Mercy: Queen’s Birds of Prey: Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 1)

by Kathi S. Barton

  The falcon was beautiful this close up. The brown feathers on her back were soft looking, and her legs were snowy white. When the pretty but deadly bird hopped up on Miley’s wheelchair, she looked as if she were showing off. But the beak was what scared him more than her talons, which were long and sharp.

  “May I touch you?” The bird nodded. He supposed that the bird had a name and started thinking of her as Mercy. “You’re very soft, aren’t you? And you have more than just brown and white on your feathers. Some of them are black, others are orange and blue. I guess that’s so you can blend in.”

  When Mercy grew to her large bird and spread out her wings, Joel was shocked—he’d never realized before how wide they’d be. Nearly sixty feet, he’d bet, and when she turned to look at him, he had a feeling that the bird was sizing him up.

  She wants to taste you. All sorts of thoughts went through his mind. Not like that, you moron. She’d clip you until you were nothing but a nub. She means to taste your skin. And when she does, don’t touch her. It’ll hurt, but she’ll transfer more magic to you.

  “I’m not sure I want more magic.” Mercy became her small bird again and moved to stand on the corner of the coffee table, where he was sitting. “This nip, where would she like to do it? I’m assuming it won’t matter.”

  No. Just put out your hand. As I said, it will hurt, but you’re going to be marked. To be honest, Joel, I’m not sure what that means, but she wants to mark you.

  His hand was trembling, but at this point, he thought that it was all right. After today, he would have been surprised if he hadn’t been trembling a little. When she spread her wings again, he watched as she flapped them quickly but didn’t lift off the table. That was when she bit him. The distraction helped some, but it was very painful.

  He felt it roll over him in waves. The magic, he assumed, seemed to fill parts of him that he’d not realized would matter. Even his earlobes tingled. Then the burning of his shoulder and back nearly took him to the floor.

  Ripping off his shirt, he could see the tat as it made its way down his arm. He’d have a sleeve, his mind said to him, as if it were a different person. And when the warmth of blood rolled down over his arm to his wrist, he saw it then—the falcons in a neat circle around his wrist. He had a sigil to mark him as a falcon.

  The bird then sat with Miley. Joel was too focused on his pain right now to realize that she was sitting on Miley’s lap. Before he could tell her to be careful, to remember what Mercy had told her, the falcon bit her too, in the same place, and Miley screamed.

  ~*~

  Mercy knew what Miley was feeling but waited for her to figure out what it was. Mercy sat on the floor in front of her, watching her face as the pain of the mark subsided. She knew just when she realized what it was that was hurting.

  “I can feel it.” Mercy nodded and smiled. But it took Joel a little longer to understand. “Dad, I can feel it. The cuts, I can feel them.”

  “Did you know that she was going to mark her too?” Mercy said she hadn’t, but it was a good thing. “How do you figure that? She has a tattoo that is— What can you feel, Miley?”

  Miley laughed with her. When she told her dad that she could feel the cuts on her legs, Mercy moved back so that she could be with her dad. Mercy watched the younger girl carefully. She didn’t want her doing too much at first.

  “She bit her so that she could be healed with her magic.” Joel asked if that was all it took. “Yes and no. I guess she figured that if she were to shift, which you both could do before, she would be too weak to try and work on walking. But, I would suggest that you take it easy. If you rush this, you’re going to get hurt. I don’t mean you might get hurt—you will be hurt. Falling at this stage of your life would hurt badly.”

  Mercy was so calm. He was a mess, and there she sat, looking at his...no, their daughter, like this was something that happened every day. Miley looked at him. Her eyes were still wet, and the blood was pooled on her hand, like it had his.

  “Dad, will you carry me outside? I want to just have the grass on my toes. I know that I can’t walk, but this is something that I’ve wanted forever. Please?” He couldn’t have turned her down if she’d asked him to bring the moon in the house so she could touch it. “I’ll be really careful. Just set me in the grass and I’ll be content for the day.”

