was laying on the floor like he was ready for a nap, but he looked like he was anything but relaxed. Then Darin said his name and pointed to the other doorway, the one that went to the library. He watched as a wolf, this one bigger than any dog he’d ever seen, sat down. “The bear is my assistant, Jessie Edwards. The wolf is Paddy Sexton, the local alpha. And like I said, this is Mason, my brother.”

Tricks with mirrors. Nash wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but that had to be it. Mirrors. When he took a step toward the wolf, the thing stood up, his hair standing on end, and swiped at him. The cut in his leg had Nash revising his opinion of how they were in the house and plastering himself against the door behind him.

“What the fuck are you doing with wild animals in my house? Are you fucking insane? They’ll hurt someone.” Darin laughed, and Nash started to reach for his gun. Almost as soon as he thought about it, there was a breath of air around him and a man standing by Darin with Nash’s gun in his hands.

“This would be my friend Monroe. He’s a vampire. And you might want to ask yourself how much you’ve pissed him off by requiring that he come out during the day to disarm you.”

Nash watched them. He wasn’t sure what scared him more: the fact that this Darin had control over some pretty scary animals or that he was telling him that a vampire was in his— Something occurred to him, and it made Nash smile.

“He’s not a fucking vampire. I know because he can’t be here. I didn’t fucking invite him in. I know my lore. I have to ask him to come in before he can be inside.” Nash was pretty proud of himself. And if he was right, then all of this was bullshit.

The man was suddenly standing in front of him, his hand around his throat. And when he lifted him one-handed off the floor, Nash felt his bladder let go.

“This is not your home, and the owner is dead. I may come and go as I please. And you will find out that I do pretty much as I please all the time.”

It wasn’t that the man was holding him a good foot off the floor that had him terrified. No, it was the teeth, the long fangs that seemed to look sharper the longer he held him there.

When he was back on his feet, Monroe stared at him, then stepped back. Nash had a horrific feeling that the man knew everything there was to know about him. When he looked down at the piss-stained carpet, Nash felt like running to a corner and hiding in it. He wanted to suck his thumb too. Sit in a corner and suck his thumb like he’d done as a child. Darin laughed when the vampire backed away from him.

“I’ve come to tell you—well, warn you—away from my wife. I know that you’re not going to do as you’re told, but I’ve come here in hopes that I won’t have to kill you. And make no doubt, I will kill you should you touch her or my daughter.” Nash started to ask him what the fuck he was talking about when the man snapped his fingers like he’d forgotten something. “Oh. My wife is Mercedes Douglas. You remember her. She divorced you some years ago. My daughter is Bonnie Crosby, soon to be Douglas too. You’re to stay away from them.”

“Mer? You think Mer is your wife?” Nash laughed when the man nodded. “You came all the way here to warn me off my own wife, and now you try and tell me that you’re married to her? You’re out of your mind. Mer is mine until I say differently. And I haven’t. Nor will I let her go to marry anyone else. She’s going to be my wife until death do her part.”

“Why do you think that you still have this hold over her? Or for that matter, why I should give a shit that you think you do? I really would like for you to tell me why you’ve jumped your parole and come all the way here to get your ass handed to you. She no longer belongs to you. She is not your wife. And you will not harm her again.” There was a tone there, one that said you’re just too stupid to understand so let me say it slowly for you. But Nash only laughed at the man. “I have warned you, I want you to remember that.”

“Yes you have. And fat lot of good it’s going to do you. And that brat, Bonnie? You can’t have her either. She’s my kid.” He’d forgotten that she had that stupid name. It was why he’d called her brat all the time. “You get your little farm animals all gathered up and get out of here. I have a man on that right now.”

Darin nodded to Monroe, and he moved so quickly that it nearly made him sick to his stomach. But when a Baggie was handed to him, Nash took it without thinking. He asked what was in the bag as he started to open it.

“Your man, Rocky, if that’s who you had on it. Or what’s left of him that we could find.” The bloodied pieces of meat made his belly jump again. He could see bits of hair, a wallet that was torn to shreds. There was a finger, too, with a ring on it…the one that he knew Rocky wore on his pinky finger of his left hand. “I had to look for ten minutes for that much of him. The wolf pack was terribly upset when Rocky there tried to kill one of their mates. But I did think you’d need proof that he was dead.”

Nash looked at the wolf, and he yawned. It was not like a person would have done, but he’d shown all of his teeth. They were sharp and dark, like they were stained with things that Nash didn’t want to think about. And when he’d stretched, his long claws biting into the wood floor, it was all Nash could do not to piss himself again.

