Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,24

to say to Grant. She wasn’t even sure there was anything she could say to him. Thanking him, she thought, and did that. He grinned at her when her belly growled.

“I guess you don’t put your hands in your pockets much when you’re working.” She told him she didn’t know. “While you were still looking for the cans of lard, I put some seeds in your pockets. Not a lot, but they would have refilled themselves as you ate. I would have told you, but your mind was such a jumble out there I didn’t want to intrude.”

Putting her hand into the pocket of the jacket she had on, she pulled it out with a handful of just what he’d told her. Seeds of all sorts of grains were there for her to have been munching on. Eating a handful of them, Piper moaned. Grant laughed.

“Would you like some?” He told her he’d rather have a steak with all the trimmings. “Me too. I have a card that will feed us both. I’ve never used it before, but they assure me it’s good for whatever I want. I’m sure they mean to feed you as well.”

“I’d like that.” When he stood up, she did as well. “We’re going to have to talk about some things, I think. Mostly try and find out what you’ve received from me. Also, more of the things that you gave to me. I know now that I can speak with your sisters and brothers. And this is very strange for me, but I can speak with the kids as well. Miley has been telling me your favorite things to do when you’re not working too hard.”

“She works with us on different projects. Miley, and now the other two, work with us all the time. Tracy has set herself up with a job of delivering food for the elderly, as well as us, when we forget to eat. It happens a good deal more than I’d like to admit.” She thought of something as they made their way to the rental they’d picked up. “I was house hunting. I didn’t find anything I truly liked yet. Perhaps you can find someplace for us to stay. I’ve been staying at the castle with the others who haven’t been mated as yet. There are only the two of them left, I guess.”

“I have a home with my mom, but it’s small. It’s magical, thanks mostly to us being fae, but it’s not nearly large enough for the three of us.” She said she understood, then asked if his mom would be living with them. “I hadn’t thought of that, but if you’d not mind, I’d like to have her close.”

“I’d like for her to be with us too. As you know, I don’t have any parents, and the only family I have is the birds and their families.” He asked her if she wanted a family. “Someday, yes. We’re sort of waiting on Mercy to give birth, which is very soon, to see what sort of baby we might have. I think she’s more worried about it than Joel is. He’s very laid back.”

“I’ve noticed that about him.” Grant laughed as he got behind the wheel to drive them around. “I was also told that you’re a terror driving. That you drive like the racecar driver that you once were.”

“Abe, right?” He said it was. “Yeah, I sort of had a date with him and just drove like I usually do. When I noticed he was green and might not make it to the restaurant, I did slow down. I don’t think he truly relaxed until we were going back to his house later. The kid is super scary smart too.”

“Duncan told me he was working on getting into a college for kids like him. I’m to understand he downplayed it at first.” Piper said he had. That his biological parents had tossed him away for that very reason. “Did I hear that they might be an issue?”

“You might well have heard it, but we’re waiting on them to try to take him from us. Abe wants them dead. He’s that afraid of them.” Grant pulled into a small brick building’s parking lot and asked her if she trusted him. “I do. I guess that’s what being mates does, but it’s more than that. I don’t just trust you, but I feel as if doubting you would be dangerous. Not from you, but some other means. I don’t