“I’m not begging you for anything, you moron. You had your chance. I’ve come here to ask you if you have your will and such in order.” He asked her if she was threatening him. “No. I doubt it would do me any good anyway. I’ve come here for the very reason I said. Just to make sure that you’re not leaving anything undone. I’m not one to make idle threats. I will do just what I said. I will kill you if you bother my family again.”

He laughed. Saul couldn’t help it. Mercy wasn’t any bigger than a bug to him. He might be older than her—he was sure he was—but he was also stronger, and he was a man. When she laughed, he asked her what she thought was so funny.

“You are, if you think that you having a dick will make a difference when you come up against me. I’m much stronger than I look.” He asked her if she could read his mind. “I can. And I have a feeling that any moron with an IQ the size of a gold fish would be able to read it too. You must be so much fun at poker.”

“What the hell do you think you can do to me, little girl? And I’ll do as I wish, when I want. You have money and I want it.” She said nothing but looked up at the camera that hung at the end of the hall. When it popped and sizzled, he watched as the second one, at the other end, did the same thing. “So? You have a bit of magic. Most people do.”

“Do they? Can they do this?” She shifted into a bird. Not one of those cute ones he was forever seeing on television, but one that looked like it could snap him in half with her beak, and then swallow him down without a thought. Even her head, bent to accommodate its size compared to the height of the ceiling, was bigger than him. Saul leapt back from it, and she laughed when she became a person again. “Did I scare you? I fucking hope so.”

“How did you do that?” She just smiled at him and then snapped her fingers. Both cameras buzzed for a moment, and he’d bet anything that they had come back on. “I demand that you tell me how you did that. Do you have any idea how much fucking money we can make off a show of you? Christ, people would pay big bucks to see you do that. And the Feds would never arrest me again, even if I were to take out a gun and kill the president. Just because of the uses that they could find for you and that bird.”

“You really are stupid, aren’t you? Do you have any...? Well, I’d say you’ve not thought beyond what you can get out of something for nothing your entire life. I cannot believe that you and Joel are from the same gene pool. He’s the sweetest most generous man I’ve ever met. While you? You’re nothing but a money-grubbing ass wipe that only looks for what things can get him.” She shook her head as she continued. “The threat still stands. You come near my family, in any way, shape, or form, and I will pick you up in my claws, fly as high as I can, and drop you. There will be nothing left of you but a stain on the dirt.” She was suddenly in his face, coming through the cell bars, his body lifted from the floor. “You will die, Saul Oliver, and trust me when I tell you, I will enjoy it more than you can believe.”

After she dropped him to the floor, he sat there as she faded from the cell. Saul didn’t get up right away, his body still trembling from the encounter. But the longer he sat there, thinking, the more ideas he came up with on how to get more than just money out of her talents. Saul was sure that he’d be on easy street for the rest of his life.

Laughing, he got up. Taking his tray to the little table that was cemented to the floor, he laughed harder. The things that he was going to get from this were going be the best scheme he’d ever done. Pulling off the cover from his plate, Saul screamed. The little birds, all of them the color of blood, came shooting up off his plate and slammed him in the face.

Falling back, waving to keep them from pecking his eyes out, the chair tumbled, and he fell back. The last thing that Saul remembered thinking was her laughable attempt at getting him to back off.

~*~

As soon as she left the station house, Mercy took to the skies. She was just angry enough to go back to the jail, tear a hole in the side of the place, and grab Saul up to do just as she said she would. It was small wonder to her that she’d not killed him when she had the chance. Instead, like a fool, she feared she had given him yet another chance to try and hurt one of them.

I can actually feel your anger. Wow, you must be about as pissed off as I’ve ever known anyone to be. She told Joel what had happened, leaving nothing out. Well, I hate to say this, but it’s nothing more than you expected from him, correct?

I guess. But he was actually giddy about me shifting instead of being fearful of what I could do to him. Even going so far as to try and think up ways to make a few bucks off me. Joel said he was sorry. Don’t be. He’s the one that should be sorry. I’m not going to hold back on him when he tries his shit.

