Jackson: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  World Castle Publishing, LLC

  Pensacola, Florida

  Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2019

  Paperback ISBN: 9781949812961

  eBook ISBN: 9781949812978

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, May 6, 2019

  http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

  Licensing Notes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Cover: Karen Fuller

  Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Prologue

  “Lord Jackson Le Rouge William, Duke of Willow, Prince of Dragonwyck, you are hereby given the title of king of your castle, owner of all that live there. And in accordance with our laws, you will now be tried for the crimes of your father, now deceased. Where do you stand on this?”

  “Stand, my lords? I don’t understand any of this. I have not seen my father nor my mother in decades. You call me here to tell me that not only is my father dead, but you cannot locate my mother. Now you wish to make me responsible for the crimes for which you have beheaded him?” Jackson laughed a little, his heart hurting for this. “You also have made me king of a castle that is no longer anything but a single wall, a burnt out orchard, as well as many sheep and cattle that lay dead in their paddocks. A pond so dried up that it is a wonder that anything at all has grown since you came for him. Nay, I do not understand any of this. What crimes—as I know for a fact there are many—are you trying my deceased father for? Murder? Yes, he had plenty to account for. Filicide? Yes, that as well. But you will need all the information before you are able to take me to task on those. What is it, man? I have things to care for to bury the worst man that ever took a breath. The only thing that he did do for this world was marry my mother, sire me, and then die.”

  “He killed off as many as two dozen of his own children. All daughters given to him as wife after wife produced him nothing but girls.” Jackson corrected the man. “You knew of this? His killing of his own blood? How can you stand there and condone such a thing?”

  “I condone nothing. I only heard about this when I arrived after being summoned here by you.” He turned to the room, then back to the four men at the table in front of him. They were there to sentence him, he knew that. “I should like for you to clear the room of everyone but one, my lords. There is a story for you to hear that will sicken you to the very cores of your life. The reason that at a tender age of only two hundred years, I left my family home, never to return. Also, the very reason that you cannot, nor will you be able to, charge me with any of these crimes when I have finished telling the tale to you.”

  “You dare tell us what we can and cannot do, Lord Jackson?” He didn’t so much as blink at the men. He knew what he had, they did not. “What do you have, what story can you tell, that will be so horrific that you wish the room cleared?”

  The woman, his own mother in the front row of the court, stood up. All she did, Jackson knew, was to pull her scarf away from her face and open the hood that covered her head. When each of the men gasped, their faces pale with the site of her, everyone quickly cleared the room except for the six of them.

  Chapter 1

  Lady Susanna sat across from him in his hotel room, where he had been staying for the last month or so. Jackson was enjoying his stay, but he was, like always, itching to move on. But this little woman made him want to not just change his mind in leaving, but maybe to put down roots this time.

  “Have you shared your information with anyone else, Jackson? I mean, I don’t even think that Devon knows, and the two of you were great friends.” Jackson told her that he’d not told a soul. “That is most unfair of you, don’t you think? To let us all believe that you are a man without means. Without a title, or even a castle?”

  “There is no castle, Lady Susanna. There was only the one wall that survived, and I had it torn down so that it wasn’t a reminder to the people that there was a horrific fight there. And it was horrific, as I’m sure you know.” She nodded at him. “My mother, she lived there too, did you know that?”

  “No.” She glared at him, and he nearly laughed. “You have many secrets, don’t you, young man?”

  “If he had known, she’d have been as dead as the women he took to his home while pregnant with their mates’ children. At least her way, she got to choose her own demise.” She asked him how that had come to be. “My father, he wanted the world to think that he was a powerful dragon, that mates and rules did not apply to him. So he would watch newly mated couples until they had conceived. Once they did, he would kill the male, take the pregnant mate to his home, and claim her and the child as his own. No one in their right mind would gainsay him. So he would keep them there, under lock and key, until they birthed him a son. But he’d been cursed, you see. No other children would be born male to him but me.”

  “All those families, ripped apart. Where are the children that he claimed?” He didn’t answer her. It didn’t take her long to figure it out, however. “He killed them. Their mothers too.”

  “Yes. Beheaded the female that had dared give him a daughter child, then burned them both in fires so hot that they were said to have burned for weeks.” She asked him if that was how they’d tried to take his title. “It was. But you see, with my mother alive after his death and the fact that we could prove it was her, then all the other women and their babes were not his mates, as he had claimed. Mom, she killed herself not long after my trial.”

  “I’m assuming that you compensated those families, didn’t you, Jackson?” He said that it was the least he could have done. “I’m sure you think that was the least you could have done, but I’m sure that you did that and so much more. You’ve always been a very good boy. I’ve loved you above all of Devon’s other friends, and you know how much I dearly love them all. So, when are you going to find your mate? I know that you’re in need of one.”

