Xander_Winchester Brothers_Erotic Paranormal Wolf Shifter Romance Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  World Castle Publishing, LLC

  Pensacola, Florida

  Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2018

  Paperback ISBN: 9781629899480

  eBook ISBN: 9781629899497

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, July 9, 2018

  http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

  Licensing Notes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Cover: Karen Fuller

  Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Kathi Barton

  Prologue

  Tyler saw his big brother coming toward him. Xander hadn’t seen him yet, which was okay with him. Xander would probably just walk away and go someplace else where Tyler wasn’t. Not just with Tyler, but everybody. He’d been like that since Wendy had died. She’d been his mate.

  “You gonna talk to me?” Xander stopped and said that he didn’t want to talk to anyone. “No, I guess you made that kind of clear. I’m worried about you. Everybody is.”

  “I’m all right. It’s a big blow to my heart, even though I didn’t know her at all.” She’d been killed when someone raided the store she’d been in with her momma, killing them both as well as several other people there. “When we were at the funeral, Dad had to help me away, do you remember that? I sort of feel like that all the time now. Broken.”

  “Yes, we all do. Dad said that she didn’t suffer any. I don’t understand people, Xander. To kill anyone, that’s so sad, but to do it for nothing more than because they didn’t have the right kind of honey for his cereal is just plain stupid.”

  Xander sat down next to him. “I could smell her, even with all those chemicals. But I knew right then what she was to me.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do if that happened to me. Dad said you wasn’t taking it hard then, but you seem to be now.” Xander nodded. “I guess you had time to think on it, huh?”

  “Yeah. Mom and Dad, they got it right, you know that? They tell each other all the time that they love each other. I was gonna do that too.” Tyler didn’t know why people would even like a girl, much less love one, but he did agree that his parents were mushy like that. “I’ll never get to have a kid of my own either. Not that I want one right now, but I thought that someday I’d want one. A whole bunch of them that I could play with, like Dad did us.”

  “I don’t ever want to have any sons, Xander. Boys are all I have right now in brothers.” Xander ruffled up his hair, like he always did. “Someday I guess I might want sons, but you guys are always being bossy and stuff. I hate that.”

  “We’re just trying to make sure that you do things right, little brother.”

  Tyler nodded and thought of all the things that had been going on of late. “You know, Mr. Cartwright, he told me that someday, I was going to think back on him and wonder why he’d been wanting to be a part of our family. I told him that I knew why. My momma baked the best pies in the world.”

  “She does at that. But I don’t think he does it for that reason. He’s lonely and sad sometimes, have you noticed that? Anyway, I think that he comes over not for the food, but because we’re nice to him. And he’s nice to us.” Xander laid back on the ground. “I’m about done being mopey, as Mom called me. I just had it hit me what all I was going to miss. But, I guess that’s the way the fates wanted it. Come on, let’s go and get us some dinner. Mom said we’re having the catfish that you and Mr. Cartwright caught yesterday.”

  Tyler didn’t care all that much for catfish, but he knew better than to turn down meat. They didn’t have it often—sometimes they’d go a whole week without any. But when they did have it, they ate it like it was gold filled. Being wolves, they needed it. But there was usually plenty of other stuff to go with it, and Mom always had some hot bread to fill up the voids when there were any. There might not be tonight. He’d caught ten catfish yesterday and Mr. Cartwright had caught himself a dozen, then handed them over to Tyler to give to his momma to cook up.

  Xander walked alongside of him, shortening his steps so that he could keep up. Tyler had all these dreams of somedays. That’s what he called his list, Somedays. Someday he was going to have it all too.

  Someday he was going to have a nice car. Not new—they weren’t worth the payments, Dad said. Someday he was going to own him a house. Really close to his parents, he decided just then. Someday he was going to be rich too. Just so he could make it easier on his mom and dad. Someday, he thought lastly, he was going to meet him a nice girl, even though he didn’t like them, and have him a bunch of kids. Someday. Not now, but someday.

  “Do you suppose that the fates—or whatever it is that sets us up like this—you suppose that they take in account that your mate might have something happen to him or her?” There were times, like at this moment, that Tyler thought his older brother was too young for his brain. “You know what I mean, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I understand you. But I honestly don’t know, Xander. I mean, they know everybody’s fate. You know, that’s their name, right? I would think that they’d know that from the minute they set you up.” He didn’t think that was nice, so Tyler tried to fix it. “But I’m only a kid and you’re almost a big adult. Well, you are big. Like big-headed. Big footed. What sized shoe do you wear now? Or do you just go on out to the field and kick two cows in the bottom and wear them?”

  Tyler wasn’t stupid nor was he very fast, but they took off running as soon as his brother growled. Laughing too hard to go far, he felt his brother’s big wolf take him down and lick him all over his face. They were having so much fun, he’d forgotten why Xander had come to find him in the first place. It was dinner time.

