Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Did you know that there are over nine hundred thousand different kinds of bugs in the world? Which accounts for over eighty percent of the world population.” He told her that he’d not known that. “I’m sorry about earlier today. I tend to get my underwear all twisted up when I drive, you know.”

  “I do know, and cannot believe that you’ve not been arrested for it.” She told him that she was cute. “You’re not cute, Harper, you’re gorgeous. Everyone but you knows that. Now, the reason that I called is that Mom and Dad are dead.”

  She was quiet for a few minutes. He gave her time. His sister might be a hot head and about the most beautiful woman in the world, but she didn’t empty her head when there was reflecting to do.

  “Who told you this?” He explained what Mr. Prince had told him, even about the way they’d not liked them. “Did I ever tell you that Mrs. Prince took me to the hospital a couple of times? She was the nicest person I ever knew. I was sorry to hear of her passing. What do you want me to do, Randy, other than piss on their graves?”

  “That’s what Tyler said you’d do. He’s going with me, to settle up on anything that we might need to do. There is a lot of property there. I know that while it didn’t grow shit, it was a good bit.” She told him how many acres, then asked him what would happen to it now. “I haven’t any idea, to be honest with you. I don’t know if there is a will or anything. It would be like them to think that they would live forever.”

  “Are they really dead, Randy? Please don’t tell me this if it’s not true. You of all people know what they did to me.” He told her again, for like the millionth time, how sorry he was for everything. “It’s not like you could have done anything about it. No one could have. They were out to kill us, or simply maim us in any way they could. I think they did a bang up job of it too.”

  “They’re dead, honey. I promise you. Mr. Prince was the one that called, as I said, and he’d never lie to us about anything like that.” She said nothing, but he could hear her heavy sigh. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to go there with Tyler and I. But I can understand if you don’t want to go.”

  “I don’t know.” Again, Randy told her that he understood. “Can I let you know when you leave? You know me, because of my job, I have to be ready at a minute’s notice. If not, then that’s all right as well.”

  “I have to make arrangements for Tyler to go. And since we’ll be staying overnight, I’ll see about accommodations.” She told him that she’d pay her part. “I have it this time. If something happens, then you can catch it the next. Or you can buy me dinner. Do you suppose Deb still works at the All Nighter?”

  “I just bet that she does. I think she and her husband are older than our parents. And they have the best open faced sammiches I’ve ever eaten. Oh, now I’m hungry for one. And their pork fried sammiches. Holy shit, Randy—if I don’t go, you’ll have to bring those back with you.”

  He didn’t know how that was going to work, but he’d give it his best shot. None of his sisters or brother ever asked for anything. So when they did, any of them, he went out of his way to get it for them.

  After telling her he’d wait on her call, he called his wife, who was a teacher at the local high school. She wouldn’t want to go either, only because she was coming up on her due date in a couple of months, but the doctor had already warned her about sitting in one place too long.

  “I hope Meggie and Harper both go with you. Perhaps I’ll give Meggie a call. You all need this, to finalize things.” Randy told Alice that he didn’t know if there was anything to finalize. “No, silly. I meant to have closure. I think you would sleep better, and I know that Meggie still has nightmares. Harper? Well, I know she’s haunted, but she won’t talk about it. And your brother...well, he has his own demons, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes. I think you’re right. You talk to Meggie, and I’ll arrange things for the four of us to go. I’ll miss the kids and you.” She said that she’d be right there when he returned. “All right, love, you work your magic and I’ll work on this end of things. I love you, Alice Anne.”

  “And I love you Randy Panda.”

  He knew it was silly, the pet names, but he also knew that whenever the chance came up to do it, he was going to call her pet names until they were parted from this earth.

  Chapter 2

  Bryant wondered what there was to talk about with the Wilsons’ will. But then, he’d never been one to pry into other peoples’ business. It’s why he hated when people messed with his. Taking a seat in the attorney’s office made him nervous, but he was there for his dad, who had been called away by another matter.

  “Mr. Prince?” He told the man he was Bryant. “Yes, your father told me who to expect. I have to tell you, I forgot completely that the Wilsons were a client of this firm. Even after their kids left home, thank goodness, they didn’t come in and change things. Of course, my dad took care of their personal matters. It’s hard to believe that they both died in that fire. Have you heard anything else about it?”

  “No. Not as yet.” Bryant knew that it was arson. He also knew that the fire marshal had reason to think that Mr. Wilson was dead before the fire started, and that Mrs. Wilson had started it. But he’d not speak out of turn. First of all, it wasn’t anyone’s business what happened except the Wilson children’s, and he wasn’t going to be one to spread things before the facts were known. “You heard from the Wilson children, then?”

  “Yes. Harper, the youngest, called me just this morning. She’s difficult to get in touch with, I guess.” Bryant had no idea. He’d heard of the children, but he’d never met them. The Wilsons had not been ones to socialize, nor had they allowed their kids to be out of their sight. “All right. I’ve read over the will that they had, and it’s mostly outdated. They do mention all their children in it, what they’re supposed to get, but it also mentions that they’re to become wards of the state if their aunt, Michelle Wilson, on their father’s side, is still alive. I have checked, and she is. So, although she is an immediate relative of the children, since they are grown adults, I will have to see them all to talk over what sort of things they’d like done with the land. That will be about the only thing that I can think that I’d have to personally discuss with them. Can you let them know when they arrive?”

