Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  He nodded, only lifting his head for a moment before he laid back down. Harper started forward to leave the garage, but he stood up. When she realized that he wasn’t going to allow her to leave, Harper looked at the shackles again.

  “They would hang me here when I was a kid. It wasn’t really for anything that would warrant this kind of treatment, but they did it. Daily.” She looked back at him. “If I promise not to run, will you allow me to exit here? This place gives me nightmares. Well, I have nightmares about living here, but this room is what we called the house of horrors as kids.”

  The big tiger stood up and she moved by him. When he snapped at her hand she cried out, but didn’t jerk from his massive teeth. It wasn’t until she was released that Harper realized he’d done it so that he could speak to her.

  I’m sorry. Not about your loss. From what I’ve heard, they should have died a long time ago. She nodded and moved out of the garage. The tiger followed her step by step. My name is Bryant Prince. You must be Harper Wilson.

  “Yes, that’s me. The youngest child of Randal and Margaret Wilson. Did you know them? Randal and Margaret?” Bryant said that he had not. “I came here today to see if it was true. I left here when Randy turned eighteen. I was hurt, and once I was released from the hospital that last time, he gathered us up and we took off.”

  I’ve spoken to your parents’ attorney, Mr. Townhouse—yesterday, as a matter of fact. He still needs to meet with you all. You have an aunt. Did you know that? She said that she did know her, that Michelle Wilson was her name. Yes, he did tell me that she was to have custody of you all in the event that your parents died before you were old enough. But there are things he still needs to go over.

  “He called the hotel this morning. I don’t suppose you’re from around here. I hate being in a hotel. Well, to be honest, I hate being around people. I’d rather—” Harper laughed. “Believe it or not, I was thinking just as I was walking up here that I’d rather tangle with a large tiger than people. I was thinking Bengal, but I guess I had no idea that there were any tigers around here.”

  We’re a special kind of tiger. My family was the first black tigers. And we’re not really shifters, however. We were tigers first, then the lady of the earth changed us into humans. I guess right after we were born. She asked him how many there were. Counting my father, Buck Prince, there are seven of us. My mom passed away some time ago.

  Harper wasn’t anxious to get away from Bryant. Usually she could be counted on to have a short conversation with someone, then be on to something else. But when she leaned back on the grass that hadn’t been scorched by the fire, he laid his big head on her belly. Harper began running her fingers through his fur as she spoke again.

  “The week before we left here, I was in the house of horrors. I’d been sent there the day before, and had to stand up in one place until they came out and gave me my punishment. If I moved, or laid down, I would get double the punishment from them.” She continued to pet him as she thought of what they’d done to her. Bryant told her to go on. “I don’t remember now what it is that was done. It didn’t have to be me that did anything. For some reason they would target all their anger on me. Now, years later, I think it was because I’d never give into whatever they were doing to me. I didn’t scream, nor did I beg. Tyler learned very early—fat lot of good it did him—that begging would give them what they wanted, and it would make the pain shorter.”

  You’re strong. I can tell that by the way you’re gripping my fur. She let him go and he laughed. Harper felt it all the way to her backbone. His laughter even made her smile. I know this will sound like a sappy statement, but think about it. You’d not be what and who you are today without what they did to you. I’m not saying that it was right—never that—but you are a strong minded person. Only someone as strong as you would have been able to come out here and be inside of the place where you were hurt most. Harper had heard that before, but for some reason it meant more coming from this man, who wasn’t getting paid to talk to her. Go on with your tale. I want you tell me.

  “All right. But I am going to warn you, my parental units were not warm and fluffy. I really do have nightmares every night because of them.” He said he was sorry, and encouraged her to go on. Again the fact that she could talk to this man so easily astonished her. “I had fallen down at some point in the night, badly enough that I had knocked myself unconscious. I know that because the doctor told me at my last hospital visit here that I had a recent concussion. They didn’t take me to the hospital—no, Randy did. And once I was there, I vowed never to return.”

