Rodney: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance by Kathi Barton (books for new readers TXT) 📕

this list has things on it like upgrading the bathrooms. Putting in new air conditioner units. I know for a fact that air units could run upwards of ten grand. Not that we could build for that much, but it would be costly.”

“That’s one of the things we’re going to talk about. I’ve taken a look at the cost to build, as you suggest. However, the amount of red tape is a great deal to have to deal with. Even with Ricky helping me, he said it could take months to sometimes years to get approval for something like this. Then they could change their mind halfway through the project, and we’re stuck.” Rodney said he’d looked into things when he’d been told about the meeting today. “You finding out something that would help make this go easier is good with me.”

“We build it on our own anyway. We can say that we’re building it to use as a private school that we want to run for ourselves. Then once the building is finished, we can rent it out to the district, so they aren’t responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of it. Also, we’d be able to upgrade when we want, as well as shut it down if it comes to that. I doubt we’ll go that far, but it is something to think about.” Heath said he liked Rodney’s idea. “There’s more, too, that Rebel and I were talking about. With the magic we both have, we can put things around the building inside and out that would make it safer for the kids. No one, not even the teachers, would have to be informed of it. But this magic we could put around it would simply be an added layer of protection for not just our children, but all of them.”

“At what cost to you two? I mean, I don’t have any kids right now, and I’m not in any kind of hurry to have them, but I also don’t want the two of you hurt while keeping the kids that may or may not go there safe. What does it cost you in health?” Rebel told Heath it would only be something that they’d use when they were alerted to someone trying something. “So you’d have this like radar thing going on and would make it stronger when you felt a bad vibe. Or something like that.”

“That’s it exactly. No guns would be able to pass the front doors. Not even from the teachers. Also, there will be added protection on days like when pictures being taken. I know from being at the school on those days, it’s a mad house. People coming and going. Rebel also suggested that we could do a tighter background check on anyone that enters the building. Not just the staff, but anyone.” Heath was liking this more and more. “The cost of building the building would be better in the long run. However, having control of it and the things that would be going on with the building would keep us in the loop of knowing what is needed. We’d be able to have a firsthand look at all the upgrades when they’re put in too.”

“It’s got my vote. I would like to suggest that we try to use as many local contractors as possible.” Rodney told him he was looking into that as well. “Good. Then this list—should I try to find new things for the school or scrap it for something else?”

“We all have to agree on this. I don’t want anyone thinking we have to do anything we’re working on. If you don’t want to be a part of the project or projects that we have going, that will be fine as well. Myself, I’m taking myself out of the police station project because I’m too close to the whole thing. If it were left up to me, I’d fire just about everyone on the force and start again. But that’s just me.” Heath asked Harris why that was. “I don’t know, really. But if you were to take a look at the people working there, you’d see that most of them are older than I think is regulation for a force this size. Also, a great many of them are not just overweight, but they more than likely wouldn’t be able to do their jobs if it became necessary. You might be saying we don’t have to worry about that because we’re a small town. But the moment we put in these improvements, we’re going to have people wanting to come here simply because of the schools. It will become a problem then.”

“I never thought of us growing and it causing trouble. I guess I just thought we’d be this quaint little town that we are forever.” Rebel said there would be people coming to town for that reason too. They were a quiet town without much in the way of crime. “To be safer? Or to prove that we’re not as safe as we had thought?”

“Both.” That startled him. And while that was rolling around in his head, Rebel mentioned that there would be other beings coming as well. “They would know that Rodney and I are powerful. To kill us, which isn’t possible, would be a big deal. Also, while I’m talking about immortality, we all have it. And with this magic, no one would be able to hurt one of the children, including the babies.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Grandda looked around the room. “I thought we were all there anyway. That we’d not die for a long time. Are you saying it’s changed in some way?”

“None of us will ever die. We can’t be killed, and no one can harm us in any way. Nor can anyone, if they wanted to, remove our heads.” Heath wanted to tell his grandda this was a good thing that Rebel was telling him, but she seemed to understand he was upset about this. When she sat next