Piper: Queen’s Birds of Prey: Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Queen's Birds of Prey)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “My mother said you’d be joining us soon. Before fall was all she said. And that you were here to tell us about the antiques we’re going to sell. She said you were a man to trust.” Bennington thanked him. “No need for that. Mom said you’d need us to put you up and to make sure you had everything you needed. She also said you’d be living here on this land, but within the walls of the keep, so you’d be safe. Mom didn’t mention, however, what you would be safe from.”

  “I don’t know either. I have no family. I’ve never been married. An only child of parents that were only children. I wonder too what she could have meant.” Bennington looked around. “I guess since she said within the keep, you don’t mean the castle. I don’t think that is a place I’d like. I do tend to get cold a great deal.”

  “The keep is open, as well. When she said within the keep, she meant the walls surrounding the castle. We all have them.” Piper pointed to the walls around their castle that encompassed acres of land where the castle stood in the center. “I believe your being here now is why several homes popped up when I came out to meet you. Dante knew a great many things, it appears.”

  They walked back to the castle, and there were indeed several homes now occupying the grounds. Grant wondered if the man would have to pick one of them, or the house would pick him. This was, he thought, one of the strangest things he’d encountered since he was a kid.

  As soon as they were walking toward the homes, one of them appeared to have a door open. The closer they got to it, the home showed more welcoming things, such as a rocker on the front porch, a wreath on the door with Bennington on it, as well as someone just coming out of the door.

  “My cook from my home on campus. Hello, Delia. I’d like to introduce you to the rest of the family we’re now a part of.” Harry laughed as he shook hands with the woman. “I’m so glad you agreed to join me here. It would have been lonely, I think, without you fussing at me all the time.”

  “I just popped into the kitchen. Like a jack in the box.” Delia shook hands with all of them, taking his last. “Fae. As am I, your lordship. The mister here, he’s got a bit of fae in him—long story, that one, but he didn’t die that day. There are days when I’m tempted to do the deed myself, but we get along well enough. Mr. Harry is a vampire. Not as old as the rest of you seem to be, but he’s hundreds rather than a thousand years old. such as you are.”

  “Thank you, Delia. I never thought to tell them that.” Harry smiled at him. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Grant. The dream, as I was referring to before, showed you to be a good man and a person I could talk to.”

  “This dream, it seems to have given you a great deal of detail about all of us. While none of us, except for Duncan, knew anything about you. I’m not doubting yours or Duncan’s word, but a little prewarning might have been helpful.” They nodded, and Duncan said he’d been preoccupied a great deal since becoming a married man. “As a newly married man myself, I guess I can understand that.”

  They made plans to meet for dinner at their home. Since Piper had asked Blaze to come over and help them finish up the rest of the furniture around the house, they were prepared for guests. A lot of guests, as it turned out too.

  He’d not realized that Blaze could take several pieces of different woods and make whatever kind of furniture she wanted. The woods would be shown in the pieces. That was why their dining room table was so beautiful. The cherry from the branches she used had made the grain so well thought out that it was hard for him to pass the room without going in to rub his hands over the gleaming surface.

  They had beds and chests of drawers too. Bryson had helped him pick out the perfect woods to build an oversized barn in the keep. There Grant was going to store the gardening equipment, as well as other things that were needed to keep the area clean. Also, they had an incredible looking pen for the sheep when it got too cold for them to be out in the weather.

  Things were coming together much faster than he thought they would. The castle was perfect for the two of them. Grant loved their living room. It was cool throughout the castle. Very much unlike any other stone building he’d ever been in. And sharing it with Piper was as good as it got. Last night, they’d talked about having children.

  “I want as many as you wish to have.” They both laughed. He started again. “I mean, whenever you want to start or stop, that will be the perfect amount of children for me.”

  “I don’t know that I’d be a good mom. I don’t have any experience with children. Just the few that have joined our family. And they’re great. I’d hate to have the only pain in the ass children.” Grant had pointed out to her that he’d bet even her nieces and nephews were pains. “Not when I see them.”

  “You see, that’s the point. They’re great around you because you’re the cool aunt. I’m the extraordinary uncle. We get to see them at their best.” She asked him if he thought he was that much of a big deal. “Yes. I do. And I’m going to keep on believing that right up until one of my kids breaks my heart. I know they will too. I certainly did my mom’s a few times. Kids are assholes.”

  They laughed most of the night after that. Piper was someone that he wouldn’t have thought to be his mate. They were so well suited it boggled his mind sometimes. She and he, they were wonderful at working together as well.

  He’d never put much stock in having a family, a mate. Grant had watched the others, members of New Town, as their families grew. Some of them even came back to live there after they finished up college, or whatever had them leaving. When Piper came into his life, Grant knew he’d been mostly shocked rather than standoffish, as Mercy had pointed out to him.

  “Grant, can you come in here a minute?” He saved his document again. The way it was going today, he wasn’t going to get much done. Grant went to see where Piper was. She was in the living room, and he asked her what he could do. “Look out there and tell me that you see the same thing I am seeing.”

