Bryant: Prince of Tigers – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “You still owe me for overtime from two months ago.”

  Another employee stood up and smiled. “I’ve yet to receive my promised bonus for working for you on a Saturday instead of spending time with my kids.”

  More and more employees stood up, yet didn’t leave. This was a good deal worse than any of them had thought it was.

  Mr. Day looked at Kylan. “Does he owe you for overtime as well, young man?” Kylan looked at Ace and nodded. “Anything else that he owes you for? Come come now, I’m sure that there is a great deal more.”

  “He cashed out my bonus check two weeks ago. It was for art that I did for dog food. He claimed that he’d done all the work and I only was there in spirit. I wasn’t entitled to anything, as I hadn’t done what he’d told me. I saw what he turned in. It wasn’t my work. I’d never turn in anything remotely as bad as that.” Mr. Day asked if he had a copy of what he’d done. “Yes, sir. It’s all on the drive. My drive.”

  Twenty minutes after Kylan put in his password, it was obvious to everyone there that Ace had no idea what he was doing. Kylan told Mr. Day that the work was locked by password and Ace couldn’t change anything. But he could bring it up, if he knew how. Then Kylan was given access to pull up the files.

  It was all there, just as he said it was. His art work, the notes on what was to be done with it. Also, thankfully, the paperwork that Ace had handwritten for Kylan to do for the nonprofits. There were several of them too.

  “Well, this explains a great deal. I checked with the local pantry, as well as the church that was running the coat drive, and they have a great deal of everything left over, and were thinking seriously of abandoning the drives in favor of fixing up their church. With the prices that the poor citizens were being charged for things that no one paid for, it’s small wonder that they were able to have any of it go to the needy.” Mr. Day looked at Ace and smiled. “What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Miller? This, what you’ve done in the name of this business and against this young man, is against the law.”

  “He’s guilty. Why are you looking to me for this? All he has is a bunch of notes that he made on his own that claims that I told him to do this.” Kylan pulled up the copies of papers that Ace had handed over to Kylan. There was no mistaking the handwriting. “Why the fuck are you saving every little piece of shit that you get? Don’t you have any idea how much trouble we’re going to be in? Christ, I’m going to have to fire you, I’m afraid. You’ve been undermining my work all along, it seems.”

  “I’ll be the one doing the firing.” Bryant hadn’t even seen Mr. Sheppard leave the area they were in. Ace was now falling all over himself, trying to backpedal on several things as well as pointing the finger at Kylan. Ignoring him, Sheppard looked at Kylan. “You, young man—I’ve been keeping an eye on you. I think you’d be the one that should run this company. How about we have a couple of beers and talk it over?”

  The two of them left. Kylan would do a good job running this place, but Bryant hoped that he’d turn him down. Mr. Day stood there while Ace was arrested and taken away before he left to go with Sheppard and Kylan.

  Bryant looked at Harper when they were alone, the police having sent everyone home until further notice, and smiled at her.

  “Do you think that it ever occurred to Ace that he was going to get caught today?” Bryant laughed and said that he didn’t think Ace had figured out that he had been caught yet. “Yes, you’re probably right about that. He is sort of stupid. And that name? What the hell sort of person names their kid Ace? Like he’s something sharp. Christ, he’d be lucky if he could get himself out of his home without written instructions, I’m betting.”

  “I love you, Harper.” She smiled up at him and his heart actually skipped a beat. “I have been working on something for you. Well, me too, but mostly with you in mind.”

  “What?” He said that it had taken some doing—he’d not ever used money like he had with this surprise. “I don’t know if you know this about me or not, but I really hate surprises. They usually mean that I’m getting something that I don’t want.”

  “I’m going to put you on a plane and take you to a very secluded place, and take you every way that I can think of. Some of them I’ll make up. We’re going to lay on the beach and drink pretty glasses of whatever we want, and make love there too.” She asked if the person serving them drinks was going to be watching them. “No, we’ll be all alone there. I’m to understand from your brother that you own this particular island. And the only way to get there is to fly in then take a boat over. Right?”

  “Yes.” She was aroused, and he could smell her. “All that is there is a house. Running water was put in when the house was built. There isn’t any furniture in the place, however.”

  “There is now, love. A big bed that I plan on using every day we’re there. Also, a large shower that I plan to take you against the wall in. The fridge, also recently added with the freezer, is full. We have everything we need to make sure that we don’t starve. No Internet, no phones, and certainly no one to come and find us when they have an issue.” She said that she liked helping out. “I do as well. But I like having you naked and beneath me even more, my dear. But before we go, I’ve got everything set up so that you become my wife officially. We’re going to the courthouse with my parents, then we’re going to leave. No one, and I mean no one, is going to know where we are.”

  ~*~

  The wedding was beautiful. Not only were there so many flowers around the courtroom, Harper thought that someone had good taste in colors by the way the brothers were in tuxedos that matched their mother’s dress, as well as the flowers. Buck had given her away. Meggie was her bridesmaid, and her brothers were there as well. It was more than she could have imagined, and so much more than she could have hoped for. It was perfect.

