Dylan (Bowen Boys) (24 page)

The cabinets were glass fronted and lighted
from above. The table was huge in both size and weight. She’d made it from
lumber that had been left over from building the house. The floor was quarried
stone she’d had brought in and was heated from beneath. Jack had told him the
first morning there that she’d never spent her money on clothes or anything else,
and had sank everything she’d made into this place. It showed.

The living room/dining room had a stone
fireplace in it that heated the house. Vents that were fed from the fireplace had
been placed throughout the entire house. They heated the entire house without
the need for ductwork. She said in the winter if she had a good fire going, she
could get it up to nearly eighty degrees.

The bedroom was huge and had a view and
a deck that was amazing. They’d left the door opened nightly to let in the
fresh night air and the sounds of the forest. He had never slept better in his
life than he had that first night. After that, he’d been too worried about her
to do more than hold her while she tossed and turned. When he was finished
washing up the dishes, he went to the bedroom again. She was still sleeping.

Stripping down, he crawled into the bed
with her. She was warm and soft, but he tried not to hold her too tightly and
wake her. As soon as he pulled the covers over them again, she rolled over and
wrapped herself around him. He closed his eyes and decided to try and sleep while
she did.

The room was dark when he woke. She was
still sleeping, so he got up to go to the bathroom and wash up. He looked in
the mirror and thought he looked rested…more so than he’d looked earlier. When
he pulled his cell phone out of the drawer he’d been putting it in so as not to
wake her, he was shocked to see he’d missed nine phone calls and a few dozen
texts, all of them from his family. That’s when he realized the date was
different. They’d been asleep for well over twenty-four hours. Dylan went back
to the bedroom to find her awake.

“Hi. How you doing?” She smiled at his
question. “We must have needed this, because we’ve been in bed for a whole day
and a half.”

“No way. I haven’t been sleeping well.
That can’t be right.” He handed her his phone when he got back in the bed with
her. “Are you sure this is right?”

“I know. I didn’t believe it either, but
I think it’s right. I feel like it’s right, too. I feel great.” She lay back
down, and he pulled her to him.

“I feel better, too.” She stretched over
him and his cock jerked. “Dylan, do you want to open the box now?”

He wanted to tell her later, that he
wanted to open her now, but nodded. She got up and went to the kitchen, and
returned with the box. She sat on the bed with her legs crossed and looked at
it.

“It’s probably nothing. I’ve been
worrying about nothing.” He asked her if she believed that. “No, but I know
that I have to open it or it will eat me up inside.”

She flipped up the small clasp and
started to raise the lid. She reached for his hand and told him to help her as
Jacob had told them to open it together. When the lid was back as far as it
would go, they looked inside. On top was a letter.

“It’s from Jacob.” She opened it slowly.
“He starts it with a thank you.”

“Thank you so much for what you have
done for everyone. Not just for your family but for all mankind, in the future
as well as your own time. There have been many before you who have tried, but
no one but you have succeeded.

“You’ll find within this chest a great amount
of wealth. Not just of the monetary kind, but of things you’ll learn to
treasure and hold. The money has been added to over the centuries by different
wizards, as well as me, who had to hide to stay alive. We were fighting a
losing war with Lucius long before he decided to take the White House. He has
hunted our kind to near extinction.

“I would like to visit you again someday
soon, but for now know that I will continue to watch over you all. I have a
special fondness for panthers myself as I started my life as one before
becoming a wizard. It was only after I changed that I realized how much I missed
being able to run with a family.

“Good luck in all that you do. I hope
that you will know that everything you did you did for the greatness of
mankind. You have saved so many people, human and others, that you cannot know
how indebted we will be to you forever. Sincerely, your friend Jacob.”

Dylan dumped the contents of the box on
the bed and looked at it, stunned. Jacob wasn’t kidding when he said there was
a great amount of wealth. There was enough in just stones that they could live
off of for years…lifetimes…without ever spending it all. He picked up one of
the larger rubies while Jack picked up the small thumb drives.

