Wrangler (Sheppard’s Shadow #3)

Chapter 6

Wrangler felt fucking fantastic. He did hurt in a couple of places that gave him a bit of a pause when walking—the bottom of his feet were so sore it was like he’d pulled a muscle in them—but he was wondering if any of his brothers who had mates felt the same way. Not that he was going to ask them, but still, it was a heady feeling having the best sex of your life with your one and only true love.

Waking up this morning, not only was he alone in his bed but the place where Amber had slept. Well, they neither one had gotten too much sleep, but it was cold there, like she’d been gone for some time. He found the note just as he was going to reach out to her.

“Dearest Love, I got a call from Wills, and he wanted me to come in and bring him something to do. I’ll pick him something at the store on my way in. I love you so very much, A.”

That was when he found out that his feet hurt. Walking to the bathroom had him thrilled that there was no one around to see him limping like an old man. After getting a nice warm shower and getting dressed, he made his way to the kitchen just in time for rolls to be coming out of the oven. They were delicious.

Now, he was on his way to the two buildings that they had earmarked for renovations. After they were finished up, they were planning on renting them out for people who were only in town for a few days while trying to fill in the spots around town for businesses. He was enjoying the process, something that he’d never had the chance to be up close and personal with before and was glad that the man in charge didn’t seem to mind that he was asking a great many questions.

He’d been contacted twice by his brother Nash and a couple of times by his brother Weston as well. He had gotten permission to sit in the mayoral seat that had been vacated recently, and he needed for him to come to his new office and help him move the desk around. Hathaway had had his desk facing the opposite wall where the bathrooms were like he needed to have the toilet close by.

“I was going to have it facing the window so I could look out when I wanted. But that would put my back to the doors, and I don’t want that. Besides, before I fired Ms. Peashaw, she told me that it was good that I wanted it that way. I could look down over the minions that were the townspeople. Why would anyone take a job if they didn’t like it?” Wrangler told Weston that he didn’t understand people at all. “Me either. I’m finding myself spending less and less time with humans every day.”

“I didn’t mean just humans, Weston. If you’re going to be mayor, you’ll have to spend a great deal of time with them. They outnumber shifters by at least five to one. Are you going to be all right with that?” He told him that was the reason that he was doing this. “To hang out with humans?”

“Yes. I figure that the likelihood of my mate being human is going to be pretty good. I need to hang out with them, as you said, so that I don’t scare her to death by being a snarling animal around them. Plus, I think that I could really do some good being mayor. At least for the time being. Things that we want to get done, that have been on our books for a while, won’t have to be stuck in a file where no one sees them because they believe that we treated our mother poorly.” He told him what Peashaw had said to him the other day. “The same thing to me. The bunch of old bitties can kiss my ass for all I care about their opinion about our mother.”

After getting the furniture around the way that he wanted it, the two of them went to the local department store to get the other things that he would need. One of the most important things that he wanted was a large calendar so that he could mark his progression in getting things done with deadlines.

Amber brought them by some lunch when they were at the office again. She was cleaning out Peashaw’s desk and found things that they put aside for the FBI. They didn’t know if they were important to them or not, but none of them wanted to take any chances. While she was sitting at the desk, making notes on what would be needed in hiring a secretary, the phone rang. Without thought of who it might be, Amber picked up the phone and answered it with Weston Sheppard’s office.

She put it on speaker when she winked at him. “Who the hell is this? Where the hell is Helen?” She asked him who Helen was. “My damned wife. Not that it’s any of your business. But…did you say this was the office of Weston Sheppard? One of them Sheppard boys?”

“Yes, sir. Weston has been assigned the task of holding the office until election time again. The FBI has given him access to the office and the things that were going on here before.” The man cursed for three minutes. However, he didn’t seem mad about it. “I don’t know what I can do for you, but I won’t allow you to talk about my brother-in-law that way.”

