Sleeping Redemption (Feathers of Darkness Duet #1)

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

W e all sat in Kinley’s living room. All of us. That included Kinley’s latest acquisition: Wolff.

Kinley was cross-legged on the floor with the man lying on his side in front of her. Her hand slowly stroked up and down over his ribs like he needed a belly rub. I perched on the far end of the sofa, leaning over with my elbows on my knees. Rook laid back in the recliner with his hands tucked behind his head.

Sylas was the only one of us who remained standing, staring at all of us with a look of utter disbelief.

Finally, he sputtered out a few words, “Kin. I—You can’t… No.” He then shook his head firmly. “No, just absolutely not.”

Our sweet blonde-haired angel sat on the floor with her new pet, her hand running up and down along the man’s side, seemingly ignoring Sy.

“You two encouraged this?” His eyes sharply stared down both Rook and me.

I chuckled and sat up, shaking my hands in front of me. “Whoa, don’t look at me.”

Rook smirked, seeming to relish in the fact that Sylas looked like he was about to have a goddamn stroke. “Mate, it’s not all that bad. Maybe a pet is just what she needs.”

Sylas, now bristled with anger, a vein bulging from the side of his neck. “He’s a human being, not a fucking Golden Retriever!”

Maintaining her seat on the floor, Kinley scoffed at what apparently was an offensive statement from Sy.

“Well, of course, he’s not a Golden Retriever, Sy!” she stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She leaned over and raked her fingers through Wolff’s hair as she quietly asked him a question. “Where is my good boy from?”

The man lifted his head off the floor, turning to face her as he answered her question. “Pensacola.”

My sweet angel then patted his head before looking back at Sy. “He’s very clearly a short-haired Pensacola Terrier.” Her words were firm and certain.

Bowing his head, Sylas grumbled as his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose. I couldn’t quite make out his words, but I was pretty sure he was praying to God for the patience of a saint.

Leave it to Rook to add to an already tense situation as he sat up, using his legs to push down on the recliner’s footrest. “Look on the bright side, mate, he’s already housebroken.” He leaned over and picked up a bowl full of kibble, shaking it. “C’mere, boy.”

Wolff immediately hopped up onto his knees, looking from the dish in Rook’s hand to Kinley for approval. She smiled and nodded her head. “It’s okay, go on.” And with that permission, he crawled over to Rook on his hands and knees.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Sy murmured as he watched the grown man make his way over to Rook for a treat. His eyes then shifted to Kinley with a look as serious as the grave. “You can’t keep him. Release your hold on him and return him to where you found him.”

Kinley straightened her back as she sat there staring at Sy with stubbornness splashed across her features. “I can’t just return him, Sy. The store has a clear no-return policy!”

I perk up a brow at her mention of a store. “You got him at a store?”

She turned to look at me and nodded. “Where else do you think I got him? I went looking for a new pair of shoes, and while I was checking out, I saw him stocking shelves. So, I found a barcode sticker, slapped it on him, and the cashier rang him up.”

The recap of how Wolff had been acquired left us all a bit perplexed, given the silence in the room except for the munching and crunching of kibble.

Grumbling, I could tell that the prayers Sylas had made went unanswered as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He shook his head in both frustration and bewilderment. There was also something else in his expression, something that was weighing on him that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It almost looked like concern, which for him wasn’t something that I saw often.

Rook scratched the man behind his ears. “Mate, don’t stress. I’m sure he’ll grow on you.”

I shot a look over at the trickster demon and bluntly stated, “You’re not helping here, Rook.”

Our fallen angel pushed herself up onto her feet with a dramatic huff. She stomped over to Sylas, looking him dead in the eyes as she squared her shoulders.

“You’re just jealous that Wolff loves me more than you! He cares about making me happy, whereas you only care about trying to change and control me.” She thrust her index finger into his chest aggressively.

The stern look on Sylas’s face never faltered as he looked down at her, watching each prod of her finger against his torso. His jaw ticked as he fought to keep his temper under control.

“Kin,” he spoke up gruffly. “I’m not trying to control you. You and I both know that’s not my intention. It never has been.”

Dropping her hands to settle on her hips, she looked up defiantly at Sylas as she lowered her voice. “You sure about that? That’s not what I’ve heard. I bet you’d be singing a different tune if I were naked.”

The thought of Kinley naked caused my dick to stir in my pants, but I subtly pushed it down, reminding myself that now was not that time. Glancing over at Rook, a dark desire flickered in his eyes, indicating that he had the same thoughts I did.

Sylas gave a light growl as he shifted his stance, seemingly uncomfortable as he stood there. Glad to see all of us were on the same page imagining Kinley’s body.

“I’m trying to help you, Kin. Do you have any idea the level of shit that is coming down all around you?” His voice grew louder with each word. “Your goddamn sword is missing, your last Christina was the victim of a saliranimum demon, a psychopath is sending you warped tokens of his affection, and you’re acting like manipulating a human into being your emotional support animal is a sane thing to do!”

Interrupting things before they escalated further, I stood from my seat on the sofa. “Let’s all take a moment, okay?”

I walked up behind Kinley, my hands lightly grasping her hips as I drew her back a few steps away from Sylas and against the front of my body. I wrapped my arms around her, cloaking her in a sensation of safety and calm as best as I could.

She was stiff in my hold initially; then, finally, I could feel the tension begin to gradually melt away.

From behind me, I could hear Rook’s attempt at an authoritative voice. “Wolff, stay.” He then joined me at my side.

