Chapter 1

Marshall looked down at the paperwork that had been forwarded to him from Hamish. His best friend and vampire king had helped him secure a loan from the local bank so that he’d not just pay cash for the house he’d been looking into buying. He explained that the town needed the money, and that was why he co-signed. The banker didn’t believe or didn’t care that Marshall had plenty of money.

The banker, James Pitsbody, wouldn’t loan him the money. He’d been turned down by the banker three times in the last five years. While he did have a job, Marshall knew that telling people that you were self-employed made them think that he was a freeloader or something along those lines, and he decided that he wasn’t worth the risk.

Marshall wasn’t worried about defaulting. He didn’t believe that Hamish was worried either. They both had more money than they could spend in several lifetimes, and he was happy to be living close to his friends. They all, Hamish Perry, Warren Justice, Calhoun Meyer, Murray Phelps, and Brad Kirk, had moved to be closer together and had been having a wonderful time just being able to hang out together. He also thought it was funny that they had two sets of kings and queens of their kind as well.

“You should also understand that once you find your mate, and I’m hoping for that more than a lot of other things, she can be added to the deed anytime you wish. You have been looking for a mate, haven’t you?” He just shrugged. “I hope you have a better answer than that when the women get around to asking you. Any one of them will have your head if you tell them that you don’t care to have one.”

“I don’t. I know you remember Rachel, my wife from decades ago.” It wasn’t really a question, but like him, Hamish shivered at the thought of her. “She made it so that I never want to think of having a mate ever again. The fates had it all wrong when they paired the two of us together. When she was murdered, it was all I could do to go out and look for her killer. And then not shake his hands for taking her out of the picture.”

It had been that bad, too. Not that he’d admit that to anyone but his dearest friends. But Rachel had been a nightmare from the second that they were mated. The change in her, from a sweet-talking innocent woman to the she-devil that she really was, nearly had him taking his own life to get out of her clutches.

“I think about her on occasion.” Marshall asked him why he’d do that. “Not for any other reason than to remember how she treated you and the rest of us when we were around. The time that sticks out in my memory the most is when you guys had that dinner party. I think you’d been mated for about a month then, and she threw that fit. I can still remember seeing all the blood on the walls and the brain matter now after all these years.”

“Having her kill two people right there in front of us, one of them being a vampire, I thought for sure that she was going to kill us all that night. She only did what she did because she wanted you to know that she didn’t suffer fools well. To this day, Hamish, I still have no idea what that meant. Then that bear cub, too.” He shivered once again, thinking about how she’d just sliced him up with a sword before any of them could move to save him. “I wonder what the hell she was thinking you’d do with her after her doing that?”

“I couldn’t do anything then, me thinking that whoever was the rightful king of my kind would surely come down on her ass. But no one said a word about either of them. There was no one coming around to ask questions either. I’m betting, from what I know now about the previous counsel, that they more than likely paid her to make that kind of scene. I know also that someone, I’m assuming you, had to pay a large fine when the bear family demanded restitution.” He nodded, remembering how much it had been. Not nearly enough for them to have lost their only child, he still thought. “The more I find out about the stupid three of them, the more astonished I am that no one took them to task before we did. Launder certainly made an impression with them. And not in a good way.”

The council, consisted of three members that ran things the way that they wanted for decades. Stealing funding from vampires, and destroying them as well for no other reason that they thought it was fun. If not for Warren’s mate having been working for them for centuries, they might well still be trying to make things go their way. As it was now, getting funding to the right people had become a job that had been ongoing for some time now.

Now that he had a home, one that he’d picked out for himself because he liked it rather than because it was something there that he needed, Marshall decided that he was going to bring all his things and put them in his new house. Most of it was things that he’d picked up in all his lifetimes. He knew that some of the things would be considered to be antiques to some buyers, but he knew them to be sturdy, beautifully handcrafted, as well as unique pieces that he himself had created. Marshall ran his hand over his dining room table and thought of all the work and time he’d put into it.

The tree, a massive mahogany, seemed to tell him just what it wanted to be. He’d found other large pieces of wood or trees that had done the same. Over his lifetime, he’d become quite the furniture builder and had until very recently been able to put his hand to a tree or even a large stone and it tell him, showing him just how to carve it into what it thought it needed to be. He supposed that he had the same talent but he’d been so busy of late that he’d not had a moment to look into making more furniture. Something he only just realized that he had missed a great deal.

