Connor: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Read online

  “I don’t know rightly if she’ll do much of anything, sir. She’s a bit on the stubborn side. And old to boot. My daddy would have called her a mule, but I don’t say such things like that to her. Roxanna, she’s a bit touchy about being called that.” Devon asked him who had started calling her that. “I think she told me once that the dummy wasn’t around to do it again, and that’s all I need to remember. I do. Every time I see her having a fit about something or somebody, I come back at a different time. She’s nasty mean.”

  Asking him to please ask her was about all that Devon could do. He was holding onto his laughter as hard as he could at the expression on the face of Newt. This elderly woman was someone that he might like to meet. But only on her good day.

  After Newt left again to look for the family of April and to talk to his friend, Devon invited Connor to his home for dinner. The guy was too much of a recluse lately. Of course, he was just getting his house set up.

  “Nah. I think I’ll stay here tonight. The house is quiet for the first time since I moved in, and I think I might enjoy that for a while.” Devon laughed. “How’s Kelly? I meant to ask you that earlier.”

  “She’s wonderful.” Devon could feel his face warming. Just thinking about his wife made him feel all kinds of silly. Like a schoolboy’s first crush. “She’s taking the entire thing of waiting on the egg to open like she’s done it a million times. Jackson sent over a couple of the babies so she could watch the baby dragons interact. With the one that we kept and the other newborn, she’s learning a great deal. So am I, as a matter of fact.”

  They talked for a little while longer, mostly about the house and the ghosts that Connor had spoken to since coming back to town. They’d been friends for a great many years. And of all of his friends, he thought that Connor had had the least stable life in growing up.

  His mother had lost her mind about the time that he and his sister had been born. Being an immortal and living so long could take its toll on a person. And since Lannie had been one of those proper wives to her dragon husband, she stayed quiet, out of his business, and kept his home perfect. Lannie had no contact with the outside world other than her husband. It had happened a great deal when someone didn’t go with the changes. Lannie hadn’t been able to.

  Then after the egg opened and Connor and his sister had been born, of the same egg, it had taken her over the edge of sanity quickly. Connor and Connie, Connor’s sister, had to raise themselves. Their father wouldn’t have a thing to do with them until they were old enough to have families of their own. But it had been much too late for making a family after that.

  Devon had always thought that was why Connor had enjoyed being around ghosts rather than people, even dragons. He’d been alone with them for far too long when he’d been younger. Devon asked about Connie then.

  “She’s doing well. Happiness seems to surround her all the time. She and her mate have two children now. All of them over the age of being called children, I guess. But I see Connie a few times a year. We keep in touch.” Devon asked him where she was living now. “Her mate, Barron Spencer, was left a castle from an aunt or something. They’re very happy in England, and I’m very happy for them all.”

  “Maybe since you have a home now, you could invite them here for Christmas. I would love to see her again. I know Spencer. He’s a good man too. Someone that I might well have chosen for her.” Connor said that he’d ask, but not to expect too much. “They’re settled then.”

  “Yes. You have no idea. They have about the most picture-perfect life of anyone I have ever met.” Connor laughed. “Whenever I talk to her, she’s forever telling me how lucky she is, and that I need to find myself a mate too. I tease her by telling her that there are no women around that treat me as well as she did.”

  When Devon was on his way home, he wondered what to do about Sara. She was going to have to be dealt with, and soon. But Bryce wanted him to hold off. To find out what sort of things she was going to have to pay for. Knowing that Davidson was still alive would thrill his grandma.

  Chapter 2

  Roxanna Hornsby, Rocky to everyone who knew her, was enjoying her time alone. It was difficult at times for her to get any rest from her daily work, much less having ghosts coming around for a visit or to have her solve a problem for them. They were not to bother her from eight in the evening until midnight. Those four hours were what made it so that she could chill out for a while.

  “My lady.” She turned to look at Newt and asked him what time it was. “I don’t have a time machine, my lady. You look sickly. Have you taken ill?”

  “It’s a watch, not a time machine. I don’t look good because I get no rest no matter how many times I threaten people about coming here during my time.” He smiled at her. Newt and she had been friends for a great many years. Rocky liked the young boy. “What is it? Now that you’ve messed with my time, you might as well tell me why you’re here.”

  “It’s Sara, my lady.” She stiffened, and knew that Newt had seen it. “She has done something with Lord Davidson. We feared that he was dead, but no one on my side has seen him. The man who lives in my home now, he wishes for me to find someone that is trusty to go in and see what they can about his household.”

  “Who is this man that sent you to me? Why does he want information on Lord Davidson?” Newt, in his own way, told her what he knew. “This man is a dragon, and he is friends to the king of them? Is he really, or is that what he’s saying to get you to come here?”

  “Nay, he is friends with his lordship. Connor, he’s made it so that anyone that enters our home is able to see us. It’s very nice, I tell you, to be able to talk to someone again.” Rocky wasn’t a trusting soul, and Newt must know that. “I’m to tell you that if you want to ask him about it, you can talk to him on that talking box. The lordship’s grand-mammie, she’s friends with Davidson too. They’re all friendly and shit.”

