A Touch of Spring, page 11
“I’m very pleased for her,” Harley said, thinking nothing of the sort. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here. I didn’t realize you’d been keeping tabs on her.”
“Yeah, well, about that.” Bob looked at the walls, the ceiling and then back at Harley. “She’s my mate. I didn’t realize it at the time, with her being so filthy and full of vampire saliva. But once she got clean, settled down and stopped crying for Percy every five minutes, she asked to see me, to thank me. That’s when I knew.”
Harley sat stunned for a moment. Then he said, without thinking, “I sure hope you don’t expect me to call you Dad.”
“No, no, I wouldn’t expect that,” Bob shook his head. “It’s not as though you’ll see us much anyway. It’s just about little Harley….”
“She gave her new baby the same name she gave her old one? The one she didn’t care about?” Harley couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yeah, well, she wasn’t thinking straight at the time, anyhow….”
“You’re not taking him.” Harley stood up, his claws extended. “If that’s what you’ve come for, you can forget it right now. That baby is now my son and I will fight you to the death before I let you or her get your hands on him.” His cat was there, right behind his eyes and Harley was ready to shift if Bob so much as moved a finger.
“No, back down,” Bob said leaping to his feet, his own wolf responding. “Shit, I told Rachel this was a bad idea. I’m not here to take the baby. I’m hoping, once Rachel is completely well, that we might have some of our own. But Rachel’s not in a position to look after the little one and I’m not sure it’s a good idea her having a constant reminder of what that asshole Percy did to her.”
“Did to her?” Harley sat down. “That’s all she’s worried about, what he did to her? She chose that life. What about me? I was fourteen when he did this,” he gestured to his face. “Fourteen when I was raped and beaten and do you know how Percy stopped me from shifting so I could heal? By threatening to kill my mother. And she sat there and watched it all, never said a word.”
“I’m not denying those weren’t hard times, for both of you,” Bob said, his voice uneasy. “But you have no idea what it’s like being an addict. All she could think of was Percy. All she wanted was that fucking vampire and no one and nothing else mattered to her.”
“Sucks to be you,” Harley snarled. “Look, I will make this easy for you. I don’t want to see my mother, and if you’re mated to her, then I don’t want to see you either. Neither of you are getting within ten feet of my son, and that’s final!”
“These are the papers, signing him over into your care,” Bob pulled a sheaf of papers from his back pocket. “You’ll need to get a birth certificate and shit for him if you want him to go to school, but this has been drawn up by the clinic lawyers and will stand up in any human court.”
“Thanks,” Harley stuck the papers in his jacket without reading them. He’d get Bronson and Asaph to check them over later. “Was there anything else?”
“I just want to be able to tell her that little Harley…I mean, your son is in a good place,” Bob corrected himself quickly. “I know she’d like to see him, sometime in the future maybe….”
“Not going to happen.”
“Phew,” Bob looked relieved. “Look, just between you and me, it’s going to take another six months before she can even think of leaving the clinic. Personally, even though I’m sure he’s a good kid, I don’t need that little one reminding her of her life with that bloodsucker. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if she never sees either one of you again.”
“Then we have an agreement,” Harley bit his lip to stop his pain from showing. He’d always known…but then, maybe inside there had been a kernel of hope that if his mom got better…. But Bob was right; it was time for them all to move on. “My son will be well cared for, he won’t lack for anything, especially a loving family. I wish you well with yours.”
Bob nodded and slipped off his chair and out of the office. Taking in deep breaths and letting them out slowly, Harley grabbed his phone and dialed his mate. “Hey there, you, what are you two up to?”
Bronson laughed, the deep chuckle filling those empty spaces in Harley’s heart. “Frank’s going to be an artist, I tell you. I’ve given him some paint and paper on the floor and I gotta tell you, we’ve got a genius on our hands.”
It was Harley’s turn to chuckle. Franklin couldn’t walk yet and although he could crawl, and grab things in his hands, most of what he grabbed he tried to eat. “How much of the paint is he wearing?”
“Well, not that much; it’s only water based and can’t hurt him,” Bronson admitted. “But Ronan’s here, and Trent and Marly too and when Frank tipped a pot of paint on his belly, the smaller guys started showing him how to roll on the paper. I tell you, it’s the next big thing in art – body painting.”
That was another new thing, the coming together of all the known shifters in Orlando. Once Trent knew they had Franklin in their midst, it wasn’t long before his sweet mate Marly was over at the house every chance he got. He’d even bought a wee leather jacket for Franklin to wear. Ronan and Asaph were frequent visitors, and as Harley sat back in his chair, listening to Bronson share the events of his day with their son, Harley couldn’t help but smile. It took a lot of time, the road wasn’t always smooth, but he could say hand on heart, he had a family he was proud of.
“I think I’ll come home early,” he said, interrupting Bronson’s flow. “I have to see this artistic genius for myself.”
“Can’t wait to see you,” Bronson replied without hesitation. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” Harley disconnected the call and hurried out of his office. He had a home to go to and with friends, family and his wee son; he’d break speed limits to get there.
