Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “No, sir. He has a private residence, and as you do not know the address, I cannot give it to you.” That sounded a little screwed up to Mark. If he knew the address, why would he need it? “If there is nothing else, as I said, I have work to do.”

  The door was shut firmly in his face. Mark thought about ringing the bell again, but thought that with his luck, the man would come to the door with a gun.

  Sitting on the steps of the porch, Mark tried to think what to do now. Making his way to the place where he’d seen Bryant last, he saw that the burnt out shell of a house was gone, as was the safe that they’d been working on. Looking around the area, he noticed something that he’d not seen the other day—a massive house that looked like one of those southern plantations.

  Walking there, he noticed the lushness of the grass—the fields that were planted with what he thought was tomatoes and corn. To the left of those was a well maintained orchard that looked like it was heavy with different sorts of fruit.

  Going to the house, he was startled when Bryant asked him what he was doing there. It took his befuddled mind a few seconds to realize that he was actually turned on by the sight of the half-naked man standing there with sweat all over his body.

  “I asked you what you were doing here, Mark. I thought I made it perfectly clear that I didn’t want to work for you.” He asked him if he worked for the people that owned the house. “No, it’s mine and my future wife’s.”

  Mark looked at the man, then back at the house. He couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. He didn’t know who he was trying to impress with this lie, but Mark wasn’t buying it. Instead of believing him, he offered him his job.

  “You’ll be able to make your own hours if you take it. I can even give you the pay that we agreed on. As you asked before, I can have it put in writing for you.” Bryant only walked away from him toward the barn that he’d not noticed before. “There are other perks as well. You can have one of the newest models of cell phones that we now have in our network, with full benefits that you had before. Also, I’ll make sure that you have insurance, the best we have.”

  No answer. But Mark wasn’t ready to give up just yet. When Bryant walked back toward the barn, he followed. Bryant was just playing him, waiting for him to give him all of it on a silver platter. Well, Mark hadn’t gotten where he was today without having a few tricks up his own sleeve.

  The barn was massive. There were several cows in the bins on one side, horses on the other. They were beautiful too. When Bryant went into one of the openings that had a small cow in it, he followed. Mark had never been this close to any animal in his entire life other than a cat, which he hated with a passion.

  “Bryant, you do not expect me to give you my job, do you? Come on. You are no more suited to this sort of job than I am flipping burgers.” Bryant asked him what he thought he was talking about. “You. Here. You’re some sort of farm hand, and we both know that. Don’t try and impress me with these lies. I know better. You’ve always been a man down on his luck, and that is the only reason that you stayed where you are. No man your age works in a cable company helping little old men fix their remote.”

  “You would think that, wouldn’t you? I’m thinking that you’ve just figured out that not only was I damned good at my job, but I was your top seller. Not to mention, I have been in the number one place for retaining customers for the last six years. Unlike you, I took pride in what I was doing.” Mark laughed and asked him if his ego was paying the bills. “I don’t worry about money anymore, Mark. I have a good home, a loving family, and a future wife that loves me very much. As for what I’m doing here? I’m enjoying myself. Something that I bet you never did at the cable company. Other than the fact that it paid for a few toys for you.”

  “Bryant?” The woman from the other day that had gotten him arrested came into the barn with him. “I just got a job. I was wondering if you’d like to come with me this time. I have to go to some pretty remote place this time, and the company would be nice. What the fuck are you doing here, Mr. Shaw?”

  “I’m talking to Bryant. It’s a private conversation.” She laughed at him. Mark didn’t lose his temper. He had a tight control over all his emotions, but this woman just brought out the worst in him. “What the fuck do you think is so funny?”

  “You. Do you really think that you can just blow me off with your ‘private conversation’ shit? Get this through your head, dumbass—he’s not going to work for you. You should also know that as of nine-thirty this morning, the board of directors at the company you are working for was informed that you have shut down one of your outlets. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but you can’t just do that without their say so.” Mark had known that. It was the reason that he was here today. Before they found out, he’d had hopes that Bryant would get his head out of his ass and come back to work. “Now, I’m going to only tell you this one more time—stay away from my family. And that would include bothering my in-laws. Do you fucking understand me now?”

  “So, perhaps it’s you I should be talking to. You seem to be the one wearing the pants in his family.” He looked over at Bryant and laughed. “My goodness, Bryant. You’re letting the little woman here fight all your battles now?”

  “Turn around.”

  He wasn’t going to fall for that trick. Mark was smarter than that. But when Bryant said it again, this time putting the pitchfork he had been leaning on deep into the dirt, he didn’t seem to have any choice.

  There were five of the largest black tigers that—Mark had never seen a tiger before, not even going to the zoo to take a look at them. But he had a feeling that these were larger than even those cats, and they were growling low in their throats. Not that he was sure, but their fur seemed to be standing on end as well.

  “Mark, I’d like for you to meet my brothers. I’d give you their names, but I don’t think that matters much right now. They’re here to make sure that you understand, precisely, what I mean when I tell you that I’m not going to come back and work for you. They’re also here to make sure you are well aware of what we mean when we say do not come here again. You understand that now, don’t you?” He nodded. “Good. At least we’re making progress. When they escort you back to your car, I would caution you to not try to run. Cats, these cats, love to have to chase down their prey before they eat it.”

