Chapter 24
You Know That's Not Real Bacon
Morning dawned, and Malachi stretched, finally feeling fully rested for a change.
A happy warmth suffused his limbs as he registered that Chuck was wrapped tightly around him like a barbed-wire tattoo.
The peaked in high school dude-bro jock they’d confronted in the park probably had one on each arm.
Idly, he wondered how Spike was doing. Chuck snored slightly, and a grin curved his cheeks so hard they almost hurt.
He couldn’t believe he was here, in her bed this way.
She knew who and what he was and still accepted him. Cared for him.
Breathing in her scent, trapping it in his lungs like a core memory, he gently shifted towards her a little more before pulling her in tighter.
Her happy mumble had him aching for her.
Groaning, his grip clenched around her as his lower body throbbed in response. “Fuck,” he hissed through his teeth.
Loathe to wake her but not trusting himself if she pressed any harder against him, he nudged her. “Chuck,” he called, shaking her gently.
She mumbled sleepily and snuggled in harder.
“Chuck,” he moaned. “Please wake up!” he begged.
“Hmm?” she breathed and blinked at him blearily.
Blowing out a shaky breath, he squeezed her tighter for a moment, then told her, “Chuck, it’s not that I don’t absolutely love the feeling of your body pressed against mine, but I only have so much control.
I’m a demon for Lucifer’s sake. Half sex-demon.
So, unless you take back what you said about taking it slow, you need to unwrap yourself from me before I let my base nature go. ”
A low chuckle slipped from her throat. “Is that so? And what would you do?” she teased.
With a growl building in the base of his throat, Malachi hooked his calf around her thigh and flipped them. Her body was now wedged firmly beneath him. Her lips formed a small, surprised o and her breath hitched as she tried in vain to get it under control.
“Well, to start,” he murmured, “I would trail my fingers over every inch of your skin until you felt like you were going to erupt into flames.” He drew his fingers over her ribs in the lightest caress, feathering just under her breasts.
A small smirk lifted his lips as she moaned and arched beneath him.
Leaning down, his warm breath brushed the edge of her ear, and his tongue traced the shell of the delicate pink flesh.
“I would let my dark powers spill over your curves, stroking every bit of you until you cried for relief, begged me to let you fall, to release you from my shadow pull.” A small tendril of shadow wrapped around her thigh, squeezing gently to demonstrate.
His lips moved to hers and stopped millimeters apart, sharing her breath.
“Then I would introduce my tongue to every tiny part of you until you scream and pour your release into my mouth. And believe me when I say I will taste… every… inch… of you. Just to start off, of course.” By now, his voice was low and husky. Her breathing was jagged and needy.
Without warning, he released her and sat up.
Running his fingers through his wavy locks, he shrugged nonchalantly.
“But since we’re taking things slow, I won’t do any of that.
Until you tell me to.” Standing, he ran a hand over his stomach, chuckling as she swallowed hard in shock.
“Dibs on first shower!” he called over his shoulder as he sauntered to the bathroom.
“Damn demon,” came her muffled reply as she buried herself under the blanket.
At the station, Chuck’s eyes darted nervously around, staring at everyone, jumping at every voice. She seemed to be searching for some sign of who would carry an angel-killing blade on their person.
Relax, Malachi sent her as he watched her fretting.
I really doubt anyone would be carrying a sword into a police precinct.
If they were stupid enough to do that, you’d have seen it by now.
You wouldn’t even have to see it. They give off a low hum of negative energy.
You may not hear it with your ears, but I bet even being half angel, you’d sense it.
“Right, low hum, negative vibes,” she mumbled to herself.
“Who’s humming?” Jaxon asked as he stood next to her.
Jumping slightly, Chuck whirled to face him, plastering a bright fake smile on her face. “Me!” she declared happily. “I’m humming a song.” She proceeded to hum a tune out loud, the last song they’d heard on the radio.
Malachi tried to turn his laugh into a cough, but it didn’t seem to fool anyone as both Chuck and Jaxon glanced at him—Jaxon with mild annoyance, Chuck with murderous intent.
“Humming, huh? Next, you’ll tell me you’re coming to karaoke with us tonight,” Jaxon replied in a teasing tone.
“Us?” Chuck echoed, with a deer-in-the-headlights stare.
“Yeah, me, Bennett, Marchand, Gillespie, and a few of the ladies in dispatch are all meeting up at Frankies for karaoke and beer. You should come!” he exclaimed, warming up to the thought of getting Chuck to meet him somewhere casually.
Malachi could sense that Jaxon was still interested in Chuck and that she was terrified of karaoke.
He knew firsthand from her car concerts that singing was not her forte.
But one name in particular caught his attention, so he shoved his nose in her hand.
Chuck, he said Bennett will be there. We should go, so I can check him out.
As Evan, of course. Ugh, barf, such a douchey name. Still not as bad as Jaxon.
Fighting the tremble of her lips as she held back a laugh at his words, she blurted, “You know what, Jax, that sounds good. And since I’m on desk duty after the shooting yesterday, I could use some fun.”
Blinking his surprise that she’d agreed, Jaxon quickly nodded like a bobblehead mounted to a monster truck dashboard.
Malachi was shocked that the fool’s head didn’t fall right off.
Idiotic douche moron looks like an upside-down hula-girl.
Let’s shove a stick up his ass and glue him on the dash of your squad car.
A strangled squeak escaped Chuck’s throat, and she slapped her hand over her mouth.
Eying her strangely, Jaxon slowly placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are… are you okay, Chuck?” His voice was full of concern as his eyebrows bunched together so hard it looked like a caterpillar was crawling across his forehead.
“Fine!” she choked out. “Just swallowed funny. Anyway, yeah, see you tonight. Gotta go, reports don’t write themselves!” With that, she spun on her heel and scurried to her desk.
