Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Read online

  “You’ve no more gems. But I have to tell you, my lady, I’m glad that you’ve taken care that my boys are all right now. I am. A father couldn’t ask for anything better than to have his children have more than he could give them.” Aurora kissed him on the forehead. “Thank you. You’ve no idea how much pleasure we’ve all taken in helping you with what you put us here for. It’s been a wonderful thing, and we’ll continue on with it as well.”

  “There are no more gems, you are right about that. But I have a better one for you, my dear friend. For all your years of dedication to me, the way you have been unstoppable, no matter the consequences of your life, I give to you two gems, my dear friend.” The opal filled his hand, and Aurora smiled when Pops did. “It is, to me, a bit of each of the gems that I have given to your sons. I can never repay any of you for what you have given this earth. Buck Prince, you are a man of men, the real king to my cats, and the greatest man that I have ever known.”

  “You’ve given me so much, my lady. I don’t know what to say about this.” She told him to just say thank you. “I do. I thank you very much. And now that you have your treasures, I wish to ask you, why did you give them away if they meant so much to you?”

  “You all mean so much more.” He nodded, and after a touch to each of them, along with a nice hug, Aurora left them with a few of her men to help with whatever they needed. Samson, with the others, wondered what Pop’s second gem was.

  “It doesn’t matter, does it? We have each other, and that’s all a man can hope for in this life. Now, let’s get this all taken care of.” He looked over at Harper. “You tell us what you need and we’ll get it.”

  “I don’t suppose you know how to make this land usable, do you? I mean, we will need a home soon. You all are about to bust out of the seams of yours. I figured if we were to use the land the way it was meant to be used, we can all use some of the product from it. For the town.” The faeries that had been left behind asked if they could help. “I don’t want to impose on you. From what I’ve heard, you guys have done so much for the family already.”

  “It will be our pleasure, my lady.” They looked at each other, then back at her. “We only ask that you plant us a space of flowers and vinery that we can use for ourselves. That would be more than enough payment for us all.”

  “You’ll have it. In fact, if you give me a list of things that you could use, Bryant and I will be more than happy to supply you with all that you’ll need.”

  They bowed before her, and Samson had a feeling that they were not only going to have a nice plot of land here, but that it would be as bountiful as any ground around.

  Chapter 5

  Bryant was the first to notice the changes in the house. It was bigger, he thought. Not only that, but he was sure that it had new windows, shutters, as well as a large four car garage around to the left of the house. Pops was the first to comment on it.

  “What’s going on there? Who is that?” Bryant had been so focused on the house that he’d not noticed the person in the yard. They were looking around as if they were directing the changes. It took him a moment longer than it had his pops to recognize who it was. “Sara?”

  Pops took off running, and the rest of them stopped moving altogether. They could only stare at their mother as she hugged Pops. Holy shit balls, it was their mom, back to be with them. Walking with his brothers, he noticed that they too were walking slower. Bryant didn’t want whatever was going on to be a joke. His mom was there.

  “Hello, sons. I’ve so missed you.” Bryant asked her where she’d been. “We’ll talk on that later. Give your mom a big hug, why don’t you all?”

  They hugged her, each of them stumbling over words and their declarations of love as they stood there. Almost forgetting about Harper, Bryant watched as she stood before his mother and touched her fingers to her hair. Mom let her. It was then that he found his tongue.

  “This is my mate, Mom. I’d like for you to meet—”

  She cut him off, his mom did, in favor of hugging Harper like she had each of them. It hit him then that Mom knew her, that she’d taken Harper in when she’d needed it most.

  “Hello, my dear. I’m so glad that you made it. I so worried for years when I didn’t hear anything.” Harper told her that her parents were thankfully dead. “Now, normally I’d be upset by such a thing, being thankful that your parents are gone. But to be honest with you child, I’m happy too. They were the worst people I ever met. And your brothers and sister, they’re well too?”

  “Yes, they’re in— You’re really here? You’re going to be here forever now?” Mom nodded, then hugged Harper again. “I have missed you, Mrs. Prince. Every day, I have thought of you, what you did for me. And the rest of us. You hid food in the fields, and water when it was hot. You also gave us gifts at Christmas and for our birthdays. I never knew how you knew that.”

  “Oh, well, it’s in the county register. That was easy enough. But hiding them, that was a little more tricky.” Mom looked at him. “Bryant, I’m so very happy for you both. I’ve so missed you all. Now then, there is soup on the stove and bread in the oven. And while we eat, I’ll tell you what I have been up to. Aurora, she’s been keeping me for this day, I think. Come now, lunch is on.”

  Taking Harper’s hand into his, Bryant followed the rest of them into the changing house. He was surprised when no one noticed the new rugs in the living room as they entered, or the furniture that he was sure had never been sat upon. There were flowers, too, throughout the entire house that he could smell. And when they entered the dining room, he was startled to see that not only was the room larger than it had been before, but there were larger windows that looked out on the back yard with a deck and a pool. And right into a large open barn that held not just a new tractor, but also three cows that he could see. He looked around the dining room table, one that he’d never seen before, and spoke.