“You misunderstood. I’m thrilled beyond—damn, but that’s the best news that I’ve heard in about fifty years. Hot damn…So Helen has been fired—my ex-wife, you should understand, I’m assuming as well?” Weston spoke up and said that she sort of quit and got fired. She didn’t want to work for him. “No, she’d not. Had her head so far up your mother’s ass all the time I wondered who’d be coming home to me some nights. No, that’s wonderful news. Yes, sir, that’s the best news ever. What is your first agenda, Weston? I bet you’ll get it done, too, won’t you? You’ll have the support of myself and my businesses too. And now that you’re in office, maybe I can get the plans that I’ve been trying to get through done, too. I have a manufacturing plant that I want to break ground for. I’ll only hire locals for the construction and for the working of the plant. We’ll be distributing glass, any and all kinds of glass containers. Divorcing my wife made it so that I couldn’t get shit down while Hathaway was in office. Dirty man, too. Taking kickbacks on every flipping—oh, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me. I’m doing myself a little dance right here in my office. I’m so happy. I need to set me up a meeting. With all you boys. I think we can bring some life back into this old town in a short amount of time, too.”

They spoke to Mathew Peashaw for another hour. Amber kept answering the phone, assuring people that Weston was on top of things and that, yes, Peashaw had been fired as well. It seemed to them that no one cared all that much for either person in office and Wrangler was thrilled that he could be there with his brother when he was being made to feel so welcomed.

“I’m sending over a woman to answer your phone. I’m assuming that you’ve not hired anyone as yet.” Weston told Mathew that it was Wrangler’s wife who was answering the phones. “That’s another thing that I love about you Sheppard’s. You work well together and get things done. Your daddy, rest his soul, he might have been a better person if he’d taken his cues from the six of you. Don’t get me wrong, I liked your daddy. But he wasn’t much of a get-going kind of man. I hope I didn’t upset any of you.”

“We’re coming to terms with that ourselves, sir.” All of them had realized if their dad had been a stronger man, they might well have been in a better position to face the world than they were right now. “I’d appreciate your help, Mathew, but I have things going on here. I don’t want anyone to think that we’re playing favorites.” The man laughed, telling him he was brilliant for thinking that.

“I’m going to love doing business with the six of you men. And your wives. Yes, siree bob, I’m going to be happy with the way things will be going. And I don’t mean my way though I’d like that, no, I’m talking about getting the town back up on its feet and jobs around for anyone that wants one.” He could hear someone talking in the background. “Helen just came over. She’s making all kinds of threats to the lot of you. Nothing to worry about. She’s just mad because you never did do your sainted mother right. She was a fucking cunt if you ask me. Sorry if you don’t feel that way, but I hated her from the moment I met her in second grade. And it only got worse as we grew older.”

After setting up a time to have a meeting with the other man, Weston was handed a handful of messages from Amber. While she told him that she loved helping out, she wasn’t sure of enough of the rules for meetings and didn’t care to be screamed at. Mostly it was their mother supporters that said that the boys, as everyone called them, were out to mess up or even fuck up their town.

“I was able to blow off most of the bull shit that was said about your mother, but some of it was about mine as well. Which reminds me, they have a court hearing in the morning. My dad said that he’s going to represent himself, but my mother is going to have an attorney. I don’t really care which they do but I have a bad feeling about what is going to happen.”

“Why?” She told him that she didn’t know, but she didn’t think that it was going to be a simple thing like throwing the book at them for an identity thief. “There are other things as well that they’re going to be tried for. One of them is not taking care that your brother had a proper upbringing. They’ve been committing fraud for several years by stealing people’s credit card offers in the mail. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Oh, I understand it but I’m still not sure that it’s going to come out the way that we hope it will. Something, I don’t know what is coming to bite us all in the ass.” He didn’t like her feeling that way. He knew that she’d been sleeping poorly since their parents had been arrested, and having her worry made him worry as well. “You being there with me, all of my new family, will certainly make me feel a good deal better than just going at it alone.”

Holding her in his arms, he told her that he would forever have her back. She held onto him and when she asked him if he thought that Wills should go with them tomorrow, he pulled away enough to lift her chin up so that he could see the tears running down her cheeks.