  “Yes, of course. My pops has been handling all of this, so I’ll let him know. What does that, if anything, have to do with them now? I mean, they’re no longer children, as you stated. Will the aunt have to be here as well? From what I understand, they might not like her any better than they did their parents.” Bass, Mr. Townhouse, said that she’d have to be notified of their deaths, but that was all she’d been left, and that she no longer had any say over the adults. “I see. I’m to make sure that they’re not going to be liable for anything concerning their parents’ deaths.”

  “No. They paid their taxes every year. Never late. They had no credit cards that I could find. No credit in town, nor any kind of loans. They didn’t have a car, as you might remember, and as far as valuables, I believe that everything in the house is gone.” Bryant showed him the funeral bill, as well as the amount of produce that they’d sold off for the family. “That’s a good bit, Bryant. Thank your family for me. There will be a little left over from this, and whatever is left, I was told by Randy to make sure that your family got it.”

  “That’s not necessary. It was our pleasure to help them.” Bass said nothing, but Bryant knew that the money was going to be given to them somehow. “I’m to understand from my pops that the kids are coming here. All of them.”

  “Yes. I heard from Randy, and he said that they had some things that they needed to do here. I think— If I’m honest with you, Bryant, I think they’re here to make sure that they’re gone. That was a terrible family. Just terrible.” He’d heard some of the things about them, and about his mom taking the youngest to the hospital when her feet had been burned. “Anyway, I’ve asked Deb to make up some roast beef for those open faced sandwic
hes that she’s so famous for.”

  It was one of his favorites as well. Not that he ate out much, but he did like a good sandwich when Deb made it. Getting all the information that Bass had, Bryant made his way to his place of work.

  Bryant worked in a call center for a cable company. He was good enough at it that his bonus checks each month were bigger than his entire month of checks. And when they had contests, which wasn’t all that often anymore, he would win at those too. It wasn’t a great job, but it helped with the bills around the house. Last year they’d been able to put a much needed roof on the house and barn.

  Bryant loved that they’d gone with a metal roof. It was his favorite sound of all times, he thought, being inside the barn or up in his room when it was raining. The pitter patter of the rain hitting the tin made a sound that was like music to him. He’d almost be willing to sleep in the barn, where the noise was the best, for the rest of the summer just to hear it.

  Sitting at his desk an hour later—he’d gotten there a little early today—he started answering his phone without thinking about anything going on around him. He had all the fixes down pat, and he was really good at upselling his customers. Also, and everyone that worked with him knew it, Bryant was very good at cooling tempers when it was necessary. Sometimes, and it was happening more often over the last few weeks, he’d be taking a call that was meant for the manager when she was “too busy” to be bothered.

  Tonight he was going to train a new person, and as soon as the man sat down with him, Bryant knew that he would never make it. It wasn’t a job for everyone. But the man pulled out his cell phone and watched it instead of listening to Bryant. It wasn’t until Bryant told him he could take the next call that he stopped looking at the stupid thing.

  “But I don’t know what I’m doing. They said that I’d train for a week before I had to take my own calls.” Bryant told him this was his call, and he’d be right there with him. “You take this one and I’ll pay attention this time. I swear it.”

  Not only did he not pay attention, but he started texting someone on his phone even before Bryant was taking the next call. Glancing at the bright light of the phone, Bryant could see that the man thought him a dumbass if he thought he was going to ever take any kind of calls. He was there for management, apparently.

  This went on for the next hour. Bryant wasn’t pissed—he rarely lost his temper—but he wasn’t going to be training this guy if this kept up. Getting up when he had a break, Doug, he thought his name was, went out to smoke and Bryant found his manager.

  “Oh Bryant, just do it, will you? I have enough on my mind with trying to buy a house. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is or how much crap they want you to have?”

  He didn’t, but didn’t answer her. Instead, he found himself a phone and called her boss. It was all he had left; the job was getting out of hand in reference to getting any help from her. Or for that matter, anyone else in the place. Some nights he felt like he was the only one working there.

  “Mark, this is Bryant Prince. I’m having some issues here. I’m sorry to bother you at home, but I can’t seem to get any help with my trainee.”

  Mark Shaw wasn’t a great boss, but he was better than most. But when he told him to hang on a minute after telling him what Doug was doing, as well as what was told to him by Marie, he put him on hold. When he came back, Bryant was ready to tell him to forget it when he spoke first.

  “All right, Bryant, I’m shadowing her computer now. I’ve had complaints about Marie lately, but when it comes from you, I put stock in it. Yes, by God, she is looking at homes. And on the chat with them. Christ, will no one work at their job they get paid for?” Bryant wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, so didn’t say anything. “I’m coming in right now. Don’t tell anyone, please. I don’t have to worry about you not doing your job, never that. But heads are going to roll.” The line was quiet, and he thought he’d hung up until Mark spoke again. “You think about taking her job for me, Bryant. I’ll even make sure you make more than you did weekly, as well as bonuses. You’re a good man.”

