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

by Kathi S. Barton

  He was never late for anything. Allen showed up ten minutes early for work, never missed a day of church unless it was an emergency, and he was forever waiting for his wife to get ready at home and began telling her an hour earlier than they had to be anywhere. It had worked for a while, but she caught onto that quickly. Pulling into the parking lot, he leaped out of his car and ran, grabbing up his hat as he went. Right now, Allen could have crawled into a hole and never come out.

  The courtroom was beautiful, and it had little to do with the flowers all around the room. The sisters, as everyone had been calling them, were all dressed in different shades of brown. It might have sounded drab, brown as a color, but these women made it shine. He smiled at Jude when she came to stand by him.

  “She decided on having Miley as the maid of honor, which is the best that she could have done. And I’m glad you were here in time to see this.” He asked her what he was seeing, because he was already blinded by the beauty. Telling him not to be such a flirt, when she nodded to his right, Allen watched Miley come into the room with just a cane to hold her up. “Miley has been working on this very hard, trying her best to be walking at her dad’s wedding. They didn’t know she was this far in her working with the therapist.”

  She had to work hard at standing upright, but she was doing it. The pride on Joel and Mercy’s faces was palpable. He felt it too, all the way to his heart. Watching the little girl work this hard for her parents made him want to run home and tell his wife that he wanted seventy children right now.

  He knew he couldn’t do that. They had been trying for years to have a child. But after the shooting that had hit him near the groin, he no longer had the ability to father children of his own. She told him it was all right, but he felt like he’d failed her. Looking at Mercy, her small belly starting to show, he wanted to ask if for a moment he could have a bit of their magical love to help him for his wife.

  But this was neither the time nor the place to be feeling sorry for himself. Allen knew that they’d someday have someone in their life, even if it was just a dog. Being a human, he knew that was about all he could hope for. Smiling, he walked to where he was to stand with Joel to be there for him. Just as the man had been there for him at times.

  Joel had been around twice now when Allen was having a difficult time of something. He wasn’t the captain of the station house, just a lowly cop. But there were days that he wished someone would notice. Perhaps fire the captain that they had now and give him the job and the pay. That would make it so much better for he and his wife to be able to adopt. Money and being able to afford a child were a big factor in adoption.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife,” Judge Wilson said to Joel and Mercy. Allen loved this couple. Allen was going to go home on his lunch hour and tell his wife just how much he loved her.

  When he hugged them, and the sisters, he was pulled into a big hug again by Joel. The man, for a human, he noticed, was very huggy. Not that he minded—Allen loved a hug just as much as the next person. But when Joel whispered in his ear, Allen pulled back and asked him what he’d said.

  “I have magic. A great deal of it, I’m just learning how to use some of it and other things, like dressing myself, has come fairly easy, I guess you’d say. But I do have some that I can share. So much so that I can do a lot of things that a mere human, which I am not any more, can’t do. Like knowing what your greatest desire is. I would like to grant you that desire. Or I guess that I have already done it.” Allen pulled away more, not sure what he was talking about and afraid that he did. “Allen, you do know that I’d never hurt you. Not in any way, shape, or form. But I wanted to help you, so I did. But I have a reason too.”

  “A catch, you mean?” Joel told him that it wasn’t a catch, not at all, but something that he’d like for him do to. “That sounds just like a catch. And how do I know you are talking about the same thing that I want?”

  “You want to give your wife a child. Children, lots of them.” He nodded before he could think that he was caught in some sort of trap. “The deed, as they say, is done. You are wholly a man, though I doubt that Anna ever thought you weren’t.”

  “She said that it didn’t matter. But I hear her crying at night sometimes. Especially when she sees a family with children. Or a bump, like Mercy has.” Joel sat down on one of the long pews. “What’s the catch, Joel?”

  “You’re not going to believe me that it’s not a catch, are you?” Allen sat too, his mind too busy with thinking about children. “What if I told you that I cured you of your ailment several days ago? And right now, Anna is going to have twins. I had nothing to do with that part. But you’re going to have a pair of twin boys.”

