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

by Kathi S. Barton

  “You were thinking hard on something earlier. What was it? Something that I should know?” Joel said that it was just that he was thinking about how hard it was being a wealthy man. “I’m not wealthy at all. Blaze is. I mean, I have a little bit of money, but that’s not nearly as much as she has.”

  “I’ll tell you this now so that you don’t piss her off. Whatever Blaze has, you have it as well. It took me a long time to realize that when Mercy said that to me, she meant it. I’m on boards now where I use our money to make sure they have what they need. It’s hard not to just give people what they ask for. If we did that, I was told, we’d still have plenty of money, but the problem would stem from the people we’re helping. If they don’t show any kind of effort in making their own way, then they will all just walk away from a project.” Bryson watched Blaze as Joel told him what else he’d figured out. “They’re very generous with their funds. They’re kind to a fault, and they love with more passion than you could ever believe.”

  “I’ve never had anything more than I needed at the moment. I don’t know how I’d feel about having that much money just waiting to be given away.” Joel told him that was something that he was still learning. “I’m trying my best to take in as much as I can. But it’s too much at times, isn’t it? I don’t mean the money, but just having someone in my life that I never dreamed possible before. I’m nearly forty years old. At this point in my life, I never thought to have a wife. Much less one that I already love very much, and am looking forward to spending the rest of my several lifetimes with.”

  Joel told him as much as he could about being mated to one of the birds. He seemed to know that he’d be able to shift into a bird, but very little else. Joel was glad to tell him things that he’d had to learn the hard way. Not that anyone had hurt him over it, but his pride had taken a beating.

  As dinner was coming to a close, Bryson asked if he could help with the clearing up. The birds did that too, Joel had noticed from the start. They didn’t leave things unattended when they could help out themselves. Even Mercy made their bed and picked up her laundry instead of strewing it all over the room. None of them were slobs.

  After the table was cleared and the cook waved them away, they gathered in the living room, his and Mercy’s favorite part of the house. The fire was lit by magic, and that was when Joel realized that Bryson had never asked about what magic he might gain from all this. Which, he supposed, was the way it should be. Just be as happy as you could make yourself.

  Joel decided that he’d let him figure it out on his own. For the most part, Joel had been told that it would be different for each person, the kind of magic that they got. He would hate to tell him something, only to find out that Bryson didn’t have that magic anyway. So on that, he just mentioned that he had magic, and that seemed to satisfy him. He tuned into the conversation around the room when he heard Blaze mention Bryson.

  “I want to warn you all about Bryson’s father. He’s a gambler, and has lost about everything that he had because of it. Including his children.” Blaze looked at Bryson as she continued. “I’ve also invited Clara, Bryson’s sister, to come and stay with him and me until we can make sure that their home is safe from their father, and put in more security. Bryson will tell you what we might be up against.”

  “He’s a gambler, as Blaze said. Dad thinks that he doesn’t have a problem, but Clara and I only just found out recently that he had been thinking about selling one of us off to cover his debt. I’ve never heard what he was thinking would happen to us once he did that, but I’m going to find out.” Joel could see his anger, but he was extremely calm with his tone and words. “Clara and I worked very hard to get the house that was going to be foreclosed on back up to livable conditions. We’d been sending him money when the repairs were mentioned to us. But instead of using the money for that, he used it for his habit. A habit that he doesn’t think he has.”

  “Is the house in your name?” Bryson said that it was in his and Clara’s name. Jude nodded at him as she continued. “Good for you. To keep the house from being harmed while we settle this, I’ll send someone there to hang out. They’ll be able to keep even the most determined people away.”

  “I have a pack buddy that is going to be hanging around too. But Dad has gotten on the property once already and encountered them. I’m worried for the safety of the wolves if he decides to bring a gun with him next time. So I’d appreciate any help you could give us.” Bryson took Blaze’s hand into his as he spoke. “I’m aware that there are other creatures around. I have a vampire friend as well as the pack master. I wanted you to know that, while I might be a little slow on some of the things that are happening to Blaze and me, I do have an open mind to just about anything.”

  “You can fly—you know that, don’t you?” Joel wanted to tell Mercy to behave, but he knew she wouldn’t. She loved the shock value of things that she said. “Also, you can dress yourself. Just think of something that you want to wear and it’ll appear on you. Being naked is that easy too. Just in case it ever comes up.”

  Bryson stared at Mercy for a full minute before he laughed. When she winked at him, Joel had a feeling that Mercy had told him that to see what his reaction would be. He’d not been shocked, at least he didn’t seem to be. Joel liked the good nature of the man that would be his brother. Bryson was going to fit right in with the family.

  Clara showed up about an hour later, upset. Clara told Bryson that she’d talk to him later. Joel wondered if the women already knew what had happened, and were right now taking care that it didn’t happen again. He’d bet anything that they had. The women of this family protected their own like a mamma bear and her cubs. But with more violence.

  After Clara heard about how Bryson and Blaze were mates, it was like the dams had been opened and she started to cry. Clara, like the rest of the people in the room, couldn’t have been happier. Then she told them what had happened.

