Hawkins_McCullough’s Jamboree_Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  Reaching for the rest of the things that Lauren had, Jamie read over the other stuff as well. It wasn’t a long drive to Columbus, but it seemed to go faster because she stayed busy and focused on what she was doing.

  By the time they were parked, she was all butterflies and snakes. Yes, she thought to herself, it was a strange combination, but she was almost making herself ill with this. Jamie thought that she might have liked to have stayed home and looked for Jackson. At least there, she knew he was a bad guy and needed taken out. Jamie darted in the gift shop when she just needed a moment. No one came in after her, but Hawkins did reach out to her.

  Are you okay with this? We don’t have to do this now. She told Hawkins that she knew that, but she really wanted to get it over with. His attorney took a swab of his mouth too, so as soon as the lab is finished with them, you should know. Lauren is rushing it.

  What if he is my father? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that information. Do I tell him what was done to me? Do I show him? I know that I’m stretching into territory that might not matter, but I’m terrified out of my gore with this. He laughed and told her that if they gave her any shit, to burn the lot of them. You jest about that, but I might have to after what I read about those boys of his.

  And we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, if we ever do. What we’re doing today is going to see a gentleman at his request. Nothing more needs to be read into it until we’re as sure as shit about it. And trust me when I tell you, I’ve known Lauren for a couple of decades, and she’ll make sure that this is the real deal. Again, if it comes to that.

  Jamie came out of the gift shop with a small planter of flowers. It said simply “Get well soon,” without a name on it. “Are you ready now? And I love that you thought of flowers. It might be something that he won’t get from anyone else. Especially his sons.”

  “They’re going to require me to kick their asses, I’m sure of it. If they get wind that I might be their half-sister, this is going to be a war.” Hawkins told her that he wasn’t worried. He had the two bravest and strongest women with him, and they’d come out on top. “You say that now, but I might be in prison before this is done.”

  They knocked on the door and were told to come in. Mr. Pennington didn’t know they were coming here, and the attorney told Lauren that was where he was to have the test done. As soon as she walked in the door, she realized how wrong she’d been about the flowers. As well as the man on the bed. He looked nothing like the person she’d been dreaming of coming for her, but a man like any other.

  “Oh my God.” Jamie looked behind her when Mr. Pennington sat up more on the bed. “You’re her. You’re my daughter. I can’t believe how much you— Gordon, show her the picture of Becky.” He just kept staring at her until Jamie felt uncomfortable. But when the other man handed her a picture, she gave it to Hawkins without looking. “I’m glad that you’re here. I’ve been trying to find you since I was informed of you. You’re very beautiful. Jamie—they said that your name is Jamie.”

  “It’s James, actually. When I was dropped off at the orphanage there was a blank birth certificate on my blanket. The guy that found me—he was the gardener or something—didn’t check my gender and put James in the blank lines. I was dressed all in blue, as it turns out. As he worked outside and didn’t see me at all, it wasn’t until several months later that it was discovered that he’d made a mistake. He had filed the certificate on his way home from work that day.” Mr. Pennington laughed, then had to hold his head while he laid back on the bed. “I don’t know what to do or what you expect of me.”

  “Neither do I, but I’m so glad to meet you, James Pennington Fitzpatrick McCullough.” This time it was all of them that laughed, then Hawkins handed her the old photo.

  “Holy fuck, I do look like her.”

  ~*~

  Marshall talked to Jamie for as long as he was allowed. He was so pleased that she was upfront about everything he’d asked her, but not what she’d done after she’d been adopted out from Our Lady of Trust. He wanted to ask her outright, but really, he was afraid of knowing. There was something odd about all of them, and then it hit him.

  “Shifters. You’re all shifters.” He looked at Jamie as he continued. “But you. You’re not like them, are you? I’m not saying that you’re different in a bad way, but you’re human, aren’t you? That’s what I meant to say.” Jamie looked at Hawkins and Lauren, and they both left the room. “Whatever you’re going to tell me, I’m not going to like it, am I?”

