Kylan: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I’ve been talking to the others. They’re all fine too. Bryant said he’d be home soon and that he’d check things out there. Also, I talked to my dad. He made fun of me for asking him if he was alone. I’m going to have to repay him for that.” She smiled at him, her mind too occupied with all kinds of things that could be going wrong. “Whatever it is, remember that we’re together, and together we can take on the world.”

  “You didn’t just say that hokey line to me, did you?” He smiled at her and kissed her on the nose. “I’m going to have to get you a book on quotes. I’ve already given your dad one. He said he should write a book of his own. I shudder to think how that would go over. People would buy it, I have no doubt, but they’d be scratching their heads at some of the things he says.”

  As soon as they pulled into the driveway, she knew that all was safe there. She could see a couple of faeries playing with the planters on the front porch, as well as some around the trees that Kylan had planted a few weeks ago. As they walked up the front to go inside, the door was opened.

  “Surprise!” Buck and Sara were the first to spill out of the house after yelling out a greeting. Then her daughter pulled them inside. It was a party for them. She’d never been so relieved in all her life when they told her they’d been planning this for a week now.

  “I thought for sure we were in some kind of terrible trouble.” Emmie was glad to see her dad there too. He was with one of the people he was now living with. “Dad, I can’t believe how good you look. Younger, and in better health.”

  “I feel it too.” He touched the scar on her cheek and smiled at her. “I bet you barely think about this anymore, do you? You’ve no idea how much seeing you this happy has done for me. I love you, baby girl.”

  “I love you too, Dad.” She put her hand over the scar. “I think about how I was hit by Herbie for those three days and don’t feel the pain of it anymore. Getting Olivia out of it, I believe, made it well worth the suffering. Don’t you think?”

  “I do so love you.”

  She mingled around, with Kylan at times and by herself. Olivia was still resting off and on, but not nearly as much as she had when she’d first come home. Sara told her this was mostly her daughter’s idea, but she’d helped.

  “I can’t thank you enough for this.”

  The party they’d wanted to have for Olivia hadn’t panned out. After the four girls had gotten together and were asked about it, they told everyone they didn’t want to be reminded of their time out there. They should have just a party. One that was in celebration of something. Emmie and Kylan had finally gone to the courthouse and gotten married, and this was the party for that.

  “Olivia has been teaching me things I can use. I had no idea about a few of them.” Emmie and Sara watched as the children, all of them, filled their plates with food that was spread out for them.

  “You should know that Olivia is aware of you being pregnant. When I was younger, it was called breeding. That’s not what it is anymore, I suppose.” Emmie asked her how she felt about it. “Me? I’m thrilled beyond words. So is Olivia, if you want that information too. I don’t think Kylan has figured it out yet. I’m hoping you get to tell him before Buck does. He will too. Why don’t you thank everyone and then announce it? That’ll surely take the wind out of his sails.” She smiled. “I’m a little perturbed at him right now. So you go on and do it, honey.”

  Emmie thought it a wonderful idea. She went to get Kylan and had him do that whistle thing he did so well. Everyone turned to them. Thanking everyone, she called Olivia up and whispered in her ear. It was going to be better, she thought, with the announcement coming from her.

  “Everyone, thanks for helping us plan this. But I want to make a quick announcement.” Kylan hugged Emmie tightly, and she thought for sure he knew. “My mom and dad are going to have a baby.”

  Kylan looked at her, then her belly. Then he looked at her again. “I don’t understand. What does she mean? Emmie? I don’t understand.”

  “Dad, even I know how it works. The way you two go at each other, it’s surprising to everyone here that Mom didn’t announce this sooner.” Everyone laughed. “You’re freaking Mom out, Dad.”

  After that, Kylan seemed to get his act together and hugged her. Then he picked her up and swung her around the room. Olivia was so happy, it was written all over her face. Everyone else seemed to be as well. Emmie couldn’t have picked a better time to do it either. Buck looked so dejected that she shared with him that she was having a boy, and that perked him right up. Oh, to have a family like this at your back or when you needed a pick-me-up. They were perfect for anything you threw at them.

  Chapter 6

  Kylan didn’t know why he’d been summoned by the queen, but he’d do anything for her. Olivia had been asked to come with him. When he asked if he should bring Emmie, he was told the queen had already asked her to join them. Going into the realm, he was happy to see she’d beaten them there, but none of them seemed to have any idea what they were there for.

  “I’ve been thinking about school.” He asked Olivia why that was important now. “It’s not, but you look ready to burst, so I thought this was as good a time as any. I want to take those college classes online like the teacher suggested for me. That way, I can get my mandatory classes out of the way before I decide on a major.”

  “Do you have it broken down as to what you’d like to study?” She said she was waffling between being a surgeon or an attorney. “Those are both good choices. But I have to ask, are you doing this because you want to, or because my dad suggested it for you? Anything you want to do is all right with us so long as you give it your best.”

  Before she could answer, the queen entered the room. She was dressed as she had been a lot lately—in jeans and a sweatshirt. It looked good on her. Also, he knew it was making her more approachable to the people and faeries that worked for her.

