David: The Whitfield Rancher – Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Read online

  Finishing the sandwich, she regarded the man in front of her. He only looked to be in his mid to late thirties, but she knew he had to be much older. He dressed well, but not overly lavish. He was educated, highly so, and he was also street smart. She liked him. And for whatever reason, trusted him.

  “This thing that I can do, I’ve figured out that no matter what it is, if I touch it for long enough, I can read, or whatever it is I do, all about it. Like the last owner. Names, addresses, as well as tell if they’re dead or not. Kind of creepy, but in my line of work, it could also be very useful.”

  “Yes, I would say so. But back to Ollie. He is a good man, one you can trust with your life. He has some...let’s just call them connections to the paranormal world that will keep you hidden away until you’re at full strength. His oldest grandson took a mate, and she has become a leap leader that you will need as well. Very strong as well as mouthy. Much like you.” Sunny smiled. “I don’t know if you realize this, but that wasn’t a compliment.”

  “Sure it was. Being mouthy is what keeps me around. I mean, other than bullets, I can worm my way out of most anything.” He laughed when she did. “And this man, Ollie, he will help me hide out, then what?”

  “You’ll be able to do your research for me. James has another plant, one that I’ve not been able to find. My hope is that he has this other lab, and there is where you’ll find my family. My kiss. But most importantly, my mate.” She nodded and asked him how many were in it. “My kiss is of about twenty vampires varying in age. One of them being my mate, as I said.”

  “She’s still alive then?” He said that he was, as far as he knew. “I’m sorry. Yes, then. He. Can’t you connect with him or something? I don’t know a great deal about how that will work. But you connect with me, correct?”

  “I cannot connect with him because he’s somewhere that is blocked from me. I know him to be alive because I have not felt his death. And I would, as I would yours should you meet with another killer. He is still alive, but for how long, I know not.” She nodded as she began to take notes. “I will help you as much as I can, but I cannot show myself as easily as you would be able to. You’ll be safe, as safe as they can make you, with the Whitfields. Ollie, he is aware that you’re coming.”

  “What sort of cats are they?” He told her and Sunny looked at him as a chill washed over her. “I don’t like tigers. I knew one once.”

  “Yes. I know.” He didn’t say anything else but watched her. “Ollie is a good man. And his family are the best people you’d ever want to meet.”

  “If you say so.”

  She sat there long after he was gone, but wasn’t sure about this now. Tigers? She was more than a little terrified of the fuckers.

  Once, when she’d been working in a warehouse to find out what sort of shit they had going on, there had been a couple of them, big fuckers that roamed the place when it was in lockdown. The larger of the two had played with her for a while before he pounced. She’d spent three hours with him letting her go then chasing her down to cut her up again. Sunny had never been so glad to see the police as she was that next morning. Then she was off to the hospital to get several hundred wounds stitched closed, as well as her broken arm set. Fuckers were a nasty group.

  Not only had she gotten a great story on the crap that they’d been doing, but the story about the illegal use and poor care of the tigers had gotten her praise. If she’d been honest with the newspaper, she would have asked for a gun to blow the things out of existence. She hated them that much.

  Chapter 2

  David was sitting at his computer, reading the last entry that he’d made toward his book, when he realized that he wasn’t alone. Looking up, he saw his grandda, and it appeared that he’d been sitting there for some time. Not waking him, he read a little more of the book then shut down his computer after saving his work. Grandda woke about two minutes later.

  No one he knew woke like his grandda…clear headed and smiling. His face wasn’t puffy, nor did his eyes look like he’d been asleep. Grandda was as fresh as a daisy after a spring rain, and was just as happy after a small snooze. David was both in awe and jealous of that feat.

  “Sorry. I was up until late last night talking to an old friend, and I am more than a little tired today.” David told him it was fine, he’d been working so hard that he’d not noticed him there. “Not a good thing, I don’t think. Not with stuff...I have to talk to you about something.”