  “I haven’t any idea if you will or not, to be honest. I had thought before coming here that you might have been a part of what happened to me, but now I can see that you didn’t know.” She got up to look out the window, and Marshall was astonished again at how much she looked like her birth mother. “I wasn’t adopted, as you’ve been told, but sold to a laboratory not far from here. They used me for a test rat for about ten years or so. I escaped not long after another one like me was able to.”

  “I don’t understand.” She nodded as if she knew that he’d not. “Can you make me understand, Jamie? I want to know what these men did to you. Because as surely as I’m here laid up, they’re going to be in worse shape.”

  “You don’t have to do that. They’re all dead or in jail. Lauren and her team took them out.” Jamie looked at him then. “She and Hawkins are working for the government, and have been for over twenty years. I can’t tell you what they did or are doing, but they’ve been on missions that you’d not want to hear about anyway.”

  “I see.” But he didn’t, not really. “But this lab, you said that they tested things on you. I’m assuming that it wasn’t how sugar affects your brain.” She shook her head and put out her hand. He reached for it, thinking that she wanted to hold his, when a bright white fire appeared. “Holy Moses. That’s fire. Is it burning you?”

  “No. It never burns me.” She was suddenly and profoundly covered in the same flame that had been in her hand. And through it all, she spoke to him as if it were nothing for this to be happening. “I have other talents as well. I can manipulate someone’s computer. Back search from a touch who the person touched, and then from there, see who they might have come in contact with. There are many more, but I think that’s enough for you for now, correct?”

  “Yes. I’m slightly overwhelmed right now. I’m intrigued, but also overwhelmed. I’d like to be able to help you out of this.” She told him that it was as much a part of her now as his blood and skin were to him. “So this is only some of the many things that were done to you there.”

  “It is. There was another there—well, more than just the two of us—that they experimented on. The young man that I was the guinea pig for, he’s my nephew by marriage now. And he’s like me, but much less on the scale of scary shit.” He nodded and smiled at her. “You try and sell me off to some lab, and they’ll never find your body.”

  “No. No, I’d never do anything like that. Never. My sons might. I just realized that they’re your half-brothers. You won’t like them. I certainly don’t.” She laughed, and he was reminded of his own mother’s laughter. She laughed all the time when he’d been a child. “Please, have a seat and talk to me. I’ve missed so much of your life that I find that I want to know every bit of it. Even the bad parts. Please?”

  “Not today. I can see that you’re exhausted—there is straining around your eyes.” He was feeling each cut and bruise on his body. “I’ll come back tomorrow, and we can talk then. But don’t expect anything from me just yet. I’m only just now getting used to being around people again. And I’m not going to change myself to suit you either. If we are related, you take me as I am.”

  “I’d be honored to let you be what you are.” He watched her stand, and then she looked around the room. “I’m well liked. If you’d like to talk to some of the people that I work with at Pennington Corp, I can arrange that for you too.”

  “Let’s not go putting the cart before the horse. One step at a tim
e.” He nodded and told her goodbye when she left him. “I’ll be back tomorrow unless Lauren needs me. My job working with her has to come first.” Then she left him.

  Marshall sat there for a long time, deep in thought. Then he reached for his phone and snatched his hand back when it rang first. It was Gordon, just the man that he needed to speak with.

  “She’s your daughter, Marshall. She hits all the markers, the report said, and she’s ninety-nine-point-nine percent a Pennington.” Marshall started to cry. He had a daughter. After all this time, he had himself a little girl. “I’m guessing that she’s left you by now. I like her, by the way, and her husband. He’s a good man, and a very wealthy one. More so than you are by a large margin.”

  “Good for them. They have been through a great deal. She didn’t tell me it all, but she’s been abused. More than I could have imagined when I started this search.” Gordon told him that Hawkins had told him some. “I want you to come in here. Bring that secretary of yours in. I have something I need for you to do. Have you heard from the bane of my life today?”