Going to the back yard, something else that he had wanted in a new home and got was needing some work as well. When his little faerie, Jamboree, sat on his shoulder, Marshall asked her for some help. The little creature seemed to vibrate with newfound energy, ready to please her new master.

“Yes, my lord, Marshall. It would be our pleasure to do this for you. Why, I remember when this house was such a showcasing.” He corrected her, telling her that it was simply a showcase. “Yes, that’s right. But the woman who lived here until she passed on would leave us out tins of goodies. I don’t know that any of us spoke to her but she just seemed to understand that we were around and willing to help her. The garden there, do you see it? It had the most beautiful roses in it. Of all colors as well.”

“I’d like to have that brought back. But it might be too late for this year, I would think.” Jamboree told him that it was, but they could work on her roots, and she’d be willing to bloom for him all the next warm season. “I do remember there being a kitchen garden around here, too. I’d love to have fresh herbs when I cook. I do love to cook myself up a fresh meal at times.”

They wandered around the yard, the two of them setting tasks for the faeries that seemed to be around in abundance nowadays. He supposed it had a great deal to do with Ruby and Robin. They were goddaughters to the queen of magic as well as the queen of faeries. He’d also heard that Becka and Brad were working with the little ones in keeping them busy but also keeping them healthy. He’d seen faeries and brownies alike work themselves to death trying to please the person to who they were assigned. Marshall was going to be very careful that he didn’t allow them to get too exhausted while helping him out in the gardens.

By the time he was ready to call it a day, the back of his home looked a good deal better than it had before. More than likely better than it had for decades. Even the decking, a place that he planned on spending a great deal of time, looked brand-new. There were pots of mums, a fall favorite, all over the deck to bring some color to the much-needed drab weather.

Being a wolf, a very ancient one too, he loved the outdoors more than most animals. After sending off the faeries to have some of the pretty colored mums for a snack, he made his way out the gate an into the wooded area that was behind his home. While he wasn’t sure who the land belonged to, he thought that they might not mind for someone to just walk around.

The wooded area wasn’t in too bad of shape. He could see that it had a lot of felled trees that he thought would be great for someone in need of firewood. There were leaves up to his knees thick along the pathway that he was making up as he went. Coming to an open field, he stood gapping at the large helicopter that was there. He was ready to go and see if there were people around when he felt something touch the back of his head.

“Don’t move. You give us away, and I’m going to kill you where you stand.” The man’s voice, while mostly clear, it did sound like it was slurred. Inhaling deeply, he could smell the coke that the man had been using, along with body odor and beer. Two things that he abhorred most about humans. “Been waiting on one of them daughters of mine to come out here and get into that thing for the last couple of hours. Why is it just sitting there on my land?”

“Your land? If it’s yours, why don’t you call the police to find out who it belongs to?” The pop to the back of his head hurt, and he decided that he might be in over his head right now. Reaching out to all the kiss, all the men and women that he’d come to love, he told them what was going on. “I can’t say for sure where I am. I’ve been wandering around in the wooded area behind my house for a couple of hours.”

“Did you make a straight line from your home?” He said that as straight as a man could make, he supposed. “You’re more than likely on the Brandon property. The helicopter, is it Army? Can you see that?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s camo browns, for sure. Who are the Brandon’s? Do they have an idiot drunk drug dealer in their family?” Calhoun said that they did. He was one of the three brothers that they’d been talking about the other night. “I remember. The twin sisters are watching over their grannie. Yes, I remember now. Well, you might want to warn them that one of them, he said that he’s someone’s father, is waiting for them to come out to the chopper. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I’m sure it won’t bode well for the women. He’s set on killing them, I think.”

“I’ll contact them…damn it, I don’t have a number for them. I had it, but I left it at my office. Marshall, if I were you, because he’s pointing a gun at you, I’d just kick his ass. I’ll head over to the Brandon home and see what I can find out. You meet me there. If that’s their chopper, then you’re within shouting distance of the house.” He told him that he’d do just that. “Don’t kill him. The world might be better off without them around but I don’t know that his family would be that thrilled about it. Not today.”

