Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  Bryant wanted to stay and bury the dead, but that would be nearly impossible to do for a single man. He also knew that there was an order to things, and that if he did that, then he’d be depriving other animals of something to eat. The circle, he knew, needed to go on.

  ~*~

  The flight back wasn’t too bad, but she longed for a hot shower and a bed. Harper hadn’t ever had one of these shoots upset her so badly. She wanted to blame it on the men that had murdered a family they’d played with, but that wasn’t it entirely. Harper had seen the day through the eyes of another—the animals being what they were; friendly, curious animals that hadn’t done anything to anyone but have valuable tusks.

  “I was thinking about something.” She nodded and asked Bryant what it was. “These pictures that you take. Do you sell them all to the place that hires you? Or do you have a stash of them like the ones that you took today?”

  “A stash. A huge stash of them. I’ll take upwards of three hundred or more pictures when I go out on these things. Then, if I’m in a good mood, I let them look through them all and decide which ones they want. Most photographers take a lot, but they have digital. I prefer using regular film.” Bryant asked her why. “Two reasons. One is that I love to look at them, sometimes enlarge a few of them. Second, it’s harder to steal someone’s work when it’s not on a computer or out on the cloud. Not that I’m completely untrusting of those things, but I started out with this sort of camera and have stuck with it. I have my original camera too.”

  “What if you made a book? Just put where the location might be on the cover, and then let the person looking at them decide if they want to learn more about the happenings that are going on. I don’t know how much detail you’d have after so long on some of the pictures, but me, I’d just leave them with the pictures.” She asked him why again. “The money could go for a way for the animals to be protected. I know that they’re being very proactive about dyeing the tusks of these beautiful creatures so they’re not valuable to poachers, but that has to cost money too. We, or you, could help that cause by, I don’t know, donating the proceeds from the sale of the books.”

  “That’s brilliant.” She knew she’d been loud and lowered her voice. “I love that idea. And your brother, Marcus. He could put them together, the good and the bad, in an order that would appeal to most everyone. Christ, Bryant, that’s wonderful.”

  She knew people who knew people, she told him. Also, Harper had a couple of people that owed her favors that she could tap to help with the advertising. Actors and actresses that would see the value in doing this and help out. Bryant took notes, as he did on most things he was starting out, while she scatter gunned things at him. He was glad to have been able to take her mind off the last shoot.

  By the time they landed, he had a list for her. He had also talked to Marcus, who was as excited as Harper had been when he’d brought it up. They were well on their way to getting something together at their home when his parents pulled up. With them was her brother, Randy. The man did not look all that happy.

  “I need you to come to my hotel room with me.” Harper asked if the kids were all right. “Yes, just fine. I need for you to see Tyler and Meggie. Right now, Harper.”

  The house was finished, but Randy didn’t seem to notice. Whatever was on his mind, it was blocking out the fact that not only were they living in a new house, but that it was huge too. It would hit him later; Bryant would bet that then he’d feel embarrassed, and more than likely not mention it at all.

  Bryant decided that he was going with them even if he was told no. Telling his parents that he’d meet them at their house later, they said that they’d take their bags and equipment into the house. Dad told him to call if there was anything they could do.

  The ride over to the hotel was made in silence on Randy’s part. Bryant could tell that Harper was getting more and more pissed as they rode there, because her brother wouldn’t tell her anything.

  Tyler was sitting outside in an old rocking chair, just swaying back and forth as if he had not a care in the world. Harper called his name, and when he looked at her, he had the biggest grin on his face. Whatever was going on, it seemed to be only upsetting Randy.

  “Hello, sis. How the hell are you? If you’re wondering about me, I can tell you that I’ve never been better in all my life.” This was perhaps the oddest thing he’d ever been a part of. When Tyler asked her to have a seat next to him in the other rocker, Harper did so without hesitation. “I’ve been out and about, looking at the town from a new perspective this morning. Randy, as you can tell, is having a cow. But then he’s always been the worrier of all of us.”

  “What the fucking hell are you talking about?” Bryant would have laughed, but he knew, even if her brothers didn’t, that she was about as pissed as he’d ever seen her. She looked at Randy. “I thought for sure that one of you was hurt. That you’d fallen down the stairs or something. You rushed me back here to find out that Tyler has been looking around the town? Why? You had better have a good reason for this, Randy. I’ve been in a plane for over fourteen hours, and I need a shower, a meal, and sex. Not necessarily in that order, but if you fuck with any of them, there will be hell to pay.”

  When Meggie came out of the hotel room and joined them on the porch, he could see that she’d been either up for a long time or she’d been drinking. He wasn’t sure that she did drink, but who knew with this group today? She was dancing around, singing, and looked like she’d just grabbed whatever she could touch to put on. Stripes and polka dots did not go well together.

  When she handed a sheet of paper to Harper, Tyler laughed again. They were all intoxicated, and that was why Randy wanted Harper? It didn’t seem like that big of a deal to him. He’d never been drunk himself, but he wasn’t human. Then Bryant started listening to what was being said instead of how it was being spoken.