  When Marshall had told Jamie that he didn’t like his sons, he’d not been lying. But it was the first time that he’d said it aloud, and he felt very good about disliking them. It hadn’t been him that had given them everything that they’d wanted, it had been his wife. And when she’d died, they expected the same kind of treatment from him.

  Marshall had done it for a little while, about a month. Then he realized what horrible people they were. Little by little he’d started cutting them off, until the other day when he’d had enough. That had cost him too. They had nearly killed him when he’d been out jogging.

  “I did hear from Chad. I think the others were with him. He told me that I wasn’t going to be their attorney when you were dead if I didn’t start playing ball with them. I just hung up. Sometimes it’s better to cut that crap off before it gets out of hand. And to be honest, I wouldn’t work for them even if you begged me to.” Marshall said that he’d never do that to him. “I know that, Marshall. These boys, men really, have had this coming for a long time. It was Rachel’s fault, indulging them in every whim until it was expected from you. I’m glad that you’re doing something about this. And Clark and I will be in shortly. I’ll bring you what I’ve been able to find out about Jamie, and her new family as well.”

  While waiting on his attorney, he made notes of things that he wanted done. He was sure that Jamie had the results—she might even have had them while talking to him. But he knew now, and was going to make some changes to his life. For her. He wanted to devote as much as he could to her now that he’d found her. Marshall was glad that the meeting for the board had been put off for a few more days while he recovered. He wondered if his sons knew that because of what they’d done, they were delayed in trying to kick him out of his own company.

  By the time Gordon and Clark showed up, he had a long list of things that he wanted done. And he also had a list of things that he wanted to speak to Jamie about. His daughter. Marshall couldn’t believe how much pleasure it gave him to say that. Marshall thought of all the things that were going to happen, and the order in which he would like to see them happen. But he needed this done first. And he needed to talk to Jamie and Hawkins. He was going to ask them to help him out of this situation with his sons.

  “God, I hope this will work.” He asked Gordon, when he’d read over his list, if he thought it might. “I don’t know, but I’d say that it will. Lauren told me that Jamie wanted to help you out with them even before she’d met you. So, she’s going to help you, I know it.”

  “Good. And the other things? You can take care of them before this meeting of the minds, so to speak?” Gordon assured him that he would have it all done before tomorrow morning. “I want you to be careful around them. They’re not finished with me yet. And I’d just as soon you weren’t hurt by them.”

  “I’ve hired us bodyguards. Hawkins is going to keep an eye on both of us for the time being. There is a man outside your door right now that I’d not want to mess with. His name is Bear. I think he’s actually a bear too. And Hawkins is with me until this is resolved.” Marshall nearly cried again. He was emotional, he knew that, and blamed it on the pain and the medication. “Marshall, I’m very glad that you’ve done this. I wasn’t at first, I’ll be honest with you. But now that you’ve found her and have taken steps to cut those mongrels off, I’m very happy to be helping you.”

  “I am as well, my friend. I am as well. And by this time Friday, we should all be happy about the way things will go. At least I hope we will.”

  Gordon assured him they would, but Marshall wasn’t as sure. He’d been disappointed for too long now to give up on that. His sons were not going to be happy. And Marshall thought he might do a little jig. After he was feeling more himself, that was.

  Chapter 14

  Jamie stood outside the big meeting room and paced. There was a great deal riding on this today, and she didn’t want to fuck this up for Marshall. He’d been kind to her the last few days, and even brought her pictures of her biological mother. She knew more about her now than she’d ever thought she would. And Marshall told her things about his life too, so she’d be caught up, as he called it.

  “Are you ready for this?” She smiled at Hawkins and he grinned at her. “These men aren’t going to know what hit them, are they? I love it. You might be a bigger mercenary than me, my dear wife.”