  “Dad called me again. This time he told me that he was ordering me to give him not only the key to the house, but I was to sign the deed over to him too. He said that he has a lot of debt piled up, and that since we’re not willing to give him any more money, he’ll have to get it another way.” Bryson asked her what he’d said about the debt. “That he was just playing penny ante, not that I have any idea what that is. But he lost a great deal of money. When I asked him how that was possible if he was playing with pennies, he got pissed off. Abusive really. He threatened me about how he was going to give these people my work schedule and that they’d get me. Then he talked about Bryson and how he was a no good son. I was sobbing so hard that I simply hung up on him. He’s called me three more times since then. But I’ve not answered any of the calls.”

  “The next time he calls I’d like for you to let me take care of him.” Blaze put her hand out when the phone rang and Clara said it was her dad. “You don’t have to worry about him getting hurt. Right now, that is. But he will know that I’m not one to fuck with before this is finished.”

  As soon as the phone was answered by Blaze, she put it on speaker. The words coming through on the thing had Joel sending Miley away. They were abusive and cruel. Mr. Williams was telling his own daughter that he was going to use her to pay off some of his debt, and that he hoped they raped her over and over until she was dead.

  After Miley left the room, not only did Blaze hang up on the man once, but three times in a row. But she was having so much fun doing it. On the fifth call, Mr. Williams didn’t say a word, only to ask to speak to Bryson.

  “I don’t think so. This is his wife, Blaze.” He said that wasn’t even possible. “And why is that? Do you think that he needs your permission to marry? He doesn’t, in the event you were going to answer that. I have a few things to say to you, Mr. Williams. And you’ll—”

  “Is my son such a pussy that he has women taking over calls that were meant for him?” Blaze pointed out that he’d called Clara
’s phone, not his son’s. “He’s blocked me or something. I can’t seem to get through to him.”

  “Well, that’s the smartest thing I think he could have done. Talking to a man with a death wish is a lesson in folly, don’t you think?” He asked if she was threatening him. “Oh no. I’d never threaten anyone. This I’m making to you as a promise. Now, I want you to listen up, because I’m only going to say this the one time. You come near my husband or sister-in-law again, and I will kill you. I don’t mean that as an idle threat, either. You touch them in any way, even to give them a hug, which I’d never expect you to do, and I will have you broken in half faster than you can put dollar on the next horse race. That is your preferred method of losing money, isn’t it? And you’re not just in debt, you moronic fuck, but you’re two hundred thousand in debt as of two hours ago.”

  “Who told you that bullshit? Is my daughter having me investigated? You tell her for me that I will take care of her when I find her.” Blaze asked him if he’d heard a word she’d said to him. “Of course. Blah, blah, blah. You sure have a mouth on you for threatening my son’s father, don’t you think? What is he going to say when you tell him?”

  Blaze handed the phone to Bryson when he asked for it. He smiled then, and Joel shivered. Whatever was going to be said between these two men, it wasn’t an idle threat either.

  “I hope you do something so that she can do just what she said she would. I’m finished with you, Dad. I don’t want you to call either Clara or myself again, do you hear me?” Whatever his dad might have said to that was cut off when the phone was broken in half. “I need to do something.”

  Blaze took him by the hand and into the yard behind the house. Neither of them said another word that they could hear in the house, but they both disappeared into the sky when Blaze shifted and took him into her claws.

  ~*~

  Bryson was enjoying the ride, but that didn’t lessen his fear of being dropped. When they headed to a mountain, she set him down on the ground and landed nearby. When she became a woman again, without wasting breath on saying anything, she was naked when she got to him.

  “I need you.” He needed her as well, and took her into his arms. “Think of being naked, Bryson, or I’ll tear your clothing from you.”

  While the thought of her tearing his clothing off sounded amazing, he also knew that it would be quicker if he simply willed them away. As soon as she wrapped her hand around his cock, there was little thought in his head, not even to remind himself to breathe. When she dropped in front of him, he held tightly onto the tree just behind him.

  She took him deep into her mouth. When she cupped his balls, he dug his nails into the branch of the tree over his head hard enough that he could feel the bark of it breaking. Looking down at her, all Bryson could think about was that she was his, forever and a day.

  I love the way you taste. Like honey. He couldn’t speak to her through their link. His mind was only centered on a single thing—what she was doing to him. Do you like this?

  “Yes.” Bryson was happy that he had managed a single word. But then she fondled his balls more and he spread his legs wider for her. The more she moved her mouth over his cock, the harder it was for him to even breathe.

  Blaze licked up one side of his cock and down the other. Curling her tongue around his crown had him cupping his balls too. They were aching, they were so full. Blaze looked up at him when she released his cock from its lovely home, and he jerked her up from the ground and kissed her savagely. He needed her.

  Turning her in his arms so that she now had her back to the tree, he pressed her against it as he entered her. There wasn’t any time for foreplay this time. Need was making them both so hyped up that he wasn’t even sure his body could take waiting. As soon as he entered her, she screamed out her release, which brought on his own.