After disarming the man and knocking him out, he leaned the man up against a large boulder and asked one of the many faeries in the area to keep an eye on him. Also they were to let him know if the man woke up.

“They take turns coming out here, sir. There are three of them, all men with distasteful smells about them. I will keep an eye on this one and have the others alert you should the other two show.” Nodding, he asked where the house of Brandon was. “Oh yes, I never thought to see if this man is related to them. They are the most wonderful women.” He cleared his throat, keeping Jamboree focused. “Yes, just up there to the right is the home.

Seeing the house, he made sure that they knew that he was unarmed. There was an elderly lady sitting in a chair on the back porch with two others around her. Shouting who he as and that Calhoun Meyer was a friend of his. The elderly lady laughed. It was more of a cackle, and she told him to come on. He made his way there just as the two women went into the house. It looked as if they were going to enjoy the nice weather and have a cook out. He was going to do that very thing when he got home.

~*~

Mitsy laughed at the man who was now trying his best not to stare at the girls. She supposed that her granddaughters were all grown up now and well beyond being called girls, but she didn’t care. They were her girls, and she’d do what she wanted. Which she normally did anyway when she thought about it.

Calhoun showed up just as the other man was trying his best to get comfortable in the most uncomfortable chair she’d ever sat in. Laughing at him again, she told him that he’d be better off taking the other chair, that a man his size would need more room. He nodded and changed to the other chair. He told them what he’d run into.

“The chopper will be here until dusk. Not long from now, I suppose.” DJ, her other granddaughter, told Marshall that it was her sister’s ride back to Washington, D.C. It was the most convenient way to travel as she didn’t stay all that long when she was home to check on things. “She is here only to check up on grannie and myself. She had surgery just a week ago. Grannie is doing so much better. But I’m sure that you don’t care about that.”

“I do care. I really do. I remember being told about that from Calhoun. He also told me that your sister is a general in the armed forces. That’s quite impressive as well. I, too, served time in the armed forces recently.” He smiled at her. “You look young and spry for someone that’s only just had their chest opened up.” Mitzy told him that she did feel good. Better than she had in some time. “Good for you. I’ve never had anything that had to be operated on. I’m a wolf shifter, the first of my kind, and I don’t let a lot of things get out of hand any more.”

“Calhoun here, he’s the king of bears. He brought his pretty little mate over a few days ago so that we could meet her. My goodness, the women of your family, I’m assuming that you’re a part of that, too. They sure are pretty little things. Not that I think I’d want to tangle with the lot of them.” He agreed with her. When MJ finally came back out of the house, both men stood up and saluted her. “You’re going to get on her bad side if you keep that up. She’s a bit touchy about how much she’ll tolerate from people anymore.”

“I know just how she feels.” Mitzy looked at the man, the wolf, and could see that while he looked young, only about in his mid to upper thirties, there was an old soul about him that made her think, like the king of vamps that he’d seen and done his fair share of living. And not always in a good way. After Calhoun sat down, Marshall just stared at MJ for several more minutes while she told her sister good bye. “General Brandon, might I ask where it is that you’re headed?”

“No, you may not. Sit down before I knock you down, dumb ass. I’m going home. To work some more. As much as I’d like to stay here for a little while longer, duty calls.” The low growl that came from Marshall had her rubbing her arms. Whatever he was doing, it was having an effect on MJ as well. “What do you want? You know what, I don’t care. I have shit to do, and it’s gotta be done tonight.”

MJ kissed her sister again, getting a hug then she hugged and kissed her as well. Keeping an eye on Marshall, she could see that he was none too happy with Calhoun getting a hug along with the rest of them. But he didn’t move from the chair he’d been sitting in. And it seemed to be costing him a great deal to just sit.

Once the chopper was in the air, taking off quickly from the field, she looked again at the wolf and asked him what was going on. When he shrugged at her, she wanted to knock him upside his head and tell him to use his words, but just as she was thinking about using her cane, Calhoun spoke.

“Marshall? Are you all right?” The two men were staring at each other, and she knew just when Calhoun got an answer from his friend. The laughter, and there was quite a bit of it, came out of the man’s mouth like he was just as surprised at the answer as she would have been. It was on the tip of her tongue to demand they tell her when the chopper that had been gone only a few minutes landed in the field again.