  It was always nice having Mr. Cartwright over. He always brought a treat, as he called it. Sometimes it was the stuff to make ice cream. Other times it was just a big cake that had been on sale or something. Tyler thought the man was just being nice. He’d been in the store a lot with his momma and hadn’t ever seen a sale on those sized cakes. But he ate whatever it was because it was always good.

  “Mr. Cartwright won’t be joining us tonight, sons.” He asked his dad why not. “Well, today was the date that his wife passed on, and he goes and sits with her for a spell.” Tyler glanced at Xander but said nothing.

  “Why don’t we gather up some of those flowers that are gonna die anyway and take them over to her grave for him?” Caleb always had the best ideas. Tyler wished he had one or two like he did. “We don’t have to stay, just show him that we care that he’s hurting.”

  “Wonderful idea, Caleb.” Tyler wanted to kick his brother under the table, but he’d not do that again. He would make him pay later. Almost as if he knew what he was thinking, Caleb stabbed him with his eyes.

  Caleb was the oldest, and sometimes when he was being big brother, he’d ju
st beat him to a pulp for the fun of it. Not really. Tyler would sort of make him mad, just to see him running after him. Caleb was the best big brother there was.

  They took the flowers to Mrs. Cartwright’s grave and were invited to stay by Mr. Cartwright. But Mom said they had supper on and wouldn’t be bothering him. Mr. Cartwright kissed his fingers and laid them on top of the pretty headstone that Dad had helped carve, and said he’d join them.

  “The time for mourning is done. I have to.... It’ll be easier with you guys around, but I have to stop acting like I’m gonna come out here and she’s going to be waiting on me.”

  Dad told him that they’d be powerful sorry if he went with her. Tyler had no idea what that meant, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Grownups were touchy about death, love, and such.

  That night when he and Dominic were in their room, he asked him what he thought about what Xander had said—about there being someone else out there for him. Then he told him what he’d told his brother.

  “I think that’s what Mom would call you being insensitive, moron.” He asked him how. “Because that was the time when a little fib would have made him feel better. You know, like when Mom asks us if she looks tired and she does, but we all tell her that she’s right pretty.”

  “But that’s not the kind of question that Xander asked me. He wanted to know the truth.” Or he had thought he did. “I did try and tell him that I was only just a kid. And him being an almost adult.”

  “There. See? You did it twice. You called him almost an adult. He’s not an adult and saying almost only makes it sound like you don’t think he’s going to ever be. I swear, there are some times, Tyler, that I think you were born under a rock or something.” He pointed out to his brother he was being insensitive too. “Yeah? Well, think how that made you feel.”

  For the rest of the night he did think about how it made him feel. Nothing. They were always calling him a moron, or something like that. Instead of thinking of it as a bad thing, Tyler thought of it as a learning curve. Yeah, he did learn that he was a might on the insensitive side. But his brothers were older than him, except Dominic, and the two of them needed to grow some.

  Not that he was sure what they were supposed to grow, but he’d heard that at the high school a few weeks back and was glad now that he’d found a way to use it. But, like the rest of them, he’d never say something like that, or curse in front of their mom. She was scary when she was upset about something.

  Chapter 1

  Addie wasn’t sure how she’d been moved. She did know where she was, which had come to her when she’d rolled over and seen the pretty woman sleeping in the chair next to her. There wasn’t any way that she’d moved— The air was suddenly perfumed with her scent. A breeding wolf.

  I thought it best that no one could tell what you were. She thanked Bug for helping her in that. They have a lot of questions, but they have said nothing to anyone in their family. And they are a large and tight knit group. The older brother, he is the pack master.

  What do you know of what happened to me? There has to be a reason that the FBI was out to try and kill me when they’re the ones that hired me in the first place. He said that he was checking into that now. Good. Also, I would like you to find my boss. See what you can find out. I need to know what he did or didn’t do to get me shot to fuck.

  I will leave now to find out. I was staying with you in case you might need me for something. She said that she was fine now that she was awake. The drugs they are giving you, you should take them for today. They’re helping you rest, and that can only be good when you’re so hurt. I don’t think anyone knows where you are, but you must be well enough to defend these people if they do.

  I’ll think on that.

  He knew as well as she that the drugs were finished. As she told Bug, she was awake now and would be fine. When he flew from her body, she looked at the woman and saw that she was awake and staring at her. Addie started to rise when she told her not to move just yet.

  “There are some stitches in your belly that are going to be pulled again if you jerk around. You’ve already had to have them replaced once. And Gabe is visiting patients right now, so he can’t come home to keep you together. The bullets have all been removed, and they’re in the safe should you ever want or need them.” Addie sat up, slowly, with the woman’s assistance. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure if you’d pull a weapon on me. You and I talked, do you remember that? It was in the alley where you were hurt. Gabe is my husband, and he’s a doctor.”