Kinley’s eyes remained focused on Sy’s face, an anger still simmering beneath the surface.

Rook spoke up with curiosity, “Did you say a saliranimum demon?” His pierced eyebrow perked up.

Maintaining a stone-like exterior, Sylas just gave a curt nod. “Yes. I did a little digging into the old tomes after I realized Christina’s soul was entirely in shambles. It was like nothing I’ve seen before. From what I’ve read, it’s indicative of possession by a rare demon that inhabits humans for a time and then leaps to its next host.”

My heart sank, fear tugging it into the pit of my stomach. I looked down at Kinley in my arms, and I saw the same realization in her face. I squeezed her a little tighter in my arms.

“Sylas, how sure are you?” My eyes met his, the seriousness of the situation resting in my gaze.

He forced out an exhale, dropping his arms to his sides. “I’m certain. All the indicators match up. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I have a call out to several other archangels to see if anyone else has experience with this type of demon.”

I looked over at Rook, who shared a look of concern with a hint of possession that said he was less than pleased to have another demon lingering so close to his territory.

His tone turned dark. “Are you saying that a leaping lizard could have been here in this house?”

There was a flicker of amusement in Sylas’s eyes at Rook’s description, so damn subtle that I nearly missed it. The cranky bastard nodded in response, adding, “It’s very likely.”

Kissing the top of Kinley’s head, I spoke to her quietly. “I know what you’re thinking, angel. There’s nothing to indicate it’s him .” My reassurance seemed to do little as I saw the wheels spinning wildly in her head.

“I killed him,” Kinley gritted out through her clenched teeth.

There wasn’t any part of me that wanted to think that Nicodemus still lurked on Earth after all these years. However, all the pieces lined up. We had a body jumper of a demon that disposed of Kinley’s favorite human and a demon sending her trinkets tied to her past. We couldn’t ignore the evidence being presented to us.

“I know you think you did, angel.” I kept my words gentle. “But we can’t ignore that there’s a strong possibility that he escaped.”

She pulled out of my arms, spinning to face me with a combination of fear and anger in her sweet blue eyes. “I made sure he didn’t escape, Atlas! I destroyed every last soul in that shitty little village!”

Sighing, I knew the news was going to be a hard pill to swallow for all of us. It had been difficult to hear how she had wiped out so many human lives after my death. But now, to consider it had all been in vain, and Nico was still slithering in and out of mortal bodies? I worried that realization could push her down a path I couldn’t pull her out of.

“Love, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” The backs of Rook’s fingers traced down the length of her arm in a soothing gesture. “Atlas, here, is just saying it can’t be ruled out. That’s all.”

Standing there like a hardass, Sy stared at all of us. “If this isn’t a reason to keep all humans away from Kin, I don’t know what is.” His pale blue eyes held a cold stare at Kinley before addressing her directly. “That means no damn pets.”

She visibly bristled as she narrowed her eyes at Sylas.

Sensing Kinley’s shift in mood, Wolff whimpered and whined as he crawled over to the group of us. He gave a low snarl at Sylas before biting Sy’s leg.

“Fuck!” Sylas jerked back, hissing in pain as he glared down at the man who was so far under Kinley’s charms that he began to behave more and more like the canine she thought he was.

To add insult to injury, Wolff pushed the front of his shorts down, and much to my surprise, he wasn’t as housebroken as Rook had claimed. The golden shower fountained onto the top of Sylas’s boot.

You could tell there was a moment where Sylas considered taking a boot to the human’s side but barely refrained. Instead, he fiercely growled deeper and darker than any canine I’d ever heard.

“Bad dog!” Kinley scolded while giving a stern look that may have been cute under any other circumstance. “We don’t bite unless it’s asked for,” she explained, totally ignoring the piss puddling at Sy’s feet.

The man looked remorseful and hung his head down before crawling over to her feet, nuzzling his face against her legs.

Angrily, Sylas looked at Kinley. “He has got to go, Kin.”

“I can’t help it if he just doesn’t like you,” she retorted.

Kinley squatted down, took Wolff’s face into her hands, and kissed his forehead. “I know. He’s a mean old angel, isn’t he?” Her thumb stroked over the man’s cheek soothingly.

Wolff leaned in close to her, dragging his tongue over her cheek several times. Then he continued down over her neck in a mix of open-mouthed kisses, flat-out treating her like his favorite ice cream cone. Each drag of his mouth against her skin made her giggle.

The moment the affections drew out the first moan past her perfectly pouty lips, Rook leaned over and yanked Wolff back by his collar away from Kinley. “Down, boy.”

I could sense a wave of possession coming over Rook as his hand tightly held the collar around the man’s neck. “Love, he needs to find another home.”

“It’s what’s best for everybody,” I added, making it clear the three of us were all on the same page.

Seeing that we all felt the same way, she frowned, and it nearly broke my heart. I never liked seeing Kinley upset.

She gave a tiny sigh as her shoulders sagged. With a slight flick of her wrist, she washed away the manipulative charm she had been holding over the man, and awareness flooded his eyes as her spell over him dissipated.

“W-what… where am I?” he stuttered out.

Rook helped him up onto his feet, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as he began to lead him out of the room. He could be heard feeding lies to the confused man. “I’m telling you, lad, whatever was in those pills you shared was potent, yeah? You’re into some kinky ass shit. But it was some of the best sex of my life, I’ll tell ya.”