Thatcher: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  They decided to rest there for the day. And after eating a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon with toast, she cleaned up the kitchen and even did the dishes. This was new, it was theirs, and she wasn’t going to have it looking like their home had. Not this place.

  Lying down in the other bed, Lisha thought about the things that she was going to say to her daughter. But then she realized that with this money, they’d not have to go and see her. Lisha was all for that. She didn’t much care for Rogen and was certain that she didn’t like her any better. It wasn’t really that, she supposed. Lisha was afraid that Rogen would spit in her face. And that would hurt. When he woke up, she’d talk to Jimmy about it and try and talk him into going someplace that was warm all the time.

  Closing her eyes, she felt safe and comfortable. There were things that she could do, she supposed, but right now all she wanted to do was rest and not worry. She thought of some of the things they should get, things that would make camping even better, but only thought about them. Jimmy made most of the decisions about money, and she wasn’t going to change that now that they had a bit.

  A house, her mind wandered over. A nice little house in a place that they’d not have to worry about the fucking neighbors. They’d had the worst living where they had been. Meddlesome and mean, they would call the police on them all the time about the trash in the yard. The way the lawn wasn’t mowed. She didn’t know how to do it, and Jimmy was ill. Why didn’t they just do it themselves? Fuckers.

  Letting sleep take her, she wondered briefly where Jamie was. Had Rogen finally tossed him to the side of the road? No, she’d not do that. She loved the little creep. She wondered if he was still alive. That would have been the way she’d have gotten rid of him, if Rogen hadn’t stepped in. Christ, that kid was a pain in the ass. But Lisha would love for her to see her in this camper. Just to show off to her that her parents were not deadbeats, as she’d called them before leaving home.

  Chapter 6

  Thatcher watched her sleep. They’d made love until neither of them could move this morning, and he’d never felt so in love as he did right at this moment. When she opened her eyes and smiled at him, Thatcher revised his last thought. Now he was as happy as he’d ever been.

  “You wore me out.” He laughed and told her that he was thinking the same thing. “I don’t suppose you’d like to wear me out again, would you? I don’t want to force you—”

  Thatcher picked her up and put her over his lap; his cock was in heaven and so was he. Her laughter made him laugh too. She was such a delight in anything they did together.

  The way she was sitting on him, he thought he could live out the rest of his days like this. When she sat up slightly and guided him into her, Thatcher moaned. Christ, she was fucking perfect.

  “Last night when you took me this way, all I could think about was your tiger and the way that he must take his mate.” She rode him slowly, taking her time with her needs. “Then when you bit me on the shoulder, all I could think about was how hard I came, the way stars and tiny tigers danced around my head. Do you have any idea how wonderful it feels to have you so deep inside of me that I can almost swallow you?”

  “Yes.” He wanted to make her ride him faster, let him peak now instead of later. But the look on her face, the face of pure enjoyment, made him slow himself. Putting his need behind her own was difficult, but he thought in the end it would be well worth it.

  Thatcher couldn’t get enough of this woman. Not just sexually, though that was amazing, but just having her near him. Her laughter made him think life would go on forever. Her breath was like a fresh blooming flower in the spring and happiness, all rolled up into a neat loving package that was entirely his own.

  When she said she was coming, screaming out her release, Thatcher watched her, marveling at the beauty that she was. And when she begged him for more, he rolled them to her back and pounded her hard, holding her hands above her head so that he could have his way with her.

  “I need to touch you. Let me feel your skin.” He told her no. Not yet. “Please, I want to come holding onto you until I can’t any longer.”

  “You’re much too greedy, did you know that? Just let me have my way with you, and then you can hold on. I think that you’ll need to when I’m finished with you.”

  He suckled at her nipples, her breasts his to bite. Her body was his temple, his relief in life’s stress. And when he felt his own release coming to him, he put it off just a little longer, letting her hands go so that he could bring her with him, both of them coming to peak at the same time.

  “Come for me, love. Come and let me fill you with everything that I am.” She screamed when he lifted her ass up to join his body tighter. “Again.”

  Rogen was coming the second time when he finally let go. Thatcher had never come so hard or for so long in his life. And when the second climax took him, he could only hold on long enough to bring Rogen again before he dropped on top of her, his body not just spent but dead to the world.

  When he woke, he was alone in the bed and her side was cold, so he knew that she’d been up for a while. Getting out of bed was hard—his body was sore from all the love making and coming as he had. Taking a shower, he reached out to Rogen to find out if she was home or not. He found her in the basement and smiled. She was working hard on something.

  Thatcher stopped by the kitchen to see if Rogen had eaten. “No. She said that she’d wait on you. But I don’t think she thought it would be this long. I took her down some tea a bit ago. Whatever she’s doing, it’s very stressful for her, sir. She didn’t even notice that I was there and gone, I don’t think. You try and pull her away, and I’ll make you up something to eat. Dinner is all right, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. And if I can’t get her to get going—whatever she is doing, it must be important—I’ll come up and get something for her to eat, all right?” Mrs. B said that was fine with her. “Good. Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “She’s a right pleasure, she is. Nicest woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t you be doing things like that, now. You might make her a bit jealous of us.”