“As much as I would like to tell you that I don’t think that he should be there, I believe that, in my opinion, he should be able to make that decision on his own. He knows what they’re like and what they’ve been up to better than I do, so telling him no might hurt his feelings. I think I’d like to see that they get what they deserve.” She asked him what if they didn’t. “Don’t borrow trouble, honey. If they don’t, then we’ll make sure that they do the old-fashioned way. Take them out with the leap.”

She laughed, and he joined her. But Wrangler had never been so serious about something in his life. If they didn’t get justice the human way, they would get it his way. Archie had already told him that he’d make sure that the family was safe. He hoped that he’d make sure that it didn’t come back on them either.

~*~

Wills didn’t sleep a wink that night. Now, here it was seven in the morning, and he was sick to his stomach. His nerves were about shot, and all he could think about was that he was going to be facing his parents today and he wasn’t at all thrilled about that. Even though they’d be in handcuffs, he didn’t trust them any further than he could spit. Which he couldn’t do all that well either.

Once the judge had come out and sat down, he made sure that he was snuggled closely to his family. His sister on one side of him and Wrangler on the other. He was about the best brother a kid could ask for. With his hand still bandaged up, he made sure to keep himself still so he didn’t hurt himself more. He’d already broken two of the stitches out and had to return to the hospital to get them fixed. He didn’t want to do that again. It worried his sister something terrible.

“I don’t want any shenanigans going on in my courtroom today. There will be no cursing, no getting out of line, or I swear to you that I’ll dismiss the charges against this couple quicker than anyone can say another word.” Wills looked at the people in the room, and most of them were nodding. “I don’t understand why this has become an issue anyway so we’re going to do this and do this quick. Now, if everyone is in agreement, let’s get this finished.”

When his parents were brought in, Wills didn’t know who they were at first. His father, usually a chubby man, was pencil-thin, and his hair was a mess. Even with it combed back from his forehead like it was made him look older than he thought that he was. It was then that he realized that he might have been coloring his hair while he was out of jail.

His mother didn’t look any better. The orange jumpsuit that she had on was making her look washed out. He had never understood that saying until just now. She, too, looked older, and like his father, she had lost some weight as well. It might have looked good on them if not for the fact that he was sure they were going to go back to their old ways as soon as—and he hoped that this didn’t happen, they were let go because of something they were going to lie about.

His father stood up after he was locked to the chair that he was sitting in. Once he was acknowledged that he could speak, he turned and glared at the people that he was with. He didn’t think that he knew where he was and he turned back to the judge and asked him where he was.

“Your son? I don’t know where he might be if you don’t. I would think that you’d have—you there. Little boy there by Sheppard. Are you this man’s son?” Wills stood up and looked at Wrangler before speaking. But the judge cut him off again. “Do you belong to this man and his wife or not? It’s a simple question.”

“No, sir. I was adopted by my sister and her husband. My father, William, was going to sell me off to someone to pop my cherry, whatever that means.” The judge told him to watch his language. “I am, sir. I promise. His words were a lot meaner than what I said. My sister and I have been hiding out from them since they tried to have her raped. She was…Mr. Judge, I don’t want to get myself in trouble here but they were going to sell her off to anyone that wanted her for the money.”

“See here now. I won’t have you lying in my courtroom, young man. Your parents are still alive. What right does anyone have to adopt you?” He told him that she loved him and wanted to protect him. “From your parents? I find that hard to believe.”

“I don’t lie, Mr. Judge. My mother used to fix her, and that man there big dinners and me and my sister had to have scrapes of food that was left over. We’ve been on the run for over two years now and have done all right for ourselves. Then Wrangler came along and married my sister, and now I have a bed of my own with my own things. I can have three meals a day or even a snack—so long as they’re healthy ones, too.” He stood up on his chair and pulled his shirt up. “See this right here? I got this scar when they tried to take my kidney to sell off when I was still using it. That’s not good parenting if you ask me.”

“No one did.” As soon as he sat back down, knowing somehow he’d messed up. The judge looked at the papers on his desk and asked the man behind him what was going on. “I have it here that they were committing fraud, using credit cards that didn’t belong to them. Why isn’t there a file for this so-called child neglect?”