  “Don’t you all see this?” Each of them nodded. His mom said for him to just wait. “Wait for what? I’m assuming— The faeries, they did this, didn’t they? It was...when Harper said they could help, they did all of this for us.”

  “They did. Same as they helped me to be able to return. When I was brought down that day, as you well know just my cat remained. But what none of you are aware of is that two of the faeries that were out that day found me there. I was all but dead by then, and they took me, my human self, away.” Pops asked if that was why her body was gone and nothing remained but her cat. “Yes. And sadly I can no longer shift then shift back quickly as my beautiful creature, as she sacrificed a bit of herself for me to be able to return one day. You don’t mind, do you, family?”

  “Are you kidding, love? To have you here again? I wouldn’t care one fig if you were a ghost, I’d be just as happy to have you by my side. You have no idea how...well, you might. You might. But I love you, Sara. All the boys do. And now with Harper here? Why, we’re a happy family again. No sorrow from any of us.” Pops kissed Mom on the mouth, and not one of them teased him about it. “I’m so happy, honey. A happiness that I have no name for, it’s that grand.”

  The soup, thick with meat and vegetables, was delicious as they sat enjoying it. There was hot homemade bread with warm butter to spread over it. And when Bryant was about as full as he could be, the faeries, who had made the meal for them, brought out fresh apple pie with ice cream.

  Staggering away from the table, they all headed to the living room to rest. It was then that his family talked about the changes that were occurring in the house even as they sat there. Mom said that it was the faeries that were doing it, but he had a feeling it was more than that. And when one of them came to sit upon Harper’s shoulder, Bryant thought they were going to find out a bit about it now.

  “We’ve been awakening the ground since the couple died. The faeries knew that it was going to be turned over to one of the family members, and we wanted to ready it for them. Everything that is here now, it has been just waiting for the day that you were s
trong enough to take the kingdom of tigers and make them great too. I’m so glad that it is you, Harper. It is a great thing to be working for the one that found the gems.” Harper said that she’d done nothing more than to open the safe. “Ah, but you did so much more than that. You gave us hope, a great deal of it. Then when you said that we could help you on the land, all of us wanted to help you in any way that we can. We have started on that for all of you. But mostly, for you and Lord Bryant.”

  “Lord Bryant?” His brother, Marcus, laughed. “The only thing that he could be considered lord of is his books. And he has a great many of those.”

  “Nay, Lord Marcus. You are all now marquesses of the black tigers. Each of you has now earned your titles. It is only fitting and proper that you be called lords. As is Lady Harper the marchioness of the black tigers. Your parents are now the duke and duchess of the black tigers. When they step down from their leading role in the lives of all black tigers, then as the oldest born, Lord Bryant will take over as the duke of the black tigers. Each child that you bring into your household to love and protect, they too will have titles. It has, as I said, been a long time in coming.”

  “But what if we had just dumped the safe and not done anything with it? I mean, it was tempting. I hadn’t any idea what my parents might have stored in it.” The faerie, his name was Jak, said that they would have figured out a way to guide them there. “You’ve not guided my siblings to not take this land, have you?”

  “Oh no, my lady. We had nothing to do with that. They were not going to take any of it no matter what they had in their own lives. They are settled, the other three. They’re happy too, away from here. Nay, they would not have taken it even with the improvements that have been started.” Bryant asked what sort of improvements they were working on. “The land, for a start. It hasn’t been properly tended in a great many years, even before the Wilsons bought it. We have given the soil richness. Made it into what it should have been long ago.”

  “You keep saying that. Long ago. Why wasn’t anything done to it? I mean, it’s a lot of acreage. And for the most part, it’s been sitting without a single crop. Why did they, for that matter, plant things this year?” Bryant looked at Jak’s smile. “Why do I have the feeling that you all did that as well?”

  “We might have had a hand it in, yes.” He asked him why. “Because you were able to sell it to the local people, help them along. And even though you had no liking for the couple there, you sold the things with fairness to them and for the others. You’re a good man, Lord Bryant.”

  They asked questions of the little man. When he answered them, each time he would say to the questioner what sort of person they were. A good man. The kind of man that got things started. Or a man that finished things. Helpful, too, was thrown around a lot. It wasn’t that Bryant didn’t think they were good men, or even kind men, but it was embarrassing to hear it so often. And when two of the female faeries joined them, Jak announced that it was time.

  “Time for what?” Mom laughed and told the others to come with them. As they were going out the door, Bryant asked again. “What is it time for, Mom?”

  “You’ll see. Oh, I do so hope that you love it, boys. It’s been my dream since I was awakened in the other world.” He asked her about that. “I was told that I couldn’t speak of it, and that eventually all the memories of it would fade. But for now, I know what this one thing is about. And as I said, I hope you will all love it.”

  The walk wasn’t that long. They ended up at the property line between his parents’ land and Harper’s. It took him a moment to figure out what the others were seeing. And when he did, Bryant fell to the ground. A house. Nay, he thought, a mansion.