  Harper looked down at her ring as the plane taxied to the end of the runway and took to the skies. It was made from one of the gems that had been in the bottom of the safe. The black diamond, beautifully cut and set in a tiffany setting, looked amazing on the wide gold band. No other stones were on the wedding ring, which made the set look just as custom made as she wanted. This set, she knew, had come from Bryant’s heart.

  “I had help. You know that, don’t you?” She looked at Bryant and knew that forever he would own her heart. “Aurora helped me out by forming the stone for me. It was just a hunk of diamond when I gave it to her. And when she gave it back not two minutes later, it was set on the band just like it is now. She told me that she saw it in my mind, and couldn’t have tweaked it at all to make it look more perfect. Just like my bride, perfect in every way.”

  Harper was so emotional that she could only lay her head on his shoulder. Bryant held her for the rest of the trip, and she found herself dozing off and on. When awake, she was thinking about everything that had changed in her life over course of a few weeks. There wasn’t any way that she could have planned for something like this, and she was glad to have a partner to share it with. Bryant made everything seem seamless to her. Anything that she wanted to do, he was right behind her the entire time. It was wonderful having someone so supportive, as well as loving.

  The island they were going to was off the coast of California. It was hilly, lush, and full of the most beautiful trees that she’d ever seen. There were also animals galore that she had taken pictures of that she had planned on showing in the house that she had plans of building. But this, Harper thought, was so much better—to share her home with the man that she so dearly loved.

  Bryant had also saved her. Her life hadn’t been as perfect as she’d told herself it was. Harper had been happy, yes, she knew that. But that was all she’d been. She’d just been happy. Not in love. Not finding things every day that would remind her that she was a survivor. There were times when she would, before Bryant, fall back into a fear so deeply that she’d have to curl into a corner for days on end and wait. Harper never knew what it was she’d been waiting for until she’d
met Bryant. All along he’d been her rock, someone that she could forever depend on. Her screams in the middle of the night, the sweats that she’d break out in when she heard a mother scold a child—those things were slowly fading from her life, and she’d never been so happy as she was at this very moment.

  “I love you, Bryant.” He kissed her and told her that he loved her as well. Then he told her to behave. “I only said that I love you.”

  “I can smell you. You’re so aroused right now that I could and would love to strip your pants off and take you right here on my lap. Then while you were screaming out your release, I’d take us both to the floor and fuck you hard enough that you’d be unable to walk off this plane when they tell us that we’re banned from ever flying again. Now, if you’d be so kind as to sit still and stop making me insane, I’d very much appreciate it.”

  After that she sat as still as she could. But once, when she’d had to wiggle around to get a book she’d been sitting on, he growled deeply and she felt herself getting wetter. Harper wondered if he realized that this was just as hard on her as it was him.

  The jacket that she’d had on was pulled around them both, and Bryant took her hand and put it on his cock. Christ, he was thick and hard. Rubbing him, he tried to stop her, but she wanted him to suffer. Perhaps not as much as she was currently, but she wanted him to know that her needs were just as deep rooted as his were.

  When he suddenly stood up, she swallowed twice when she saw that his cock was right there in front of her, wanting to just lean in and lay her cheek on what she was sure was a painful erection. Bryant jerked her up from the seat, breaking not just the seat belt that she’d forgotten to take off, but the arm of the chair too.

  Giggling as he took her to the back of the plane, she felt herself getting wet enough to soak her panties as well as the skirt she had on. As soon as the door opened to the bathroom, she was shoved in ahead of him and stripped naked of everything she had on. Sitting on the sink seemed a little precarious, but she was too needy to care if they broke everything in this plane to have him inside of her.

  There was no foreplay, not now. She’d been teasing him, and being as wet as she was, his hard cock filled her easily. Holding onto his back, she dug her nails deeply into his flesh to hold on. Bryant was taking her hard enough to rock the big plane.

  Bryant kissed her throat, her breasts, even her shoulder. She could see his ass, tight with strong muscles, as he took her. The mirror across from them looked as if it had been put right there for her pleasure. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen.

  “Come. Scream for me.” The bite, gentle on her throat, brought her over the edge. Harper forgot where they were—or more than likely, her mind told her, she just didn’t give a shit. Screaming out her release, inhaling deeply when the second climax took her, her body bowed toward Bryant, her entire being seeming to just totter on the edge of coming again. Then he bit her in the throat.

  The pain was extraordinary, but brief. Coming like she was, soaring to the sky, shattering like many fireworks would on the Fourth, she came again and again. Harper needed more. Even though her body was weak with the way she’d come, the amount of times she had, Harper knew that there was more, just one more thing she need to make herself complete again.

  “Come in me, Bryant. Now. I need for you to mark me as your mate. Give me your all.”

  He pounded her harder. The view was almost blurred, Bryant was so fast in his movements. But when he stiffened inside of her, his body poised as hers had been, she braced herself for the best release known to man.

  She’d not been prepared. Nothing could have prepared her for his coming inside of her. Harper realized this a second later as her body seemed to split apart. The soar upward was breathless, the fall devasting to her body. Not in a bad way, but in the realization that it was over, perhaps. Then he came a second time.