Marshall took off running toward it, careful of the blades as they continued to rotate round and round. So did Calhoun, taking off toward the landed chopper after begging the two of them to stay where they were. Just as the ride that her granddaughter was in started to rise again, Calhoun stopped running and turned back to the house. He looked worried sick about something.

“MJ has been hurt. Marshall said that he’d get her to the hospital in the plane so that she doesn’t have to wait on an ambulance.” He told them what he knew and offered to drive them to the hospital. That was where Marshall was taking MJ to get the medical help that she needed. “I’m not sure of the details yet, Marshall said that she was bleeding, but he is a good pilot and will get her there safely. If you wish to go with me, I will get you there more than likely just after she is there.”

Mitzy had to be careful of her stitches. They had sealed up right fine, but they scared her something terrible. Using her cane, she made her way to the front of the house while DJ started locking up. Before they were able to get into the truck that Calhoun had, she noticed that there were several dogs, no wolves roaming around. She had a feeling that Marshall had done that for them. She liked the idea that no one could mess around with her home while they were gone.

“Do you want me to tell you what Marshall said? What I mean is his language is harsh. He’s pretty upset, so I can clean it up for you, but that will take me a—” She told him to just tell them. “All right. She’s been shot. Twice, he thinks. He said that she’ll live, but she’s lost a bit of blood.”

“Does he know who did that to her?” Calhoun told them that he didn’t know just yet, but he would before too much longer. “I’m wondering how he’s going to get her in the emergency department, what with them being in that thing. Oh lordy, I have to call her boss. I nearly forgot.”

Mitzy explained how she had to make sure to call MJ’s boss if she was here and something happened to her. Or any of them, for that matter. She was so upset about having to make this call that she had to remember the codes that she was supposed to put in the phone to get through.

“Marshall said that he was making arrangements to land on the chopper pad, and the medics would meet him there. If you’re going to make that call, you should do it now. The cell phone service is terrible in and around the hospital area.” She thanked Calhoun and had to remember where she’d put the stupid phone again.

Mitzy nodded pulling out the cell phone that she had been given when her MJ had been promoted to her current rank. It was answered on the first ring and she was asked to wait for one moment when she told the operator that MJ Brandon had been hurt. Before she could tell the person who answered that she wanted to get to the hospital, someone spoke.

“Mrs. Brandon, it’s Michael Lowery. Can you tell me any more than she’s been hurt?” Mitzy had to think for a moment who the man was that was talking to her. When it occurred to her, she sat up a little straighter and told him all she knew was that she was en route to the hospital and had been shot. “I have the name of the hospital that’s local to you. I’m sending out my best men to make sure she’s well protected, as well as you and DJ. We’ll make sure that she comes home to us all, Mrs. Brandon. I give you my word.”

“Marshall, I don’t rightly remember his last name. He is taking her to the hospital in her chopper machine. He’s a good friend to those people who helped me fix up my will. Hamish something.” He asked her if it was Retired General Marshall Morton. “I don’t rightly…do you think that she’ll be all right, sir? She and her sister are all I got.”

She hated to cry. No matter what was going on but this hurt her to her core. One of her girls had been hurt, and it had more than likely been one of her sons who did it. Listening to the man at the other end of the line, she heard him say that he’d have heads if she wasn’t, but he saw no reason that she’d not be.

“She only just took off. And then she came back here right away after being hurt, I’m guessing. I don’t know what I’d of done had we had to get her out of that contraption if not for Marshall being here. As for him being army, too? Well, I don’t know. He didn’t say. But he just took off again, and that’s all we know for now.” Micheal told her that she would get the upmost best care that he could have provided for her and she needn’t worry at all. “Thank you, sir. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

They were nearly to the hospital when she put her phone back in her bag. She could see the chopper machine sitting on part of the parking lot reserved for that. Getting out as soon as the truck stopped, a wheelchair was brought for her, and she smiled at the pretty doctor who said she was going to be taking care of MJ but wanted to talk to her first.

“She’s going to be just fine, Ms. Brandon. I’ve had a chance to check her out, and she’s told me what she knows about being hurt. The president called me directly, so I’m going to go in and remove the two bullets that hit her high in her arm and in her thigh. She’ll be down for a bit, but I’m to understand that you two will be taking good care of her when she’s released.” Mitzy told the woman doctor that they would. “Good. My name is Rosie Phelps, I’m with the FBI crime labs. Like I said, the president called me in especially for your granddaughter. Now you get settled here, and I’ll be back when I’m finished.”

