Blaze: Queen’s Birds of Prey: Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 2)

by Kathi S. Barton

“Yes. You’ll also have some magic of your own. I don’t know what that will be, but that’s what my brother-in-law got.” Bryson asked her if the rest of her sisters were hawks. “No, we’re not even blood sisters. Only by heart. Mercy is a falcon. She’s married to Joel. Judith, or Jude, is an eagle. Piper is a phoenix. Remi, who you met today, is a vulture, and Esmeralda, or Esy, is an owl. We’re larger than life too. Much larger than you can imagine.”

  Bryson nodded and sat there while two more people came to ask her questions. She was so rattled by Bryson just sitting there taking it all in that she pleaded a headache and made her way to the office that she’d been using since she’d taken over. She was annoyed when Bryson joined her.

  “I have a lot to deal with today. So, if you’d just come over tonight at Mercy’s house, they can all meet you and you can ask them questions too.” He sat down instead of going away like she wanted him to do. “Really. I don’t have time for this.”

  “My father is around. I just found out yesterday that he was willing to sell my sister or me to cover his gambling debt. He’s not at all good at it—gambling, I mean. I can’t remember a single time that he ever won more than what he lost. You might be thinking that I have no reason to tell you this, but I think he might hit you up for money too. He always has a reason for why he gambles, but we, Clara and I, have cut him off at the knees, so to speak.” She asked him where the man was now. “I don’t know, to be honest. I’d like to say that I don’t care either, but knowing what you are to me, I’d hate for him to hurt you.”

  “He can’t. I mean, he could try, but he’ll only get killed if he messes with any of us. I should also tell you that you’re an immortal, as well as Clara now. I know that part, but whether she gets any magic, I don’t know for sure. Joel’s daughter did—that’s what I’m basing this on.” He asked her what that meant, to be immortal. “You can’t die, for one thing. You also can’t have your head removed—that’s a biggy where we’re concerned. Nothing can pierce your heart either. As I said, I’m not sure about Clara, but I’d assume she is as well.”

  “You’re not afraid of him, are you?” She asked him if she should be. “I don’t know. I’m assuming that you’ve dealt with this sort of thing before—having a madman want you to give him money. Do you have a great deal of money?”

  “Billions. You?” He said that he had a little money, less than a hundred thousand. “That’s not bad for what we’re paying you. I’ve looked into your life, as you have said. The house that you and your sister own, you’ve been pouring all your money into it to get it up to standard, as well as paying off the taxes, correct?”

  “Yes. My father again. We were both sending him money to get things fixed. They actually did need to be repaired, but he was using the money for other things. Gambling for the most part.” She nodded at him. “Then the night before last he spoke to Clara, and said that he’d tried to sell us off for his debt. I think that was the last straw for her. Me too, but I’ve not been happy with him for a good deal longer than her.”

  “I’m assuming that it’s your family home or something? The reason I ask is, I’ve just started looking for a home.” He said that they’d only grown up in the house. It didn’t have great meaning to him. “I have two appointments this afternoon to look at some housing. Would you like to go with me?”

  “Yes. So long as you don’t mind my input on the house.” She said that she wouldn’t want him to be upset about a house they’d live in. “You aren’t as pissed off as you were before. Is it because of something that I did to you?”

  “I’m not sure what was upsetting me. You’re so calm, I guess. You are still acting like this is no big deal for us to be mated. I’m just wondering if you’re this calm about everything.” He stood up and smiled at her. “I could find out what has you smiling, but I’d rather not.”

  “I’m never calm when it comes to sex.” She felt her face heat up with his comment. “Nor am I calm about protecting someone that I love. While I don’t love you yet, I think that I could easily fall in love with you. You’re very smart, strong, and could protect me without batting an eye. But I’m not going to be a kept husband. If you don’t mind, that is.”

  “No. I don’t know exactly what that means, but no, I don’t want that either.” He nodded and put out his hand. “You’re going to be shocked again.”

  “I’d have it no other way.”

  As soon as their hands touched, she felt the power of it race over her skin. Blaze tried to watch him when he received it, but she had to close her eyes. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t solely from her.

  Seeing Mercy there for a second, she knew it was coming from her. With her nod, Blaze sort of flipped out for a moment and felt herself falling back. Whatever she shared with them, it was epic.

  ~*~

  Bryson didn’t like the house. There was something about it that simply got on his nerves, which was something that he’d ever felt about a house before, but he could feel himself getting angry about the entire layout of the house. He looked at Blaze when she asked the realtor, for the third time, to be left alone. Having had enough of the house and the woman showing them around, he finally put his arm around Blaze’s waist and took her to the door.

  “Wait. Don’t you want to make an offer on the house? I told you that it’s been reduced.” He stopped and turned to look at the woman. “It’s a lovely home, and would do well for the two of you just starting out your life together.”