  “I can write my name. See that? I can write my name as clear as a bell.” Harper started to hand it back to her sister, like him, thinking that there was something wrong with the lot of them. “Look at me, Harp. Just look at me.”

  It took him too long to figure out what she was showing them by waving her hands, both hands, at them. When Tyler stood up, just like he’d done it every day of his life, Meggie started to squeal with happiness. Watching Harper, he didn’t think she was taking it as well as the other two were. When Harper looked over at him, he could almost feel her disbelief.

  “She said to me that I could heal mountains with a touch. That I could heal anyone that I loved with just a thought. Just before Aurora left us, she told me that. And that my family would be whole if I were only to enjoy the love that Bryant and I have together.” Bryant asked her when she’d told her that. “It was to me—in my head. I think that when I touched her to give her the bag, we formed a connection. Like you and I have. But this one is odd. I can see things too.”

  “So, this mysterious woman tells you that they’re going to be whole again, and you figure that is why Tyler is no longer in a chair and Maggie just had her hand appear? For Christ’s sake, Harper, what the fuck are you smoking?” Before he could figure out her intent, Harper slapped Randy. “What the hell was that for?”

  “Think, you fucking moron. Think about what you just said. They’re whole. And I bet you are as well.” Bryant didn’t know what she was talking about, but Randy cupped his cock and shook his head. “You’ve been using other men’s seed for all this time to have a child. I bet that you can father your own children now. As many as you wish.”

  “They said that the damage was too bad. That I’d never be able to have it reversed.” All Harper did was take Meggie’s hand in hers and slap him in the face with it. Several times. “All right, you’ve made your point. Fuck, Harp. Do you really think so?”

  “I don’t know why not. When they told us that Tyler would never walk again, something about the vertebra never holding up or something, we took that as gospel because we knew nothing about the safe, the magic s
tones, or what I would get from it.” Randy cocked his head at Harper. “Never mind, it’s all making sense in my head. Even with Meggie’s hand. They told us that when it had been cut, thankfully with a hot blade, that they couldn’t reattach it because of the way it had been cut. Burnt off at each end.”

  Bryant was going to have to talk to Harper. He wanted to talk to all of them, to find out what had happened to them. But he wasn’t sure how they’d take talking to a near stranger. Randy looked over at him just then and nodded.

  “We have to bring him up to date on all of this, Harper. I know that they’re dead, but we all still have nightmares about what they did to us. We could never talk about it before, not fully, because of the threat hanging over our heads from them.” Randy looked at him. “How about I buy us an early lunch and go someplace and have a long talk?”

  “My parents, they’ll want to know as well. They were a part of this long before we knew anything about the four of you.” Randy looked at Tyler and Meggie, and when they nodded, so did Harper. Randy told him to bring in all the family, if he didn’t mind. “No. But can I ask you a favor, Randy, all of you? I’d like for you to consider moving back here. They’re gone. The house, believe it or not, is nearly finished. I’ll explain that as well. I know that Harper would love for you to be here, to be able to stay close to you, and I’d very much love to get to know you all.”

  “I’ll think about it.” Meggie said that if Tyler would agree, she would come here to live. She felt alive again. “I have a very pregnant wife at home, and two children. We’d have to talk about it, the four of us.”

  “All right. I’ll get in touch with my family and we’ll meet after lunch. You’re not going to believe the fun we had on this shoot, Randy. Someday, you should go with your sister. She’s really good. I’ve grown to have a great deal of respect for photography after that trip.” Bryant shook Randy’s hand. “Together we can do this, Randy. I know that you have an aunt that has been notified, and with us being away, we’ve not heard what she is planning to do. But if she pulls anything, any shit on you at all, she’s going to have to deal with the Prince family. Which, I might add, includes all of you.”

  They walked to the little pizza place around the corner from the hotel. Tyler was in such a wonderful mood that it rubbed off on Randy and the rest of them. Before they left, Bryant was able to contact his family and made a time for supper. They were all going to be there. It was then that Bryant realized that they’d be eating in the new house for the first time as a group. He wondered what changes had been made to the big house that he’d grown up in, and knew that he was going to miss the old place. It did have a great many fond and amazing memories for the Prince family.

  When they arrived at the house, Harper asked if she could take a nap. When she woke, she told him, they’d talk too. He could tell that she wanted to go and get the pictures started. He wondered briefly if she did the developing herself or sent them out. Bryant had a feeling that not only did they have a darkroom if she needed it, but it would be well supplied. Going to the bedroom with her, it wasn’t until he laid down beside her that Bryant realized how exhausted he was too. In minutes Harper was sound asleep. He wasn’t far behind her.

  Chapter 7

  Michelle hung up the phone after making arrangements to go to the little town in Ohio. She wasn’t sure how she felt about her brother being dead, or that nasty person he had been married to. According to the attorney that had called, it was just discovered that Margaret had killed Randal and then set fire to herself. Why? No one seemed to have an answer for that. Good riddance to them, as far as she was concerned.