  How old were you, Harper? She had to think. Back then, birthdays hadn’t meant shit to anyone. When she told him, he sat up and looked at her. You were only twelve? Christ. Pops said that my mom took you to the hospital once. Please don’t tell me you got into trouble for that.

  “It’s all right. If she’d not gotten me help then I wouldn’t have survived that day.” She closed her eyes, thinking about what no person should ever endure. “I had fallen. I really was weak and hurting, and I was told that they’d have their justice for me embarrassing them. I’m not sure how that was working, but I knew better than to say a word. The fire was started on the floor, just inside the doors. One of them had shackled me up to the wall. And while the fire was being stoked, Margaret was using the baseball bat on my body, mostly my ribs. She loved hearing them break when she was pissed off. Then while my father was getting the branding iron hot enough to— What is it?”

  He had stood up so quickly that she felt her heart race and her muscles tighten in anticipation. While she didn’t see anything, looking in the direction he was, she was very still, not trying to act like she knew any more than he did.

  “Bryant?” He told her to be still for a moment. He was trying to figure out if the male was alone. Now speaking in a whisper, she asked if it was human or not. She didn’t get an answer.

  Before she could move, even if she thought to, Bryant had leapt. She was sure that he hadn’t meant to knock her backwards, but she ended up on her ass. Harper watched the two animals fighting. One of them was Bryant, the other a great gray wolf, and his size told her that he was an alpha—and stupid.

  Bryant was twice his size and meaner, it looked to her. Even when the wolf realized that he was defeated, Bryant kept at him, tearing into his flesh until he was nothing more than a whimpering animal. When Bryant looked as if he was going to go on the attack again, Harper stood in front of the big tiger.

  “Enough. The lesson is taught. Whatever the fuck you were trying to teach him, he’s got it. Back off. I promise you, if he comes at you again, I will kill his fucking ass. It’s the least that he deserves.” The wolf took off, limping and holding up one of his front paws. Turning back to Bryant when the wolf was gone, she was suddenly on her back, his big body over hers. “What the hell are you doing? I do not find this to be the least bit sexy, you moron. Besides that, you have blood all over your...whatever you call that mug of yours. Face? Fur ball? Whatever. It’s not sexy either.”

  The tiger was gone, and the man that she knew the tiger had been was atop her. Not struggling, Harper just looked at Bryant’s face while he stared down at her. There was something about him, a thing that she couldn’t put her finger on at the moment, that intrigued her. And for the first time in her life, Harper knew she was safe.

  “Finish the story please.” Harper didn’t know what he meant, what he was talking about. Her mind was elsewhere, like on his body pressing hard into hers. “Tell me what they did to you. You said he was heating up the branding iron. What did he do to you?”

  “He got it hot enough. White hot. I remember thinking that as soon as it touched my skin it was going to melt into me and I’d be disfigured for the rest of my life. And at the time, I thought that it would have been preferable if I had just let them kill me.” Bryant only said no, but it was hard, like it would not be rebuked. “He burned it to the bottom of my feet—it was the letter W, for whore, he
told me. And as I lay there, my feet burnt to the bone, my body broken and battered, he stood over me and pissed all over me.”

  Bryant kissed her. It was savage, painful, and consuming. Harper wrapped her legs around him, feeling the length of his cock as he pressed more and more into her. When he slid his mouth down over her throat, she let him have it. Anything he wanted, she realized, she’d give him. And when he bit her, tearing off her clothing at the same time, she came so hard that she screamed.

  He entered her the same way he’d taken her mouth, possessing her with his body and mouth. And when he cried out her name, then threw back his head, Harper came as well. It was epic, and more than she could take. So when she blacked out, Harper’s last thought was that she wasn’t going to be harmed again.

  Chapter 3

  Bryant sat on the ground and waited for her to wake. His mate. As soon as he had entered the garage, her scent was all over the place. Other scents as well, but hers had called to him. Looking at his brother as he pulled into the driveway of her home, he saw Samson put the bag from Bryant’s car down on the ground and leave.