  Mrs. B was still laughing when he went to see Rogen. She had every light on in the place, and he noticed that there wasn’t anything on the walls. They were as stark as a basement usually was. Also, and for some reason this bothered him more than anything, there were no plants down here. Surely if he had them set back from the electrical things, there could be a few, he thought.

  “Did you know that there are over five thousand bank robberies a year? And that ninety-eight of them are solved?” She hadn’t even looked in his direction before she started talking. “I can smell you. Is that weird?”

  “No. Normal. Why are you looking for bank robberies?” She told him that was her job right now. Find the person that had robbed a bank in Colorado. “Do you know who it is?”

  “Sort of. The persons who robbed the bank aren’t the ones with the money.” Thatcher sat down in one of the other half dozen office chairs. She looked at him. “I’m not sure what I’m looking at here, but it’s very strange.”

  “Do you need me to look with you? I can be a fresh set of eyes. Oh, and dinner is about ready. Do you think we can go up and eat? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” She grinned and showed him the wrappers on her desk. “Good job. Would it be all right with you if I made the other half of this area into something more homey? Like add a few plants? A couple of rugs?”

  “The men are coming back today to put a wall up in this part. I don’t think it’s very secure that you can see it from the door. So yes, that would be great. That way, we can enjoy ourselves down here and I won’t have to look at anything. Maybe we can put out a deck or something, and a table so that we can have a little breakfast or something out there and in here.”

  “Excellent.” She stood up and stretched. “How are you feeling this evening? I have to admit, I’m a little sore in places. I don’
t think I’ve ever been sore before.”

  “I’m sore too.” They made their way to the other area in the basement. “Okay, let’s get this started sometime soon. Make it very homey for us. Jamie would love this too. By the way, he needs for you to come out and help him with one of the pieces of equipment. He said that you have to okay him on it before he can use it.”

  He was just getting his platter of food when the house phone rang. Mrs. B answered it and handed it to him. He was needed at the hospital and had to leave now. As much as he hated it, he knew that his job was important to someone today. After kissing Rogen and asking her to tell Jamie he’d get to him when he returned, he left. For as much as he loved his job and thought he was good at it, he really hated to leave home anymore.

  There had been an accident on the highway, and there were two coming to his operating room. They were ready, waiting, when his nurse told him he had a phone call. Going to the phone that was covered in a nice plastic film, he said his name and asked who it was.

  “It’s Dawson. I figured that this was easier on your staff. Your patient died on the way in, but he’s an organ donor. If you can do that for me, I might be able to save the oldest son. His heart has been damaged.” He asked him if the paperwork was filled out. “It will be by the time he gets to you. I need this done now, Thatcher. The kids will have lost both their parents and the oldest child all in the same day. Please?”

  “I’ll do it. Just make sure they’re typed and matched, Dawson, and we’ll have it done when you’re ready for me.”

  It would mean a longer day, but perhaps someone would be able to live after he was finished. Not only did he have to take the heart from the father, but he’d then have to transplant it into the son. It was hard work, often dangerous for the receiver, but the boy might live, and that was a better chance than he had right now.

  The operating room wasn’t set up for a transplant, so they had to work quickly in getting it ready. After making sure that everyone had eaten something and had gone to the bathroom, he was as ready as he’d ever be. All they had to do now was wait.

  Dawson was going to assist him on the moves. He was a good doctor and a very good surgeon, but Dawson preferred to work in the emergency room more than where Thatcher worked. He said that he got to be there firsthand for anything that came along in the ER, and he never had the same day twice in a row. That was good for him. But Thatcher liked to have the same sort of day. Let him do surgery of any kind, especially when it came to working with the heart, and he was as happy as a camper.

  Three and a half hours into the surgery, he was contacted by Rogen. She said she was sorry but asked if it was all right with him if she met with Shane. The pack master wanted to talk to her.

  Are you afraid of him? She said no, but she didn’t know how it worked with them, leader to leader—Shane being pack leader and Thatcher being in charge of a destruction. Then she asked him why they called themselves that. My dad did that. He thought that a pack of wild cats, what he said we were when growing up, was an apt name for the group. There were very few of us in the area then, shifter tigers, so the council made him the leader by default. When he retired, I took over with about a dozen of us. If you want to meet with Shane, you can. You don’t need my permission to do that. He’s a good man, a better pack leader than we’ve had in a while, so go for it.

  She said that made sense and that she would meet with Shane. Rogen told him she loved him and closed the connection. He told Dawson what she’d wanted. He laughed a little, and Thatcher asked him what was so funny about that.

  “She saved some of the members of the pack, an entire family, right?” Thatcher nodded as he worked. “All right then, what do you do when someone is kind enough to save another tiger for you? Or if they’re doing something wrong? You reward them with a nice little mark on their skin that makes it so they’re a member of your team, so to speak.”

  Thatcher thought of nothing else but her being marked by the alpha. It didn’t bother him, not really, but he did wonder what Rogen would think about it. He could almost hear her telling Shane off, telling him that she wanted no such reward, that anyone would have done it.