He had to get them out of here. Nash needed to regroup, to plan. He wasn’t worried that they’d keep him from his wife, but they were here now, with animals, and he needed to think. Nash wasn’t going to walk away from this, not for any reason. Not when he was so close to getting what he wanted.

“You expect me to believe that this is Rocky? You think that I’m just gonna say to you, oh yeah, how right of you. I’ll take the next train out. Fuck you.” He tossed the bag at the man and wasn’t surprised when everything fell out and stained the floor along with his own piss. “You think you can just come in here, tell me a farfetched story, and I’m going to run with my ass covered? You don’t know me very well if you think that. Get out of my house. And take this zoo with you. And you can tell that wife of mine that I’m going to expect her to be back home by tomorrow. This shit is going to get her hurt.”

The man was gone. Just simply gone, and in his place was a cougar. Not as big as the one that had lain at his feet, but scarier. In his effort to get away from the big cat, Nash fell on the floor in his own piss. Turning over to fend for himself, he felt the big claws bite deeply into his chest, as if the man was going to tear his heart out with his bare claws. Monroe knelt down on his knees and laughed.

“You have really pissed this one off, in the event that you didn’t realize that.” Nash told him to get him off him. “I don’t think so. I think my friend Darin here has a few words to say to you. I would have simply killed you, but then he’s a man who thinks there are good humans in the world, while I do not. I would like to think he’s going to get through to you, but I know that you’re stupid.”

“Get the fuck off of me.” Nash put his hands on the cat’s face to force him off and was bitten. The cat didn’t let him go either, but held his hand in his mouth like he was going to take it off. “Tell him to get out of here now and I won’t hunt him down and kill him.”

“If you honestly think that he’s going to do that, then you are much stupider than we all thought. Anyway, he’ll smell you coming now. And I’ll be around to warn him should you sneak by the others. Now, listen up, he’s speaking to me.” When Monroe paused, Nash thought of all the ways that he was going to hurt these men. “He said to tell you that now that he has a connection to you, a blood one, he can read your mind. Darin wanted me to tell you that if you think you’re going to even get to do half that shit in your head, then you aren’t listening to him. Or me for that matter.”

“I’m going to kill you all.” Monroe nodded and looked at the cat again. “What is he saying now? No doubt something profound that is going to leave me quaking in my boots.”

Nash was free. The cat was off him. The vampire or whatever he was had moved as well. Nash sat up and looked around the room, and realized that not only had the other cougar left, but the bear had as well. The wolf and the cat were the only animals left besides the vampire.

“Darin said to tell you that if you don’t back off and leave town, not only will he enjoy killing you, but he’ll make sure you suffer as much as you made his wife.” Nash snorted. This shit was getting old. “Do you have a death wish? Do you have any idea what a shifter does when someone harms their family? If I were you, I’d run until—”

“Yeah, well, you’re not me and I don’t scare easily.” Monroe only looked down at his stained pants, and Nash stood up. “I have some kidney issues. So what? I had an accident. It’ll be the last time you see me like this.”

“No doubt. But for some reason I don’t think we have the same ideas about how that will come into play.” The cat stood up and moved to the door and out of his house, the wolf right behind him. Nash asked Monroe if they were done. “For now. I would like to tell you that I hope you have your affairs in order. Also to tell you a few things that you may or may not be aware of just yet. The houses that you owned are no longer yours to call home. Poor Rocky won’t be getting them either. I don’t believe he has any use for them now. Oh, and the offshore money too. I do hope that you didn’t have any plans for that money. It’s going for a very good cause. Bonnie will need a bit of money to go to college someday if she wants. That, and all your other accounts have been emptied. I so enjoyed that more than you can know. Mercedes will put it all to good use, I’m sure.”

Nash said nothing. He was too busy trying to figure out how they’d known about his accounts. And when the man disappeared, just seemed to vanish without so much as a puff of air, Nash stood up and locked the doors.

Going to his office when he finished that, he pulled out his laptop and opened up his accounts. It only took him twenty minutes to realize that not only had they gotten to his offshore account like Monroe had said, but his bank accounts were empty too. All four of them. Nash was broke as of right fucking now.

~~~

Miles watched his granddaughter while she sat at the desk and did her homework. He’d been trying all day to talk to her, ask her about her new self, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. Miles had missed a lot of years with his only granddaughter, and now he wasn’t sure how to talk to her. When Fox came in the room with them and handed him a plate of cookies and a cup of tea, he asked Bonnie to join them at the small table. Miles was so nervous when she joined him that he was sure she could hear his heart pounding.