  Samson wouldn’t tell anyone what he’d done, nor would he tell the reason that Bryant had needed him for something. It would be up to him to do that. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to having a mate, but Bryant didn’t have a house. Not to mention, he didn’t even have a room of his own at his parents’ house.

  There hadn’t been the money for any of them to move out on their own. He supposed that he could have—any of them could have—but it was cheaper, he knew, for them all to live in the house that was not only paid for, but his family was there as well.

  Bryant didn’t mind being nude. He was a cat first and foremost. With the magic he had, it would have been easy to dress them both. But as this was their first of everything, he didn’t want to freak her out more.

  As he made his way down the drive to his clothing, he kept an eye out for the alpha. He hadn’t any idea what had made him attack today, but he was going to have a word with the alpha that was in charge of the pack here. Bryant would bet anything that he hadn’t any idea that the other wolf was around.

  Picking up the duffle, he read the note that was attached to the top. “Congratulation, big brother.” Smiling, he pulled out a pair of shorts and pulled them on. He might not care if he was naked or not, but Harper might.

  Harper. He even loved her name. Laughing out loud, he saw her head come up off the ground and her look directly at him. Still a few feet away, he asked her if she was all right. It just occurred to him that she might not have cared that he’d taken her.

  “Just fine. And you?” He said he’d never felt better. “Yes, well, I was going to say that, but didn’t want to give you a big head. Christ, that was incredible. I’ve never enjoyed anything as much as I did that.”

  “I was afraid that I might have hurt you.” She took the duffle from him, reading the note but not commenting. “I’m sorry about your clothing. I was in a hurry to have you.”

  “Yes, well, you might have noticed that I didn’t fight you off all that much.” She pulled his shirt over her head, getting her hair all tangled around the buttons. As he was helping her out of it, she turned and looked at him. “I’m assuming, and this might just be me, but that we’re mates. That was why it was so mind blowing.”

  “What if I told you I was that mind blowing all the time?” She smacked him on the chest and looked in the bag again. “Yes, you’re my mate. I knew that someone here was. I could smell them, but the scent was old, and I had no idea if it had been someone just passing through.”

  They started walking back after he found her a pair of shorts that cinched up. He didn’t know what to say. As usual, Bryant wasn’t much of a talker. When their hands touched, he held onto hers, curling his fingers around them. Thinking about his night last night, he decided to tell her just how unable he was to afford anything right now. Not that she had asked.

  “I worked for the cable company as a customer service rep until last night. It was a good job, paid me well, but only because of the bonus checks that I got.” She looked at him and smiled. “The reason I’m mentioning this is because it was pointed out to me, just before I was fired, that I’m a fucking idiot for working in a kid’s job.”

  “Your boss?” He nodded. “I did that for a little while. Making my way in the world so I could survive. Then I found a camera in a second hand shop. My life sort of took on a new meaning then. Why did this jackass call you that and fire you?”

  “I wouldn’t take over the position of manager. He said that he’d make sure that I got my bonus money in addition to my regular checks. I made great money on the bonus—usually twice as much as my regular checks. So his promise was that if I took the job now, without the pay raise, he’d make sure I got it. And when I asked about having that in writing, he fired me.” Harper told him she didn’t think that was legal. “Legal or not, I’m out of a job. And I’m betting that he’ll find some way to make sure that I’m not paid either.”

  “Bastard.” She picked up her cell phone out of the mailbox at the end of the driveway. “I haven’t any idea why I did that when I got here. I think it was because I didn’t want to be tempted to take any pictures with it. I have enough memories of this place to last me several lifetimes. Will I be staying with you now?”

  “You can if you don’t mind sharing a room with Samson and me on a twin bed.” She laughed, and he told her he was serious. “There hasn’t been a lot of money in our family. We make do, barely, but it’s never going to see us getting rich. I’ll get us an apartment, but it won’t be fancy.”

