Mercy (Queen's Birds of Prey 1)

“You make me hard by just breathing in my direction, love. You mean everything to me, and I want you every day.” She moved, sliding forward and back as he played with her breasts. “I love the way your breasts feel in my hands. How they fill my palms up, spill over my fingers. And the tightness of your nipples makes me want to beg you to let me suckle them.”

He did that, taking just the tips of her breasts into his mouth one at a time and nibbling on them until she was begging him to take her. To make her come. But he was relentless in making her suffer. She rode him faster, harder, but he never once gave her what she wanted most of all—to scream out her release in a way that made her throat sore for several hours afterwards.

Joel teased her, played with her body until she was ready to scream for an entirely different reason. She was tense, then relaxed. Her body like a live wire, then soft and relaxed. Mercy begged him, pleaded with him, and at one point even threatened him. All he did was laugh softly, telling her to wait. She no longer wanted to wait. Mercy needed him now.

“You want to come?” She cried, no longer able to say anything, her need was so high. “Come for me, baby, and I’ll fuck you hard again.”

She screamed, her body no longer able to hold back when he pinched her clit. As soon as her body hit the peak he pressed against her again, and her body bowed back as the next and then the next climax took her under. Joel bit into her breast and Mercy came again, her body coming apart and slamming back together so many times that she didn’t know if she’d survive it all.

Weak with her releases, she nearly begged him again, this time to let her go, when he picked her up with his cock still buried in her body and laid her over the decking around the tub. He fucked her this way, her body spread out before him as he pounded her hard. And even though she thought she was finished, that she couldn’t take anymore, she came again when he released his hot cum into her.

Stars danced behind her eyelids. Mercy saw her life, all of it, flash before her eyes. And when she thought she was dead, her body simply no longer able to sustain itself, she came again.

Mercy woke, not even realizing that she’d fainted, in their bed. Joel was beside her, talking softly to her. It took her a moment to realize that he was telling her how much he loved her, how he would never be able to show her just how much. Mercy turned to him, and he smiled.

“You fainted.” She nodded, curling her body around his. “I thought for sure that I’d killed you. I mean, you might be immortal, but that was intense.”

“No kidding. I don’t think I will survive if you have a mind to do that too often.” He laughed with her. Mercy looked up at him. “I love you so much, Joel. I never would have believed that after all these years, I’d be able to find someone that could make me want to be in love. You have surpassed everything that I could have hoped for in looking for a mate.”

“And tomorrow, I make you my wife. After all this time for me, I only thought that I’d be with Miley, her being my rock, my foundation. I never knew until I fell in love with you that a person could love two people so much.” He put his hand on her flat belly. “And now, I have another person that not only do I love, but as much as I can love anyone.”

She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart beating. It was like a ticking clock, strong and solid. Closing her eyes, Mercy smiled. It had been a very long time since she’d felt this way—in love, loved, and happy.

The dream was one that she’d never had before. It was where the castle had been, the walls of it still standing tall, the people surrounding it working their fields and hanging out the wash. As she drew closer to the scene, not sure why she’d dream such a dream, she saw a woman. It took her several moments to realize that it was Dante, her queen.

Landing on the fence post, only then realizing that she was a bird, she watched as a woman in the yard was handed a bundle by Dante. The queen looked right at Mercy but didn’t seem to know who or what she was to her.

It hit her in that moment that she’d never met her. The queen hadn’t used her magic, hadn’t changed her into what she would later need. And the bundle was a child, small and not yet cleaned of his birth.

“You will care for him for me?” The woman, young and with a child of her own in the basket at her feet, nodded. “I will care for you and him forever, Mary. But you must never tell a soul who he is. For it will mean his death should the bad king die.”

“I will care for him like my own. The coin you give me, it will help all of us in ways that you will not know.” Dante told her that she would know and was happy for the help. “Nay, my lady. I know what this means to you. And you have given me a great honor. I will care for him for you. Keep him safe as well.”

Dante moved away after thanking the woman. Mary. Mercy remembered a woman named Mary who had been one of the first to be moved, her and her two children. Mercy remembered the face too. She was young and well cared for, and she was an immortal. Mercy knew that she was to find the child, because the child of her queen would be her king.

Chapter 7

Saul had been released just that morning and made his way to the hotel where he had been staying. It was old and abandoned, and it stank, but he had a roof over his head for the most part and running water. It was cold, sure, but it wasn’t too bad.

He’d have to find himself something before winter. If he didn’t, someone would come out and find him a popsicle one day. Laughing at his own joke, he found that his clothing was still there, but it had a smell to it, like some animal had pissed all over it.

“Fucking wild animals.”

His mind went to the woman, Mercy, and he shivered. She was one of them fucking shifter things. Not that he was afraid of her. She was a bird, by God, and he knew all he’d need to do to take her out was to kill her. A little bird or a big one, it would die by his hand soon.

After taking his clothing to the sink, he washed them up with the little bars of soap that he’d found when rummaging around. There had been cases of the soap, shampoo, and toilet paper. With the running water, the toilets could be flushed with a bucket, so Saul considered himself lucky on that. He was able to take a good shit and wash it all away.

The bed was lumpy. Even with several of the mattresses that he’d gathered up, he would still wake with a spring in his ass—or in other soft places on his body. Once, he’d had a spring cut him in the belly. But the people at the jail, they’d fixed it up for him. Didn’t want him to die on their watch, they’d told him. Another fucking bunch, Saul thought.

Just as he’d been leaving, Allen came to tell him that his parents, both of them, had been exhumed. He wasn’t really worried about that too much. He had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. By the time they figured out he’d killed Dad, and then found the poison in Mom—if there were any traces of it left—he’d have himself some cash and be hidden away for good.

He’d thought there was money. Saul had seen his parents with all sorts of new things. Then there was the big motor home. They’d never camped a day in their life as far as he knew, but they were getting the big rig all filled up to go on a trip. Christ, had he only known then that th

ey’d gotten it really cheap, he could have killed them both at the same time. The thing might well have blown up on them. Had a blow out on a tire or something like that. Instead, he’d had to kill off one of them to get the other to talk. And there was nothing.

They’d lost the house; his mom had told him in her grief. Lost it all because they’d not been able to keep up with the payments. The motor home, a thirty-year-old sucker, had had more wrong with it than was fixed, but they were excited to have something to live in when the house was taken by the bank.

“We tried and tried to get some money to pay the payments, but we didn’t have the things we thought we had to sell off.” His mom had looked at him; all signs of being grief stricken over Dad were gone. “You took them, didn’t you, Saul? Whatever you did with them, I do hope you got a fair price for them. Because of you, we were going to be homeless. Those were our nest egg, and you stole them from us.”