  “I wouldn’t buy this house if it were only a buck. It’s not a lovely home, it’s a train wreck. The kitchen is laid out so wrong that it would take too long to explain to you about all that’s wrong with it. Who would put a refrigerator in a cubby hole off the main part of the kitchen, anyway? The living room is cold. No matter what sort of warm furniture you put in there, it would remain cold. The doorways are too small—the front door looks like someone shot color at it and didn’t care where it landed. Leaded glass that is a kaleidoscope of colors in random sizes or shapes isn’t made for a front door.” He shook his body, trying his best to shake off some of the anger that seemed to lay over him. “The only person that is going to by this home is someone who is only about five feet tall and color blind. So no, we’re not putting in an offer for this house. Also, when my wife tells you to leave us alone so we can talk, then you’d better believe that’s what we’re going to do. To plan our escape from the place as well as your pushy behavior.”

  They were in the limo when he realized that Blaze was laughing. It was hard, and shook her entire body. He couldn’t help it, he laughed too. Thinking about what he’d said to the woman, he had been sure that Blaze would be upset with him.

  “Upset with you? No, I loved it. Those were all the things that I was thinking of when I first saw the place. I’m going to call her boss now and have someone else show us around. I think she was making me pissy by the way that she was nearly up your ass every time we moved. It was like if you had stopped quickly, she would have been all over you.” Bryson asked her if she was jealous. “Yes.”

  “May I kiss you, Blaze?” She didn’t know what to say to him when he leaned forward and took her into his arms. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do this since I first touched your hand. Will you, Blaze? Will you allow me to kiss you?”

  “Yes. Please do.” The way that she came to him made his desire spike even more. He’d never had a woman in his arms that felt like she did, or held onto him as she was doing.

  “You’re so strong and yet so fragile, aren’t you?” She told him that she was only that way around him. “Yes. I want that from you. You might be able to take on an army, but with me, I want you to let me have my way with you. Forever.”

  He kissed her then. Not waiting for an answer, he took all that she offered him. When her moan seemed to penetrate his heart and body, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her again. Christ, he couldn’t seem to get enough of her. An
d he wasn’t even sure that if they were someplace more private, he’d be able to get his fill of her then. When she pulled away from him, it was all he could do not to pull her back into his arms and take her right there on the long firm seat.

  “We’re stopped.”

  It took his lust filled mind a few seconds to realize what she’d said. Then when he heard the engine had stopped, he pulled her into his arms for one more kiss and then opened the door. If he stayed with her, they were never going to see the house.

  As soon as he walked through the door, he knew that this was a home they could live in. A forever home, he thought it was called. The front entrance was made for guests to come and talk to the people that owned the house. Me and Blaze, he thought. The main hall looked like something right out of a fairy tale. Taking Blaze’s hand into his, he kissed the back of it and walked around with another realtor.

  “I’m so sorry about the hard sell you were getting from Candise, Lady Blaze. I didn’t know it was you that she was showing the house to, or I would never have had her push the house so much. It’s been on our books for a long time. It’s been just sitting there for several years, you see.”

  When Blaze asked him to let them roam, he did so without hesitation. As soon as they were in the kitchen, she turned to Bryson.

  “You look like you’re pissed off. If you’re planning to yell at me for taking advantage of you, then I’d rather you did it when—” Blaze put her hand over his mouth, then took it away when he licked it. “Are you mad at me?”

  “You have got to stop thinking that I’m pissed all the time. Trust me when I tell you that you’ll know when I’m pissed off.” He asked her if she was now. “Yes, sort of. I don’t know. I’m so confused about a lot of things at the moment.”

  “Maybe if you shared with me, I could help you work them out.” She glared at him, and he just caught himself before laughing. “If you knew how beautiful you look right now, you’d never glare at me again. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “You kissed me.” He told her he was glad she had noticed. “You don’t understand. I’ve never been kissed like that before. I mean…that’s not what I meant. I mean—” She looked at him. “You’re confusing me.”

  “Honey, you’re doing the same to me.” She turned from him and walked around the kitchen. “Let’s get back on track here for a little while. That way we can talk about this when we’re both at a place where we can kiss and make up when we’re done.”

  “This place has ten bedrooms. I don’t know much more about it other than it’s new on the market and has a pool near the side wing. The pool is something that I wanted all along. What do you think about it?” He told her that he loved to swim. “Okay, one thing that we can agree on here. I love the feel of this house too. The other house, I didn’t like it from the second we walked in the door.”

  “I felt like I was pissed off right from the start. Probably not what I really thought if I gave it any thought, but this house gives me the feeling of home. Warmth too.” She nodded. “I cook, do you? Not that it matters—we can share this space. But I love this room. It just screams at me to make a dinner for us. Do you have staff?”

  “We will. A cook too, because I’m sure that you’d not want to do it all the time. Especially if we have guests.” He said that he might not, but he would enjoy it for the two of them. “I think I’d like that. Just tell me, is there anything in here that needs to be updated? I know very little about kitchens other than food comes out of it.”

  “Not at the moment, but I’ll think on it. Did you want to see the rest of the house?” They toured the house with their phones out. They didn’t do much more than make notes on things that they liked and disliked. He was in charge of the dislike part. “I’m in love with this bathroom. I know that it’s just a tub and toilet, but I love that it has a window that looks out over the back yard.”

