Joshua_The Whitfield Rancher_Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Read online

  “And I love you.”

  Cutting the cake was difficult. It really was a gorgeous creation. With the several tiers and small roses with buds, he thought that whoever made it should go into business making them. Then when they did cut into the creation, he was so happy to see that it wasn’t the traditional kind of white cake, but a fruit and nut cake that he and Carter loved so much.

  As pieces of it were handed out, he and Carter were to open four of the gifts on the table. He had no idea who had started that tradition, but he was glad for it tonight. There were so many boxes with ribbons and cards there that he was sure that it would take them hours to open them all.

  The first gift that they opened was from his parents. They gave them the deed to the land he’d bought from them, as well as they paid off the construction loan on his home. It was such a wonderful and thoughtful gift that they both went and hugged them for it.

  Grandda’s was next, and when he opened it, he handed it to Carter. As she started to cry over the card and contents, Grandda came up to stand next to them. Josh choked up twice when he read what it was to everyone.

  “He adopted her. Grandda is now her father, and he said....” He had to wipe at his face. “He said that she was his first daughter, and she had made him prouder than he could have thought possible. And that my grandma would have loved to have met her and all the other girls that have come to mean so much to him.”

  The next gift was from his brothers. It was cash that they could use on their honeymoon. He thanked them several times for it, and they told him it was nothing. To him and Carter, it was everything.

  The last gift was the one from the pack. It was a letter mostly. It said that they would forever be a part of their pack, and that whenever they needed them, Nate would be there with his army of wolves behind him. There couldn’t have been a better gift from Nate and the others. To know that they’d be safe no matter what happened.

  He and Carter were getting ready to leave when Tanner approached them. He said that he’d not have bothered them, but he thought it was important enough to tell them before they left. Taking him into their study, he asked them to have a seat just as Flora came into the room as well. She smiled at Carter, then sat on her hand. She looked up at Carter before speaking.

  “You are not human. And the powers that you have, they are from your parents. Your real parents, who have missed you.” Carter said that her parents were dead. “Nay, my lady. You are fae. A princess fae.”

  Chapter 12

  Carter asked her where she’d gotten her information. Flora didn’t move off her hand, but continued to stare at her. When she didn’t answer her, she looked to Tanner for them.

  “You were born in a small hospital on an off road, one that is magically maintained. There shouldn’t have been humans that could find the place, so we’re not entirely sure how the Comptons were able to find it. Desperation, I would imagine, and their child was born a few scant moments after they arrived.” Carter asked them how they knew this. “When I first saw you, and then again the day before yesterday, I could smell fae on you. So, when I asked Flora if she had been hanging out with you, she told me that she’d not. So I found something of yours, and after testing it by smelling it, I knew what you were. But not who you were.”

  “I’m a human that has these incredible abilities.” Flora told her that no human would be able to keep the amount of power that she had and still live. It would have killed a human the first time that they used it. “Then how do I have them? I can’t believe that anyone would believe that I’m not human.”

  “You are not only not a human, but you are the daughter of the queen of the fae’s daughter. The granddaughter to the queen.” Carter held tightly onto Josh’s hand, and felt like she was in a washing machine, being tossed all around and not knowing which way was up. Tanner continued speaking as he sat down across from them. “I’ve spoken to the queen just today, and she is pleased that you have survived. Sadly, the daughter of the Comptons died not long after you were both born.”

  “I don’t understand. Did they kidnap me?” Tanner said it was the fault of the clinic that they were switched at birth. “I’m not sure what is going on here. But I am just a human. I don’t heal faster than anyone else, and I’ve been using my brain for all the stuff that I can do. The doctors, they told me that. That I used more of my brain than anyone else did.”

  “Perhaps you do. I wouldn’t doubt that you use a great deal of it to control and use your magic. But that’s what it is. The magic of your birth parents.”

  Carter stood up and started to pace the room. Josh asked how this had happened. She wanted to know as well.

  “Why do you think they were switched at birth? Not that I don’t believe you, but what happened?” Tanner started to tell them when Flora flew toward him and sat on his hand. He asked her the same question.

  Carter didn’t know how she felt right then. Overwhelmed by it all, certainly. But did she believe it? She wasn’t sure if she did or not. It would certainly explain a great deal to her. But if it were true, her entire life had been a lie. Those people were not her parents. And this broke her heart the most, Rachel wasn’t her sister, not by blood.

  “They did not know what they had done. All these years they had thought they had done the right thing. But when the baby died only a few minutes after it was taken to the nursery, they all thought that it was the fae child and not the human.” He asked why someone didn’t feel the magic around Carter. “A child, as your wife would have been, would not have her magic until she was older. Eighteen in human years. She’d have some magic as she grew. And as I’ve been told, enough to get her into trouble with her parents. But not nearly what she has now. Everyone would feel it—they’d know that magic was close when she used it. But Carter was not in a place that it could be felt.”