  “They’re going to eat me?” Mark heard the squeak of his voice, but he didn’t have time to worry over that. One of the cats came to stand in front of him and sniffed his hand. Mark was positive that it was going to bite it off. Then he cocked his leg and pissed on him. “What the fuck was that for? This is my—Christ, what are they doing now?”

  “Smelling you. Right now it’s a little hard for them because—well, you smell like fear. Which is a good thing. We want you to understand that coming back here will get you killed.” Mark turned to look at Bryant. He asked him if he was serious. “One thing you might not know about me, Mark, is that when I threaten you, you’d better know that it’s gospel. Now, leave here. If you return, you’re going to be dead before you can say I’m sorry.”

  He was indeed escorted to his car. Every few feet he’d stop, just so see if they’d forget him and walk on. If they did, he was going to run. Opening his car door, he looked at them standing there. Mark thought about a million things he wanted to say to them, but really, he was terrified. Getting into his car, he drove off. Christ, this was a nightmare.

  Chapter 6

  Bryant watched Harper. She was well known in this part of the world, and she seemed to be able to adapt to any situation and speak any language that she needed. When she looked at him and smiled, he couldn’t help it—he felt like a teenager in love for the first time.

  “They said that they saw the elephants in the lower valley. They’ve left them alone, but they’re worried about them.” Bryant asked her what was going on. “There are several calves with them, and the herd is being tracked.”

  “What is it we
can do to help them? I’m willing.” She said that she couldn’t change things. If she did, then bad things would come back to haunt her. “I don’t understand.”

  “Once when I was in another country, there were several snakes that had been looking for something to hide under in the hottest part of the day. I stupidly made a makeshift area for them, and all it did was cause them to kill each other. You see, it wasn’t big enough for all of them, so they fought for the right to rest there. It happens like that all the time. It’s why I don’t intervene.”

  He thought on that as they moved along the trail to where the big herd was. Their guide, a kid of about ten, was talking a mile a minute to Harper as he waved his hands. Bryant took the opportunity to look around at the desolate area. His heart was moved by the things that these animals had to endure to survive.

  There were few trees that he could see, fewer places of just grass. But there were animals everywhere—some of them atop the trees, others foraging around in the grass for who knew what they’d find to eat. It was a dog eat dog world here, and he would just as soon not be a meal to anything while here.

  They stopped for the night and built a fire, which at first Bryant didn’t understand. It was hot, so hot that he’d long since taken off his shirt and had wrapped it around his head as a sort of bandana. Then the sun went down.

  He couldn’t seem to get warm enough, nor could he find a comfortable place on the ground to lie down. Everywhere that he tried to lay his head, he had thoughts of creatures coming to gnaw on his flesh and leave him out there to die.

  “You do know that nothing is going to bother us, don’t you?” He looked over at Harper. She was making fun of him, he could tell. Asking her why she was so certain, she laughed. “They can smell you. Timba told me the same thing, that we’d sleep well tonight because of the big tiger. It took me a few minutes to figure that out, but when I did, I asked him how he knew. He said that the lady of the land had told him. That he’d be safe enough to leave his mother and brothers at home and help us.”

  “Aurora?” Harper said that was what she had figured. “I see. So you let me lay here for half the night waiting for something to come out of the—”

  Bryant put his hand over her mouth when she opened it to speak. Reaching to her, he knew with his keen sense of hearing that something was out there. Something that walked on two feet.

  Get the young boy and move to the fire. Don’t look in my direction. She nodded and touched her fingers to the shoulder of Timba. As soon as he sat up, Harper spoke to him. Bryant moved to the darkness and let his cat take him. He’d worry about what was there when he figured out if they were friendly or not.

  They were trying their best to be quiet, he supposed. But to him, they sounded like they were wearing boots that were six sizes too big, and they were breathing hard. As soon as they made their appearance, he knew them to be foes.

  “Hello there, little lady.” Harper turned to look at them. She cuddled Timba to her, but said nothing. “Seems a little late, don’t you think, for a pretty little thing like you to be out here all alone? We was thinking that we’d keep you safe. You know, you scratch my back, I will scratch something of yours, so to speak.”

  “Fuck off.” The men, four of them, thought her funny. He thought that they’d pay for thinking that. And when she stood up, he moved to stand right behind the men. Through this all, Timba kept his eyes on the fire, like he knew just what was going to happen next. “You have any permits for being out here?”

  “Permits? We don’t need them—we’re only taking a walk. Why don’t you just sit down, shut up, and let us have some fun? That kid there, he might come in—”

  All he did was growl. The men, all armed, turned around and fired well above his head. When one of them cried out, he knew that Harper was trying to protect him, and Bryant leapt at the men, knocking all but two of them to the ground.

  Bryant had no idea what was going on behind him. The men weren’t moving—he had his mouth on one, his great paw in the chest of the other. The third man was unconscious under him, and Bryant had no intention of allowing him up anytime soon.