  “Thank you.” But it went unheard because Mark had hung up.

  At five minutes before his break was over, Bryant went back to his desk and set up for the rest of the night. He never drank soft drinks, but had a case of water under his desk. He knew that others sometimes took some of it, but he didn’t mind, because most of the time they’d put some money on the desk for him. A couple of times he’d been left a nice gift of a book or something.

  When his phone was ready to take calls, he realized that Doug was talking to one of the other people that worked with him, and Bryant didn’t bother reminding him that he had a job. He wasn’t a babysitter.

  An hour later Bryant looked up from his screen. Doug was with him, but he was sound asleep in his chair with his headphones on, listening to music. Marie’s door was open, which meant that she’d not left early yet. Taking his headphones off for a moment, Bryant could hear shouting from her office. Mark had made good on his threat.

  An hour later Bryant was called to the office.

  “You told him that I didn’t have time to help you?” He wouldn’t lie, no, but he didn’t like someone telling on him without warning. “Christ, Bryant, just because you don’t have a life doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t.”

  He looked for Mark, and was upset that he seemed to be gone. But Marie was in full swing of telling him off, even going so far as to fire him. Bryant was headed back to his desk when Mark came out of the bathroom. He asked him what had happened.

  “No, I’d never do that to someone. I didn’t tell her. But she knew. She’s got herself some snitches here that I’m going to take care of as well. Will you take the job?” Would he? Bryant told him that he’d not given it any thought. “Well, you finish up tonight, and when I come back in tomorrow, you can give me your answer. Oh, and I have fired about half the crew tonight, including Marie and Dougie boy. He said that you’d never said a word to him, so he took a nap.”

  “I tried to train him.” Mark said that he knew that as well. “Mark, if I take this job, and I’m not saying that I will, I’m going to hold you to what you said before. My family and I can’t handle a hit of me getting a promotion to only make less money. You understand that. And if it’s not possible, then I can understand that as well.”

  “I said that I would and I will. I’d actually be saving money, because you’ll have my back and make sure that things are going according to plan.” Bryant said nothing else. Made no promises either. This man had been in charge and had complaints from people. So why hadn’t he done something before tonight? “Bryant, what do you say you work for me as manager, and I’ll make sure that your checks are taken care of?”

  Alarms went off in his head. He didn’t trust that this man would do anything he said. That he thought Bryant was so desperate to do what Mark wanted, that Bryant would do the job and be strung along for a while, with no money to compensate him. Shaking his head, Bryant backed out of the little office.

  “No. I can’t do that. You fix this up first—you know, with a contract like you had with the other managers—and I’ll have my attorney go over it.” Bryant no more had an attorney than he did the money to get one. “Since you have things under control now, I’ll just get back to my desk and work out my shift. All right?”

  Bryant didn’t wait for an answer. He moved to his desk and noticed that not only was Doug gone, but his chair had been moved. As soon as he sat down, Mark came and sat down at his desk with him.

  For a while, at least ten minutes, neither of them said anything to each other. Bryant answered several calls, upgraded two customers to a better package with some of the premium channels, and did a bill collection. Before his phone rang again, Mark put his phone on hold so that he’d not get any more calls. Bryant was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  ~*~

  Harper loved to run. It was the only way that she could stay fit when she wasn’t wo
rking. But there were people around, a lot of them, and she couldn’t take much of anymore. Harper would rather mess with a Bengal tiger than she would a single person. Even her family was getting on her nerves already.

  Stopping at the edge of town, she walked up the drive to her parents’ house to cool down. There was still a wall standing, but everything else was gone. She wondered if they’d ever gotten a car or something to drive at all, but looking into the still standing garage, she could see that it was as empty as she remembered it being when she’d been locked inside.

  If anyone had come by the house when they were children, she would be the one that was locked in the garage. To say that it was as simple as that was wrong. She’d been chained to the walls like they had done to prisoners a long time ago. It was a threat to the others to make sure they kept their mouths shut when someone came to the door.

  Harper knew that her brothers and sister wouldn’t have done anything to get her into trouble. But there would always be some sort of infraction that they’d done that would get her beaten. Or worse yet, hung out there with only her toes touching the ground for a few days. As she’d gotten taller, the shackles would get moved up so that she wasn’t able to ever touch the ground with her feet.

  The shackles, she could see, were still there, and she wondered if anyone that had come here for the fire had remarked on them. Touching one with her finger, she felt all the hatred that she’d always felt when she thought of her parents. But today, it was doubled, simply because she was right here where some of her worst nightmares that still haunted her were. Harper turned around, and stopped in her tracks when there sat a large tiger.

  “Shifter or real? I suppose if you were real, you’d not be able to answer me.” The big black tiger laid down on the ground with his huge head on his paws. “Black tigers are rare; did you know that? I’ve only seen a few of them in my work. Will you be naked if you shift?”