  Picking her up, he realized how much bigger she was getting. Thirteen. His little girl was thirteen-years-old. Setting her on the grass was the simplest thing he could have done for her, but she looked at him as if she’d gotten everything that she’d ever wanted. Mercy sat on one of the deck chairs and he joined her.

  “She can hide her marks the same as you can. Just think of them covered and they’ll be gone from view. I have them too, but since I’ve never been one to show off what I am, they’ve been hidden for a long time.” He could see them then, the marks that made her what she was. The one at her wrist was wider than his, a great deal wider in that it reached almost all the way to her elbow. “I have this for all the wars I’ve fought in. You have yours for the same reason.”

  “I’ve never been at war. I don’t understand why I’d have even this one.” She just looked at him. “Mercy, I love you.”

  “And I love you as well. but that doesn’t get you off the hook so easily. You hurt me. Devasted me, in fact.” He told her that he knew that. “Your war is fighting to keep your daughter from harm. By working so hard to keep her fed and safe. That is your war. And you will get one every time you do something like that for others. They’ll be thinner, yes, but you’ll have them.”

  Miley played in the grass for an hour. At one point she rolled to her belly and was able to wiggle her toes. Joel wasn’t sure that she realized she’d done it, and when she sat up, leaning back on her arms, she did it again.

  “I’ve never done that before.” Miley laughed. It rang through the yard and became attached to his heart. He ached with his love for this child—and for the one that Mercy was carrying.

  When Miley was tired, he took her to the couch and let her rest. She was asleep in no time, and Mercy covered her up with the coverlet that they’d just gotten last week. He asked Mercy if he could talk to her, and they made their way to his new office.

  He’d really meant to talk to her. To ask her what he should know, how long would she be pregnant. But the thought of touching her, kissing her, made his cock hurt, his body tingle with anticipation. As soon as he pulled her body to his, she came to him as if she’d needed him as well.

  Their clothing was gone. He loved this new magic for that. When he pressed her against the door, thinking that he’d have a chance to look at her wholly, he was backed up by Mercy until the top of the desk touched the back of his knees.

  “I’ll make the room so no one outside of it can hear you.” He nodded, not sure what she had in mind until she got down on her knees. “I’ve wanted to do this so much. It’s all I can think about.”

  Before he could say a word, even if one had formed in his mind, she took him deeply into her mouth. And like before when she’d done it, he cried out with the tightness of her throat, the way her tongue seemed to roll around him. Joel pushed forward, thinking just to fuck her when she swallowed.

  “Holy fuck a duck.”

  She bobbed over his cock, his body responding to the tightness of it all. Fucking her this way, having her between his legs, Joel moved her hair so that he could see her.

  His cock was wet with her juices as it went in and out of her mouth. Joel felt her saliva as it rolled down over his balls. When Mercy touched him there, using her juices to roll his balls in her palm, he fucked her mouth harder.

  It was not enough and too much at the same time. And when she gave his balls a tight but gentle squeeze, he cried out with his release even as he fucked her mouth over and over. But when Mercy leaned back from him, he could see her need—her skin was dewy with it.

  Joel fisted his cock, using her spittle to make the slide faster and better. Mercy
opened her mouth. He knew what she wanted, and he needed to come all over her so that she could taste him again.

  Holding his balls—they ached with how full they were—he told her to touch herself, to make her pretty pussy beg for him. And when her fingers slid into her nether lips, she used the other hand to squeeze and tease her nipples. Christ, Joel came so hard that his back ached from it, his body bent back to make sure she got it all. Coming that hard had never happened to him before.

  When she stood up, he was weak with his releases. Joel knew that she needed to come too, but he wasn’t sure he could help her. That was until she leaned over his desk, her beautiful ass pointed at him, seemingly begging for him to take her this way.

  Grabbing her by the buttocks, he held on as he slammed forward into her pussy. She cried out, her body tightened around him. And as he fucked her, pounded her as hard as he could, miraculously, his balls filled again and suddenly, just like that, he felt his bird or something move over him until Joel had the most urgent need to bite her shoulder.

  “Do it.” He leaned to her, his mouth shifting under his lips. When Mercy commanded again for him to do it, Joel sank his teeth hard into her shoulder. “Yes.”