  Jak asked him if he was all right before speaking again. “The other homes will be put around the property as well. Not on this land, but land that we have owned for many decades. The faeries have many people in the offices here in your land that can do many things for us. All the lands that you will each own will not be as large as Lord Bryant’s, but they will have a lovely home, one that will hold a family, and have the ability to keep them safe for all time.” Harper asked if it was their home, the one they were looking at. “Oh yes, Lady Harper. It is yours. And the rooms, they’ll be furnished as soon as the two of you look upon them. The only room that we have taken the liberty of filling is the kitchen. Staff is coming too.”

  “Staff?” Jak laughed again. Bryant wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask him to stop that or to join him. He felt just a little on edge at the moment. “What do you mean, the rooms will be furnished when we look into them?”

  The question, like a couple of others he’d asked, went unanswered. As they entered the home, he could see things in it that he hadn’t noticed from the outside. There were a great many windows, letting in not just the sunlight, which he loved, but also a view of the yard that was changing even as they moved from room to room.

  The first room was the dining room. This dining room table was massive, even compared to the one in his parents’ home. There were fourteen chairs down each side. What he’d do to fill such a table was beyond him. A burble of laughter spilled from his lips, and he covered his mouth. Bryant felt like he was on a never ending ride that was going to either kill him or have him committed.

  “Will you behave?” He nodded at Harper, then shook his head. “For some reason I can feel your every emotion. Every thought that you have is in my head as well. Behave before they commit us both.”

  “Are you seeing what I am?” Harper just poked him in the nose. “What was that for? This is a great deal to take in.”

  “Yes, so it is. But you acting like a man at the end of his rope isn’t helping. Just go with it for now. And once we can sit down, just the two of us, we’ll talk about this. But stop trying to figure out if it’s real. It is. Shut the fuck up and let me look around before each of the rooms is a padded cell with your name on it.”

  He didn’t think that was very nice, but he knew better than to say anything more. Instead, he did what she said—stopped thinking that it wasn’t real and tried his best to enjoy the moment. Christ, they were going to be in the poor house if they had to make payments on all this.

  ~*~

  Mark didn’t want to go back to the office. As of right now, the doors were closed up tight and the calls that had come through his office had been rerouted to another center. He hated that he wasn’t able to hold onto this one cable outlet. He had others, of course—six that he managed—but none produced like this one did. Or had, if he didn’t get Bryant to come back to work. Who would have thought that one man could hold the hearts of so many? Bryant had been well liked, and even loved. Not just by the people that worked with him, but customers as well.

  The rest of the employees, about thirty that had survived not being fired in the first place, had found out that he’d fired Bryant and had walked. Just like that—no notice, nothing. If Bryant wasn’t there to help them with calls or with troubled lines, then the place was going to fail anyway. He’d not realized that was true until four days after he’d had another one of his cable places send people’s calls to this one.

  “I have a caller that needs for me to find Bryant. She said that he always knows what to do to reprogram her remote. The cat stepped on it and messed it up, she said.” Mark asked if he’d tried to walk her through it. “Yes. And it’s not working. To be honest with you, I think she just wants to talk to him. Where is he?”

  Instead of answering him, Mark took the call. After forty minutes of walking her through the steps to reprogram her remote, he finally just handed the phone back to the employee. That wasn’t the end of it either.

  Caller after caller wanted Bryant to fix whatever it was. Mark might have been suspicious if they’d been all women, but they weren’t. There were young men, he thought, from the sound of their voices. Older people that called him sweetie. And one of the calls had even been in a language that Bryant could speak that no one in any of his other centers could speak. Who k
new that man was so versatile?

  Mark was beginning to realize that everyone had known that but him. Or, and this was more than likely correct, he’d not cared so long as his centers were making an overall amount of money and they didn’t bother him too terribly much. But, with Bryant gone and his money maker closed up, he was in serious danger of losing his franchise licenses. And that would end his nice lifestyle.

  Picking up the phone, he called the only number he had for the man. When the recording told him that the line had been disconnected, he thought that he might have a way to make the man come back to him. No money to pay even the phone bill might make him a little more receptive to coming back to work. Bryant was playing hardball, that was all.

  Picking up his jacket, Mark pulled it on as he made his way to his car. It was brand new, bought before he’d lost Bryant. Mark was on the verge of losing it and his home too if this didn’t pan out for him.

  Driving to the house where he knew Bryant lived with his family, he pulled up in front of a house that hadn’t been this nice three days ago. Going to the door, he was glad now that he’d dressed in a suit. Impressions, he knew, were the key to getting anything you wanted. Or in this case, what he needed. Ringing the doorbell, he waited for someone to come and answer, and had himself a look around.

  Christ, he thought. These people had come into some real cash. Or, he thought, they’d won the lottery. He’d have to look into that part. When the man opened the door and asked him politely what he needed, Mark was certain that he had the wrong house.

  “I’m sorry. I thought that Bryant Prince lived here.” The man said nothing. “Does he? Live here, I mean?”

  “No, sir. He does not.” Nothing more, just an answer to his question. Mark tried to think of a way to get answers without begging. “If there is nothing else, sir, then I should like to get back to my work.”

  “Wait.” The man—a butler, he was sure—opened the door wider. Mark had to think quickly, something that he was not at all good at. “Can you tell me where Bryant Prince lives?”