  He stood up before answering and poured them both a sherry. It wasn’t anything that he liked, but with this woman, he would share one. Jackson had been a broken man for a long time. Things, especially life, had come to mean less and less to him over the years. It was why he took unnecessary chances, why he worked harder than he needed to. He drank down his drink and told her the story that had been burnt in his head since he’d been a young dragon.

  “She’s dead, along with her entire family. Not by my father this time, but not for his lack of trying. Laura and her family were warrior dragons—the best, I’m to understand. And when they were at war, their adversary brought in poison to cover not only their swords, but their dragons as well. They lost a great many too, when they thought to cover their teeth with the drugs. Laura only had to bite down on one of their dragons, and that ended her life.” He poured himself a whisky, knowing that it would do nothing but burn his throat. “
There isn’t anyone out there for me, Lady Susanna. Even if there were, I’d not take them to my heart or body. I have nothing in me to make me want to love anyone ever again.”

  Jackson could tell that she was shocked, not just by the news, but by his declaration as well. To him, it was the only way of keeping himself sane. He’d been as close to ending his own life in recent decades as his mother had been. There was not a person he knew that wanted death as much as she had.

  Sitting back down, he waited for her to speak. Lady Susanna, like her grandson, did not speak until she had all her facts in a row, and had a solution to whatever it was she was working out. So when she looked at him, he knew for a fact that she was going to tell him he was wrong about so much. But all she did was stand up and speak of something else.

  “I should wish you to come and see Devon. His wife is breeding now. They are also keeping a dragon egg close so that they will help Noah and his mate with the hatchlings that his parents left them to bring into the world. They’re back as well, and would be pleased to see you again.” Before he could answer her, to tell her that he wasn’t in the visiting mood, she spoke again, this time with a tone in her voice that made him sit up straighter in his chair. “That wasn’t a request by any means, Jackson. I will take you back with me even if I have to order you to escort me. Now, you know as well as I do that I can and will do that, so you go and pack up whatever you have and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Do you always get your way, my lady?” She nodded at him, but didn’t crack a smile or a grin. “I will come with you, escort you, even though I think we are both aware that you need me not. But, I will not stay within the castle, nor will I be taken around to find myself another woman for my heart. I am well finished with all women, forever.”

  “We’ll see.” She looked around the smallish hotel room, taken because Jackson didn’t need much. Lady Susanna looked at him again. “You are so sad, Jackson. It shows in everything that you have, you do, and you say. Come home with me. Come and see your friends. Have some fun, so that you might have just a little light in your heart. If not forever, then for a little while. All right?”

  He kissed her on the cheek when he stood up. Jackson had only ever loved two women in his life—this one and his own mother. It wasn’t until later in his life that he knew of his sister, born when he was, but she’d been murdered when the council killed his father.

  The trip was nice. All he did was ask his faerie, Glow, to take care of the hotel and to meet him at the Castle of Wilkshire. Glow had been with Jackson since he’d broken free from his egg. The two of them, inseparable since then, had grown to be more than just dragon man to faerie, but friends, long and deep.

  There weren’t any hotels, nor rooms that he could rent. Jackson couldn’t prove it, but he’d bet that Lady Susanna had arranged that so he’d have to stay at the castle. Not that he didn’t love the big open place, all updated to this century since he’d been there last. Jackson was somewhat jealous of Devon. His happiness was rich and palpable as soon as he walked into the door to be greeted by the man.

  “So, you’re the famous Jackson William.” He bowed low before the woman standing by Devon. She was the most beautiful creature that he’d ever laid eyes on. “I’m so sorry for everything that you’ve been through. I’m not referring to your life. I, like the rest of us, assume that you have more now than you did before. But for having to travel with Lady Susanna. She can be something of a pushy woman, if you ask me.”

  Jackson burst out laughing. It was the first time in a very long time that someone had done that. Firstly, to make him laugh like it had meaning, and secondly, to have caught him so much off guard with it. Kelly was like a breath of fresh air to him.

  “She can be sort of pushy. But she tells me that she means well. Also, that you’re more pushy than she is. Is that true, Lady Kelly?” She corrected him on her name. “Kelly it is, then. I have long thought that it takes up too much breath to say a title when you’re nearly family. Congratulations on your upcoming child. Or is it children now?”

  “Children now. Noah and his wife, Bryce, have been trying to have the hatchlings that his parents left them brought into the world. Though why they’d not want to birth them all, forty-three of them I’m told, is a mystery to me.” She laughed heartily. “Welcome to our home, Jackson. I have your rooms ready. And Glow is most welcome here as well. Will he be joining you?”

  “Yes, he and the others that work for him are packing what little I have left and bringing it along with them. I expect them in only a few days now.” Kelly hugged him and he put his hand on her belly. “You are healthy and happy, are you not?”