  “You know who I work for then. I’m assuming that someone told you?” The woman, she thought her name was Rayne, nodded and said that somehow, it had come to them. Much like them coming to her aid had. “You’re not just a breeding wolf either, are you?”

  “No, I’m not.” Nothing else, but since Addie did the same thing when she didn’t know someone, she let it go. For now, anyway. “No one knows where you are. I’m sure that your sigil told you that. Does it have a name?”

  “Bug. And it’s a male. Counterbalance and all.” She nodded. “You’re Rayne. There’s something more, but I can’t touch it right now. But I will. Or you could just tell me, and I’d have it.”

  “Death watcher.” She stood up and stretched, like telling someone that she was the death watcher wasn’t such a big deal. “You have many ghosts with you, did you know that? None of them mean you bad will, but I can help them if you’d allow it. And in a way, I believe that they have helped you. Or, and I’m guessing here, you never would have made it this long in your life.

  “I have, thank you. What the hell are you doing here?” She just smiled. “I hate coy people. Just cut the shit and tell me what I’m doing in the house of a breeding wolf that claims she’s the death watcher.”

  Before she could stand, if she was going to do something, she was lifted from the bed and held up by her throat, which was being closed off. As soon as Rayne looked her in the eyes, she could see that she was indeed the death watcher, and she wasn’t one to fuck with either. Being let go, Addie landed on the side of the bed and sat there. That was one scary bitch.

  “Don’t forget it either. Now, as I was saying, you have several ghosts with you. Some of them are just hanging around to help in case you didn’t know that. And two of them are stuck with you. I can assist them in moving on, but I think that would be up to you.” She asked who they were. “One says his name is Pierson, the other is Rankin. He says that he’s your mate.”

  “He wishes. No, neither of them needs to be here.” When Rayne looked as if she was listening to someone, Addie stood up again and called to Bug. He’d help her heal, and the sooner she got out of here, the better for everyone. “Rankin said that you have two people that are out to kill you. They’re going to your lair today. They will not find anything there, he said—he’s had someone take care of it.”

  “He’s a demigod.” Rayne sat down when she did. “You’re very bitchy. Is it the kid you’re carrying? I can tell you right now that it’s strong and doing very well.”

  “No. I just.... What do you know of the death watcher? I mean, other than the monster stories that you might have been told. I can tell that—I know that you’re an ancient. Probably as old as all of us put together. So, what might you know that I don’t?” She asked if she was new to the job. “No. I’ve been around for a while. Not as long as you have—I don’t think there would be many that have been—but I don’t know a lot about myself. Like you, I was chosen—created, if you wish to call it that.”

  “You’re never going to die. Neither will your mate.” She said that she’d been told that by a vampire. “She’s wrong if she thinks that she gave you that gift. Or curse, depends on how you look at it. You can step down from your job. But as soon as you do, all, and I mean all the creatures, humans and shifters, that you’ve ever had contact with will die with you. I’ll make sure of it. And if you want to know why, I’ll tell you now. You’d still have all the powers that you have now. Sending others away, killi
ng if you should need to, as well as true immortality. And that means even a bullet to the heart, removing your head? Those will not work. Nothing that means to kill you can penetrate your flesh. You’ll bleed if sliced, but never to the point of death. Only the sword of my body can kill you.”

  The blade was small when she reached behind her neck and pulled it free. But as they both watched, not only did it lengthen, but it widened as well, like a claymore, its weight and girth so large that in order to use it, Addie would need both hands. But once it was swung, whomever was close would have their bodies sliced in half, or heads removed, whatever it took for them to be dead.

  “I was told that when we brought you here. Wally, he’s my contact with the other world, he said that I should stab you in your rest and be done with you.” She didn’t say anything. It might have been something she’d have done too, given the chance. “But, I’d never do that to you. I couldn’t take a life unless it meant risking my own, or those of my child or my family. And you don’t have to worry about me stepping down. I really do enjoy helping the dead. Well, most of the time I enjoy it. The third person with you is one of the men you killed the other day. He’s still unsure what you were targeted for. He’s military or some branch that you might be with. Feds, I’m thinking.”

  “He is. And I don’t know either. But having me here, it’s going to cause you guys some issues.” She said they were used to those. “I’m working for the CIA for the moment. And the man with me, he’s FBI. If he doesn’t know, then I certainly don’t know why I was targeted either. But they were ready for me, to the point of waiting until I did my job before they tried to kill me.”

  “He said that you killed Boone. That alone will get you major brownie points from this family. We’re not involved with him—he’s just been a pain in the ass for so long.” Addie stood up again, feeling better by the minute. When Rayne asked her if she was hungry, Addie, for some reason, thought it was more of a “You’re going to eat” rather than a question of whether she was hungry. Nodding at her, Rayne laughed. “Lunch is ready when you are. There are some clothes in the bathroom that I can only assume your sigil brought you. Down the hall to the left, then at the bottom of the stairs, to the right. You’ll be able to smell where we are from there.”