  As soon as they were finished with the operation, he showered and dressed for home. Dawson said that he’d keep an eye on the young man, and promised he’d call if needed.

  As much as he hated to leave a patient, he thought it might be well worth being there today. Whatever was going on at home, he’d bet anything that a war was either going on or about to start. Thatcher laughed a great deal on the way to his home.

  ~*~

  Shane had to bite his tongue several times in dealing with the pretty woman. She was stubborn, he had to hand it to her. But he was a pack leader, and she had done him a great service. All she had to do was put out her hand, accept his gift, and that would be the end of it. Instead, she said that she wasn’t going to take it no matter what. He had a feeling that the no matter what was what it was going to come to. Finally, Thatcher was home.

  “Hello, darling.”

  Shane didn’t have a mate. Well, he’d had one, but she passed a very long time ago. Now he was left alone with two grown daughters who now had families of their own. Shane had no one to go home to at night anymore. Watching the couple in front of him, Shane wanted to find himself someone to have at home when he got there. Thatcher looked at him with a twinkle in his eye, as if he knew what he’d been dealing with.

  “She is stubborn.” Rogen said she was also right there. “You will take this gift I have for you, and you’ll enjoy it.”

  He sounded like he was insane and let out a long breath just as Thatcher sat down. Perhaps he could reason with him. His wife was certainly one to test a man’s patience.

  “Did you know that my mom said that you needed a housekeeper?” Shane asked Thatcher what the fuck he was talking about. “Your house. It’s in disarray, and you haven’t dusted, Mom told me, in months.”

  “I have no idea what you or your mother is talking about. What I want you to do, Thatcher, is make her take my gift. She’s being very stubborn, and I don’t have time for it.” Rogen told him to go home then. “See what I mean? She’s should be listening to me. I’m a pack leader, and I have a fucking gift for her.”

  “You know what? I’ve already had to make my cat take down one man, and you might just be her first kill.” Rogen stood up, and so did Shane. When he looked at him, Thatcher couldn’t help it, he laughed. Rogen continued. “You sit your ass right down on that couch, and you fucking will listen to me.”

  Shane sat. Then he looked at Thatcher, shocked. Yes, she’d just made him sit down. He was an alpha, for God’s sake. But he’d be lucky if she didn’t make him beg before long.

  ~*~

  “Now. I saved those people not for you to come here and make me feel like I’ve done you a disservice, but because they were nice to me.” The indication that he wasn’t being nice was very clear, Thatcher thought. “If you want to make me so that the next time I see an accident I have to weigh it against putting up with your bullshit, then that’s fine, I guess. It’ll be on your head if anyone dies from it.”

  “Now you see here—” She snapped her fingers and pointed to the couch, and Shane sat again. “How the fuck are you doing that?”

  “Because, you fucking moron, you might be the leader of a bunch of dogs, but I’m a leader of a bunch of fucking cats. And if you were to slowly turn around and look in the yard, you’d see that each of my tigers is waiting for me to signal before they come in here and tear your ass up.” Shane did look, then turned back to Rogen. “Are we finished seeing who has the longest stream of piss?”

  “Yes. And my apologies. You’re nothing like any woman I’ve ever worked with before.” She said that she wasn’t working with him. “Yes, that much I’ve come to realize. But I am sorry. I don’t understand what’s going on right now, but I am sorry.”

  “My mom said that you’re out of touch with women.” Shane told Thatcher that was the tru
th. “Yes, and the fact that you thought that I’d tell Rogen what to do, or even step in for her, shows me that you also have been missing out on talking to people in general. You can’t order them around anymore, Shane. Women are much smarter than we give them credit for.”

  “I’m beginning to see that.” Shane stood up, then went down on one knee. “I am profoundly sorry for treating you like a bimbo, as well as an idiot. The reason that I’m saying bimbo is because Beth—you saved her family—said that I was treating her like one when I tried...well, it’s not important. I was an idiot all around today.”

  “Yes, but I won’t hold that against you this time.” Shane laughed. It sounded surprised, as if it had been a while since he’d done it. Thatcher felt sorry for the older man. “Did you know that you have squatters on your land?”

  “No. We don’t cover it all, but most of it. How did you find out?” She didn’t answer him, and Shane’s look at him didn’t get him anything either. “Do I not want to know? Or is this a case of you having to kill me if you told me?”

  “The latter. They’re also stealing your power source, as well as hunting on your land. There are six men that I’ve counted, as well as a truck that comes in once a week to drop off more food and takes things away. I have the name of the delivery company.” Shane asked her if she’d help him. “Yes. But when I do, it’s best if you stay out of the way. I don’t want anyone killed over this.”

  “Seriously, do I want to know how it is you know all this?”

  Rogen told him that she really would have to kill him, because no paperwork had come back on him as yet. She’d tell him or have him killed, depending on what everything said.

  “You’re serious.” Rogen told him she was. “I don’t understand any of this, but I believe you. And even when my paperwork comes back to you clean, I don’t know if I want to know then either. But I would like, if you can, for you to get the squatters off the land. I don’t want you to kill them...will you have to?”