The two men spoke to one another until his Uncle Jameson, his attorney, and the man sitting with his parents was called up to the desk the judge was seated behind. While they spoke, the other man getting louder and louder all the time, saying something about time to investigate, and the judge told him to shut up and sit down.

After they were both seated, he felt Wrangler stiffen. Then, his sister. Whatever was going on, no one seemed to be too happy with the conversation. It was then that the judge asked for a few minutes, no more than ten, to do some research on things. Wrangler looked at Amber and then at him.

“I want you both to go home and don’t open the door for anyone.” He nodded, ready to go right then. “It’s not going to end well for our side, so I want you two to go there and have the faeries around you at all times. They can’t get into the house. Remember that.”

“They’re going to be set free, aren’t they?” Wrangler told Amber that it was looking like that. “I’ll go, but you promise me that you’ll be safe.”

“As safe as you will be when you get home. Go now.” As soon as they were at the back of the room, it didn’t look like they were going to be able to leave. But all Wrangler did was stand up and the door was opened for them. He was never so happy for Wrangler being a cat as he was at that very moment.

The ride back to the house with Aunt Sunny driving was fast. He didn’t think she even hesitated once when the lights were red. They just seemed to turn to green as they were approaching them. Once they were home and in the house, she didn’t leave them but took Amber and himself to the kitchen and started to make some tea. She also seemed to be talking a mile a minute.

“My mom is coming too. You’ve not met her yet, but she knows all about you. She’s going to come and bring some of her famous scones with her.” Amber asked Sunny to calm down. “Oh, I’m calm. If I wasn’t, that couple would be dead right now. They still might be if I have anything to say about it.”

Amber laughed. It was sort of strange to hear her laughing after everything that had happened this morning, but she was happy about something. Asking her if she’d heard from Wrangler, she nodded her head and smiled at him. Telling him that she’d just now heard from Wrangler, he braced himself for the news.

“I have. However, just knowing that we have so many people on our side makes me feel better. Better than I have about our parents in a very long time.” The hug she gave him felt good, too. Like she was hugging the stuffing out of him. When she sat down with him close to her, she told him that she was going to explain what was going on. “It’s not good. They’re going to be found guilty of the identity thief. The rest, because it wasn’t brought to the judge’s attention before the hearing, is going to be put off for a while. The judge is pissed off that we’d say bad things about our parents. Wrangler found out that the judge had his own wife accuse him of hurting their son, and he lost custody of him. He can’t ever see him again. So he’s jaded about what we’re saying.”

“That means that they’ll let them go.” She said that they were going to have to serve some time, as little as two years, but it could be more with the evidence that Jameson had found. “So what happens to them now?”

“They’ll go back to the jail, and then in a few days, when the other judge comes to town, they’ll have another hearing with them. In the meantime, they’ll only be staying in the jail until they can pay their bond. Wrangler said that they have the money for it and will be free as soon as tomorrow with the promise of them not leaving the area.” He asked what happens to them with them out. “We’ll be protected. I promise you, no one will get to you. Ever again.”

“I’m scared they’ll get by you.” A sparkly woman just appeared in the room with them. While he figured that it was Sunny’s mom, she smiled at him, and it was like a billion bright lights were turned on at one time. He couldn’t help but to smile back at her.

“I’ll protect you with magic. I’m going to make it so that you’ll know where they are at every moment. Your sister, who has a good deal of magic already, is going to be able to hear their every word spoken to them as well as what they say to anyone else. You’ll both be safe even if I have to kill them myself.” Wills believed her, too. She’d kill them if they even got close to them. He didn’t know why he knew that, but he did. “I’m glad that you believe me, young man. I will give you the magic that I promised to you, as well as a little more. You’re very smart. I’m aware of that and know how to keep an eye out for them. They’ll not harm you, sweet boy, or so help me, they’ll pay.”

“You’re kind of scary right now.” She kissed him on the forehead, and he reached up and touched the spot. “That feels really good. Warm all over my body.”