  “I have a house. A condo too.” He didn’t say anything, trying to think what that meant to him. Was she leaving him for better digs? “I have money too, Bryant. Not that I’m trying to say I’m better than you. But as a photographer, I’m making really good money from my pictures. Do you understand? I don’t know what it’s going to do for us to have my parents dead. But I’m sure there might have been a few dollars or so in the safe. Did they get it open?”

  “Safe? I don’t know. I mean, I wouldn’t even know who to ask about that.” He almost told her that he’d take care of their living arrangements, but honestly, he didn’t have any way of doing that at all. “Harper, I’m a man without anything but my family. And for them, I’d do just about anything.”

  “That’s wonderful. I’m glad that you love your family. And I think your parents would be people that I’d like to get to know. I mean, you’re clean. You don’t smell—well, not too badly anyway. And you’ve been nothing but polite since we met.” She grinned at him. “I’m betting that your father is a good looking older man with graying hair. Right? And your mom, she used to keep him in line by tisking at him.”

  “You are right about my mom. I miss her every day. My dad is going to surprise you. I’m not sure what you know about shifters—a lot, I think—but we don’t age like humans do. And being what we are, we haven’t aged since we turned twenty-eight.” She asked him just how old he was. “Just over fifteen hundred years old. My pops is older by twenty or so years.”

  Bryant walked a couple of more steps before he realized that she was no longer with him. He turned around quickly to see what had happened to her, ready to attack again, when she asked him if he was serious.

  “Yes. I mean, I guess I could have worked our way up to that, but I didn’t think about it. To be honest, I felt so comfortable with you that I— Are you all right?” She bent at her waist, allowing him a nice view of her breasts. But he was more concerned about her than about sampling her again. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “You didn’t. I mean, you did, but not like you think.” She looked at him. “You’ve aged incredibly well for an old geezer.”

  They laughed as he chased her through the fields where his family and the others had just taken the crops in. When he caught her, he let the impact of their fall hit him, and held her above him as he looked at her. She told him that they didn’t
have time for sex again.

  “Why not?” She said she didn’t know, but asked if he could just give her a moment. Nodding, he waited while she answered her cell phone when it rang. In the meantime, Bryant reached out for his dad. I thought that I should tell you that I’ve met my mate. I haven’t any idea what we’re going to do or where we’re going to live, but I wanted you to know that it’s Harper Wilson.

  That’s about the best news I’ve heard all day, son. That is just great. He told him about how she thought Buck was old. Should I change me around or something? I can do that, you know.

  No. I want her to love you as much as we all do just the way you are.

  His dad was quiet for a moment. That boss of yours, he’s called here a couple of times. Giving you a second chance, he said. I know that you needed to leave there, but this guy is coming unglued when I tell him you’re not home. I’m expecting him to show up at any time about this. You did good to get yourself out of there, Bryant. Even if you were fired, I think you’re better off. I’m not saying that you were, but I don’t want to deal with him right now.

  His pops was dealing with other issues. The land taxes were coming due, and it was a little more than they had anticipated. Since Bryant no longer had a check coming in, that was going to put a pinch on things. There wasn’t even enough money to pay for food this month if they didn’t figure out something soon.

  “I have to go.” Bryant asked her if she wanted him to go with her. “I’d like that, yes. But don’t feel obligated. I know that you’re busy at home too.”

  “Not right now, no. And you come first.” They stood up. “Where are we headed? If you don’t mind me asking.”

  “The attorney. Mr. Townhouse said that he needs to speak with all of us concerning the will and the contents of it. I also mentioned the safe, and he said that it would be better if we have the police open it. That way there isn’t any trouble later.” He asked her if she thought there would be. “No, I don’t. But then, you can never tell about Michelle. She’s always thought that my parents were never hard enough on us. I don’t think she saw the real them. Or if she really did believe that, then she’s nuttier than they were.”