I was thinking about joining you in the sky. That made her anger turn to something so profoundly different, she begged him to join her. I’m not sure how good I’ll be at this. I mean, the little bit of practice that I’ve had, it didn’t go that well.

You were too worried about looking stupid. I told you, we all had to learn how to do what you do every day. Walking is much harder than it looks. She saw him below her. Miley was sitting on the deck in a lounge chair with a blanket over her legs. As soon as her dad shifted, she clapped loud enough for Mercy to hear. Just think of flying, Joel, and come join me in the skies.

They had discovered that not only could he be a falcon like her, but he could also turn into her larger falcon. Like the one she’d been that destroyed castles and saved their people. She had enjoyed watching him struggle with bouncing along the grass, trying to walk. And her and Miley had had a good time trying to get him to flap his wings. It was like watching a comedy of errors with him. But he’d been so good natured about it that Mercy had loved him all the more for it.

When he struggled again with liftoff, Mercy waited. He’d get it or not. But she already felt better than she had before simply because he loved her, and her him. They were perfectly suited, she thought.

Joel did much better than she thought he would once he got up and going. The lift, she’d told him, would be the most difficult to master. But once a person had that, things like flapping their wings would come to them easier. As soon as Joel soared by her, she laughed, feeling like a great weight had been lifted from her heart.

This is beautiful. Look at the tops of the trees. The way they sway and move is amazing. She let him see what she’d not for a long time—her age and jadedness had made her forget the beauty beneath her. Oh, M

ercy. This is why you do this for blowing off steam, isn’t it?

Even before becoming a human, she had long since only seen things in the form of strategy, how to best make trees or boulders work for her. How the terrain was laying in the direction of the waterways. She and the others had gotten good at making things work for them. Saving lives and the kingdom had become their first priority. And in turn, it kept them all alive to fight another day.

They played in the skies until well after dark. It didn’t matter to them, being predators, that the darkness would bring out creatures that only ate at night. They were meaner, sharper at getting in and out of situations. And they could soar in and out of danger better than most. Mercy showed him how to ride the currents.

When they landed, they noticed the time was after midnight. Miley had long since gone to bed, Dutch told them, and left them out a tray of food, telling them that the hot tub had been delivered earlier that day and was now up to temperature. There was just enough chill in the night air to make the sound of getting into the tub tempting.

Sliding into the steaming heat, they both moaned. Mercy felt his moan all the way to her core, but she was much too relaxed and very happy to be turned down if it was only just the tub giving him such pleasure. But she should have known better. Almost as soon as the thought was out of her head, he reached for her.

His callused hands were tender. Joel’s strong fingers massaged in places that the heated water couldn’t touch. As he worked over her muscles, she sat facing him on his lap. Leaning into his neck, resting her chin on the edge of the tub, she let him have his way with her.

“You are much too tense to have just been soaring over the land, my love. You aren’t still thinking of Saul, are you? If so, then get his rattlesnake meanness out of your head and think of me. And all the things that I plan to do to you.” She told him there was nothing on her mind. “Good. I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to remember. I love you very much, and that’s the reason that I’ve gone ahead and done this. I’ve set us up to be married in the morning. Miley helped me pick out the flowers and the people that we would both want there when we tie the knot.”

“Why would you...? Oh, yes, that’s the right place. I’m not upset about that. I’m glad you did it. You’re making me so weak with this that I might have to spend the night here.” He laughed softly, his hands and fingers never stopping their treatment to her body. “What time? And I have the perfect dress picked out already. It’s nearly— Holy shit, that’s where it aches.”

He massaged that area until she cried out that she was finished. It felt so good that she told him that it had been about as good as sex. Joel pulled her head up and looked at her. She could see it there—she’d just laid down a challenge to him.

When he lifted her up, Mercy thought that he was going to set her aside. But when he brought her down over his cock, his hand sliding over her pussy as he held himself for her, she cried out. He was harder than she’d thought he’d be just for touching her skin.

Tags: Kathi S. Barton Queen's Birds of Prey Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net