Harley: Prince Of Tigers, Book 5

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Yes, Harley, I heard you.” She was humoring him, and she was very sure he knew it. “You changed me into a cat, and according to you, I might be a kitten too. How the hell do you know it’s been precisely six hours and twenty-four minutes? Did you watch the clock or something?”

  “Yes. When a man has his head blown off the way you did to me, he remembers. Why are you not freaking out?” She told him she was happy with the results but could use another romp in the bed. “You’re weird.”

  “So you don’t want to have sex with me again? Choose your words carefully, Harley. It might be the difference between you sleeping in here with me or in another room altogether.” He laughed, then kissed her. “Are you done freaking out now? I mean, if you need more time, I suppose I can wait on you.”

  “You’re very weird.” He moved over her body, his cock hard against her thigh. “You’re also very warm and soft. I love the way your nipples perk up when I do this.”

  The lick to the tips of her breasts had her inhaling sharply. Then when he blew his breath over them, she nearly came. It was both erotic and fun to have such a feeling. Harley suckled at her breasts as he slid deep inside of her.

  This was making love. The other, the more powerful kind they’d done earlier, was fucking. She loved them both so much, and the man giving it to her. His hands and body claimed her. When he spoke to her, using a language she’d never heard before, Micky felt the power of the words even though she hadn’t any idea what he was saying. Not that it mattered—she knew on some level that he was telling her how much he loved her.

  Micky touched him as well, feeling his muscles at his back bunch up under her fingers. Hearing the sounds that he made. The way his fingers would dig into her flesh almost painfully, then softly, as if he were soothing a wound he’d made.

  Coming this time with him was like being wrapped up in a blanket made of the softest material. His cat purred along her skin, and that made her smile. Everything about this man and the way he made love with her made her feel like she was something very precious, someone profoundly loved. Harley didn’t just love her tenderly, taking her body. He gave her his everything, and it was almost too much for her heart to take in.

  When she woke this time, she was alone in the big bed. She knew when she’d come up here yesterday that the bed was just a normal sized king. Now it was nearly double that size. Firmer too. Rolling out of bed, her legs a little weak from how she’d held him to her body, Micky made her way to the bathroom to take a long hot shower, then find her missing mate.

  Harley was on the phone when she entered his office. It hadn’t occurred to her that the house was out where it was, and they had service. Micky assumed it was the faeries again and was glad they were a part of their lives. They really did make things easier. Bubbles came to sit on her knee when she was sitting on the couch in the office waiting for Harley to finish up.

  “Oh, mistress, the plantings are going well. The new blooms are already coming up and showing such promise of making a good start on having the trees and other things around.” She asked him if the others had what they needed to live in the trees. “Yes, my lady. And what you didn’t provide for them, they have made for themselves. There was one request, however. Several of the younger faeries would like to know if you could put out sugar cubes for them during the winter. The blossoms will not be ready to be eaten for some time, and it’s difficult to find flowers for us when the snow is so deep.”

  “I can do that. Very easily. I’ll figure out some way to make them stay dry and safe for the little ones, but that shouldn’t be a problem, do you think?” Pop joined them just as she was speaking and said if she were to put them in a container with a lid, they could fix it magically so it could be opened by them. “Well, that’s settled then. Tell me how much I need to get for you. Say…I guess in a weeks’ time. I don’t want to have them get spoiled out there when it’s just as easy to get them delivered when we need them.”

  Harley was finished on the phone just as she was finishing up putting an order in for sugar cubes. She’d not realized that she had to only put out what they’d use in a days’ time, or the faeries would eat them all because it was pure sugar. Pop told her it was like catnip to a cat, very intoxicating.

  After they left them, she waited for Harley to tell her what had him upset. Instead of telling her what she was sure she didn’t want to hear, he asked her if she’d like to have dinner with him tonight.