  The bones beneath his mouth seemed to crack and break. He could hear it, actually, the way her bones gave under his powerful bite. And when she screamed again, he knew it wasn’t from the pain of the bite, but a climax that took him over the edge with her.

  Joel tried to stand upright but his body just wasn’t ready yet. And when Mercy giggled, he asked her, from his position at her back, what the hell she thought was so funny. He had to laugh too when her giggling turned to laughter.

  “Us. I wasn’t going to do this. Not have sex with you right away. But the moment that door closed, it was like a switch had been turned on and I was wet with need.” He cursed low and fluently. “Yes, well, that’s about the way I feel too.”

  Standing, staggering only a little he was glad to see, Joel turned Mercy around and held her. He was glad to see that she wasn’t in any better shape than he was. Still, he had a lot to talk to her about. Then he realized what he really wanted to say to her.

  “Marry me, Mercy. I’d get down on my knees and do this, but I know that I’d never get back up. But I would like for you to become my wife. Have more children with me in addition to this one.” She kissed him lightly on the mouth and nodded. “Please, say it. I want you to say you will marry me while we’re both buck naked and sated.”

  “Yes, I will marry you while we’re both buck naked and sated.” It took him a moment to realize that she’d made a joke. Laughing, she was dressed and moving toward the door while he was still hanging on to the desk for dear life. “You’d better hurry and recover. We’re about to have some company.”

  Joel didn’t want to have company. He wanted to go upstairs and take a long nap. For about a month. Then he wanted to rest up so that he could make it to the shower. Standing upright, he felt better, but his knees still felt like they were made of rubber. But the longer he stood there, the better he began to feel.

  The company, as she called it, was his brother. Saul hadn’t been around for fifteen or so years. Joel and he had never been friends, and the only reason that they had gotten together recently was when their father had been killed. Then few months later, their mom. As soon as he introduced him to Mercy, as his wife, he asked him what he wanted.

  “Why is that the first thing out of your mouth every time you see me? You’d think that I was some sort of bum or something.” Saul looked at Mercy, and she didn’t take Saul’s hand when he offered it to her. “I guess my brother has told you all about me. Well, not all of it is true. And some of that might even be a lie.”

  “No, I had no idea that you existed until just this moment. And you’re not staying, so don’t get yourself too comfortable.” Saul looked at him, shocked. “What is it you want, Saul?”

  “Wow, who shit in your oatmeal? Can’t a man come and see his brother and his new family once without everyone being shitty to him?” Joel didn’t say anything, and Mercy left them to see to Miley. “You sure made out for yourself, Joel. Nice house. A beautiful wife. No wonder you moved up from New Mexico. That’s where I was looking for you. You didn’t mention to anyone that you were moving out.”

  “Perhaps there was a reason for it. Again, what is it you want, Saul? I don’t have time for your schemes. I’m not going to give you money, nor am I going to go on any trip with you. The last time we did that, I was seventeen and you left me in another country without any money or my passport. Mom and Dad had to work hard at getting me home.” Saul just waved his hand at him. “You have someplace to stay?”

  “Well, I thought that I’d stay here for a few weeks. Just until I get up on my feet. You’ll let me do that, won’t you, little brother?” Joel told him no. Then he looked over his shoulder and he knew that Saul saw Miley. “Well well, who is this pretty little thing? I didn’t think you’d marry anyone with a kid, Joel. I guess you get good benefits for taking on someone else’s—”

  “She’s my daughter. Mercy and I are going to have a second child soon, too.” Joel could see his brother’s mind working. Would it be handicapped too? How did she get hurt? “Whatever you wanted, you’re not getting it. So, I would suggest that you get out before you say something stupid and I’ll have to break your neck.”

  “Aw, come on, Joel. This isn’t like you.” Saul laughed. “Oh, I see. You’re acting up for the ladies. Well, that’s fine. Just spot me come cash and I’ll find a nice hotel. Just don’t be too stingy with it, little bro. I have to eat too, and I’m low on gas.”