“I think this is big enough to buy us a
country,” he said. She laughed as she picked up another drive and handed it to
him. “What is this? What do you suppose this means?”

She said she had no idea but got up to
get her laptop. He picked up several more of the drives and they each said one
word on them: tiger, panther, bear, and so on. There seemed to be a drive for
each species of animals. When she sat down again he handed her the one that
said panther. She brought up the file, and he looked over her lap at what was
there.

“Oh my God, it’s a list. A list of every
panther known, as well as mates and children. Your family is here, as is my
name and Monica’s and Caitlynne’s and their children.” She moved the mouse more
quickly now, then stopped. “This is a list of known abilities that each may
have, as well as a list of things unique to them. What on earth do you suppose
he gave this to us for?”

There was a small notation near his name,
and he asked her to read it. He knew what it said before she started. Someone
knew what he could do, as well as Monica. He was afraid.

“It says ‘Special Ability: No
boundaries. Dylan Bowen is able to read the mind of every being with a mind. Animals
as well as human. He will pass this on to his children and them on to theirs. He
is to be saved at all costs.” She looked at him. “Dylan, what does he mean that
you should be saved at all costs?”

“I don’t know. Does it say the same with
Monica?” It did. “Are there any special notations for you?”

He waited while she looked. He was not
just afraid but terrified that it wouldn’t have anything for her, and he would
not want to contemplate living in fear for her the rest of his life. She said
that it did. She looked at him, as afraid as he was.

“It says that I must be saved above all
else, with the exception of my mate and children. It says that I am the one to
safeguard the records.” She reached for his hand. “Dylan, there’s more. Are you
ready for it?”

He nodded, but had wanted to shake his
head. He didn’t what to know what he knew, but now that he did, he also knew
that it would be impossible to ever forget it. When she looked back at the
computer, he held her hand.

“It says that the records are ours to
keep safe at all costs. That you and I as a mated pair of panthers will live
for an ‘entirety,’ and by doing so we’ll safeguard the races against people who
would harm them. We’re the Keeper of the Records.” She closed the computer and
leaned back against him. “What does it mean to live for an entirety? Should it
have been an eternity?”

He doubted it was a mistake. “Eternity
means an infinite time or time without a beginning or an end. Entirety means
law undivided or the sole possession. I think it means that you and I are the
law governing all species.”

She didn’t move nor did she say
anything. He waited for her to say something that would be anything he could
agree with, anything other than what he’d just told her. She simply sat there
for a long time and looked at the contents of the box.

“He gave us this as a prepayment to our
job.” He nodded. “And I wonder if we have the ability to say no. I’m thinking it’s
too late for that. Don’t you?”

“Yes. I think the moment you and I met
it was too late for that.” Dylan picked up the stones and put them back in the
chest, as well as the other thumb drives. “How will we know what to do about
updating the information?”

“I have a feeling that it will be done
for us. I have a feeling that the moment you and I have a baby….” She laughed
bitterly. “Hell, probably the moment one is conceived, it will be on the
records.”

Dylan nodded. He watched her pull out
the drive and drop it in the box with the others, and he closed it up. She put
the computer on the floor and lay down. He spooned in behind her.

“I want to go home now. But I want to
come back here often if you don’t mind.” He agreed with her. “Dylan, we’ll need
to figure out where to hide these things, including the jewels.”

He told her he knew just the place. “You
know where the place is as well. It’s the only place on earth that no one but
you and I, and maybe Khan, will ever know about; the wedge between the river
and the stone wall.”

She agreed, and they lay there together
until morning. After putting the box where he’d suggested, they went home. Dylan
had a feeling that things were about to get nuts. He glanced over at his wife
and knew that he’d not have it any other way.

About the Author

Kathi
Barton, author of the bestselling series Force of Nature, lives in Nashport,
Ohio with her husband Paul. In addition to writing full time Kathi likes to
spend time with her eight grandkids, three children and three children-in-laws.
She writes to relax and have fun.  

Her
muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman brings them to life for
her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her
favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit
Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her
fans.
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