  The children would be adults now, all of them devastated in some way about their parents. Not their deaths—Michelle knew they’d be happy about that—but about what they’d done to them. The things, unspeakable things, that had been done to them that she, at one time, had been all right with. Then she’d gone to see Tyler.

  He’d only been a little boy. It had taken some time for her to remember how old he was. But when she saw him lying there, strapped up to every machine that the hospital had to keep him alive, realization had hit her. And it hit her very hard.

  “Do you know how he was hurt, Michelle Wilson?”

  Michelle looked up at the woman there. She didn’t know her, not at all, but she still seemed to be someone that she should know. Michelle had shook her head, and the woman seemed to float towards her to have a seat.

  The chair that the woman sat in hadn’t been there—Michelle knew it. But there she sat in a larger chair than the one that she was in. Days later, trying her best to remember what her face had looked like, all she could remember was the glow that seemed to be surrounding her.

  “They were driving home from the grocery store. No food for the children, who were nearly starved and in need of a good bath. No, they’d bought themselves steaks and large potatoes. Would you like to see what happened next?” She didn’t answer her, of that she was sure. But the delight that Michelle had felt that her brother had taken control of his children had been there too. Also, a bit of sorrow for the fact that they were so hungry. But the touch, a single finger to her heart, changed everything in her life that day.

  Tyler had been in the middle of the back seat. Randy had been holding onto Harper behind Randal, who had been driving. Michelle thought that Harper should have been buckled in as well. Meggie was by the door.

  Tyler had to pee—he was sweating with the need. Michelle didn’t know how she knew that; perhaps it was the way he was holding himself. The other children were watching him, hoping, she supposed, for their father to pull over for him to go.

  “You have to pee, did you say?” There was a tone there—Satanic, she thought. And when they pulled over, Margaret got out of the front seat, climbed into the back, and unbuckled the boy. Michelle was confused when Randal started the car back up and took off down the road. With the door opened, Michelle was afraid that one of the children would fall out. Then it happened.

  Margaret jerked the little boy out of the seat and tossed him out of the fast moving car. She watched as he bounced twice, his little head bleeding as he went through the air the second time. And when he landed on the side of the road, his back hitting the curb hard, she knew that whatever she had thought had happened to the boy was a lie—her brother had told her that he’d fallen from a tree—and that the other children had suffered equal horrors.

  The film, or whatever she was watching, drew back to the car. The three children were still sitting in their seats. Their father could be heard laughing hard, only second to the sound of Margaret’s laughter.

  “He fell from a tree, you hear me?” All three nodded, Meggie crying so hard that she could hardly catch her breath. “You shut the fuck up, you little cunt.”

  The slap—not the first one, she knew, to Harper’s face—bloodied not just her lip, but her mouth as well. Why she touched the child was not known to her, since it had been Meggie that was crying. But as they sat there, for God knew what reason, she hit Harper again and again until she lost consciousness.

  Michelle looked at the woman when things stopped.

  “There is more. More of the same. Sometimes it is worse, other times so bad that they wish for death. They will ruin Meggie’s life with their ways. Harper will become cold, distant but for her work. Tyler will never walk again, never have a life outside the four walls that he keeps himself in. Randy will not know the joy of having his own child. He will rely on others to make that happen for him and his wife to be.”

  “Can I change this? Can I save them?” The woman shook her head. “Then why do you torment me with this? Why do you show me these things if they are to come to pass, and I will be helpless when they need me?”

  “They know you only as a monster like their parents. They will not contact you. Nor will you ever know of their lives, the love that they have inside of them. The way that they help each other through the bad times and good.” Michelle asked if there would be good time
s. “If things are not changed for them, then no, they will never know anything but suffering. But I think they’ll escape from them, go away to be as safe as they can make themselves.”

  “Tell me what to do. I’ll do anything. I knew that my brother was...I had no idea that he was like this. This horrific. I need to help them.” She told her that she couldn’t, not yet. “When? After Margaret throws them from another car? Perhaps this time in front of a truck? No, you need to tell me what I can do to help these poor children.”

  “There will be a time when someone will tell you that the parents are dead. Much damage will be done to each of them before that point. But you’ll come to them then.” Michelle was nodding. “They might not ever trust you, Michelle Wilson. You will have to not just open your heart for them, but to listen and let them get to know you. The woman that you can be.”

  She had ended up back at her home. To this day, Michelle didn’t know how she’d gotten from the hospital to the airport, much less home, where she’d been when it occurred to her that she had to make changes in her own life to be able to be what the children would need of her. And she had.

  Sitting at her little desk, Michelle thought of all the times her brother had called her, telling her one lie after the other. How Meggie had lost her hand in an accident. He’d never been clear on that, what she’d done to do something so horrible. But it had only taken her a few phone calls to find out what they’d done to her.

  Harper had done something. Michelle’s private detective never could find an answer to that question, but they were going to make her suffer, to make her pay for her crimes. According to her resources, there were many “crimes” that Harper committed. Nothing, however, was nearly horrible enough for the child to pay the way that she had.