Chapter 46 No Collars in Bed
No Collars in Bed
Malachi, Chuck, and Nick simply stared at each other in silence for several minutes after Amaryllis’ departure.
No one knew quite where to begin. Her revelations had been shocking to say the least. Finally, Malachi turned Kelly to face him and searched her eyes.
He figured the truth about her father must have had some ill effect on her, but he saw only relief.
“You okay?” he murmured, trying to determine where her head was at.
“Strangely,”—she nodded slowly—“I am. Thank you. For asking. I admit I was mad at first that you stopped me, but I guess you were trying to protect me. You knew the right way to approach it. But now… I know what happened and why. We were just pawns in some stupid power struggle with demons. And the one who started it is being punished in a way I could never accomplish, so in a sense, you could say I got some justice.” She sighed and gazed at him with concern, tightening the corners of her mouth. “Are you okay? You were a pawn, too.”
He started to deny it but realized the truth in her words; he was just a small part of the larger game.
“I’m not happy about being used like that, but the outcome is beyond anything I could have imagined.
I have you.” His hands dropped from her arms suddenly as a new dark thought slithered into his head, planting a seed of doubt.
“That is, if you still… if you would… after what those demons did to you. I guess I can understand if you don’t want me around anymore.
I mean… I’m a demon too, and although I would never betray you like that, I get it if it’s too much.
” He stared at the ground where Reena—the real Reena—sat with one paw on his foot in solidarity.
Her gaze told him she was with him, even if Kelly wasn’t.
Shaking her head, Kelly slipped her fingers into his hair and tugged him down so she could kiss him, hard.
When she finally leaned back, slightly breathless, she smiled sadly.
“Malachi, humans do bad things all the time, but that doesn’t make me want to stay away from them.
I just need to find the good ones. I found the good in you, and I’m keeping you.
No takebacks. I love you, and you are my demon. Got it?”
“Got it,” he replied, grinning against her lips before capturing them again with his own. Glancing up as he heard a slight rustle, he noticed Nick was gone. Smirking, he waggled his eyebrows. “Think Nickle went to see a certain demon at her palace? Could be the scandal of the century!”
Shuddering, Chuck shook her head. “I hope not. She’s a little too bloodthirsty.”
“That reminds me,” he snapped as his eyebrows drew together in a thunderous expression.
Leaning back, he grabbed her shoulders tightly, giving her a slight shake.
“What the actual fuck were you thinking, just strolling out here all casual like when the very fucking demon I told you wanted you dead was here?”
“You were out here,” she offered simply and shrugged. “I figured if she were going to kill me, you would attack her. And if she killed you, well… I didn’t want to be here if you weren’t with me. Seemed better we went out together—fighting.”
Humbled, Malachi lowered his forehead to hers. “I still don’t know what I did to deserve your love, but I will absolutely never let it go. You are the bravest and most terrifying creature I know.” He gazed into her eyes and let his lips curve with a feral edge. “Kelly?”
“Yeah?”
“Still have those handcuffs ready?”
Four months later
“I don’t get it, man.” Jaxon pointed at Malachi with a chicken wing.
“You don’t have to be the dog anymore, so why do you still do it?
I mean… don’t you worry about, like, I don’t know, fleas?
” The officer glanced around to make sure no one else could hear them in the noisy bar.
It was karaoke night at their usual bar, and Marla had gone to the ladies’ room with Chuck.
Nathan chuckled into his beer at the question.
“Yeah, I don’t get fleas,” Malachi replied dryly. “I can give you some if you’d like.”
Jaxon quickly shook his head and dropped the wing on his plate, his interest in the food suddenly gone. “No, thank you! I didn’t mean anything by it; I’m just curious.”
Sighing, Malachi ran a hand through the unruly waves of his hair.
“I know, but it lets me spend time with Chuck, and I get to keep protecting her. I can’t do that as Evan.
” He made sarcastic finger quotes around the name he used in mixed company.
Marla and Jaxon were a serious couple now, but she still wasn’t aware of the secret shared between the others.
“Is she still in danger?” Nathan murmured as he watched the ladies wander back towards the table.
“Not actively, but she is a Nephilim, so some supernatural may take offense to that at some point. Besides, doing police work keeps me on the straight and narrow. At least, she thinks it does.” Malachi grinned and gave a conspiratorial wink to the other men before Chuck perched back on the high barstool next to him.
Glenda giggled as her name was called to take her turn at the microphone.
No one was surprised when her song of choice was, “I Put a Spell on You”.
It was fitting for the witch, and she belted it out with the gusto that had finally won over Nathan.
The two were a couple now. The stoic, straightlaced cop and the boisterous, colorful witch.
Blake had spent some time in a psychiatric facility after Chuck pleaded for leniency on his behalf. He was doing much better now and working through his rocky relationship with his father.
Reena was still addicted to daytime television, but she moved her dog bed to Malachi’s old room since he’d moved into the master bedroom with Chuck. Apparently, that was too much reality, and she didn’t like to watch their activities.
“Mal,” Chuck murmured in his ear as she leaned on his shoulder, distracting him from his thoughts. “I got you something.”
“It better not be another rawhide bone,” he declared with a grimace, frowning at her amused snort.
She’d given him a dog treat that resembled a brontosaurus femur as a joke a month ago.
He promptly regifted the chew toy to Reena, who dragged the massive bone around the house triumphantly, despite it being twice her size.
“Better,” she promised solemnly, then ruined it by grinning at him with a sultry smile. “This… is for you.” She handed him a small, black box tied with purple ribbon and topped with an enormous black bow that was much larger than the box.
Glancing at her suspiciously, he saw her aura was streaked with red, and she watched him anxiously.
He realized it was not a trick this time, but a genuine present that she had put real thought into.
Nervous, but excited, he removed the bow, absently sticking it on Jaxon’s head while ignoring the man’s protests.
Slowly lifting the lid, he peered inside to find a velvet drawstring pouch nestled snugly within.
He arched one eyebrow at her as she watched him closely, biting her bottom lip in anticipation.
Gingerly, he pulled the pouch from the box and tugged the strings to open it.
Something heavy and metallic clinked inside as the cloth shifted.
Taking a deep breath, Malachi poured the contents into one palm and stared at the gift.
A pair of handcuffs lay in his hand. Matte black with a strange finish that seemed to absorb all light shining on it.
He could feel something ancient and borderline dangerous emanating from the otherwise innocuous-seeming object.
Turning them over, he peered closer, noting runes etched into the surface.
He studied them intently before breaking into a huge grin.
“You always turn to shadows and escape when I use my regular ones. I wanted to even the playing field,” Kelly explained in a low voice laced with breathless uncertainty.
Staring into her wide eyes that were trained on him, Malachi grabbed her shoulders and yanked her against him hard enough that he pulled her right off her barstool.
Crushing his mouth to hers, he kissed her so passionately that the entire bar filled with cheers and catcalls.
After he finally released her and set her gently back in her seat with a dazed expression, he leaned his forehead against hers.
“So, you got me handcuffs I can’t escape from,” he breathed.
“I’m assuming Glenda etched those runes? ”
She nodded mutely as she came back to herself. “I’m… uh… I guess you like them?” A wobbly, relieved smile curved her lips.
“I love them,” he corrected and dangled the dark promise of the metal between them. “And we are so using these tonight.”
“A demon with a bondage fetish and a half-angel police officer,” she chuckled. “What a pair we are. Just don’t ever wear your K-9 collar to bed again.” She wagged a finger at him admonishingly.
“No guarantees!”