  “Now, we’re going to do this again. Do you have a permit to be out here in the middle of the night? I’m thinking that you don’t. Because if you did, you’d know that the rules state several times that you must not take it upon yourself to move around. That something, something much larger than you, will have you for a meal.” She laughed. “Pardon my paraphrasing, but you get it.”

  Are you two all right? Harper said that they were, and asked him if he’d killed the three he was on top of. Not yet. One of them is out, and the other two might not make it if they don’t stop trying to reach for their guns.

  Harper, speaking to who he could only assume was Timba, the kid, came over and took the guns away from the men. He was going on again, and while he didn’t understand what he was saying, he had a feeling that the kid was enjoying this a good deal more than he should have been.

  A shrill sound nearly had him biting down too hard on the man he had his mouth wrapped around. The men, several of them in uniform, came out of the darkness and gathered the men up. When they left, taking Timba with them, the little boy hugged them both tightly, and Harper spoke quietly to him again.

  The exchange was brief. The package that she handed Timba was large, and when he took the little doll that Harper had in her pack, the kid hugged Harper again. Then he turned to Bryant. He lay on the ground, his big cat still taller than the boy was.

  “He wants me to translate for you.” Bryant told Harper that was all right with him. “He said to tell you that he is going to tell his village that a great black tiger saved him tonight. That he and the lady had stopped the poachers from taking their friends.”

  Tell him that it was my pleasure to have been a service to his friends. I’m assuming that he means the elephants here. She said it was every living creature. Tell him that I’ll stop by the village on our way out with payment for watching over you for me.

  When he was told that, Timba hugged him again. After licking his skin to make sure that he knew Timba’s scent, they parted ways. As soon as he could no longer hear the men and Timba, he shifted back to himself and stood before Harper naked. Bryant was as hard as stone.

  “As much as I’d like to take you up on the idea that we could fuck around out here, we can’t. When I said that we were protected out here, I meant because the police were nearby.” He nodded. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

  “Good heavens no. Why would you even think that? I have the rest of my life with you. We can, as you put it so sweetly, fuck around anytime that we want. I do have a request, however. When we do return home—alive, right? —I want you to teach me some of the languages that you speak. Just enough to not get me killed when we’re doing this.”

  They laid down together after Bryant pulled on a pair of shorts. After shifting he was warmer. The fire was bright with warmth and light, and he found himself falling asleep almost as soon as Harper curled around him.

  Waking up to Harper nudging him in the chest, she told him to keep his mouth shut. Rude, he thought, then he sat up. Christ, they were all around them—elephants of every imaginable size—walking around them, crushing the packs that they’d brought in. Harper was taking pictures. When she stood up, he was a bit nervous until he realized they didn’t care what she was doing, he supposed, so long as she was moving slowly to do it.

  “When you stand up, make sure that you keep your head down at first, just to show them you mean them no harm.” Bryant did that. And when the small elephant, the calf, came up to nudge him with his trunk, Bryant reached out slowly to touch his fingers to his large floppy ears.

  He’d thought it would be stiff, or at least somewhat hard, but it wasn’t. His ear was as soft as his own flesh. Bryant knew that Harper had been sent here to take pictures of the herd, but what he’d not expected was to be so up close and personal with them.

  “That one is about four months
old.” Bryant asked how she could tell. “He’s enjoying what little grass he can find. But he still won’t stray far from his mom. I think he likes you, Bryant.”

  They stayed for most of the morning. Bryant was careful to not get knocked down by the big beasts, but more importantly not to get in Harper’s way. She was changing the next canister of film when he realized that he’d not taken a single picture to send to his family.

  “I have some that I can share with them. Christ, that was wonderful. And seeing them through your eyes was about the best thing that I’ve ever done. Thank you for coming with me.” He asked her if she was finished. “Not yet. I need to get a few more shots in to finish off this roll, and I thought that we’d see if we can track them for a while. Just because we can.”

  They were about two miles down the road when they came across the herd again, but the scene was far from beautiful this time. They’d been hunted and found. Bryant felt his cat and his rage come over him in huge waves as he looked down at the dead baby calf that he’d just enjoyed the morning with.

  The only satisfaction that he got from it was that one of the men had been crushed to death, and a second one looked as if he’d been gouged with a tusk. Their guns, too, had been broken. The biggest of the elephants, the bull, seemed to be mourning the loss.

  Three of the elephants had been killed, two for their tusks. The mother of the calf had also been murdered, and lay partly in the water that they’d been heading to, Bryant supposed. Her young calf lay dead beside her with a gunshot to the head. Bryant asked Harper if she knew why they’d killed the baby.

  “He would have been crying when she fell. It may only be an animal, but he’d know that his mother was gone. The others in the herd would have tried to protect him, but I’m betting that he’d not have wanted to leave her side.” She put her camera away after taking some more photos. “The male will lead them away tonight. Today he’ll protect the dead as best he can from other animals. We should get a move on. The smell of blood will bring out a lot of beasts.”