  “I can’t give her children.” Joel told him that he could now, and that he had. “What is it, Joel? What is it that you need from me to make this real?”

  “It is real. But what I would like for you to do, no strings, is to work with your brother. Daniel seems to think that he can work the gate twenty-four/seven, and he can’t do it—not and be healthy. Not to mention, it’s not necessary. But I do believe that he’s having fun at the job. I want you to work when he needs a break. The house is closed up at six at night, so there is no need for either of you to be out there after that time. Magic keeps us safe then.” Allen asked him about being a cop. “This is something else that I’d like for you to think about. And soon. The captain that is there now, he needs to be gone. And if you take the job that I’m offering you, someone will notice that you’re doing it all. And then the ball will start rolling for you to take the position.”

  “I can’t do both jobs.” Joel told him that he’d not have to. But he could also work fewer hours for more pay. “And what about the job working with Daniel? And he does love the job. He said that you’re very generous with his pay too.”

  “I would be with you as well. And you can continue to take over for Daniel at times. And as a captain, you’d be able to adopt children. Some that need a helping hand like you and your lovely Anna can give them.” He asked about his own children. “I’m not worried about them. You shouldn’t either, Allen. They’ll be raised by the best and know the difference between right and wrong.”

  “I’d be a great father.” Joel told him that he would be, yes. “I don’t understand this. You’re telling me that you want me to quit the force, work with Daniel, and that Anna is going to have a baby—two babies.”

  “Yes, and you can have more children if you wish, too. The adoption agency called Mercy for a reference. It’ll be small wonder if you’ll ever be turned down for anything from them.” Allen smiled—he could feel it all over his body. “If I were you, I’d go home for a while, make love to your wife, write out your resignation, and start working for us today. It’ll all work out, Allen, this I promise you.”

  Allen was nearly home when he realized that he had no idea how he’d gotten there. Nor did he remember if he’d thanked Joel or not. But he needed to see his wife, needed to know that she’d not been harmed in any way with whatever Joel had done. Allen was afraid to be hopeful on this. Terrified that it was all a dream, and he was going to wake up all the sadder for it.

  When he got into the house, Anna wasn’t anywhere to be seen. There were sheets out on the line—she so loved the feel of air-dried sheets. Then he saw her on the phone, talking to someone.

  “Yes, I’ll tell him right away, Mrs. White. He’ll know just how to get the kitten out of the tree for you.” She smiled at him and he walked up to her, nibbling on her neck while she talked, flustered now, to Mrs. White. “I’ll do that the moment I see him. Yes, I have to go.”

  When she put the phone on the cradle, he turned her around and kissed her. Anna was his life, his love. Picking her up by the ass, he sat her on the counter and smiled at her.

  “A little afternoon cuddling, Allen? I thought you were going to work late.” He said that he’d changed his mind. “Well, Mrs. White called. If you could— Allen, you shouldn’t be home making love to your
wife. You should be— Oh, my yes, that’s wonderful.”

  “I’m quitting my job and going to work with Daniel.” She didn’t tell him no, as he thought she would. “Joel said that he’d pay me a good wage, and that you and I are going to have a baby. Twins.”

  That got her attention. “I’m sorry, what?” He told her again. “That’s not possible. We’ve seen a specialist.”

  “Yes, but you know as well as I that Mercy and the rest of them are magical. Just look at the things they’ve taken care of in town.” She stared up at him, hope, a fragile thing, in her eyes. “He fixed me, he said. Several days ago. And he said that you’re going to have us twin boys.”

  She kissed him then, wrapping her legs around his waist. Anna believed him. And as he picked her up again, heading to the bedroom, he thought that Joel might be right. He needed to quit to be what he wanted. A man with a purpose. But right now, his purpose had nothing at all to do with work, and everything to do with loving his wife.