  “Is this like they talk about on social media pages? Where you don’t think I’ll have a meltdown in a public place if you’re planning to leave me? If you think that, you’ve not been paying attention to me very well.” He kissed her on the mouth before telling her he knew she’d be all up in his grill, as his dad was fond of saying of late. “Then tell me. I won’t be able to enjoy dinner if I have to wonder what the hell is going on.”

  “Captain Parkerville escaped from the jail late this afternoon. Not only that, but he killed an officer when he brought him his dinner. Parkerville also took his gun.” She asked him if Rowan and the others knew. “Yes. Toddy called me when I first came down here. He is keeping Rowan safe with his bruin. I’ve spoken to Roone and the others and asked them to come here so we can protect them better.”

  “Good. What do I need to do? I’m assuming my brother has a plan in place.” Harley said he’d talk to them about it when he got here. “What else, Harley? There is more. I can almost feel your tension about whatever it is you’re not telling me. Please don’t keep secrets from me. I need to know that you’re not trying to protect me by not telling it all to me.”

  “All right. At two this afternoon, Parkerville burned down the police station and killed three more officers. He had chained up the doors and made it impossible for them to get out.” Micky asked if they had had families. “Yes. All three of them were young men that had a mate, or wife in their cases, with children. Mrs. Darwin, a newlywed, had to be sedated and put in the hospital. She and her husband had only been married for three weeks.”

  Getting up, she made her way to the phone. She needed to do something, and the one person she knew that could help her was Sara. Asking her what she needed in order to get the families taken care of, Sara started crying.

  “They need love more than anything, Micky. And money. Cops don’t make much money, and some of them might not have enough to get by until the money from the police department comes through. Can you also see a way to get arrangements made? Our family will pay for everything.” Micky said she’d take care of that now. “Oh, thank you, honey. That will make one less thing for us to worry about right now. I’m with Mrs. Carter now. She’s got herself three little ones, and she’s not sure what to do. You go on and set things up for them, and I’ll help with other things from my end.”

  In less than three hours, she’d made arrangements to have the calling hours, as well as the funeral for the four men, at the school gymnasium. It was the biggest venue she could find, and the school was more than happy to help out. Also, all the flowers for the caskets were given to the service for free, and each family would have a flag given to them by the officer in charge.

  Micky was going to find Parkerville and murder him herself after this. The fucker was going to pay, and she might just use her new kitten to make him understand what it meant to fuck with her family. That would include hers and the Prince family.

  “You have a look. And whoever you’re directing it to, I hope it’s not me.” She told Harley it wasn’t. “Good. I’m thinking it’s the murderer that got out. Correct?”

  “Hell yeah, it’s going to be him. I’m going to take some matters into my own hands and make him regret fucking with my family. Unless Rowan beats me to him. She’s powerfully pissed herself.” He told her he was going to help her. “Good. I want you to show me how to make my kitten come out. I need to know how to make her work if I’m going to be taking on a monster like Parkerville.”

&nb
sp; “How about we do this my way the first time. Until you get better at just being a cat. Then the next time we have to kill someone, I’ll stand back, and you can bring out your cat and have at it.” She pouted. “Trust me, love. You’ll even have a hard time walking on four legs at first. Killing a person is much more difficult than that.”

  Chapter 4

  Carlton had what he needed to get around, but he wasn’t sure it was safe right now for him to be showing himself. His men had their panties in a twist against him, and he didn’t have time for their petty anger. He’d done what he had to do to make himself free of the confines that they’d put him in.

  “No captain of a police department needs to be put in a jail cell, period. Much less in one that has others of the criminal sort right there beside him.” Carlton watched the comings and goings around the fire. It wasn’t burning anymore, but there was a great deal of smoke. “Damned fools. This is all their fault. I told them over and over I was wrongly accused. Would they listen to me? No. They thought it was just fine and dandy for me to be locked up. I did nothing wrong. Not one thing that any of the others wouldn’t have done to make a name for themselves.” He supposed he’d done that. Making a name for himself in the wrong sort of way wasn’t what he’d been working on.