  “All right. I’m finished for the day. Would you like to go and get some dinner with me?” He said that he’d rather pick something up and come back to his house. “That’s fine with me. I have some leftovers from dinner yesterday, potato salad and stuff, if you want to get some sandwiches to go with it. Mom made it all, so you know as well as I do that it’s wonderful.”

  “Sounds good to me.” David nodded and pulled on his jacket. Whatever was bothering the old man, he wasn’t spilling anything right now. “What do you know of vampires?”

  “I have a buddy that is one. He’s not too old, younger than you, I think.” Grandda asked him if he thought he was old. “No, just using you as a reference. Why so touchy?”

  “I don’t know. I’m old, I know that, and I’m not getting any younger either. Dad-burn it boy, when can I have a great grandkid?” David told him that he’d not been able to reproduce for some time now. “Smart ass. I should tell your momma.”

  “She knows I can’t have them either. And in the event you’re wondering, none of us grandsons can have them. At least not without the intervention of some major work and a female.” Grandda laughed. “Okay, what do you want? Subs, burgers, or a real dinner?”

  “I’ve changed my mind. Dinner. But we can’t talk until we get someplace private. I mean it boy, don’t be asking me about it, not until we’re at your house.” He promised that he wouldn’t. “How about that place out on Maple Avenue? You know, the steak place.”

  When they were seated, Grandda asked him again about his knowledge of vampires. He told him what he knew, which really wasn’t that much. Grandda said he’d tell him more when they were home. The dinner conversation was good, nothing too mind-tasking, and they were headed to his house in less than an hour.

  Almost as if a switch had been turned, Grandda started talking. “About fifty or so years ago, I met this man. His name was Tanner. He didn’t have a last name, and I don’t think he’s adopted one now. Anyway, he came to see me last night.” David handed his grandda some iced tea as he continued. “He has a problem. And there is a damsel involved. He wants me to keep her safe.”

  Damsel? His grandda was forever saying things like that. Just yesterday he’d heard him refer to one of the waitresses at the ice cream parlor as a car hopper. He’d known what it meant, but he cautioned him on using it where she might hear him.

  “All right. What’s she done, or been done to her, that would require him, a vampire, to ask you, a tiger, to care for her?” Grandda pulled an old newspaper out of his jacket pocket and handed it to him. David glanced over it before laying it down. “She’s a writer. For some pretty serious papers.”

  “Yes. She’s one of them ones that goes in and finds things out then puts it all to paper. Not just that paper, but a whole lot of them. Freelance, I think he said she’s called. She’s good too, and honest, he told me. Just recently, within the last month or so, someone took exception to her articles and shot her.” Grandda leaned back. “Tanner said he needs her. She is going to help him find out where his own mate has gone. He thinks he’s still alive and at a part of this place that this girl was investigating. They shot her up enough that she was dead for a bit, but with his magic, he was able to bring her back. She has an ability to touch things and find information about them now. We gotta keep that under wraps so no one else comes along and decides she might be more useful to them dead than walking around knowing stuff.”

  “I don’t understand. Why doesn’t he just give her something that belonged to his mate and have her find out where he is?” David was glad that his grandda wasn’t too squeamish about the male to male mates. His parents weren’t either when it came to sexual orientation. “I’m assuming that they’ve tried that.”

  “No, I don’t think so. She’s been hurting pretty badly, I guess, and he hadn’t gotten around to it. But he doesn’t think it’ll work anyway. Not only does he not have many of his mate’s things—they seemed to disappear when his mate did—but he’s being blocked somehow, and that would mean, he thinks, that she would have the same issues. He’s gonna try tonight when he rises.” David asked why this woman. “I don’t know if you want the truth of it. But I owe this man and I intend to see to it that she’s safe.”