The End
Note from the Author
I do hope you enjoyed this little story. Bronson came across as such a good friend to Asaph in Dancing Around the Cop I was thrilled when readers expressed an interest in reading his story too. As some of you who follow me on Facebook will know, the first third of this story was included in Stormy Glenn’s ManloveFantasies Spring competition for readers and I have to confess, when I started this, I never imagined it would turn into a book. But Bronson and Harley proved to be complex characters and it would have done them a disservice to simply leave their story at the claiming scene.
In the meantime, I want to thank you for all your love, support and excitement over my characters. Writing, by necessity, is a lonely craft, but every day when I go onto Facebook, people are there sharing their pictures of men and cute animals which makes me smile. I really feel the love and it means the world to me. If you want to share the fun, please join my group – Lisa’s Wolfpack - https://www.facebook.com/groups/217413318738434/.
If you liked this book, please consider leaving it a review. They really do help the author. If you have any questions or comments you want to share privately with me, feel free to use any of the contact options listed under the “About the Author” section.
Hug the one you love.
Lisa
Other Books By Lisa Oliver
Cloverleah Pack
Book 1 – The Reluctant Wolf – Kane and Shawn
Book 2 – The Runaway Cat – Griff and Diablo
Book 3 – When No Doesn’t Cut It – Damien and Scott
Book 3.5 – Never Go Back – Scott and Damien’s Trip and a free story about Malacai and Elijah
Book 4 – Calming the Enforcer – Troy and Anton
Book 5 – Getting Close to the Omega – Dean and Matthew
Book 6 – Fae for All – Jax, Aelfric and Fafnir (M/M/M)
Book 7 – Watching Out for Fangs –Josh and Vadim
Book 8 – Tangling with Bears – Tobias, Luke and Kurt (M/M/M)
Book 9 – Angel in Black Leather – Adair and Vassago
Book 9.5 – Scenes from Cloverleah – four short stories featuring the men we’ve come to love
Book 10 – On The Brink – Teilo, Raff and Nereus (M/M/M)
Book 11 – (as yet untitled) – Marius and (shush, it’s a secret) (Coming soon)
The God’s Made Me Do It (Cloverleah spin off series)
Get Over It – Madison and Sebastian’s story
Bound and Bonded Series
Book One – Don’t Touch – Levi and Steel
Book Two – Topping the Dom – Pearson and Dante
Book Three – Total Submission – Kyle and Teric
Book Four – Fighting Fangs – Ace and Devin
Book Five – No Mate of Mine – Roger and Cam
Book Six – Undesirable Mate – Phillip and Kellen
(Yes, there is a spin off series coming and all I can say about that, at this point, is soon, I’m sorry, but it hasn’t been forgotten).
Stockton Wolves Series
Book One – Get off My Case – Shane and Dimitri
Book Two – Copping a Lot of Sin – Ben, Sin and Gabriel (M/M/M)
Book Three – Mace’s Awakening – Mace and Roan
Book Four – Don’t Bite – Trent and Alexi
Book Five – Tell Me the Truth – Captain Reynolds and Nico
Alpha and Omega Series
Book One – The Biker’s Omega – Marly and Trent
Book Two – Dance Around the Cop – Zander and Terry
Book 2.5 – Change of Plans - Q and Sully (Coming May 15th)
Book Three – The Artist and His Alpha – Caden and Sean
Book Four – Harder in Heels – Ronan and Asaph
Book 4.5 – A Touch of Spring – Bronson and Harley (You just read it)
The Portrain Pack and Coven
The Power of the Bite – Dax and Zane
The Fangs Between Us – Broz and Van – a Portrain Coven and Pack Prequel (coming soon).
Balance – Angels and Demons
The Viper’s Heart – Raziel and Botis
Passion Punched King – Anael and Zagan – (coming late May 2017)
Arrowtown
A Tiger’s Tale – Ra and Seth
Snake Snack – Simon and…you have to wait and see (coming June 2017)
Also under the penname Lee Oliver
Northern States Pack Series
Book One – Ranger’s End Game – Ranger and Aiden
Book Two – Cam’s Promise – Cam and his secret – (coming June 2017)
Shifter’s Uprising Series – Lisa Oliver in conjunction with Thomas J. Oliver
Book One – Uncaged – Carlin and Lucas
Book Two – Fly Free (Coming soon)
About the Author
Lisa Oliver had been writing non-fiction books for years when visions of half dressed, buff men started invading her dreams. Unable to resist the lure of her stories, Lisa decided to switch to fiction books, and now stories about her men clamor to get out from under her fingertips.
When Lisa is not writing, she is usually reading with a cup of tea always at hand. Her grown children and grandchildren sometimes try and pry her away from the computer and have found that the best way to do it, is to promise her chocolate. Lisa will do anything for chocolate.
Lisa loves to hear from her readers and other writers. You can friend her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/lisaoliverauthor), catch up on what’s happening at her blog (http://www.supernaturalsmut.com) or email her directly at yoursintuitively@gmail.com.
(I also now have a new group on Facebook: Lisa’s Wolfpack - https://www.facebook.com/groups/217413318738434/.)
Lisa Oliver, A Touch of Spring