  “I like it as well. That house there is Mercy’s. She and Joel would be close enough to walk over should they want to. And I could also see their daughter Miley when I want. She’s been coming up with some of the designs we’re selling to kids her age.” She giggled. “I love taking baths. Not as much as your sister seems to, but I do love to soak after a long day.”

  They discovered that there were hook ups for a hot tub on the master bedroom’s part of the deck. In addition to that, there was an orchard that was well maintained, as well as a kitchen garden. Bryson thought that he was more excited about that than the orchard. He loved cooking with herbs.

  When they met up with the realtor again, he seemed to be having a hard time with someone on the phone. Almost as soon as they entered the room, he told the person on the other end that he’d talk to them later. The man shook, as if trying to shed the anger that he had. Bryson did the same thing when he was pissed off.

  “Lady Blaze, I’d like to make you a deal on the other house. Before you tell me that you didn’t like it, I agree with you. It’s not a proper home. Cold, I think you called it, Lord Bryson.” He’d never been called that before, and he sort of liked it. “If you buy that home for one percent on the dollar of what we’re asking, I’ll give you the same discount on this house. I’m never going to be able to sell it with the way it looks now. I thought perhaps you might be able to dress it up somehow and make it something nice.”

  “You were asking forty thousand for the other house. Are you telling me that you’ll sell it to me for four hundred dollars?” He nodded. “Why? What’s so wrong with it that you’re willing to part with it for so little?”

  “I promise you that I only just found out that the reason the house won’t sell is far beyond it being cold. There was a murder in the house about fifty years ago. People think the place in haunted.” Blaze looked at Bryson, then back at the man there. “I’m not saying it is. But I had my wife go over and see if she could do something, anything to make the house warm. She said that she’d never enter that house again so long as she lived. Mary told me that she felt the dead there. So I did a little research, and found that information.”

  “What makes you think that I’d have any better luck than your wife did?” He told her that she’d already been in and around the house. Perhaps the ghosts liked her. “We’ll have to talk it over.”

  “I’m for it if you are.”

  She nodded and told the realtor that they’d take both houses. Bryson couldn’t believe that they were getting both houses for less than two thousand dollars.

  Nodding again when the realtor pulled out the paperwork, Bryson was asked to sign the deed as well. He noticed that Blaze had put her name as Blaze Hawk Williams. It was easy for him to sign his own name under hers when he realized what this meant. For all the world knew, they were man and wife.

  He’d have to remedy that soon, he thought, then wondered if he should give Blaze his mom’s rings. That was something else that he needed to talk to Clara about, before she found out from someone else that he had a mate. And that they’d just bought not one, but two houses together. Bryson was as happy as he’d been for a long time. He had no idea what was in store for the two of them, but he was more than willing to live it with Blaze.

  Chapter 3

  Joel liked the other man. He was a bit older than he was, but that didn’t matter to either of them. He was the most laid back person that he’d never met. And he seemed to be in love with Blaze already. Joel also noticed that he was a very observant man.

  Bryson didn’t say much until he was asked. He had a good head on his shoulders, and seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to just about anything. The only thing Joel could see that the man might have a little trouble with was working a full time job. He didn’t think that he realized how much hard work there was with being a rich man—Joel surely hadn’t. But then, Bryson might be better adjusted than he’d ever been with having ready cash all the time.

  He noticed too that Bryson seemed to be shy
around the other birds, then remembered he had been the same way when he’d first met Mercy. There was a great deal for the man to learn, and when he looked at him, Joel thought about asking him if he could show Bryson some things.

  “I’d like that. I’m sort of overwhelmed at the moment. Do they argue like this all the time?” Joel said that he didn’t notice it anymore, but yes, they did bicker a great deal. “I thought so. I think they get a great deal of enjoyment out of it more than most.”

  “I think you might be right about that. To be honest, when I was first around, I used to find a place to hide, terrified that they were going to peck me to death or something.” He laughed. “I know some things about them, but not the whole story. I’m not sure why I never bothered, but I have been having fun with them all. Let me see. I know that Mercy is the oldest of all of them, which really isn’t saying too much. They’re all very old.” They both looked at Blaze when she slammed her hands down on the table and told Jude to hush. “They love each other very much. I think for as much as they argue, they’d kill someone they didn’t trust that even tried anything with them. What am I saying—of course they’d kill someone that tried to fight with them.”

  They both laughed, and Bryson seemed to relax a bit more. “You have a lovely daughter. She’s been hurt recently, I guess. I hear you all fussing at her about keeping her cane nearby.” Joel told Bryson what had happened. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Her mother must have been a real peach to have been drinking while driving with an infant in the car. But the fact that she’s been healed must make you happy. I know that it would me. She’s a nice kid.”

  “It does, and she is. And now Mercy and I are going to have a child too. Miley is so excited to have a brother or sister that sometimes I think she’s more excited than I am.” Bryson said all he had was his sister. “You have so much more than that now, Bryson. You have sisters. And me as a brother. A niece, as well as the fact that anyone they call on to help will go out of their way to help you. It’s an amazing group you’re marrying into. I’m still surprised at how lucky I am daily.”