  He didn’t see anything at first but went closer to the window. It took him several seconds to find what she meant. Grant stared at the creature for a good long time before he realized what he was looking at. She asked him what that was.

  “Fae. I don’t know who it is, but I guess we can find out.” Piper asked him if he was sure. “Yes. I’ve never seen one in their natural state. Usually, they’re a lot like Mom and I are, human looking. Do you want to come with me to see what they want?”

  “Yes. But just so you know, if there is any shit going down, I’m going to blast them to hell and back. I’ve had enough shit going on this week. I don’t want to fuck up the rest of my day.”

  He laughed as he opened the door. Walking toward the tall fae, he waited until it turned towards him before he said anything. The need to submit was profound, and Grant felt himself fall to the ground and spread out so that the strong creature didn’t harm him. He watched as Piper did the same. Holy Christ, he thought, what the hell was going to happen to them now?

  Chapter 9

  Basil looked over the two he’d come to see. They were more beautiful than he’d been led to believe when he’d been told they were mated. Telling them to stand had the woman popping right up off the ground, but her mate, a fae such as he’d not seen in a long time, just stayed there.

  “What are you doing?” He started to assure the woman he’d done nothing but come to see them, but she cut him off. “I don’t know who you are, big guy, but as of right now, you’re on my shit list. Who said you could come here and make us submit to you? I’m betting you thought this was a good idea all on your own. You mother fucking—”

  “Piper, this is the king of the fae, Lord Basil. Your majesty, this is my wife and mate, Piper Coby. She’s a phoenix that the queen of these lands changed many years ago.” Basil put out his hand, and the woman slapped it away. “She’s usually a great deal more friendly.”

  “Usually, I just kill sons of bitches that
do what you did to me.” Basil watched her face. She wasn’t just angry but worried as well. With good reason, he thought. The king of her mate’s kind hadn’t made an appearance in more years than she’d been born. “What the fuck do you want?”

  “Your help? I would ask for a drink too, but I believe you’d spit upon it. You are much more headstrong than I was told. I think I shall love talking with you.” She crossed her arms over her breast and stared at him. “You’ll not believe I heard the ground here had a great warrior. That you were also a woman that could be trusted with all manner of things. That is why I’m here. To ask a favor of you and your mate. You would be good for what I have to ask you.”

  “We’re not getting any younger by you talking in riddles. Don’t you guys send out minions when you’re going to visit a place? You know, have the people you’re going to ask something of be ready for you? I’d not think that simply showing up someplace has gotten you too much in the way of good neighbors, has it?” Basil laughed, and that seemed to piss her off more. She was a delight, and he was glad he’d done just what he’d done to see her. “I don’t think you’re the least bit funny. For the last time, what do you want?”

  “For you to save my child.” That shut her up. Basil wasn’t sure, however, that it made her any more friendly. “Would you allow me to sit down? Please?”

  “Sure.” Before she could put any kind of stipulations on his sitting, he took them both to his own home. Basil made sure he was well away from her before she realized what he’d done. “You mother fucker. You’re just all kinds of stupid today, aren’t you?”

  Whatever he expected her to do, it wasn’t for her to shift into a great bird and blow heat over him. It wouldn’t harm him, but he knew that had he not already been prepared for her fire, he would have surely been hurt. Sitting in the chair that had been put there by him, he asked her to have a seat.

  “You’re not burning to a crisp.” Basil laughed and told her he’d feel much better if she didn’t seem so thoroughly disappointed. “But I am. You should be dead right now. That is a disappointment to me.”

  “I should hope that once you hear what I have to say, you’ll change your mind. Please, my lady, have a seat. I wish to tell you what troubles I have and ask for you to help me with them. I do believe it is only the two of you that can save the faes of your world.” Piper sat down, but she wasn’t happy about it. She also told him she wasn’t fae. “No. You’re not fully a fae, but your mate is. I’ve been keeping an eye on Grant here since he took his first breath. I knew the queen of these lands quite well, too, as a matter of fact.”

  “Dante would have told us she was going to just pop in, as you haven’t done.” Basil laughed. He was sure she was upset with him, but he just couldn’t help it. “Tell us what you have in mind. And don’t think we didn’t notice that you’ve taken us off our land. I don’t know where I am, but I’m betting it’ll burn just as quickly as anything on my side of magic.”

  “Yes. You’re right. I will get right to the point then. My mate, Lady Rose, passed on. This was a great many years ago, I assure you. But at the time, I could only think what her not being here did to me.” Piper told him she was sorry for his loss. “Thank you. It was a great many years ago. However, it doesn’t mean I don’t miss her at times. She was much like you, Lady Piper. Headstrong, and a woman that demanded courtesy. She also would have had my head had she had any idea what I did to you today. For that, I’m profoundly sorry. But as I said, I need your help.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m sure we can help you.” Basil looked at Grant and nodded. “You said this had to do with your child. Have you only one?”

  “I have none, as a matter of fact. That is where the two of you come in.” Piper stood up, and Basil quickly went on to explain. “I don’t wish for you to have my child, Lady Piper. No, not that. But to be a somewhat surrogate for it. It will be much easier than having to go to a physician to have you implanted with one, should that be the route we take. But I need only to touch the two of you, and you will go about creating the child on your own.”