Before he could thank her, however, he felt his body get stronger. The magic that she gave him, he knew just where his parents were. His father was in the bathroom peeing and then left there without washing his hands. Gross. His mom was flirting with one of the officers. He knew, too, that he couldn’t waste the magic given to him, and that made him think of Wrangler.

“I know where he is, Wrangler, I mean. I know that he’s outside the courthouse waiting for his brothers. They’re going to come here so that we can have a good meal.” Amber said that they were going to pick up some chicken and side dishes. “Good. Tell him that I love mashed potatoes. Also, we need to get some napkins ready, too. Uncle Weston said he was going to bury his face in the buckets and eat it all. I don’t think he’ll do that, will he?”

By the time his new dad and uncles showed up, he was about as starved as he’d ever been. Amber and he set up the table, and the faeries made sure that there were plenty of napkins and drinks to go around. The way they flittered around sometimes made him a little ill, but they sure were helpful when they were needed. And they all seemed to want to help the most, too.

The knock at the door startled him while he was filling his plate up. Suddenly he wasn’t so hungry, but it was his uncle Nash who winked at him and told him again that no one could hurt him in the house. Nodding once, wondering how that would work with his parents, he went to the front door when he heard his father yelling for him.

He didn’t get close enough for him to touch but felt himself being pushed closer to the door by Wrangler. Telling him to watch. As soon as his father reached out to touch him, to grab him by his arm, he screamed that they were burning his skin off. No matter how many times he tried, even to come into the house, he couldn’t.

His arm was blistering by the heat that he was feeling and when William, he forgot to call him that told Patsy that she needed to get him, the same thing happened to her. Even when she tried to step into the room, she was knocked back off the porch to be a crumbled mess on the ground. Wills looked at Wrangler when he knelt in front of him.

“See? They can’t get you so long as you’re in the house. You remember that, and you’ll be safe. They can’t get to you here.” He nodded and wrapped his arms around his neck. It was the best feeling in the world when he hugged him back. “I love you too, little man and so glad that you and your sister have come into my life.”

“So am I.” When William started to scream at them, he went to the door and looked at the mess the two of them were. How they got the money to get out was beyond him, but he didn’t care. Looking around, he stared at his father until he shut up and looked at him. Knowing that he might well be doing something wrong, he decided that he’d had enough of being afraid all the time.

“You’re a monster.” William told him that he was shit for brains. “Like I care what you think about me. But you trying to make money off of my sister and me makes you far worse than any other creatures that could have come my way.” He looked behind his father and laughed. “You might want to turn around there, William. I don’t think that you’re going to fare well with the jaguars surrounding you.”

Just as his father reached for him, Wills did something that he didn’t know he could do. He doubled up his fist and slammed it as hard as he could into his face. Watching him tumble back to where he landed next to Patsy, he knew then that he was never going to be afraid of the two of them again. They meant nothing at all to him.

Turning his back to the couple that really had hurt him in ways that he couldn’t imagine ever doing to his own children, he went to the dining room and finished filling his plate. It wasn’t long before the others joined him, and they were still fighting over the last of the biscuits when the police arrived.

“You could have knocked me over with a tissue when I saw you hit him. Did you hurt your hand?” Amber kissed his hand, which was slightly sore, and told her that it felt good. “I bet it did. Seeing you do that made me feel good, too. We got this, Wills. They’re going to be nothing but dust when we’re living here, as happy as any people in the world will be.

They were all seated around the table when the sirens sounded that Wrangler told him was an ambulance pulling in. He didn’t bother finding out what had happened. He’d seen it with his own eyes. The monsters were being taken away and back to jail for trespassing.

“I’m going to call you mom from now on.” Amber asked him if he was sure. “I am. When you guys have kids, I don’t want them to be confused about what we were to each other, and I’m going to call Wrangler my dad. If he doesn’t mind. He’s been a better dad to me than my own ever was, and I love him with all my heart. You too, Mom.”

Everyone hugged him, welcoming him to the family. It was then that Wrangler—Dad stood up and said that he and Amber—Mom were going to have a baby. Next spring. He couldn’t wait until then and was so happy to be able to help with the little person like no one, but his sister and his new family had helped him.