  “The walls were made of concrete. And I only played with it in my cell.” She came to sit by him again, and Josh kissed her and wiped away the tears that she’d shed. “The day I turned eighteen, I felt like my body had been turned inside out. I was sick for several days afterwards and had to be put in the infirmary. They told me that I had contracted some kind of virus, and that once I was well, they’d send me back to my cell. I’ve never been sick since.”

  “No, you’d not be. Nor would you die. Even before you came to be Josh’s mate. When you’re hurt, you don’t heal faster, but anything that would have killed a lesser being would have just healed for you. To a certain point. You still have magic that will come to you from the queen and your parents.” Carter told Tanner that she didn’t want anything else that would change her. “I’m afraid, my dear, that regardless of your feelings for more magic, it will come to you because they know you are alive.”

  “What happened to the other child? The Compton baby?” Tanner looked at Josh before he glanced at her. “Please tell me. I need to know more about this before I can come to terms with it all.”

  “The child wasn’t healthy before it was born. Had it lived, I’m afraid that it would have been put someplace that was better able to handle a child like the one born to them. She had a great many birth defects, and her brain was very underdeveloped.” Carter asked Tanner if he knew why that had happened. “Yes. And if the Comptons were alive when I found out the way they treated that unborn child of theirs, I would have gladly killed them again. But they would have suffered in ways that I have not used on humans before.”

  His voice was cold and hard. Carter didn’t ask him what he’d do. The chill that ran over her body was enough to tell her that she didn’t want to know. When Flora went to stand on the arm of the couch she was on, Carter put out her hand for her to walk onto. She was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.

  “She wishes to see you soon. Today if you would not mind.” Carter looked at Josh, who smiled at her. “You are her granddaughter, and that makes you the most special child in the world to her.”

  “Where is her daughter? My mother? And my father?” F
lora looked so sad. “They died? My parents are gone, and I won’t get to meet them too?”

  “Nay, they cannot die. But when they thought that their child had died, they asked to be put to rest. They have a grand faerie garden, the two of them do. And the queen, once she is certain that you are their daughter, she will ask them to wake. I’m sure that they’ll wish that as well.” Josh held her then—it was too much for her, and she sobbed. “I am sorry, my lady, but she will see what we all do. That you are her grandchild. I promise you.”

  “Flora, can you ask the queen to come here now? I don’t think we should wait on an answer.” Carter held onto Josh as he spoke quietly to the little fae. “I know that she has a great deal to do, but this is important to all of us, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, I’ll go to her now.” When the little fae left them out the small opening at the window, Carter looked at Tanner. He did not look like a man who had just brought good news to a lot of people. He was frighteningly pissed off looking. She asked him if he was upset that she might be the fae princess.

  “Oh no. Never that. But there will be changes made to your life. I’m afraid that even if you tell her no, the moment that she sees you and confirms it, the magic will come to you regardless of your wants. But I was thinking of the other child. The one that should have been given to the Comptons, and I think that they would have ended her life without a qualm at all.” She asked him if it would hurt her, the magic, trying hard not to think of what the Comptons would have done to their own child. And Tanner was right, they would have killed her. “No. I don’t think so. You have a great deal of magic now. More than I think you were given at birth. And that is more than likely due to the fact that you honed your skills to the point that you gathered more from those around you. Not stole it, but used it as would have been your right.”

  “What happens to me should she figure out that I’m not related to her at all? Will she hurt me then?” He laughed and said that she’d never do that to a creature such as her. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “If you are not the child that she seeks, then you are something that has well beyond the power of one so young. She will wish to help you, perhaps groom you in a way that will help not just you, but herself as well.” Carter asked him how. “I’m not sure. But she is at a point in her life, she told us, that she grows weary of her job. Not that she would ever show it to others, but she wishes…I guess you would say, she wishes to retire. And with her own daughter resting as she is, then there is no one to take over the duties of her life.”

  “Why did they not just have another child? I mean, it’s been twenty-seven years. Couldn’t they have had another child that would have been truly theirs?” Tanner shook his head and then stood up abruptly. She and Josh did as well.

  The room brightened then dimmed, just before a woman appeared in the room with them. She was dressed in sparklers, it looked like to her, from the top of her head to her feet. Wings covered in gems spread out behind her, and when the light hit them, as it was now, there were sparks from it all around the room. When she staggered slightly, Carter didn’t even hesitate but went to her aid. As soon as they touched, Carter felt a profound connection.

  “You look so much like my daughter that I could mistake you for her.” The touch to her cheek was soft, but no less charged full of energy. “You are her. My granddaughter. I can feel it, can’t you?”

  “I don’t know what I feel. This has been a lot to take in.” The men that were with the queen made themselves known to her. When they moved toward her, their swords drawn, Carter was afraid they were going to hurt one of them. “Stop.”

  Not one moved, but they did look to the queen when she started laughing. It was hardy and full of mirth. When she sat down on the other couch next to Tanner, the queen took Carter’s hand into her much smaller one.