  Sitting on the chair across from them, Aurora smiled. “This should have been done long ago, but I never found the right couple to handle this. I think that not only will the three of you be perfect for this, but you’ll trounce my wildest dreams with it. I hope you’ll take it on.” Olivia asked her if she was going to tell them what it was. “Yes. Of course. I’ve been thinking about how to ask you, but I get sidetracked quickly when it comes to—” Emmie cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m ready now. I have a child.”

  Kylan didn’t know what to say. He’d not even known she was going to have a baby. Standing up to hug her, he felt silly for not knowing what to say to someone like her about a child. Sitting down, he watched Olivia and Emmie do the same. It wasn’t until Aurora laughed that he thought she’d been jesting them. Apparently, they weren’t getting it because none of the three of them laughed.

  “Let me explain. I have always had the ability to produce someone to take over for me. The ability was given to me by the creators. We don’t have to go into why they created me, but I’m so glad they did. I’ve been thinking of retiring for some time now. It’s been difficult, to say the least, for me to get just a few minutes of my own time. Not that I would have done things differently, but—” He only had to say her name for her to take a breath. “Yes. I’m babbling. Anyway, I have created a child like me. Olivia is about as close to what I am as anyone in the world. However, she lacks only one thing. My blood. While she does have a great deal of it, she isn’t enough to take over.”

  The faeries brought in a bundle. When handed off to Aurora, she laid it on the cushioned footstool between them and her. Unwrapping the small blanket, Kylan saw what appeared to be a foot first. A tiny little foot. Then an arm. Before long, there was a small baby staring up at them.

  “She’s exactly as I am. Magical even, now that she’s been given life.” Olivia asked if she could hold her. “Yes, of course. I’m hoping you’ll all want to hold her. She’s going to need the three of you, soon the four of you, in o
rder to be safe. I cannot have her here until she’s old enough to care for herself.”

  “You need us to raise her for you?” Aurora told Emmie that even should they just put her in the basement, the child would rear itself. “I have no intentions of doing that, I hope you know.”

  “I do. I do. I was just…I’m babbling again. She will need to be someplace where no one will know who or what she is. Leaving her in the castle with me would bring on so many wars that I’d never be able to keep her safe from day to day.” Olivia handed the baby to him, and he could almost feel it looking deeply into his soul. “She can protect herself on some level, but nothing like she will need. Trust of humans will have to be taught to her. Even how not to trust others. I’m sure you’re aware that Olivia has the ability to see when a person is good or not. That magic is there for the babe as well. However, she will need to learn it. I’m hoping Olivia will teach her. She will also need to be taught how to be around humans or shifters. The small things that will make her less of a standout than I am at times. You understand, don’t you, Emmie?”

  “You want her to be able to blend in better than you do.” Aurora said that was it. That she’d never been very good at blending in. It wasn’t something she’d learned at an earlier age. “I think I can speak for the rest of us when I tell you we’ll do anything you need us to do with your daughter.”

  “I knew you would. When I was created so long ago now that I don’t even remember much of it, I was as I am now. But it was thought that at some point, I’d need to retire, so to speak. And in that, someone would need to take over for me. I don’t know, honestly, if I need to retire or I just need help. With this child being created now, I will have a bit more time to figure out what I will be able to do when she’s ready. Where I will go, you see.” Kylan asked her what happened to her when she did retire. “I will no longer be needed, Kylan. I will no longer be.”

  “Nope, not going to happen.” Olivia took the baby from him and handed her back to the queen. “You die because we’re caring for your child, I’m going to tell her what a selfish person you were in leaving us when we’ve only just gotten to know you. Nope and double nope. We won’t raise her if you’re going to leave us. Right, Mom? Dad?”

  He had known that was what she was going to say before Aurora told them. Kylan didn’t want to believe it, but he also knew there couldn’t be two beings like her in one realm. It would cause, he’d bet, trouble the likes of nothing they’d ever seen before.

  “If you don’t retire, for lack of a better term, we all will die.” Aurora nodded at him. “I also think you should have done this some time ago, but were waiting on someone you could trust. While I know you trust all of us, you know that Olivia, and us as her backup, are the only beings that can keep your daughter as safe as you would like her to be.”

  “That’s right.” Aurora got down on the floor with the baby cradled in her arms to talk to Olivia. “It’s you I’ve been waiting on, child. You to not only take her as your sister but to help her be a person others will trust and love. It’s important, you see, that I am no longer around in order for her to receive everything I am. You, too, will get some of myself. For your reward.”

  “I don’t want a reward if that means you’re going to leave me. I love you, Aurora.” Aurora told Olivia she loved her as well. “Please, isn’t there any other way you can do this? Can’t you just step down and let her take over by giving her your magic a little at a time?”

  “When you were in school, did you ever hear about two forces together in the same field? How together they would give off more energy than anyone could handle? Not just people, but the world as a whole wouldn’t be able to live after that. We’d be bigger than that, I’m afraid. There is no letting her take my magic from me. At some point, we’d be equal, and that would cause a disaster the likes of nothing anyone has ever seen before.” Aurora held Olivia and put her child into their child’s arms. “I promise you I will be around for a while yet. Preparing the world for another queen. You will be preparing for her too. Her equal in so many ways that once she is in power, there will be little to no trouble from the world. I need you, Olivia. Need you more now than I have ever needed anyone.”