The room that they were taken to was plush. The office, because that was what she realized it was had lovely pictures on the wall and nice seating. The name on the front of the door said that it was the office of the young lady who said she was going to operate on her MJ. There were so many initials on the door under her name that she wondered what they all meant.

She was just getting settled when she saw two men in suits make their way down the hall to the operating rooms. Mitzy only knew what was beyond here because she’d been here getting her own surgery done just a bit ago. Open heart surgery was something that she’d needed for a good while, but she’d been putting it off in favor of not dying on the operating table. It had scared her that much.

“Ms. Brandon? My name is Michael Lowery. We spoke on the phone a little while ago. I’ve spoken to the surgeon, Rosie Phelps, and she said that things are going very well and that she should be finished up in about an hour. In addition to her being shot twice, it seems that General Brandon had a bit of glass in her head from when the glass shattered on the chopper. Do you need anything? Anything at all?” She shook her head, so happy that her little girl was going to be all right. “I’d like to tell you that the General means a great deal to us all and we’ll make sure that she’s getting the best of care while here and when she is able to go home. I believe, just for safety reasons, they’re going to keep her for a couple of days longer. There is an investigation going on right now, and we can keep her safer here rather than out in the open public. You understand.”

“Yes. I do. When she comes home, I’ll do my best to keep her rested, too.” They both laughed, knowing that if MJ didn’t want to sit, she’d not do it. “That Mr. Marshall…I don’t remember his last name right now. Do you know where he might have gone off to? I wanted to thank him for being so quick on the go to get her here.”

“He’s…I guess you could call it assisting Agent Phelps with the surgery.” She didn’t know what that meant, but before she could ask him, the president changed the subject. “I’ll be heading back soon. Can’t be out of the office for too long, as I think you’d understand. But I’ll keep tabs on your little family, Ms. Brandon. If there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to call me. I’m also going to leave a couple of agents here, too, so that when the General does come home, you’ll be safe there as well.”

After the president left, she dozed off and on. It had been a hell of a couple of weeks and she was easy to tire. As she was getting up to move around, sending DJ to get something for them to eat, Marshall came down the hallway. My, she thought, he was a large man. Good looking, too.

“Mrs. Brandon.” She told him to call her Mitzy. “I can do that. There are a couple of things that I’d like to talk to you about. It’s nothing terrible. At least it doesn’t seem so right now. But you’d know Maggie better than I do.”

“First off, she won’t care for you calling her Maggie. I don’t think. I know that some of her men call her that, and it pisses her off something—Is she really going to be all right? Don’t butter me up. Just tell me.” He told her that she would be better than all right now. She gave him a side look. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am. I do. As I said, it’s nothing—” She told him to get on with it. “Maggie or whatever she prefers for me to call her is…I belong to her. As in, I’m her mate.” He asked her if she understood the meaning of that. Nodding, she stared at the man. “Good. I’m older than I look. By a great deal. Older than you but a great many years as well. I’ve been around since the only people here were the Indians that laid claim to—hundreds and hundreds of years old.”

“You’re trying to tell me something more. I know it. But I will tell you that my granddaughter, she’s not going to like this none. She’s been, you might say, that she and her sister are a tad jaded about men in general.” Marshall told her that he could understand that as well. “What else? I’m assuming you have more.”

“Yes, ma’am, I do. A great deal more. I’m an immortal, and from the moment that I claimed, with words only, I promise you, the moment that I acknowledged Maggie, she became an immortal. The same with you and DJ, too, if you wish.” She did have to ask him what that meant. “It means that you won’t die, not from anything. Neither will either of the girls…women die either. I didn’t claim your sons because I thought that I’d leave that up to you and the women.”

Mitzy thought of something else. However, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to voice it. Instead of asking him right off if that was the only reason that her granddaughter was still alive, because of him, Mitzy asked him if he had a place where they could be safe. More than anything, she wanted to ask him. But she’d leave that for another day. It was then that the doctor came down the hall as well, and she had a bright smile on her face. It was more than she could have hoped for.