  ~*~

  Saul had fallen as soon as the cop left him. If he’d come back, just turned in the doorway, he might have witnessed his fall. Christ, he hurt, and was still thirsty. Leaning up on his burning legs, he put his head under the faucet and drank from it like a dog, lapping the water into his parched throat and mouth until he thought he’d explode from it.

  He didn’t have the strength to even go out to piss anymore. Just opening his fly, he let go of the stream of hot urine, which went all over the wall where he was kneeling. Sitting down on the floor, he half crawled and half crab walked to the bed.

  There was no point in taking his shoes off and rubbing his feet anymore. His legs had joined the fight against him, making him hurt by burning up his legs with the need to massage them. Saul had figured out last night that he wasn’t so much burning as he was tingling, from skin to bone, and there wasn’t any way to make it stop.

  If he had a gun, he’d no longer concern himself with his niece. The pain kept him up at night. He also pissed about twenty times from night to morning, then more during the day. If he had a gun, Saul would have blown his head off, the pain was that bad. Looking at the last of his food, five candy bars, he knew that he had to do something soon—even if it was only to go with the fucking cop to the doctor’s office—or he was going to be found there, nothing but a shell of his former self.

  To say that his pants no longer fit would have been a gross understatement. He’d taken the only sheet he could find, one that he could tear into strips, and had fashioned himself a belt. The cinch in his pants was almost twice the size as needed to cover him. And his underwear was no longer an option.

  Laying there, he wondered why he was being so stupid. Not stupid, he amended to himself, but stubborn. Why not admit that he hurt? It didn’t make him less of a man. And if he was better, he reasoned with himself, he could get the money that he needed to kill Miley.

  “It all comes down to you getting your ass better. Don’t be a moron, you moron, and get yourself help.” But how? his mind screamed at him, and his body took that moment to start trembling again.

  Saul had been having the shakes off and on for the last twenty-four hours. He didn’t know what else could befall him, but this was the last straw. Getting down on the floor, falling on his knees and feet, Saul sat that way, sobbing about how much he ached with it all.

  Crawling out of the room, he wanted to scream for help. But it would do him little to no good—there wasn’t another person for miles. But almost as soon as he made his way out of the building, it started to snow, big fat flakes that rained down on his head, making him stop long enough to cry again.

  Almost to the road where he thought he might be able to flag down a car, he laid there and rested. The snow was coming down heavier now, and he knew that it was going to cover him up even before anyone came by.

  Saul was also afraid that if it snowed too much or started to pile up, he wouldn’t ever see a car. People would be at home, basking in the heat of their nice furnaces, as well as drinking a large glass of something warm and satisfying.

  “I’m going to ask for a real meal when I get someone to pick me up.” He bumped his foot again and cried out. “But not before someone gives me a shot or something for this fucking pain. They’ll do it, or I’ll sue. That’s what I’ll do, sue their asses off.”

  Talking to himself, making himself out to be this bad assed person while he belly crawled through the rocks, mud, and snow to the road, made him feel like he wasn’t less of a man. Saul had never begged for anything in his life, but right now, he’d do anything, and he did mean anything, to have some help.

  His hands were raw from pulling himself along. Saul knew that his belly couldn’t be in very good shape either. He wasn’t anything but skin and bones. Laughing, he thought he might be lucky if he didn’t break a few ribs before this was done.

  The last few feet seemed to get longer with every inch he pulled himself along. The rocks were embedded in his skin around his hands. The shirt that he’d had on was nothing but rags now, and he wondered if there would be anything left of him when he was saved. It was no longer a matter of wanting to be helped, he told himself. He needed to be saved.

  The car went by and splashed icy cold water into his face. For a few moments it felt wonderful. The coldness of it had made his face cooler, and the few drops that went into his mouth tasted of heaven. Just a few more feet, he kept telling himself. Just a few—

  “Saul?” He knew the voice and didn’t care if she was there to kill him off as she’d promised. Turning his head to look at her, he noticed that she was talking on her phone. “I’m calling for an ambulance. Don’t move anymore.”