  He wanted to ask him why he owed an old vampire, but was pretty sure that he’d not tell him. Or worse yet, David might not want to know. His grandparents had been hellions back in the day, and if someone asked for details on that life, no one would ask again. A vampire in their list of friends wasn’t a surprise, but that Grandda somehow owed him was. But David would not ask. Ever.

  “Why is she unsafe? I can see where her looking into things would piss someone off, but to kill her? I’m not sure. What has she done?” He told him she’d found out some nasty stuff about Alfred James. “The guy who owns that drug company? I thought they were out of business. I mean.... Ah. So, she’s the reason that he had to close his doors. Found out about the tests he was doing on some of the homeless.”

  “You heard about that? With your head stuck in that computer of yours? Well, that’s good. I was sure you’d been shut off from the world around you.” David laughed when Grandda did. He had been spending a lot of time on his books. “When is your next one coming out?”

  “You going to read it?” Grandda said he was not. “Y
eah, I didn’t think you would. Which is fine. Two months. And this one I’m doing now, it’s due out in six months. So, my deadline isn’t that close, but I want to work on it all the time. But back to this woman…she’s hurt James and his business. That’s not too far from here, I believe. You think he’d come here for her?”

  “He has already.” Well, he supposed that Tanner would know. “Tanner said that the man wants her dead. The fact that she’s made it this far without him hurting her again is probably due to him thinking she’s already six feet under. When it comes out that she’s not, he’s gonna come for her.”

  David wondered why she’d need to be exposed. “She’s has to write the paper, doesn’t she?” Grandda nodded. “And he’s sending her here because of this friendship he has with you, and he knows that you’ll keep her safe. For her to do this other favor for him. Not that I know this man, but did he only save her because of what she can do for him?”

  “I suppose so. Not that it matters, I suppose. What’s done is done, right?” Grandda got up to pace. He didn’t say anything more, but he was thinking hard. David would help him, if for no other reason than he loved and respected the man, and he’d asked him to help.

  “I’d think that staying low would be a smarter move, don’t you?” Grandda said that he was never one to lay low. “No, I guess you’re not. But this woman, she’s already had an attempt on her life. I’d think she’d want to be quiet for the rest of her life.”

  “You’d no more do that than I would.” Which was true, but he was a tiger, not a human, and told Grandda that. “I’m thinking that she’s like Dylan. Damn the torpedoes and full sail ahead. But she’s coming in a big camper. The kind that you drive around. Can she store it in your barn? And maybe hang out here in one of your bedrooms while I find her someplace else to live?”

  “Sure. I mean, I’m not using the barn at the moment. And don’t foresee any issues with her staying here. Like you said, it’s a big house.” David leaned back on his couch and thought about her living here. “Will Mom and Dad know why she’s here? I don’t want them thinking the wrong thing.”

  “Yes, I’ll tell them. And you don’t have to worry about the rest of them either. I’ll make them see this is a good thing.” David nodded, but said nothing. His family rarely did things the way he thought they would. “You’re a good boy for doing this for me, David. I’ll remember it.”

  He would too, remember the favor that he’d done for him. But David didn’t care if he ever made it even. He loved the old man and was glad that he was there to ask it of him. When Grandda left, after telling him that Tanner would be around to see him when this girl got closer, he went back to his book.

  David was having a good time with it. The research was getting easier, and he wasn’t having any trouble with his publisher. Sometimes, with deadlines looming, she would hound him to death. This one, while she wasn’t thrilled about the genre, she was giving him a good deal of time to get it done.

  He’d already approved the cover for it, and she was spreading it around with the blurb that he’d given her. The cover was a picture of the old house, before it had been renovated the first time. A woman was sitting in an old rocker in the yard with a great many people around her, mostly blacks. She had been a person that helped a lot of the slaves in her time, which was what had made him want to write the history on the house. And it was rich with it.

  The house, the same one that his brother lived in now, was finished. It had taken them a couple of months of hard work to get it good enough for them to live in. Now all that was left to do was the gardens, which was going to be a spring project to see what was there, and the barn being put in. The one there now wasn’t so much a barn as it was a center for Dylan’s other job…working for the president on covert operations.