  They’d gotten officially married yesterday morning. All his brothers and sisters-in-law were in attendance, as well as his parents, Gordon, and Marshall. She glanced down at the beautiful ring that he’d slipped on her finger when they’d been proclaimed man and wife. Jamie had never been happier to have a name change than she’d been yesterday. Gordon had come to witness the marriage for the board if they asked. Marshall had come because at the last minute, Rich had told her that she should ask her father to give her away. He’d been so happy to take the job that Marshall had cried while holding her hand.

  The little buzzer sounded, and she took a deep breath. This was going to help a man that she’d come to admire and to like a great deal. She went to the door and let her breath out slowly, then turned the knobs to let herself in. The entire room stood up when she stepped in, except for the four men she was here to usurp.

  “Have a seat please.” She leaned down and kissed Marshall on the top of his bald head, then sat down in the chair next to him, pulling one from the wall to be closer to him than his sons. “My name is Jamie McCullough. I’ve recently found out that Marshall Pennington is my biological father.” The room was so silent that she could hear the air conditioning running.

  “Oh, hell no.” One of the sons stood up and Marshall told her it was Chad. “You are not going to come in here and make a claim like that. Get the fuck out of here.”

  Jamie stood as well, knowing that the way they treated her from now on depended on what she did at this moment. Walking to the end of the table, where Chad was, Jamie drew back and slugged him right in the face. Then she calmly and quietly sat down again.

  “If there are no more objections to my being here, then I’d like for this meeting to proceed.” One of the others stood up, and this one was David. He made his way to her, but before he could get to her, Hawkins drew his gun and held it at his side. Laughing, she looked at the other two. “You, any of you, get up again before this meeting is over, and I will personally see that you’re bleeding before you can make a sound.”

  “You’re all bad assed when you have a guard standing there with a gun out. And I thought that guns weren’t allowed in this place.” She was told this was Michael. “I’m thinking of calling the police and having them remove him. Then we’ll see what you have to say for yourself.”

  “If you think you can hurt her, then by all means give it your best shot. You fight dirty and I will take over. But, as I said, have at it.” Hawkins backed away, handing his weapon to Gordon. “For safekeeping, and so that you know that I’m not g
oing to interfere with her taking you all down.”

  Michael stood up, and so did the other three. Jamie did the same and waited for them to come near her. As soon as she could touch one of them, Michael again, she grabbed him around the throat and tossed him across the room. Chad was next. All she did was hit him in the face, twice, before picking up a chair and putting it across his chest and sat on it so that he couldn’t move. David tried to knock her off, or it seemed that he was trying something anyway. Jamie remained where she was and slammed her fist into his belly. Then, standing for the briefest of moments, she kicked him in the balls. And she didn’t hold back on her powers, either.

  “You coming to try and hurt me, Jonas, or are you going to be a good boy and have a seat and shut the fuck up?” She looked down at the man under the chair, and put her foot on his throat when he started screaming at her. “Shut the fuck up.”

  The room was quiet except for the moans of the other two. Jamie looked around the room and then back at Chad. He wasn’t all that scary now, she thought, but she knew that this wouldn’t end here.

  “Now, I’m going to allow you to stand up, but you even think about fucking with me and I’ll end you. Not a threat either—I will simply ram your nose bones right into that small brain of yours, and even if you were in the hospital when it happened, there would be no saving you.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” She told Michael that she was his half-sister. “Not so long as I’m alive you’re not. I’m the oldest here, and you will heel to me.”

  “Heel? Did you seriously just say that? I’m not a dog, you moronic fuck, but a woman. And one that just mopped the floor with your ass and two more, with only having a single one of you touch me.” Chad started cursing and she put her foot back over his neck, and put the littlest bit of pressure on him. “You are going to listen to me, or so help me, you’ll die right here. And I’m thinking that there isn’t a soul here that will give any fuck about it. Isn’t that right?”