  He couldn’t even if he had wanted to. When he heard Mercy, it was as if every muscle in his body had just said fuck it. Saul couldn’t even turn to his back, to beg her for something to end the pain. Suddenly her face was too near his, and he cried out in pain when he jerked away from her.

  “What the fuck were you thinking? That you’d just crawl out there to our home and try and take the money? You do know that you’re suffering from diabetes, don’t you?” He told her, he thought so anyway, that it was impossible. “Yes, it is. I’ve been reading up on it. You’re a fucking moron who should have accepted help when we offered it.”

  “I wouldn’t be taking it now if I didn’t hurt so fucking bad.” He heard the siren and wondered if Allen the goody cop was with them. “Just let them kill me. I’ve suffered enough for one man.”

  “Oh no. You’re not getting off that easily. You’re going to the hospital, getting better, and then paying for your crimes. People need closure.” He started to ask her for what, but a blur of white was in his face. “Mercy, don’t you dare leave me here on the side of the road. I swear to you, I will make you pay if you do.”

  “Side of the road? Are you serious? You’re barely five feet from the hotel. You would have had to go another twenty-five to thirty feet to be there.” He cried. Saul just didn’t have it in him to argue with her. Besides, she was more than likely telling him the truth. “Just let these guys do their job, Saul, and I’ll call Joel.”

  “I don’t want him to see me like this.” Mercy told him too bad and walked out of his vision. The pinch of something at his arm made him turn to the men leaning over him, and then he started to fuzz out. But he wasn’t done with Mercy. Yelling for her, he saw her just as he was being lifted up to be in the back of the ambulance. He was indeed only a few feet from the hotel, and too far from the road. He would never have made it, Saul realized now.

  Letting the fuzz, whatever it was, take him under, Saul heard one of the men say something about his foot and leg. He couldn’t quite make it out, but it sounded to him like they were saying that he might need to have it broken in three places. That couldn’t be right. But he was too far gone with the meds they gave him to care what they did to him. But no one had better be breaking his leg. He needed to get Miley and kill her for Joel to come to heel again.

  Chapter 10 />
  Mercy was waiting in the waiting room for Joel when he showed up. Saul had bypassed the emergency room and had been taken right to surgery. The doctor didn’t hold out much hope for the man. He had let things get too bad for too long.

  After Mercy told him everything she’d found when she’d gotten there and what she’d learned from the doctor, he sat down on one of the chairs in the room. Mercy also told Joel that he might lose not just his leg, but a part of his foot on the other leg as well.

  “I hadn’t any idea that it had gotten that bad, did you?” She shook her head and sat down next to him. “When Allen told me earlier that he thought Saul might be getting better, I didn’t even think to come and check on him. And had you not been going for pizzas for us, he might well have died out there.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for this, Joel. He had plenty of opportunities to get himself help. Even Allen said he told him that he was a diabetic. Saul was stubborn, and this is all on him.” She thought about the things that Saul had said in the ambulance drive over, and nearly didn’t tell Joel. But they were not going to keep secrets from each other, they had promised that. “He said that they’d better not take off his legs. He said that he was going to need them to kill our daughter. Something about it bringing you to heel. Again. He said that he’d have to kill her to bring you to heel again. What happened?”

  “We had a dog. Or I had a dog. His name was Snow. He was white, too, all over his body, except for the very tip of his tail. Mom suggested that I call him Tippy, but that just seemed so obvious. So, he was Snow.” When he leaned back, taking her hand to his heart, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear anymore. Saul was a bastard, and there was no telling what sort of evil things he’d done to that poor dog. “One afternoon, just after my birthday, the mail ran. I got a card from my grandma with two ten-dollar bills in it—a fortune to a ten-year-old. I gave Mom one of them, so she could buy the stuff to make me a cake, and she said that there would be money left over—what else did I want? I told her to get a box of chocolates, big enough to share with the entire family. That was a treat that we all enjoyed, especially my father.”