  “Christ.”

  She nodded, her body still trembling around his. His cock was still hard and painful, but he could breathe now. Keeping her to his body, he took them both to the cold ground. Moving in and out of her slowly, Bryson watched her face as he made love to her, slower this time.

  “Do you think it’ll always be like this, hard and fast? I hope not. I’d not survive this all the time.” She smiled at him and wrapped her ankles around his calves. He could feel the change as soon as she tightened around him once again.

  “You were just as needy as I was. I think that we’ll be like that a great deal, but not daily. I love the way that your hands are rough on my skin.” He tweaked her nipple with his thumb and forefinger. “Yes, that’s it. You need to make me come again, Bryson. I need that so badly right now.”

  Bryson loved the way her skin reacted to his touch, the moans and small sounds that she made when he moved inside of her. He loved everything about this woman, and didn’t know how he’d become so lucky in finding her.

  Making love to her, slowly now that he’d had a respite, he touched every inch of her that he could. Her skin was tight and muscled in some places, soft and full in others. Cupping her breast in his hand, he marveled at the way her nipples puckered when he touched them. Licking the tip, then taking her entire breast into his mouth, he bit down hard enough to hear her moan. Suckling hard on the tip, he watched her eyes, seeing them darken with her desire.

  Pulling her hands up and over her head, he held her this way as his other hand explored her ribs, finding little nicks to her flesh, wondering where they had come from and when.

  Trading his hands to hold her, he did the same to her other side, finding a deeper scar on her ribs just below her breast. There was so much more that he wanted to do to her, but he wanted to take her again.

  Letting her go, her nails dug into his back, and he could feel the slight trickle of blood as it mingled with the sweat along his spine. When Blaze rose up off the ground, bowing her back so that he could taste her again, the tightening around his cock made him realize that she was coming once again.

  It was a sight to behold, a wonderment of her coming. Her face was tight in its glory. Her body rippled along his in a way that made his own release race from his groin to his cock quickly. Crying out, he sank his teeth into her breast and emptied himself deep inside of her.

  With the taste of her blood, dark and magic, sweet and warm, he felt himself come again. This time, the third time, proved to be too much for him, and he felt his body just simply black out.

  When he woke, she was still beneath him. Knowing that he was crushing her, he rolled to his back and held her over him. Resting her head on her fist, she looked down at him. Kissing her on the nose, Bryson fell deeper in love with her than he had been with any other person he’d known.

  “We need to get us a big bed for the new house. I don’t think that the ground is all that comfortable. It was lovely, but now that I’m sated for the time being, I’m starting to notice how hard the earth is.” Bryson asked her how long it would take for them to be able to move in. “Today. Knowing people like we do, they are more than willing to pull a few strings to get us whatever we need. But that still doesn’t give us a bed to sleep in.”

  “We need two beds then.” She asked him why. “If you’re planning on sleeping next to me, then you’d better not be too close where I can touch you. I don’t think either of us will get that much sleep if we’re in the same bed.”

  Blaze sat up and looked down at him. “I can make us whatever we decide. I mean, magically, I can fill the house from top to bottom without us ever having to leave the house. Not all things—just solid things made of wood. There are a few things that I’d like to have brought from storage if you don’t mind.” Bryson said that if they were from her past, then he would love to see them. “They are. Dante, our queen, taught us that nothing is ever without several uses. Like a tree. It will warm your body, and if you are skilled enough, you will have furniture to keep your things safe in. I was a carpenter at one time. I’ve been a great ma
ny things in my life. But now I work with the toys. I enjoy that very much.”

  “I think, now that I have all this time, I’ll want to try a few things as well. I don’t want to be bored. Though Joel told me that being wealthy is a full time job too.” Blaze told him that Joel was good at keeping busy, but she thought that he worked much too hard. “I can see that of him. I got the impression that he came from nothing, and might be afraid of losing it all.”

  “Yes, that’s what he thinks. No matter how many times Mercy has told him that they have more than enough money, he still has to get used to it.” Bryson nodded. “We need to get back to our home. We can figure out the rest of the house tomorrow, but our bedroom has a bed in it now. But no linens, because we don’t have a mattress as yet. By the way, I don’t care for silk, do you?”

  “No. It’s too slippery.”

  They were dressed now and headed back to the house. He could see it from where they were. Bryson could see a great many things from the mountain. As they crossed over the fence that ran along their property, he could see that the house they’d purchased was going to be perfect for them. Even in the yard it felt warm, like a safe home.

  They decided once they were in the house that they could use a table and chairs. Blaze would make that while they thought about the rest of the house. Once the decision to start in the dining room was made, she told him how she could make things from little pieces of wood. It was fascinating to see how she could make things for their home.

  “So, all you have to do is find the wood that you want something made from and hold it in your hand. Then you think of what it is you want?” Blaze told him that was it. “What if you hold a couple of different types of wood in your hand? What happens then?”

  “I don’t know.” She smiled at him. “I never thought of doing that before. Let’s try it. I mean, what harm would it be if it’s ugly? We could just toss it on the burn pile and try again.”