Adrian: The Whitfield Rancher – Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Read online

  He’d not changed anyone in his life. Not even when he’d been younger had he had the occasion to do something so terrifying. His lady wife, Eve, had been a full-blooded tiger when they’d come together. And now, he’d just changed the life of someone, a stranger, so profoundly that he doubted very much she’d ever be able to forgive him. Oliver wasn’t sure that he’d ever forgive himself if it came to that. But she was alive, and she’d be all right. Oliver thought that was the best he could be happy for right now.

  “Are you finished feeling sorry for yourself?” He turned to look at Tanner when he spoke. “You saved her life, at great risk to yourself. And while she might have wanted to die, by her own hand, you have done something wonderful for her family. As you thought, she might not forgive you right away. But Oliver, I have known you all my life, and no one can be upset with you for long.”

  “I’m not like my father.” He looked around and saw that it had turned rainy again, the clouds thick and heavy. “He could charm the pants off a nun, I’ve been told. By him, mostly, but I have heard it. I’m not the type of person that can make anyone do anything.”

  “Let me see your arm.” Oliver had hurt himself holding the girl so she’d not fall. It had just begun to hurt him when Tanner sat beside him on the cold, wet bridge. “You strained it badly, I’m afraid. You will need to be in more pain before you will be better. I would have thought that shifting to catch her would have helped.”

  “My cat was hurt. The current that had us, it was much stronger than I’d thought when I went in for her.” He looked at Tanner. “She was dying. I just couldn’t let her do that to herself. Or her family. She is better now, I’m hoping. Do you think you can do that magical thing you do and tell me if I did a worse thing by doing this to her?”

  “I shan’t do that, Oliver. You know as well as I that she will live for a good long time now, and have no worries that she had before.” Oliver nodded, but wasn’t convinced that she’d not try again. “She will not. I shall tell you something, my friend. She is the mate to one of your sons, but I know not which one. And that alone will give her immortality, regardless of her being the wonderful tiger that I know she will be.”

  “Do you know this man? The one that she was talking about before she jumped?” He said that he didn’t. “I wish I did. I’d hunt him down and give him a good showing of my cat. Even as old as I am, I think I could make him wet himself.”

  “Don’t do it, my friend. While I have no doubt that you could make him wet his pants, I think you should leave that for your son, her mate. But as I have said, you will need to see Ivy or Evan about your arm. I believe that you have dislocated your shoulder. Quite painful, I have heard, so you will, as I said, be in a great deal more pain.” Tanner stood up. “I wish to ask you something, Oliver, and you do not need to form an answer. And though I am quite aware of what you are going to say, I wish for you to think on it. Her father, I have heard, is a good man. What would you feel should this have been your despondent child, and a man—you, in this case—had the chance to save her from certain death, so changed her into something more? How would you feel?”

  Tanner disappeared, not waiting to see if Oliver had an answer or not. The sun was coming out and the rain was gone. The roads, he knew, would be slicker before dinner tonight. Walking home, enjoying the chill of the day, he thought about the question that had been put before him.

  “I’d want her to be alive more than anything.” He knew that to be true, but he also didn’t know the other man, her father. His dad did, of course. Dad knew everyone. But Oliver didn’t.

  Making his way to the diner, Oliver decided to have a talk with his dad about it.

  “So you saved her life.” Dad was talking to him between customers. Oliver had an idea that he needed something to do like his dad had, if only to make him feel better about life. Dad sure did look better than he had a few months ago. “I know Mas. He’s a good man, and a better businessman than I’ve come across. If he has his little girl, then you can bet that he wouldn’t care if she was a donkey braying out her love for him.”

  “Dad, where do you come up with this stuff? There has to be a place that has a list of them. Every day you come up with something new, and just as goofy.” Dad laughed when he did. “I heard that the boys are going to be helping him out so that no one takes his company. It’s good to see someone still doing business within the family.”

