Sleeping Redemption (Feathers of Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

I was beginning to feel like Sylas with the way I sulked and brooded around my apartment ever since my date with Kinley. The drive to be with her—to help her—was overwhelming. Yet, Sy had insisted I keep my distance until he could ensure she wouldn’t have another next-level meltdown.

Nothing was a bigger hit to one’s spirit than knowing your mere existence caused your soulmate to spiral into a dark place of suffering. God knew I’d do anything for my angel, but when it meant not being at her side, it was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.

Tossing a Chinese takeout container into the trash, I headed for the fridge to grab myself a beer when my phone rang in my pocket. Digging my hand into my jeans to pull out my phone, I looked at the caller, and the first flicker of hope filled me when I saw Sylas’s name on the screen.

“Hey, did you talk to her?” I skipped past all the pleasantries of polite conversation.

Faintly, the sound of a door clicking shut carried over from the other end of the line before Sy responded. “Yeah, Rook and I spoke with her.”

Who the fuck is Rook?

“Rook? Like the chess piece or the bird?”

The heavy sigh on the other end of the call gave me the impression that there was more to it than Sylas wanted to get into. Gruffly, Sy answered my question. “Trickster demon and a pain in my ass. He’s been keeping a close eye on her. As much as I hate to admit it, he may actually be doing her some good.”

A spark of jealousy lit up in my chest. I hadn’t expected Kinley to become celibate after my death, but having another demon potentially consoling her was…unsettling.

With distrust coating my words, I didn’t bother hiding how I felt about that. “Tricksters aren’t known to be upstanding members of the demon community.”

“Normally, I’d agree with you, but he seems to get through to her. However, things are a bit more complicated than I expected.” Sylas filled me in on Kinley’s latest outbursts, including that of the stuffed angel doll.

Fuck, this is bad.

“That’s not all.” Sy’s words came across as partially muffled like he had just run his hand over his face.

I turned and leaned back against my kitchen counter, wondering what the hell else could be going on.

His words were blunt. “Her Divinity Sword is missing.”

My stomach dropped into my feet. “Missing as in lost? Or stolen?”

“Fuck, I don’t know, Atlas. She insists it’s around here somewhere, but I’m getting this feeling that it’s long gone.” His frustration was strong enough that it was palpable through the phone. “That’s why I need you to come over to her place. If someone took her sword and she’s getting tokens of a psychopath’s affection, I doubt it’s going to stop there.”

Midway through his explanation, I’d already grabbed my keys off the counter and unhooked my leather jacket from the wall-mounted coat rack at the front of my apartment.

“I’m on my way.” I slammed the door shut behind me.

With my bike parked in the driveway, I stood on Kinley’s front stoop, waiting for someone to answer the door. Just as I was about to knock again, the door swung open, and Sylas stood there in a dark green henley and pair of jeans. A hint of relief reflected in his eyes.

“Took you long enough,” he grunted and stepped away from the entrance into the foyer I was already familiar with.

Shaking my head, I stepped inside, closing the door behind me softly. “Not everybody has the authority to come and go as they please in the blink of an eye.” My not-so-subtle reminder that we all didn’t get the same privileges as he did.

I had been trying to stick to Evangeline’s good side. My direct supervisor was stingy with granting permission for guardian angels to just teleport around the globe at will. While I wasn’t banned from doing so, it was greatly frowned upon. Just the fact that I was an anomaly was already a strike against me; I didn’t need another one.

Looking around, things were quiet inside the luxurious home. My nerves made themselves known as it struck me that I was finally going to see Kinley again. Hopefully this time without it resulting in murder.

No part of me didn’t want to just hold her and tell her how sorry I was for abandoning her on that snowy mountain peak. There was so much to tell her and yet I still wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. Was she going to be receptive to my presence this go around?

“Where is everyone?” I had at least expected some of her stellar housekeeping staff that she had briefly mentioned at Wanda’s Waffle House before shit went sideways.

“Kinley is upstairs in her room. I’m not sure when Rook will be back; he left to go see if he can track down who left their spunk on the delivery. As for the humans,” he ran his fingers through his shortly cropped light brown hair, “we figured it was best they have some time off until we’re sure there won’t be any avoidable casualties.”

Prepared to march up the stairs just beyond where Sy stood, he grabbed my arm before my foot hit the first step. I looked down at his hand and then at him, ready to shove him to the side if it meant getting to see my angel again.

He cast his warning. “Atlas, remember why you are here. This isn’t about you; it’s about her.”

Lightly growling, I jerked my arm from his grasp. “Don’t think for one second that anything I do isn’t for her.”

Not waiting for him to respond, I jogged up the steps until I reached the top and realized I wasn’t sure which of the many doors led to her bedroom. Sylas joined me and hung a left, muttering something about being a bullheaded asshole on his way past.

Quickly trailing behind, we stopped at a closed door. Just as Sy was about to knock, I heard Kinley on the other side.

“Ohh, God, yes,” filtered through the door followed by a tender gasp.

I looked at Sylas, whose hand froze in its pre-knock position. He was as taken off-guard by the pleasure-laden sounds beyond the door as I was.

Another more excited moan came from her, this time the pitch of her voice higher, indicating she was inching closer to her release. I’d be lying if I said I was torn between standing there with my dick hardening in my pants or pushing my way into the room to help her the rest of the way to her orgasm.

Kinley groaned, “ Fuck , Sylas, just like that.”

My eyes popped open even wider hearing the archangel’s name on her lips. Snapping my head to look over at Sy, his face was flushed.