  There below him was that Bronson woman and her family. He didn’t know the big guy next to her, but when the two of them turned and looked up at him, he jumped back from the window. Not that they could see him. There was enough crud on the window he was next to that he was sure he could plant seeds in it and have a nice crop next year.

  Carlton turned when he heard that buzzing sound again. The building he was in had been on the “confiscated for drug related crimes” records for years. It was also a place he used on occasion when he had things to store. He’d been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time for some of the things in the building. Not that he’d stolen them—that was on the people he’d purchased them from. While he’d not exchanged any real money for the items, he had taken them in the name of the police department. The one that had screwed him over.

  When he realized he’d missed where Rowan and the man had gone, he moved back into the cubby hole he’d built here years ago. It was a nice little nook in the corner that no one had ever been able to—

  “I can smell you, Parkerville. You know what? You smell like a murderer.” He nearly leapt out and told the man he wasn’t any such thing. “You go on thinking that, but when you’re caught, as I know you will be, you tell them your own logic about how things work out to be in your favor. I’m sure we’ll all get a big laugh about it right before you’re killed. I’m going to do it too. Tear you apart one limb at a time for what you did to my mate and her father.”

  He heard the man walking around, and when he spoke again, Carlton knew he was standing right next to his hiding place. The smell of urine, strong and nasty smelling, hit him first. Then came the splash of it hitting him not only in the face but all over his body. Carlton leapt out then and fired three times into the man, hitting him square in the chest each time he pulled the trigger.

  “You think that’s going to hurt me? I have news for you, you fucking bastard—you can’t kill me because I’m an old and powerful bear shifter.” There was no blood on his shirt. Nothing but holes in it to signify that he’d fired at him. “I’m going to enjoy killing you, Parkerville. And when you’re dead, I’m going to let my bruin have your body to play around with.”

  “That’s against the law. You can’t say things like that.” The man only laughed, heartily too. “You’ll get out of here now, and I’ll forget we had this conversation. You’re not going to like it when I have you arrested. You’ll wish you’d never been born.”

  The hand came at him quickly, only it wasn’t a hand but a giant claw. Looking down at himself, feeling something warm running down his legs, he realized two things at once. He’d pissed himself, and his chest was open to the bone. In a surreal way, he thought his bones would have been bigger, considering the fact that they were supposed to protect his lungs and heart.

  Carlton fell to his knees. The man didn’t move but stood there watching him. Asking for help, or at least for the man to call someone to help him, got him nothing in the way of a reply.

  Instead of trying to find his own cell phone, Carlton tried in vain to push the open wound back together. “This is going to be hard to fix, I’m thinking.” Still nothing from the stoic man. “Also, I think it might leave a nasty scar. However, I think this will go a long way in making sure I go out with a name people think about. Don’t you agree? Who are you, anyway?”

  “Lord Toliver James Coal. The first of all bear shifters. Mate to Rowan Elizabeth Bronson Coal. King of all bears both before you were born and long after you spill the rest of your blood in this room.” His words were confusing to him. Carlton was still having trouble getting the wound to stop bleeding too. “You’ll never stop bleeding. The wound made by me onto your flesh will remain open forever. You were murdered by me for the unjust that you committed on my new family. Carlton Fitzpatrick Parkerville, the fourth, the last of your family line, you have been marked and killed by me for justice for all those you have made suffer at your hands.”

  Carlton felt himself being lifted up into someone’s arms, his body so weak now he wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to tell anyone what had happened to him. Wondering what anyone would think when he told them he’d been cut up by a bear wasn’t a concern right this minute. Then he saw the others as someone, again he had no idea who it might have been, dropped him to the ground.

  There were a great many animals around him. Blinking in and out of consciousness, he tried to make his tongue work to ask what they were. Suddenly he realized they were bears, all different colors, and they were standing up on their hind legs.

  “Abomination.” Carlton didn’t know who would hear him talking, but he said his piece the best he could. “Die. You die.”