  Mercy went to the door and held it open. Joel went to stand beside her and was worried when Saul made his way to Miley and put out his hand, Miley slapped it away and smiled at him.

  “I’d take heed on what my parents say, Mr. Oliver. Get out of our home, and don’t come back.” Saul told her she shouldn’t talk to her elders that way. “Yes, well, I give as good as I get. Mom and Dad told you to leave, and I’d do it.”

  Saul went to the door and stopped to stare at the two of them. Then he looked at him. Joel could see his anger. Saul had always had a short fuse that wouldn’t burn out for a long time. When he lunged at him Joel stood his ground, and Mercy slammed the door in Saul’s face when he turned to speak again.

  Chapter 5

  Mercy looked over the computer printout that Jude had given her. Saul Oliver was an evil man, and the only reason that he was out walking around instead of in prison was that he was lucky. But Mercy decided that his luck was about to run out.

  “I think he killed our parents.” Mercy looked at Joel when he spoke to her from the chair. “I never thought about it until later, after we buried Mom, that he might have had something to do with their deaths.”

  “How so? Not that I don’t believe you, but how do you think he might have killed them?” Mercy thought that he might have too. Saul had been into a lot of things, and none of them were on the right side of the law. “So you know, for the last year Saul has been in prison. Armed robbery. He’s only been out about a month, likely looking for you.”

  “I had nothing for him to steal before, but I have a feeling that he’ll be back here, and not necessarily when we’re home. I think he murdered Dad with his axe. There isn’t any way that he could have fallen on it and split his head open the way that he they said he had. And Mom was so depressed after Dad died that I think he played on that and helped her along with it. She didn’t kill herself—I know that she didn’t, but proving it was nearly impossible without the funds to hire someone to look into it.” Mercy asked him if he really thought that Saul would get into the house. “He always has a way. Then he’ll blame it on me, like I’d left glass in the window for him to bust out to gain entrance.”

  “I see. Well, I’d not worry so much about him trying to get in as much as where to bury his body if he comes here again.” She was serious, but she didn’t think that Joel thought she was. “By the wa
y, I’ve set up a time, three days a week, for Miley to have physical therapy at the hospital. She will also be safe from the time she leaves here until she returns. I don’t think that Saul will stoop to taking her, but I don’t want to take the chance of him trying.”

  “He will if he thinks it will get him a few bucks. You said something about a house that you wanted me to look at. I don’t have to be at work until tomorrow. I was hoping that I could talk you into have a nice dinner out with Miley and myself. I know we’re doing this sort of backwards, but I only just realized this morning when I got up that we’ve never had a date.”

  Miley was out with Blaze this afternoon. Blaze was trying to open up a larger client base to sell to and wanted Miley’s opinion on some of the pieces that she was working on. Mostly it was things to give to Grandma and Mom if a kid had a few bucks, but it was something that she’d been playing around with for some time.

  “Why was he in prison?” Mercy looked at Joel, slightly confused for a moment. “Saul. Why was he in prison? I’m sure you know.”

  “I do. He and two other men tried to stick up a library. I kid you not, Joel, a library. Who in their right mind tries to rob a place that only lends out books? Anyway, he and one of them came out only to find that they’d parked in two spaces, and some of the patrons were pissy about it and blocked them in.” Joel asked about the other man. “Oh, he was checking out a book. For Christ’s sake, if I didn’t know he was stupid before, this sure does show it.”

  They were both laughing when Jude joined them. They’d been in the office when the front door had been knocked on, and Jude just came in, sat down, and didn’t say a word. Mercy and Joel talked quietly around her until she got around to speaking.

  “This guy, your brother. What do you really know about him?” Joel told her nothing, other than what she’d found on him. “I dug a little deeper. I found some things that he might well have been involved in, but no one could attach his name to the crimes. Things like robbery, kidnapping, and murder. The murder one isn’t recent. But the kidnapping was just a few months ago, just after he got out of prison. I mean, like the same week he got out. I’d like to not have to kill this guy. Sorry, Joel, I know he’s your brother and all, but he has got to go.”