Struggling to keep my words quiet, I snarled at him, “Did you…?”

“Are you crazy?” he asked me indignantly before lifting both his hands and shaking them at me. “No! Of course not!” His face began to turn an increasingly darker shade of crimson.

Dropping my gaze down, it was hard to ignore that he was as turned on as I was by Kinley’s heated sounds coming from within her bedroom.

Something inside me snapped at the thought that Sy had been partaking in my angel’s fantasies all while telling me to stay the fuck away. I drew my fist back and hurled it right at Sylas’s scruff-covered jaw.

My punch socked him right on point, sending him stumbling back from the unexpected hit. I had to admit, it felt good to unleash the culmination of all my frustrations on him.

The asshole didn’t wait for me to strike again and lunged at me. His body collided with mine, sending me back against a wall.

Each of our hands curled into fists as we tussled with each other. Sy managed to land a couple of hits on my body, but they did nothing to deter me from the blinding anger I was feeling.

“Fuckin’ traitor!” I yelled in his face before my knuckles grazed his cheek in a near-miss hit.

His hand had the front of my navy tee balled up in his grasp as he shoved it against my chest to keep me at bay. “Crazy son of a bitch! I haven’t touched her!”

I lost my footing, and gravity took us both down to the floor where we each rolled to gain the upper hand.

“Is this why you said to keep my distance, huh?!” I grabbed him by the shirt, lifting his shoulders off the floor before slamming him back down with a hard thud.

Sylas bucked me off, scrambling to pin me down while avoiding my determined fists.

That’s when the door to Kinley’s bedroom opened, and she stood there in the doorway wearing a fuzzy pink robe around her slender figure.

We both paused our actions to stare at her as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

I blew out a large breath of air to try and force the long strand of my blonde hair out of my face so my view of her was unobstructed.

“You boys don’t seem to be playing nice together,” she observed.

There was no hesitation from Sy or myself as we both ended the scuffle, releasing each other with zero words spoken.

Unable to entirely let it all go, I gave one final rough shove to Sylas as I made room for myself to get back on my feet.

Still breathing heavily from the fight between myself and the archangel, I could only bring myself to speak her name. “Kinley.”

Grumbling, Sylas got to his feet and stepped over to Kinley’s side. “Are you okay? We heard…noises.”

She smirked as she looked up at him. “No, you heard a perfectly good orgasm getting ruined because hell broke loose outside my door.”

I snickered while Sy tried to pretend she hadn’t made a sound at all.

Then, she shifted her enchanting blue hues toward me, and my mouth went instantly dry. Her cerulean eyes searched for something while she stared, and whatever she did or didn’t find left her uneasy in her stance before looking back at Sy.

“I’m okay,” she reassured him as though she could already read Sy’s concerns.

Sylas didn’t appear convinced as he took a half step closer to her. “Are you sure? Kin, he’s here to help while we try to figure out who your secret admirer is.”

The annoyed look she gave him was enough to get Sy to back down, though his grunt made it clear he wasn’t happy about it.

Out of precaution, I made sure not to make any sudden movements toward her. “Look, Kinley, I know this can’t be easy.” I fumbled through my words, hoping to say all the right things.

Raising a hand to his temple, Sylas sighed and looked at the two of us. “Duty calls. You think the two of you can keep your shit together while I’m gone?”

“I can manage,” I spoke with confidence. However, Sylas was clearly not looking for my input as he kept his attention on Kinley.

She dropped her hands down to her sides, “Goddamnit, Sylas. I said I’m okay.”

There was one more stern glance cast my way from the uptight archangel before he disappeared before our eyes.

Keeping my feet secured in the spot where I stood, my fingers fidgeted inside my jeans’ pockets. My eyes settled on Kinley, watching and waiting for her to say something. The air between us hung stagnant, and she avoided my gaze, looking at anything and everything else. She inspected her nails, readjusted the sash around her waist, and observed the hallway light fixture.

Unable to take the silence any longer, I decided to leap straight into the awkward feelings. “So, do you remember that we were… together?”

“Yeah.” That was all there was to her response. She didn’t bother to acknowledge any of her feelings about the meaningful relationship we once shared. I didn’t expect her to profess it had been an all-encompassing love, but I had hoped that maybe a part of her still felt the connection we used to have.

“Oh.” I rocked back on my heels, wondering what else I could say to get through this web of uncharted territory between us.

Before any genius icebreaker questions came to mind, Kinley unceremoniously made an announcement. “I’m going to go get dressed.” She spun on her feet and walked back into her room, not bothering to shut the door.

She shed her robe, dropping it to the floor where it looked like a wild flamingo carcass in contrast to the pure shades of white that swept over every other inch of her room. My eyes followed the lean lines of her legs, the pale skin a familiar memory. By the time my eyes reached the top of her thighs and the delicious curve of the bottom of her ass cheeks, my brain came back up from its vacation in my cock to knock some sense into me.

Quickly, I spun to give Kinley her privacy. It wasn’t anything of hers that I hadn’t seen before, but the way things currently stood, I wasn’t convinced I’d get the privilege to see the most intimate parts of her again.

I swore I heard a light giggle come from her, one that tempted me to take a look over my shoulder to see what brought a smile to her face. Denying myself the chance, I bit into my lower lip as I tried to focus on the dark brown boots on my feet.

A moment later, Kinley spoke from directly behind me as she passed by me, heading towards the stairs. “I guess you really did get fully converted to the light side where the good boys behave themselves.”