  Clearing her throat, she saw Newt drop his head. “All right. So you wish for me to go into a warlock’s home, unannounced, and see if he’s there? Why not go yourself?” He told her that it wasn’t for the dead. “I see. So he had a spell to keep you guys out of his home. I might have to ask him for that when I see him.”

  “Would you go inside for me? You know that you’re the only girl I know that is kind to me.” She smiled at him, and told him to stop flirting. “No one takes me to task like you do. I will wait here for you. Sara is saying that he’s dead. Only you can tell me if he’s not.”

  She thought about what he was asking her to do. Rocky trusted Newt as much as she did any ghost, she thought, but she didn’t want to give away secrets that weren’t hers to tell. Getting up, she grabbed her jacket and moved to the door and out into the rain.

  Walking around the block, she knew that talking to Davidson wasn’t nearly as difficult as people thought it was, at least not for her. Reaching out to the older man, she told him what was going on. She had known that helping him out was going to bite her in the ass.

  I know Anna. But as for her grandson, I’ve no knowledge of him. I knew his father, I guess. Horrid man, but I think I heard long ago that he was dead. Good riddance, if you ask me. Rocky told Davidson that she hadn’t. You’re very bitchy today. What has shit in your oatmeal? It cannot be me this time. I’m still not able to move much, and you never visit me.

  You are the bane of my trouble if I have kings of dragons and ghosts wanting me to find you. When all this time you’ve been hiding in my attic recuperating. I told you not to trust Sara. He said that he didn’t. Yet she was able to not only nearly kill you, but to almost get your books. What the hell is so important with these books when no one can read them so long as you’re alive?

  I was barely so when you found me. She said that she’d not found him, he’d been hiding in her car. So I was. Did I mention that your car smells of rotten meat? When was the last time you sprayed something around to combat the sm
ell?

  Every time I have to dispose of a dead body, or a dying one, I spray around my seventy dollar an ounce perfume that I don’t have. He laughed. Damn it, Davidson, what the fuck am I supposed to do now? If I tell Newt, who is he going to tell so that it gets back to the bitch?

  Would it help you if I were to call Anna? She said she didn’t want one of his sex buddies coming around her home. You don’t have room to have sex in your own bed, much less the one that you have put me in. No, this would be Suzanna, grandmother to the king of dragons. I think I’ll tell her that you thought she was my sex buddy. I think she’d think you a hoot.

  You do that and I’ll ring up Sara right now and tell her that your sorry ass is in my attic. Which, I might add, is larger than my own bedroom. That way she can finish what she started. Davidson didn’t have a comment. That worried her. One thing that she’d learned about the big warlock was that he never went long without a good comeback. What is it? Something happening?

  I think you should come back to your home, my lovely. We have company. And I do believe that it’s the dragon friend of Anna. She said that she’d let him deal with it. I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’s currently shouting your name at the top of his lungs. He does not seem all that thrilled to be here.

  Tough shit. I’m out of here.

  She walked around her neighborhood for the next three hours. She had no idea what time it was, because she’d forgotten her cell phone. Not that it mattered much. It was too late to call for shit anyway.

  Thinking that it was late enough for her to get back to her place, she was just putting her key in the lock when the door was opened. Since she’d not expected anyone to be there, she went into defense mode and knocked the man back and onto the floor. Before he could get up, she tackled him to the floor again and held him there with a knife at his throat.

  “My name is Noah Farley. My wife is Bryce Farley, the Grand Witch. She tagged Newt so that we could figure out if you were trustworthy.” She told him that she wasn’t. “Really?”

  “Yes. I’m a murdering bitch that just loves to have her house broken into and dragon shit all over the fucking place.” He looked upward, and she knew that the witch was there. Her laughter rang all over the room. “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”

  “We came to see if you were in with Sara.” Rocky got up off of Noah and went into her kitchen. For the first time in a long time, she’d cut her hand on the blade. “Let me have a look at that.”

  Jerking her hand back from the witch, Rocky told her to go away. “As I’m sure you’ve discovered, Davidson is upstairs.” Bryce told her that he was on the couch. “If he can move that much, the three of you can get out of here and leave me alone.”

  “You’re as nasty of a bitch as we were told. I like you.” Rocky cleaned up her hand and reached for the superglue to put the two pieces of skin back together. Bryce asked her this time if she could see to her wound. “I’d hate for you to get an infection from defending this...home.”

  “It’s shit, I know that. But it’s all I can afford. Well, for now anyway. Next month they’re talking about taking out the entire neighborhood to put in a parking lot or some shit. Why are you still here?” Her finger was throbbing and she pulled open the wound. She could see now that she’d been hurt by a dragon’s scale. “You nearly shifted when I came at you, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I’d cut you. Let me look at it. Now, please.” She fell to the floor, the scale spreading poison throughout her body. “Roxanna? Can you hear me? Look at me.”

  She was fighting a losing battle. Her body was going to shut down soon. In her weakened state and with no sleep, she didn’t have much in her to fight it off. Closing her eyes, she nearly threw up when someone pried her eyes open.