  Harper wasn’t a virgin—she’d had sex after leaving home a great deal, she thought, perhaps, to prove something. Whatever it had been, the need had faded quickly and she’d been more selective of her partners. After today, she’d never be able to look at any male again and not turn her nose up at them, knowing that they’d never be able to make her feel this way.

  Bryant was speaking to her. Whatever he had said, it was lost on her. Laying her head on his sweaty shoulder, Harper realized two things almost at once. They were on a plane, a plane full of other people, and she’d announced to all of them, several times, that she was coming. Looking up at Bryant, she wanted to smack the smile right off his face.

  “They didn’t hear us.” She asked him how that was possible. “I’ve been around for a great long time, Harper. There are all sorts of things that I can do. You too, should you like for me to teach you. In this, I simply made the room that we’re in silent. No one could hear us, and we couldn’t hear them. I’ve never thought it was very useful until right now.”

  “You, my dear husband, are a mad man.” The grin was cocky and sexy. “Don’t think you’ll be able to get away with this sort of thing again. What if your magic hadn’t worked this time?”

  “I never thought of that. Perhaps it didn’t.” Bryant wrapped his hands around her waist and helped her off the sink. “You go out first, and I’ll stay here in case they did.”

  She did smack him then. But there was the problem of clothing. She thought about a towel, but since they were on a plane, there didn’t seem to be anything but paper towels. When she looked at Bryant, he was not only dressed, but he was wearing what looked like the clothing he’d had on when they came in here.

  “How the hell did you do that?” He told her it was magic. “Sure it is. How come you ripped my clothing to shreds but managed to save your own? That’s not fair. Or was it your plan that I go out there naked? Men might notice.”

  He growled. Having no idea why what was so sexy, she folded her arms over her breasts and felt the clothing. Looking down at herself, she looked at Bryant. The brush he was using was the same one that he’d used in the hotel before they’d gotten married. Harper knew that it had been packed.

  Bryant looked at her when she said his name. “Honey, it really is magic. See, while you were thinking about me—and I thank you so much for that….” He wiggled his brows and she smacked him again. “I love you. But while thinking about clothing, you dressed yourself. It’s a wonderful piece of magic that I figured out once when I had to shift to get out of nasty situations. No, you don’t want to know. But suffice it to say, I’m not a rug in someone’s house. Anyway, once you let yourself relax a little about the magic that we both have, I think you’ll find it to be very nice and extremely helpful. We both could have done this after we made love the first time, but you were dealing with too much at the time. I thought that having real clothing to slip on would make you feel better.”

  “I want to be a tiger.” She wasn’t sure where that thought had come from, but Harper realized that was just what she wanted to do. “I want to be like you. A black tiger. Can you do that?”

  He looked so profoundly hurt that she hurt herself. He didn’t want her to be a tiger. Bryant would rather be one himself and leave her at home—

  “Slow down. You’re thinking so hard that I can feel it. But I do want you to be a tiger. I just can’t change you. None of us can change anyone into what we are, especially our mates. I don’t know why, but Aurora told us that later in our lives.” Harper asked him what had happened. “Pops this time, he was with a friend of his and he was dying. The man, he begged to be changed to save his life. Aurora came to his aid, but told us then that it wasn’t possible for us to do that. And I think she was more sorry than we were about it. But for you, I hurt deep in my heart that I can’t let you feel the way I do when I’m a tiger.”

  He held her then, holding her to his chest, and Harper cried. It hadn’t meant that much before, but now that she knew that she couldn’t, it hurt. Harper decided right then and there that she was going to talk to Aurora. She’d created them, and by g
olly, she could fix this for her and the rest of the mates coming to the family.

  They sat back in their seats, and just as he had told her, no one was the wiser as to what they’d done. Getting their dinner served to them, they shared their food and laughed, a great deal. Harper knew that she’d never forget her first time on a plane. They were officially members of the Mile or so High Club. And it had been better than anything that she could have imagined.

  Chapter 11

  Bryant was making it his job to make sure that Harper had a good honeymoon. As soon as the plane landed, they had a nice dinner and enjoyed the music that was playing while they ate. The maître d’ knew that it was their honeymoon trip, and he had a bottle of champagne chilled for them, as well as a pretty little cake with a bride and groom on the top.

  After that, Bryant took her to the opera. His family had never had the money for such things. Once, when he’d been in Paris for a walkaround, he had been able to see a street version of one of the more elaborate plays that had been new to the town, and had enjoyed himself more than he thought he might. Since then, he’d been eager to see another, but sadly, the funds were never there.

  Meggie had helped him find Harper a dress to wear tonight. It was black and shimmery on her. He wanted to find a dark corner and take her as he had on the plane, but this was special for her. He could see it in every move of her body. Harper told him at the intermission that she’d never been to a play before, much less a musical, and she was extremely pleased with what they were seeing.

  Traveling to the hotel later, he held her while she rested on his shoulder. It had been easy making this a memory for her, a good memory, once he realized what money could buy. Bryant knew that he’d never do something like this again—not all the time at least. Money, he knew, didn’t grow on trees, so he knew the value in saving. But this was special. They were man and wife, and he needed her to be happy.