  “It is, I agree. And if’n you want me to, I’ll be there when you tell him what you did to his little girl. I didn’t know that— Say, you thinking what I’m thinking?” Oliver told him that he was still thinking about that girl braying like a jackass. “I never said jackass, you dummy. I said a donkey. But what if she’s one of the boys’ mates? Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”

  “It might be if I wasn’t so afraid that she isn’t.” Dad asked him why. “Because she’s a tiger, Dad. She’s no longer a human.” He didn’t tell him what Tanner had said. For some reason he wanted to keep that to himself for now.

  “Oh, don’t go on about that. Whoever she’s mated to, you can bet your bottom pocket lint that this other person is going to be a durn sight happier with her being alive, don’t you think?” Amazed at his father’s sayings, Oliver just nodded. “There you go. And if she happens to be one of them boys’ mates, well, you had it right on to make her something that could be running with him. Don’t go looking for trouble, Oliver. You don’t need to. Trust me when I tell you, when it comes around, this here trouble that’s in your head, it’ll find you without you worrying yourself sick over it. Now, have some pie, then go on over and get that bum arm looked at. I can see that it hurts you.”

  He walked over to the clinic after having a slice of pie with his dad. Oliver was glad to see that one of the other doctors was there today. Oliver knew that Evan was on call and Ivy had taken Mason in, so he’d not be embarrassed when someone set his arm for him. The man told him the same thing that Tanner had—it was going to be more painful before it started to get better.

  Once they strapped him to the table, really making him more nervous than before, he laid there just thinking about the woman, trying his best not to think of her as a girl. Calling her one when he could see that she wasn’t, Oliver hoped that she’d be all right.

  “I came by when I heard from Tanner. Oh, Oliver, I wish you could have said something. I would have picked you up.” Oliver was happy to see Eve—so happy, in fact, that he held her hand when the doctor came into the room. “You just lay there and let him fix you up. Then I’ll take you home and pamper you for a bit. I think there is even a little pie left over from dinner last night.”

  There wasn’t any pie—he’d had it before leaving the house this morning. But he’d not tell her. She’s be fussy with him again. And right now, he wanted her to be loving and comforting.

  The doctor grabbed his arm at the elbow, and all Oliver remembered after that was screaming his fool head off.

  Chapter 2

  Adrian was working on his speech when he felt his father’s pain. Standing up, his phone rang just as he was grabbing up his coat. It was his mom. Sitting down, he waited for her to stop laughing, of all things, before she could speak.

  “He’s fine. I was going to talk to you all at once, but he’s just lying there knocked out, and I had to.... Oh my, Adrian, he’s just fine, but I have to tell you, I’ve never heard him curse like he did just before he passed out.” Adrian asked what had happened. “He dislocated his shoulder is all I got from him before he was knocked out from the pain. I think he might have done it when he was saving that young lady. She was in a terrible mess, and your father saved her life.”

  “Wow, really? What happened, Mom?” She told him what she’d gotten from the others. “I feel so badly for her. Does she have family?”

  “Yes, she’s the daughter of Mason Barnhart. You know the man; his family is working on the hotel.” He said that he thought it was two sons. “I guess not. But her name is Mason, so that might have been the confusion. She and your dad had a long conversation, and I guess he was worried about her. When she jumped, I guess it was all he could do to hold onto her, and she still fell in. That’s all I know.”

  “Does Dad need me to come there and help him home? I know you can do it on your own, but you know how he can be about being manly when he’s hurt.” She laughed again and told him she had him. “All right, Mom. I’m here if you need me.”

  “I do. Need you, I mean. It’s a great deal to ask of you, but could you go and see her? The girl? I guess that Blake saw her when she was brought in—I’m not sure of the details about it—but would you please, for me, go and see if she’s your mate?” Adrian felt his heart beat a little harder and his breaths take on a whole new level of breathing hard. “Adrian, are you all right?”

  “Yes. I’m fine. She wasn’t his mate?” Mom told him that it didn’t look like she was. “And you think she’s mine for some reason.”