  Crying in earnest now, it broke Kylan’s heart to see Olivia so upset. Not just knowing Aurora was going to leave them, but that Olivia was so broken up about it. They held each other like they were for several minutes. Kylan held onto Emmie as well.

  “What’s her name?” Aurora told Olivia that she’d name her, as she couldn’t. “Because you’re going to be leaving us?”

  “No. That’s not it. I cannot name her, for her name will be that forever—a very long time. People might think I named her for this person or that. Naming her has to be done by someone I love, without influence from me at all. And you cannot name her for me. That would only confuse people when she takes over for me.” Olivia looked down at the little girl. She looked bigger to him already, and he asked about that. “She is growing quickly. Only because she knows she is loved and will be cared for. But after she hits about what will be a year old in human years, she will then grow as any child will. It’s so she’s not any trouble to those that care for her. You will care for her for me, won’t you?”

  “I will.” It was Olivia that answered first. He nodded, and so did Emmie. “I don’t have to like it, but I’ll help with caring for her. If you make me one promise. You don’t just leave us. You have to let me know when it’s time. I don’t want to have to find out from someone else that you’ve up and died without saying goodbye. I’m not saying I won’t be upset anyway, but you can’t just leave us, Aurora. Please?”

  “I promise you, Olivia. I will never leave you without telling you I must move on.” A faerie landed on the hand of the child. “This is Hershel. He is the child’s faerie. He is young as well and will learn with the child. Hershel will be with all of you so long as the child is in your care. Then, once she is ready to take over the kingdom, Hershel will become a part of you, Olivia, so you have a direct connection to every faerie that lives. Even ones born after this day.”

  “Why?” Kylan thought it was a good question, but again, he thought he knew the answer when Emmie asked it. “And what do you mean, he’ll become a part of her?”

  “Shall I show them, my lady?” Nodding once, it didn’t surprise him at all when Hershel blended into the skin on Olivia’s body. He was the perfect image of himself, looking, for all the world knew, like a tattoo on her wrist. Olivia tensed up, and he knew she was feeling them, the faeries that were hers to command. When Hershel stood up again, he looked at him. “You know, don’t you, my lord, why she will have contact with the faeries.”

  “I do. It’s so that Olivia may call upon them for anything she needs for the rest of her days. And when she has found her mate, she and her mate will be a part of the faerie realm as much as the new queen will be.” Emmie asked why when she found her mate. “I believe he will be of our world. That he will not just be human, but he will be unaware of a great many things we all find as the truth of life.”

  “You will be able to call upon the army now, Olivia. Even your aunt and uncle will be yours to command should you need protection for the child. Your parents will be there as well. This is why I knew you’d be the one to help with her training because you have so many around you that you’ll be as safe as anyone has ever been. And because of the marking you will receive from me this day, none of you, not you or your family, will ever be harmed by anyone, of either realm, again.” She asked if she meant the trolls. “Yes, they are one such creature that would wish to take this child from you. But there are many more creatures in both our realms that will make the trolls look easy.”

  “Humans again.” Kylan nodded at her. “I will do this. I promise you that I will care for her the best I can. I’ll have two, a brother and a sister now.”

  “Yes. That is what everyone will think too. No one, beyond your family
, can know that you and your family care for this child, Olivia. It’s important you never tell anyone.” She said it would be dangerous for everyone. “Yes. More so for the child.”

  After being given instructions on how to care for the infant, there wasn’t that much involved, the four of them left the castle. They’d have access to it whenever they wanted, even if it was just to rest for a day. To come and visit. But the child would never be able to return. It would be, as many things would, dangerous for her.

  The house was set up for the baby when they arrived home. There was a nursery filled with all the things she would need, as well as items for their son. They’d share a room, apparently, and Kylan thought that was a great idea. How better to help a child blend in than to have it around other babies.

  Emmie asked Olivia if she had a name yet—she didn’t want to keep calling it “the baby”—and she said she wanted to think on it. After telling her they’d need one for them to introduce her to the family, Olivia asked if it would be all right if she had one in the morning. They would just hold off telling everyone for one more night, and he thought that would be fine. Whatever her name was going to be, Kylan just hoped it wasn’t something silly like Happy or Sunshine. It would be hard to live up to names like that, he thought.

  ~*~

  Emmie loved the name. She also loved the fact that Olivia had thought of it. Michelle Anna had been her mother’s name, and she thought it perfect for this little girl. After getting out of the shower, she went to the nursery. Smiling, she stepped over her daughter, who was on the floor by the crib, to pick up Michelle.

  “Hello, beautiful.” The little girl looked to be about six months old now. She was smiling, giggling, as well as playing with her feet a great deal. After changing her diaper and putting another sleeper on her, Emmie put her on the floor to see what else she could do now. “Can you crawl yet? It wouldn’t surprise me if by this evening you were reading.”