Blaze (Queen's Birds of Prey 2)

“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.”

“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.”