  “If I had my doubts before, which I did not, this proves it, don’t you think?” Tanner nodded at the queen, but Carter was confused. “She can command my army, Tanner. Did you know this when you invited me here, my dear friend?”

  “I did not.” They both looked at her, and Tanner asked her to have a seat. “You see, only a royal can command the guard of the queen. When you told them to stop moving, they had no choice but to do as you commanded. Had you not been the one that we thought, they would have run you through to save their queen. You are most assuredly the granddaughter of the queen of the fae.”

  Carter returned to Josh and he held her in his arms. She wanted a few minutes to absorb all this. And there was a great deal of it to take in. She wasn’t human, for starters. Not only was that piece of news too much, but it turned out that she was the granddaughter to the queen of all the fae in the world. Her mind went sideways for a second, and she had a thought that the queen would be commanding them on other planets too. When she felt like she could settle into her thoughts again, she had about sixty billion questions that were circling around in her noodle.

  “Are you all right?” She wasn’t sure and told Josh that. It was then that she realized that they were alone in the big room. “They said that they’d be back when we came home from our honeymoon. But the queen did leave you a couple of pieces of jewelry that she’d like for us both to wear.”

  The ring was just a plain band, until she put it on her finger. Then it was not only just as gem covered as the queen’s wings were, but seemed to glow with a light as bright as the fucking sun. Wearing it could bring attention to her, and she wasn’t sure that she’d like that any more than knowing that her life had been one lie after another.

  “I’m not thinking straight right now.” Josh laughed. “You must think I’m an idiot. I’ve been told that those horrible people weren’t my parents, and I’m acting stupid.”

  “No, I think you’re reacting to a great deal of information that has been thrown at you all at once. I also would never think that you’re stupid.” She was trying to pull the ring off her finger, but it wasn’t budging. “It won’t come off. She said that it marked you as who you are, and it will keep you safe. I have one as well. As husband to the granddaughter of the queen, I must be safe as well.”

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He laughed and said it was strange, but better than he thought it would be. “Yes, well, I’m not so sure about the better part. But it is different. What do we do now? I mean, are we going away like we thought we were?”

  “Oh yes. Everything is arranged. The car is waiting on us to take us to the airport. The only difference that I can see to our plans is that we’ll have a few extra men around us at all times to keep us safe.” She asked him why. “You’re her granddaughter, and the moment she acknowledged you, you became important to her. And to me, if you want the truth of it. You’ve always been very important to me.”

  “You just like getting laid on a regular basis, that’s why you find me important.” He laughed and took her hand into his. “We’re leaving, just like we planned, right? I don’t think I could take one more thing to be different right now, Josh. Let’s go and have a wonderful honeymoon.”

  “I promise you, it will be the best honeymoon anyone has ever been on.” He kissed her then. “I love you, Mrs. Carter Whitfield. With all my heart.”

  ~~~

  Josh knew that he should have told her the rest, what she’d gained by wearing the ring—what he’d gained as well. But he didn’t want Carter stressed out any more than she was already. It had been a hell of a month since she’d come into his life, and he needed for her to enjoy herself. When they returned, there would be a great many more changes that would have to be dealt with. He remembered, in great detail, what the queen had told him while Carter was in his arms and overawed.

  “My daughter and her husband will be awakened as soon as I go back to the castle. There are things there that must be prepared for the two of you.” Josh had asked her what that would be. “You will be able to go between your home here and the one at the castle without any trouble. The magic that is hers, it will be gi
ven to you as well. Only less. You’ll still have a great deal, Josh, but she will need more.”

  “I understand. I do have a question, if I may?” She nodded at him. “Why didn’t they just have another child? I mean, I’m assuming that she’s older than me, but there would have been time for them to have another child.”

  “Our kind, the royalty of the fae, can only have a single birth. It will be born a girl child, and she will be in direct line to the throne when the time comes.” Josh told her that he was so sorry about that. “It’s the way that it has been forever. I knew this when I had my own daughter, and she the same.”

  “So, you not only lost your granddaughter in all this, but your daughter as well.” She had smiled sadly at him and said that was right. “I’ll talk to Carter, but when the time is right, my lady. She hasn’t had a good life up until now, and I have promised her that we’d take this trip. I wish, for you, the timing could have been much better. But she’s not been sleeping well, and I want her to be less stressed so that she can.”

  “I will not harm her, Josh, but I will help her with her sleep. I’m to understand that she has nightmares?” He said that she had them almost nightly. “I will give her a bit of my magic so that she can also rest while she is away. It will be good for you both to try and relax while you are having this trip. And please don’t think of this as me losing my daughter and hers too. I have gained them both back this day, and I have never been happier.”

  And now they were on a plane headed to the first leg of their journey. Carter was restless, he knew that, and when she finally turned to him, he could tell that his telling her later thought was out the window. She was readier for what he knew than she had been before.

  After telling her everything that he knew, she leaned back on the seat and looked at the seat across from her. He’d bet that she wasn’t seeing what was there, but thinking and processing all that he’d told her. He even told her about the child that they’d have, and how it would only be the one.