Malachi sat next to Jaxon and watched her retreat with amusement. He glanced up at Officer Douchenugget to see that he was staring too. Growling lightly to get his attention, Malachi glared at Jaxon with the slightest hint of Hellfire in his eyes, before panting and holding out a paw to shake.
Jaxon scratched his head in confusion before gingerly leaning over to shake Malachi’s paw.
“Mal! Come here!” Chuck shouted, knowing full well Malachi didn’t care for Jaxon and was likely up to no good.
Grumbling, he trotted off to her desk, keeping up a running litany of offenses the man deserved to be punished for, including wearing Axe body spray.
I bet he’s friends with that guy from the park.
Does he have a barbed wire or tribal tattoo on his bicep?
A hundred bucks says he does. Malachi plopped next to her on his butt and let his tongue loll out, looking for all the world like a good boy.
“I don’t know, but stop that! He’s a good guy, even if he is annoying,” she scolded and shook her finger at his muzzle.
“Aw, poor Malachi. Look at him sitting there all sweet and innocent. Is Chuck being mean to you? After what you went through yesterday? He’s just a good boy, a hero, and doesn’t deserve that, does he?
No, sir, here you go, buddy!” Lieutenant Jeffers leaned over and handed Malachi a small bowl of bacon treats.
Oh, fuck yeah! he cheered, listen to the man, Chuck, he’s a genius! I’m a hero! And I got bacon. What did you get? Benched!
“You know that’s not real bacon!” she snapped at him.
Yeah, and it still tastes good with this body.
But hey, what do I know, you’re the one yelling at a dog in a police station.
He glanced up and chuckled as her cheeks flushed a vibrant crimson color, matching the stop sign hanging haphazardly on the wall behind her.
He watched her eyes slowly move up the lieutenant’s body until she reached his worried gaze.
Jeffers stared at her with concern plain on his rugged face. “Chuck, you okay?” he asked softly, clearly not wanting to upset the crazy person.
“Fine, sir. Malachi was being a little ornery earlier with Jaxon. But you’re right, he is a hero for his actions yesterday. He got a big steak for dinner last night, too.” Chuck smiled weakly, attempting to reassure the lieutenant.
Nodding slowly while pinching his chin, Jeffers relaxed his shoulders a bit. “Well, I wanted to see how our hero was doing. Word is, Officer Malachi sustained some injuries yesterday. What did the vet say?”
“Oh, he’s fine. He was a little shaken, and it seemed worse than it was. He’s great!” She nodded quickly, obviously hoping he would drop it.
Pinching his chin again, Jeffers squinted at her. “So, you have a vet report to back that up?” At her reluctant head shake, he sighed. “Chuck, you know the protocol. Take him in. That’s an order! I’ll expect the report by end of shift.”
Groaning, Chuck wearily waved him off. “I’ll take him; he just has a thing about thermometers.” She turned back to Malachi as Jeffers left and studied him. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I tried to avoid it.”
What. The. Fuck. Chuck? How could you betray me like this?
I thought we had an understanding. Is this about the hero comment?
I take it back! He was staring at her in abject horror now.
I swear on Lucifer’s saggy tits if anyone comes near my ass with anything other than a friendly sniff, I WILL bite them.
Chuck leaned forward and propped her chin in one hand, resting her elbow on her knees.
“Mal,” she groaned. “I have to. It’s protocol.
A direct order. You heard it.” With her other hand, she reached out and ruffled his ears.
“C’mon, Mal, I’ll tell them no temperature.
Remember, you’re the one who wanted to stay my canine partner. ”
Betrayal. Utter betrayal.
“Come on, Malachi. At least they agreed to not stick the thermometer up your behind,” Chuck wheedled as he glared at her from across the living room.
She smirked as Reena stood next to her, wheezing in laughter at the defiant expression on his face.
Frowning, he crossed his arms even tighter across his chest while he glared at Reena for ganging up on him.
“Traitor,” he whispered fiercely at the small chuglet. She simply snorted and trotted over before she curled up on his feet. Turning his eyes back to Chuck, who was still grinning, he sneered at her and angled his shoulders so he was staring at the TV instead.
“Mal,” she sighed, “I know it was a blow to your dignity, but you know I had no choice.”
“I get it,” he rumbled. “But did you have to laugh so hard when the tech called me her fluffy spookums woofums?” He shuddered. “Gah, that was so embarrassing.”
Ruffling his hair as she dropped by his side, she snickered. “You have to admit, that was pretty funny. You are a spooky woofums, though, aren’t you? Who’s a good boy?” she teased.
With aching slowness, he turned to face her, then shoved a wave of his incubus power towards her as he leaned close.
“Me,” he drawled in a sultry voice dripping with lust and desire.
“I am a very… good… boy.” He lightly ran his nose over her throat and nipped her jaw as she moaned softly.
Sitting back, grinning, he released her from his power.
“Such a good boy, you’ll never forget it again, will you? ”
Shaking her head mechanically side to side, Chuck licked her lips and squirmed on the cushion next to him.
Clearing her throat, she blinked a few times, then sighed.
“You told me you were part incubus. I almost want to ask if what I feel for you is part of your demon powers, but I don’t think there’s any mistaking that.
Malachi, please don’t do that to me again. ”
Winking, he curled his lips and smoldered at her, letting tiny flames flicker in his eyes. “Not even if you beg me?” he asked, his voice still husky.
“Okay, yeah, maybe if I ask nicely.” Chuck’s face turned a fetching shade of rose as she leapt to her feet. “I’m gonna get ready to go out. I can’t believe you’re dragging me to this. Just so you know, I can’t sing.” She turned and escaped to her room as he watched with an amused grin.
“Well aware.”