Chapter 18
JESSIA
Icooed at the small, grey cat I’d bundled up in my coat, rocking him from side to side.
My heart melted when he stared docilely at me, then let out a small meow.
I’d found him by complete coincidence (Devil insisted we spend time in the garden) in the shed (he sent me back there to get a trowel) and I had no idea where he’d come from (my mate, hundred percent.)
“It’s so weird that someone would make a pedigree breed like this a stray,” I remarked, peering up at Devil who gave me an innocent look.
He sighed heavily, shaking his head. “People these days. So disrespectful.”
I snorted and knocked my shoulder into his. “Thank you.”
“For what?” His eyes were wide, his expression a believable show of confusion.
“You’re my mate, genius,” I drawled. “I can feel what you feel. And you’ve been feeling very pleased with yourself after ‘tricking’ me into finding your gift.”
“Me?” He put a hand to his chest, affronted. “Trick you?”
I gave him a wry glance. “What word would you prefer?”
“Guided.” He reached across to stroke the cat’s head and I smiled.
It was easier to smile now, easier to laugh.
I no longer felt like my emotions were pretence.
Instead, I’d found something real, not just with Devil but within myself.
I would always have bad days, but I could face them without going numb. “What are you going to call him?”
“Since you’re Devil, and you call me angel, we should stick with the theme.” I looked from the squashed face of the cat as he stared up at me, to Devil.
“Lucifer?” he guessed.
“Nope.”
“Adam?”
“Nope.”
A furrow pinched his brow as he considered the cat, following me inside the building. We needed to buy so much stuff. Food, litter, toys, beds, a cat tree…
“God?”
I snickered.
“You can’t call a cat God. He’ll get a complex.”
“As he should. You’re just perfect, aren’t you, baby?” I cooed to the cat. I expected amusement through the bond, but all I felt from Devil was love.
“Our little family,” he said, settling an arm around me.
When I smiled up at my mate, he stole a kiss. And when that wasn’t enough, he tilted my face for a deeper kiss.
“Fil,” I chided. “Not in front of the baby.”
His grin was instant. “God, I love you.”
“Aw, I love him, too. But what about me?”
“Smartass,” he said against my mouth. When God meowed, we both looked down at him and melted. “He’s so damn cute.” He kissed my temple. “Not as cute as his mother, though. Who I love more than anything in the world.”
“Smooth talker.”
He pulled me close and we stopped in the middle of the hall, my gaze caught by the vivid blue of his. “I mean it, angel. I love you more than anything.”
“Booo!” Cobra shouted from down the hall, as if he wasn’t holding hands with Lynn, the two of them walking as close together as possible.
“Asshole,” Devil laughed, and gave Cobra his middle finger as he kissed me again, stooping to place a kiss on God’s furry little head, too.
This moment right here was completely untouched by my past. It was pure and real, and full of hope that there might be more pure moments. And I didn’t think it was possible to be happier than this.