Theodore (Xavier's Hatchlings #2) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,41

get his shit together. Just like you said. If he doesn’t…. Well, with this family, we have ways of scaring people straight. Perhaps I should think of a way to get Theo to burn Patrick a little. Might do him a bit of good to know that this family isn’t one to mess with. What do you think?”

“I think you’re brilliant. And I love you.” She kissed her grandma on her cheek and looked out her front window to see her dad being chased off by a pack of wolves. “That’s a wonderful sight. Don’t you think?”

“I hope they bite him in the butt.”

They were both still laughing when they got into town. There were a few places they could shop, but decided to get lunch first. She loved spending time with her grandma, and she decided she was going to do it more often. Pem only hoped Austin would get his shit together as he claimed he wanted to do. If he didn’t, Pem thought Grandma had the best idea. She’d have Theo or one of the others take care of him.

~*~

Theo couldn’t wait to get home. He did feel pretty good about getting some things done for the other man. His bills were paid off, his house was on the market, and he had been able to get Caroline buried by her sons. The red tape concerning that had had him calling his Aunt Carson. There were only two spots, and the boys had taken up both spaces. Getting one more casket in the same plot had been taken care of by her.

Austin had decided to live near his mom to get to know her better. He had also decided to sell off his house. Theo had been concerned for a while that the state was going to take it from him. The families of the dead that had been killed by his sons were willing to forego the money he might have coming to him by way of selling his home. They were going to take the insurance money that had been in Caroline’s name. It had been worth a great deal more than the house would have been anyway. It might not sell either, and that was the biggest factor in them taking the insurance money. Aunt Carson had rushed it through. The fact that it hadn’t had a suicide clause in it was all that had saved Austin.

The contents of the house were being donated to the shelter house nearby. Anything of value, they’d packed up and taken with them. There was a pitiful amount of that too. As they were seated on his family’s plane, Theo asked Austin if he was all right.

“I don’t rightly know how to answer that, to be honest with you. You’ve done more for me than I believe I ever did for my own flesh and blood in all these years.” Theo told him they were family. “I’m sure you’re just saying that because you have to. But whatever the reasons behind it are, I’m grateful for your help. Once the house is sold, if it ever does, I won’t have a single reason to go back home. If you’re thinking I’m a terrible man for not wanting to visit the graves of my family, I do have a reason for it.”

“You can tell me if you wish. But I don’t think you’re being terrible. As you told me the other day, you need to make your own way in this world. Coming back there to visit the graves of your family won’t be moving forward, but only back.” He nodded. “You’re going to be just fine, Austin. I know it. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and you are making sound decisions.”

“I should be in prison.” He’d said this to him before since he’d been at his home with him. “I know you keep telling me that I had no way of knowing anything like that was going to happen. But I also know I didn’t pay as much attention to the boys as I probably should have. Or at the very least, kept up with what the neighbors and the schools were telling me.”

“Yes, you should have. But beating yourself up over it now, at this late date, isn’t going to bring them back. Nor will it bring Caroline back. As you said, Caroline was a grown woman playing deadly games. It was bound to happen, one of the times she played with her own