  The growl was loud. Even as far away as they seemed to be, he thought it was being put on a loudspeaker. Toliver was speaking again, but Carlton was beyond caring now. His legs no longer worked, and he couldn’t make sense of the scene before him.

  A pain in his leg had him closing his eyes. Opening them when he was told, he could see someone, one of the big bears, dragging a human leg away. Then an arm was being carried by another bear, a brown one this time. Even as he grew weaker by the moment, Carlton never realized it was his body parts until he noticed another leg being dragged away with his socks on, along with his shoes.

  Closing his eyes when he could no longer keep them open, it occurred to Carlton that Toliver had done just what he had said. He’d let a pack of bears tear at his body. His last thought was that no one would be able to stand over his grave because the bears had had him for dinner.

  ~*~

  Toddy made his way home. Rowan was sitting on the deck in one of the rocking chairs he’d made many years ago. Her face was to the sun, and she had on warm boots and a blanket made of the finest wools when he laid down at her feet, using her boots as a resting place.

  “You killed him.” He said he had. Toddy would never lie to her, even if he could. “Will someone come looking for him? Will they take you from me, Toddy?”

  “No, my love. Harper has powers in the human world that will say he died far away from here.” He thought about what he’d done. “He hurt you and your family. I believe he would have continued to do so had he been allowed to live.”

  “He killed my father. While I hate him for that, I can’t hate him for hurting me since it brought you into my life. And brought my sister the love of her life.” Toddy felt relief enter his heart then. “What will happen to me should I have your child? I’d like to have a great many of them, but I’ll take what I can.”

  “I don’t know the answer to that. I will, after a fashion, talk to Aurora and see what she has to say about it.”
Thoughts of his mother came to him then, the day he had been changed, the day his mother was killed. “When I was but a small cub, only six or seven months old, my mother and I were in a cave. Hibernation. I was awakened by something hitting me in the back and legs. It was painful, or I think I might not have woken in time to get my mother up. There was a large, pointed stick poking at the two of us—a human on the other side of the pole and the opening of our cave. Mother was groggy when she was awake. The man was trying his best to pull me from the cave and the safety of my mother. When she realized what was happening, she jerked me from the grip that nearly had me taken from her and slammed me hard against the back wall of the stone cave.” He thought hard on what had happened next.

  “The human, he was hungry. He must have had a family if he was willing to take on a mother bear and her cub.” Toddy told her that was what he’d been shown when Aurora came to rescue him. “Go on, Toddy. Tell me the rest of the story. Please.”

  “Mother had been killed by the man. When I woke up finally, the cave was bright with light that shone brighter from the snow that covered the ground. Crawling over her body, it hurt me in ways that even to this day I cannot explain to you.” He wiped at his tears, knowing of all people, Rowan would never judge him. “The man was dead as well. Mother had, with her last bit of strength, I believe, taken his head off and killed him as she was dying. The blood around the fight had stained the snow so vividly that I still see it when I see snow deepening in the forest beyond here.”

  Toddy remembered the grief he’d felt. Still to this day, he hurt when he thought of his mother giving her life to keep him safe. Remembering that day, one that was only shadowed now by him finding his mate, he continued the tale.

  “I was sitting by the dead human, mourning my loss. Aurora appeared beside me and pulled me into her arms. It never once occurred to me to harm her. The comfort she gave me was something I’ve never forgotten.” He turned now, looking up at his mate as he continued. “She told me the man was indeed hungry. And that it was her fault that my mother had died so violently. You see, she saved her once before, before I was born. Aurora told me how she had guided my mother away from the hunters. Then when that didn’t work, she shielded her with her magic, so the men had walked by her, never seeing what she held in her magic. Aurora told me how when she intervened with her magic to save a creature, they died anyway, but a much more violent death. Her promise to me that day was that she’d never do that again. To only use her magic to help those that asked for it, or who were her own family.”