  “I don’t understand.” He looked at Piper and asked her what she needed him to explain. “You just have to touch us, and then we’re going to somehow carry you a child? That seems fishy to me. What’s the catch?”

  “Catch? Why none, I assure you. You will both be well paid for this. Very well.” Piper said they didn’t need money. “No. I suppose you don’t. Then what is it you would require for you to help me? You see, I’m not long for my world. I only have a few thousand years left in which to train a child to do what is needed to care for the fae. I have, I’ll honestly admit, been doing too much in order to keep things going. I should have approached someone before now. But had I done that, the magic would have likely killed the person that does such a job for me. The two of you are so strong it will not be an issue for either of you to carry the magic that would be required for you to carry a fae king.”

  Neither one of them said anything, at least to him. He knew they were talking to each other, however. When Grant looked at him sharply, he had a feeling his mate had figured out what was going on and told him. Basil, instead of telling him anything, called for refreshments to be brought to them. Then he confessed.

  “I have less time than I told you, as I’m sure your mate has said. I will not see the birth of this child, nor will I be able to teach him the things he’ll need to know to be a good ruler.” Piper told him to tell them all of it. “Of course. Once I touch you, the two of you will not just have my child for me, the king that will someday replace me, but you’ll be the king and queen of the faes until such time that your child will be able to take over. It is imperative that someone watches over the people here. Just as it was important for me to keep the lands safe for you and your family to come to take it. Dante, she knew I was dying even then.”

  “What caused you, the king of faes, to be so ill like this?” He wanted to sob to Piper, to thank her for her gentle tone. But he was a leader after all and needed to show them that. “You know, I could care less how strong you want us to see you. For all I care, you could be doing this on your deathbed. You might well be if you don’t get to the fucking point.”

  Basil couldn’t hold back; he did burst into tears. She was gentle and kind when it was necessary and hard when that was a better way to approach things. Just as his own mate. He got up to hand them the picture of his wife that had been painted so long ago. It made it easier for him; he thought if they could see what a wonderful person he’d lost.

  “There was fighting among our kind for many years. Then when we weren’t trying to kill each other, the humans would be fighting with us. It turned out that one of my own kind was the one that ended my reign. I was fed iron. So was my lady wife. She was with child when she was poisoned, to the point of her losing the babe. Then her own life was taken before it was figured out what had been going on. My own brother—he wished to be king in my place.” Piper asked him if this bother was still alive. “Nay. My Rose killed him while taking her last breath. He is no more. But what he did beforehand, it’s taken everything that we have held dear from us.”

  Piper got up and began pacing the room. He could feel the touch of her magic. Basil wasn’t sure he could have stopped her, so he didn’t try. She might well hurt him, and he just couldn’t let that happen. Things depended on him telling them what was going on. When she stopped suddenly, he watched her.

  “May I touch you?” He put out his hand, and she said she needed to touch his heart. “It’s there where the iron is. I wish to see how much there is.”

  “Plenty, I’m told, to have killed a lesser fae.” Basil stood up and opened his shirt for her. “I’m to understand that iron does not affect you. I wish I had thought of making that a reality for my family as well. Things would have been so—”

  “Hush. I need to hear.” He did so and watched her face. She had a lovely face, but expressionless too. Sh
e would defeat all with that look. No one would be able to tell if she was bluffing or that she had—

  The pain took him to the floor. Crying out with it, he had to stay conscious enough to tell his guard to stand down. There wasn’t even enough of his strength left to do that, as it turned out. Basil lay on the floor, his body aching so badly with each breath he took that he knew he was surely going to die. Begging for Grant to come to him so he might pass the magic on to him, the younger man stood over him and his mate to protect them. His guard stood down when Piper told them to get out of the room.

  Basil woke. He didn’t move for fear it would drain more of his strength away. There was so much to do right now, and he knew time was wasting. When a movement caught his eye, he turned toward it to see who was in the room. The candle being lit was all it took for him to see Piper sitting in the room with him.

  “You’re a fool. I’m sure that if you have good advisors, they have been telling you the same thing.” Basil told her he thought they might be a little more afraid of him than she appeared to be. “I’m not afraid of you. Not at all. However, there are a few things you should know and a couple more that you need to worry about. Your brother isn’t dead. He will be as soon as I find him, but for now, he’d still alive and kicking.”

  “No, I saw him die.” Piper just cocked her pretty brow at him. “All right. For the sake of argument, he’s still alive. Where has he been these past years? I’m sure you have an idea.”

  “I do. But I have other things to tell you first. You’re not dying. At least not if you don’t piss me off anymore. I’ve removed all the iron from your blood. Had you asked earlier, I could have done it a while ago.” He asked her if she was sure. “Are you going to question my every statement to you? Or is it all right if we have question and answer time in a little bit? Your brother wasn’t the only one that was poisoning you. It was someone in your household. Also, this is part of the things you need to know—your wife isn’t dead, nor is the child. It’s not your child, but your brother’s.”