  “Yes, more than I can explain to you.” Devon wrapped his arms around his wife, and it was good to see him so happy and in love after his own warped childhood. “Noah and Bryce will be joining us later. They’re still trying to get their home fixed up for themselves. The faeries are so literal sometimes that it takes them a while to get things back to some semblance of order after they rush into help.”

  He could see that. Faeries lived their entire life just to please dragons. And if one of them had been attached to you when you were younger, they’d do everything in their power to not just get you what you wanted, but also to make sure they were there before any of the other faeries were to help you first. Faeries were wonderful creatures, but they were also very vain and competitive.

  The rooms that he was shown were much better than any five star hotel that he’d ever stayed in. Even some of the bigger ships that he loved to travel on were not as well appointed as his room was.

  The antiques, which had been in Devon’s family since long before either of them had been born, were well taken care of, as well as in amazing condition for their age. He could feel the hatred ingrained in this furniture as soon as he laid his palm on the top.

  “It was in the bedroom where Lady Anna stayed. I was never sure if it was his hatred of his wife or Anna’s for him.” Kelly joined him in the room and sat on the wingback chair that was nearest the fireplace. “I’m so glad that you’re here, Jackson. You and the others, Connor, Matthew, and Cole, are all he’s talked about since he heard that you were coming here.”

  “Are the others coming as well?” She said that they’d been told they were coming. “Ah, much the same way that I was?”

  “No. I guess that Devon had to beg Cole to come here. He’s having a hard time of things. I don’t know what—Devon said that it was his story to tell. Which reminds me…are all dragons so close mouthed as he is?” Jackson sat in the chair opposite her and nodded. “Yes, I thought so. Even I’ve become more close mouthed about things. Some of them, when sworn to secrecy, I don’t even tell Devon. Is that true as well?”

  “I don’t know about mates. My mate died long ago in a field with several other dragons. Sadly, I only met her the one time, just minutes before she was called to come to her rider.” She nodded and told him how sorry she was. “No matter, Kelly. I’m happy.”

  “No, I don’t think you are. You’re not even close to being happy, are you, Jackson? Also, I have a feeling that while you fought a little, you were glad to come here, with people and friends. So how is it you found out that your dear mother killed herself not long after the trial? Faeries, I’m guessing.”

  “You have a good network, my dear lady.” She said she had very many loyal and nosey faeries. “Yes, I’m sure you do. Snow, he has become yours then?”

  “He has. Snow said that he’s been watching you since it was found out that your father was a fucking bastard.” Twice in one day he’d been made to laugh. This little slip of a woman, despite her large belly, had a way about her that made you think that she too had been hurt badly by life. “I wish I had known your mother and sister, Jackson. Her faerie came here to live with the others when your mom ended her life. To go in such a way is very sad.”

  “Millicent is here?” She nodded and let out a whistle that Jackson was sure rivaled Devon’s. When the tiny faerie appeared
in the room so quickly, Jackson thought that she’d been nearby, waiting on the call to come to him. “Hello, my dear. It has been a very long time since I’ve seen you.”

  “And I you, my lord. I have many things to tell you about your sister, Hanna. She only lived, as I’m sure you know, because your mother hid her away when you were both born of your mother.” Jackson nodded. “I am so very sorry about your mother. She was the kindest master that any of us knew. Coming here, that is what she wished of me when she died. If, she said to me, anything should happen to her daughter, I was, with the rest of the staff, to come here and be with the others of my kind. She would be so happy to know that you have come as well.”

  “I’m going to have her ashes brought here, if you’d be kind enough to care for them.” Millicent told him she would be honored. Then he remembered that this wasn’t his home to dictate such things. “I’m sorry, Kelly. I should have asked you before making such plans.”

  “I’m very happy that you wish to bring her here, Jackson.” She stood up and held her hand over her belly. “We’ll be having dinner at six if you’d like to join us. Also, you should be aware that as of an hour ago, Matthew joined us. I’m not sure of his title as yet, but you know him.”

  “I do. He’ll be a welcome distraction, I think.” Kelly laughed and said that he’d already brought Devon out of his sour mood. “What did he do to you that would put him in a sour mood?”

  “So you think it was him that made himself in the bad mood? You’d be right. He thinks that he can put my rocker together without any help from his faeries—which, I might add, are flittering around him wanting to help him. Then there is the added fact that he cannot find the instructions.” She pulled them out of her pocket. “When he admits he is in the wrong about this one project, I might give them to him. But when he ordered—yes, he thought he could get away with that—ordered me from the room for him to do it, I had to make sure that he would need me in the future. How about you take these up to him, and help him and Matthew out before they turn into their dragons and destroy the room that I have come to love very much?”