  David waited up as late as he could, but went to bed around two in the morning. He supposed that the man had gotten tied up and wasn’t able to reach him. Yawning twice, he was almost asleep when his head hit the pillow.

  ~~~

  Sunny parked in the space she’d been given. The camper park wasn’t all that busy…just last minute campers getting in a couple more nights before it was too cold. Her camper was made for cold or hot weather, so she didn’t have much to worry about, but checked things out when she was set up.

  The camp host—Charlie, he told her to call him—said that the Whitfield ranch was about six miles out of town. She thanked him, and then he told her that old man Whitfield came into have breakfast on Tuesday mornings at the restaurant in town. Since she didn’t really know the day of the week, she thanked him again.

  Now she knew it was Monday. Tomorrow she’d go and talk to the man, hopeful that it was the one she needed to talk to, and get this done. She wasn’t too keen on spending even one more night in the camper, if she was honest with herself. Three weeks on the road and recovery had made her yearn for a real bed and a little more company than herself for a while.

  The knock at her door about dusk had her pulling her gun. She’d had it on her all her adult life, knowing that there were a lot of lowlifes out there. Looking out the little peephole, she saw a driver’s license shoved up against it, and saw the name Whitfield. Opening the door but not putting her gun away, she looked at him.

  He was handsome in an elderly, rugged sort of way. She knew him to be cat, or so she’d been told, but the color of his eyes threw her. They were as blue as the skies in summer. He smiled at her, and while charming, she didn’t trust him any more than she had an idea he thought she might.

  “You’re Sunshine Davis. Tanner sent me out here to talk to you. He’s the vamp that told you to come here.” Sunny made sure that he could see her gun. “Got me a granddaughter-in-law that carries one of them too. She’s never pointed it at me, but I’m careful not to make her want to either. I’d like to talk to you, if you have the time.”

  “He told me that you’d know something about me that no one else does.” Mr. Whitfield nodded and looked around before pulling out a little notebook. Tanner had mentioned that too, that the man’s memory was a little fuzzy at times nowadays. “Your first name is Oliver.”

  “That’s right, but I go by Ollie. My son, he goes by Oliver. I begged him not to name any of his boys that, and he didn’t. Sorry name, Oliver. People always want to have you begging for food.” He grinned at her. “You have a tattoo on your left ankle. It’s a butterfly that is green and yellow. You got it on your eighteenth birthday. You also have several bullet hole scars that are healing nicely, and you have this ability to touch something and know all about it. Good enough?”

  She let him in and the camper seemed so much smaller with him in it. She’d not noticed his bulk until then. When he was seated at her table, she sat across from him.

  “I only paid for tonight. I was told that you have breakfast in town on Tuesdays. If you don’t want people to be able to hurt you when you least expect it, then you should really change things up a little. No set schedule will be safer for you. If you need it.” He thanked her. “Why you, Mr. Whitfield? I mean, there were any number of places that I could have hidden away for a while that was closer to my home.”

  “Maybe, like me, they have your set schedule.” She told him that wasn’t possible. “Wasn’t it? You’re good, but I’m betting that whoever is coming for you, he knows more about you than you think he does. My Dylan, she’s Evan’s wife, she could teach us both a thing or two, I’m betting.”

  “I was sent here to be safe and to help out your friend. Since he’s...I can do some things that I couldn’t before.” He said that he’d been told. “Okay. Then I guess you understand that if someone found out about this creepy shit, I’d be in more trouble than I am right now.”

  “I’d say that’s about right. But you don’t have to worry none. I got you.” She smiled at him and he grinned back. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m an old man and can’t do much in the way of helping a pretty little thing like you. Well, I got me a beast along with my family. And my granddaughter, Dylan, she’s got her a bunch more that can be called upon to help us.”