  “No, that’s not it at all, young man.” He realized that his voice had taken a hard turn. “Your dad saved her life by changing her into a tiger, and he’s a little upset and frightened that someone will take him to task about it. I was just hoping it would ease his mind a little if he knew that he’d done it for one of you. But don’t bother with it. I guess we’ll just let her go back to her home and heal there.”

  The phone was disconnected, and Adrian felt it like she’d slammed his heart closed. Putting his phone down, he thought about having a mate. Now. Not only didn’t he have time for one, but one that would leap off a bridge to end her life wasn’t someone that he thought would look good on his arm when he was elected to his next level.

  Getting up, pulling on his suit coat, he told Lily that he’d be back. She was so deep in his campaign work that all she di
d was wave him off. She was trying to get donations. Why, he had no idea. He could have easily paid for it himself, but according to his brother, that would be a huge mistake. He thought that begging people for money was a mistake, but Adrian went with the flow.

  The hospital was busy, and he had to wait his turn before he could speak to Evan or Ivy. They were both busy, he was told, but they would get to him soon. He didn’t want to be a bother, but he knew that he had to do some major making up to his mom. Damn it, why did having a mate seem to be the all wonderful to everyone but him?

  Adrian wasn’t unhappy about having a mate—he didn’t care one way or the other. There were lots of single people in the government pool. Hell, even Henry wasn’t married. Of course, he had been when he took office the first time, but it didn’t seem to hurt his chances by being single the second time he’d been elected.

  But a woman that had tried to kill herself? He’d to keep an eye on her at all times so that she’d not try again. Once he met her, he wondered if he could get her help under the radar. Adrian didn’t want to ruin his chances of making it to the big house because someone found out that he had a deranged wife.

  Knowing that he was being cruel, he saw his brother coming toward him. Adrian didn’t know his brother Josh was there, and put out his hand to shake his. But almost as soon as he put his hand around his, Adrian knew that he’d done something wrong by coming here. And when Josh leaned in to whisper to him near his ear, Adrian was sick with the pain his brother was causing him by squeezing his hand so tightly, he was sure that bones were crushing.

  “You mother fucker, what makes you think that she’s deranged?” Adrian had forgotten about the mind reading thing. “I hope that she is your mate, just so I can see you fail at something once in your life. She’s not deranged, dumbass, but depressed. If we were anywhere but in a public place, I’d wipe your fucking ass all over the floor.”

  “I’m sorry.” Josh squeezed his hand once more before stepping back from him. Adrian told him again how sorry he was. Shaking his hand, trying to get the blood flowing again, he looked at his brother. “I’m under a great deal of pressure here. Not that that should be an excuse, but I’m worried about her wellbeing and me running for the house.”

  “And you don’t think that someone deciding to end their life her way instead of what was going to happen to her would have been any less pressure? She was going to die anyway, she thought, but her way, drowning in a fucking creek, was much better and humane. It would have been less suffering for her family was her way of thinking.” Josh told him why she was killing herself, about the blood disease she had. “Some dick picked her up and drugged her. Then he let every man he knew that had the same blood disease fuck her until she finally escaped. She spent nine days, nine horrific days, with those men before she was able to get away. Then the poor girl had to run into the woods, half naked, to flag down someone to help her to the hospital. However, just six weeks later, they told her that she was going to die, and that she should get her house in order.”

  “I’m sorry.” Josh waved him off as he started to walk away. “Don’t, Josh, please. I’m truly sorry. I shouldn’t have said or even thought such horrible things. Even if she might not be my mate, I still should have kept my thoughts like that out of the equation.”

  “Yes, you should have. Can you imagine what Dad went through? Watching her jump, and all he could do was hold onto her for a moment before she plunged forward.” Adrian told him what Mom had told him about Dad. “Yes, his cat knocked his shoulder out of whack, and even with that, he walked to the diner to talk to his dad, then to the clinic. And here you are, whining about how she’s going to look hanging on your fucking arm.”