  “Damn it, girl. I will not allow you to die.” For some reason she thought that Davidson was being funny. “I’m going to fix you up with the help of the Grand Witch.”

  “I’m fine. Just let my body deal with it. I won’t die, more’s the pity, but I have to rest.” Davidson said that he was going to help her. With the last of her strength, she grabbed his balls and got his attention. “I’m fine. Just let me rest for a few hours and I’ll be just peachy. Go the fuck away.”

  Letting her body go, she knew that they’d be there when she woke up. There was something about them that had her thinking that they never did a damned thing that people wanted them to. Well, good luck to them. Her house was too small for her and the ghosts that lived there. And these men, Noah and Davidson, were huge. The woman was a tiny thing, but it would matter little because the house was really that small.

  When she woke up there were scents coming to her that she’d not smelled in a very long time, mostly because she couldn’t afford it. But pizza was the one thing she’d splurge on when she had a couple of bucks. This basically meant that she’d not had one in about ten years. Sitting up on her couch, she looked around at the room. Not only were there two more chairs smashed up against one another, but there was soft music playing from a little radio that hadn’t worked in about as long as she’d not had pizza.

  “You hungry?” She looked at the man, not having an idea who he was. “Connor James. Noah called me in when you were cut by his scale. I guess you startled him.”

  “Yes, well, who the hell would think that when you use a key to unlock the door to your own home, someone would already be there?” She stood up and hung onto the couch. “Am I supposed to know you? Or are you here to have me kill you? If you’ll give me a minute, I’m sure that I can do it. Breaking and entering, especially when someone is resting, is against the law.”

  “I’m not here to have you kill me. Unless you meant that you would because I wasn’t welcome.” She only had to cock a brow at him to have him laughing. “Well, I’m sorry that I came in—invited by my brother, by the way—to see to you. He has a mate and I don’t. You didn’t need me to help you along.”

  “I told the moron that.” She made her way to the kitchen and sat in front of two of the largest boxes of pizza she’d ever seen. “What are you going to eat? I’m sure, as the moron’s brother, that you’re a dragon too. I don’t know if it escaped your notice or not, but I’m on the downside of making things work out.”

  She picked up one of the slices and had a bite. It was like heaven, and she moaned at the taste. Connor paused in taking a slice for himself and sat down, looking at her. Instead of asking him what was wrong now, Rocky enjoyed her food.

  They ate in silence through the entire first pizza. She was nearly ready to stop, not because she wasn’t hungry, but because she wanted to save some for tomorrow. But when Connor took another slice off the other pizza, she joined him.

  “You can see ghosts. I can as well. You might say that it’s my hobby, or even a job. I enjoy it a great deal.” She might have answered him, but her mouth was full of hot spicy peppers, just the way she loved pizza. “What are you? Not human, I don’t think.”

  “I am. I’ve been played around with by some people that I’ve helped out. A little magic here and a little there has given me the ability to heal myself no matter what, and to live a long sucky life.” He nodded as he finished off the next slice. “You’re dragon, as I said before, but not wholly that, are you?”

  “No. I’ve been given some great magic myself. Mostly from age, but I’ve dabbled around with some on my own.” Connor offered her the last slice. She waved him off as she got up and got them both another glass of water.

  “Davidson was hurt pretty badly. The woman, I knew her from before, a long while ago. She’s a nasty wild bitch. Sara preys on men mostly to get what she wants out of them. With Davidson it was power. His books too, but she couldn’t find them.”

  “You have them.” She didn’t figure that there was any point in lying to him. What was he going to do, kill her? He could have done that while she’d been out. “Da
vidson told me that he trusted you more than he did anyone he knew. With the exception of Anne. She’s Devon’s grandma.”

  “I heard.” As she cleaned up the kitchen she told him what she knew of Sara. “She’s not terribly powerful. Not anymore. She used to be a pretty good witch, one that you could go to when you needed something done. Mostly it was love potions and shit like that. Then one day it occurred to her that she could take magic from others like her. That was when she really fucked up.”

  “With you.” Again, she nodded. “What did she do to you, if you don’t mind telling me? I’d like to know what I’m dealing with when I take care of her for Davidson.”

  “I’m sure that he can take care of himself.” Connor just stared at her. “What is it you’re trying very hard not to have me kick your ass about?”

  “You’re my mate.”

  ~*~

  Sara had had just about enough of these people. They were not just rude, but they were thinking that they were superior to her. Perhaps they were, she thought, but they didn’t need to rub it in her face so hard. Damn it all the fuck and back. She just wanted one of them to tell her where the books were.

  “You know that you can’t read them, correct?” This was the second time today that someone or something had spoken to her without showing themselves. Well, she wasn’t going to go searching for them this time, nor was she going to speak back. “Good for you. You can keep your trap shut.”

  Tempting. It was tempting to pull out her magic and blast around the room until she hit the creature. But if she did that, she’d be out of the house. And though she couldn’t get out of the room at night, she did as much snooping as she could during the day. Still no luck finding the books, though. She knew they were here. The magic had told her that.