  He let him walk away this time. Adrian thought that he could have been mad, that his brother had intruded on his thoughts and that wasn’t right. But Adrian had been beyond mean, thinking of only himself and not whoever this woman was. If she wasn’t his mate, then he still shouldn’t have whined, just as Josh said that he had, but had better care with his thoughts and his actions. For he was only here because his mom had guilted him into it.

  Finding her room on the fourth floor, he wasn’t sure why she was in a regular room rather than the psych ward, but it hadn’t been his call. And he knew that he didn’t have all the information that he needed to make that sort of decision anyway. Since he didn’t have any real answers for that, he decided to keep his opinions to himself. Or better yet, he told himself, not to have any.

  As soon as he got into the room, he could smell the blood and other medications that had been given to her. She wasn’t alone, even though she was still out, so Adrian, putting his best foot forward, put his hand out to the other man.

  “I just heard about Mason’s accident.” He just then remembered what he’d been told about her reasons for being wet and on the bridge. “I came by to see if you have everything that you need.”

  “Yes.” The man looked over at him. Adrian just remembered that his name was Angus, son to Mas Barnhart. “Mr. Whitfield, correct?”

  “Yes. Call me Adrian.” The man said that he looked a great deal like his brothers. “You should see my dad and grandda. You’d think that we’re younger versions of them. I came by to see if there was anything I could do for you and your sister. My dad is the one that found her on the bridge with the broken leg and arm.”

  “I’m just waiting for my dad to get here. He’s upset, and no matter how many times I’ve reassured him that she’s right here with me, he still needs to see her. I’m kind of glad that he’s coming. Dad can be calming when something is going on.” Adrian asked if he could wait with him. “Of course. It’s nice to have the company, really. Are you one of the owners of the hotel?”

  “My brothers are.” He nodded. “I’m to understand that you are happy with what was left behind when it was closed up. When I was younger, my brothers and I used to sneak into the place and ride down the banister.”

  “I’ve been tempted a little to do that myself. And yes, very happy. There is an oak desk that must have been made in the place. The bannister, oak as well, is nearly thirty feet long, with all the work in it that one would expect from a hotel as old as this one. I think we have a lot we can do to it to bring out not just the beauty, but the charm of it as well.” Angus leaned back in the chair. “Well, are you her mate? Blake, he was in earlier, and he told me that his mom sent him by to see. I don’t care one way or the other, but I would like to see Mason happy. She hasn’t been for a long time.”

  “I don’t know yet. The room, it’s very stuffy with everything that they’re giving her. Also, there are the people that have touched her. I just don’t know yet.” Angus said that he could understand that. “Would you mind very much if I were to sniff her neck? I’d have to get close to her to do that.”

  “No, go ahead. I love Mason very much, and I do want her happy. She’s been the best sister to me since I came to this family. I think that having someone with her all the time will be good for her. Of course, she won’t think so. She has to do it all on her own, all the time.”

  Adrian would know about that. If she was anything like the other women in his family, she was going to be hell on wheels, as his grandda was so fond of saying.

  Going to the bed, he leaned in slowly to her throat. He knew the moment that he bent at the waist that she was his, but he needed more from her—to calm his cat, he told himself. But she was hurt, and they both knew it. So, touching his nose to her cheek, Adrian licked her throat and moaned at the taste of her as it hit every one of his taste buds.

  “She’s yours, isn’t she?” Adrian staggered to his seat, telling Angus that she was. “I thought so. I’m glad that it’s you. I think you can make her laugh again.”

  Adrian sat there for several seconds, letting her taste and smell race over his system. His cat was happy too. She was theirs, and she was a cat. Adrian looked at Angus when he realized what he’d said.

  “I’m sorry. How did you come up with the thought that I’d be funny?” He said that he’d seen his speech on television the other day, and when he’d taken down the governor of the town. “He was an idiot. And didn’t get any smarter in prison, I’m afraid.”