Redeeming Angel (21 page)

He hadn’t shaved and the
little stumble grated on my skin, but not in a painful way. It was
quite a tickle. Regardless, I found it comforting. “I know, but it
is something I
need
to do.”

He nodded, understanding pooling in
his silver eyes. “Okay then.”

“
Can you hold me for a few
more minutes first?”

“
We can always go
upstairs
—”

I elbowed him in the side. “After we
finish this…and you’ve showered…if you’re lucky.”

A few minutes later, Lexi bounced
outside. Her long caramel locks were swept up into a high ponytail,
swishing from side to side with the sway of her hips. Skin
naturally sun-kissed, excitement and anticipation were brimming in
her almond-shaped eyes. “What did I miss?”

“
Nothing,” I answered, a
smile still pulling at my lips.

“
Goodie. Chase promised I
could help. I really need the diversion.”

Chase and I shared a look. We had
briefly discussed Lexi and Colin’s breakup. Of course, I had to
talk Chase out of ripping Colin limb for limb, his jerk reaction to
anyone who hurt the people he cared about. I’d been genuinely close
to compelling him to chill out.

“
Let’s see if we can get
you to light up today,” she said with far more glee and confidence
than I was feeling.

I nodded, flexing my fingers. “I hope
you know what you’re getting into,” I mumbled.

Fifteen minutes into it and already my
patience was in tatters. No matter how hard I tried, I hadn’t been
able to summon fire again. I was starting to think the whole thing
had been a figment of my imagination, a one-time deal, which might
not be a bad thing.

I wasn’t any closer to producing a
spark than I was at finishing my freshman year of college. Zilch.
And my frustration was through the roof. Mastering this ability
felt important. I could finally do something other than be bait.
That was if I figured out how my trigger finger worked.

“
You’re overthinking it,
and it’s making you tense,” Chase said.

“
Thank you, Captain
Obvious.” My shoe scuffed the ground. “I need coffee.” Fuel.
Something to help me focus.

“
More energy is the last
thing you need. I can feel the power vibrating off you, and it’s
making my demon itchy.”

We started bantering back and forth
like usual, neither of us noticing that Lexi’s attention was
focused on something behind us. Not until she said,
“Guys…guys…guys!”

On the third time, Chase whipped his
head toward Lexi and yelled, “What now?”

Her aqua eyes were pinned over my
shoulder, touched with a fraction of gold. “I think we have
trouble.”

Chase’s hair was disheveled from the
cool winds, and as he turned, his features closed off. My marks
were tingling at my hip in overdrive, and I knew the moment I
turned around, I would be face-to-face with a demon. I didn’t move
with haste. Actually, I would have liked to close my eyes and walk
away. But, it was too late for that.

Up close, Kira was more beautiful. The
kind of beautiful that made me want to hit the gym and watch a
gazillion makeup tutorials on YouTube. If I knew nothing of demons,
I would have thought of Kira as a modern day goddess. She had a
quality about her.

I didn’t need Chase to tell me who she
was. I knew the second I laid eyes on her, and I didn’t understand
how Lexi didn’t immediately recognize her own mother. It wasn’t
that she looked like Lexi, but it more her mannerisms. A lump
gathered in my esophagus as uncertainty clouded the air. No one
knew what to do next. There were a few prolonged moments of awkward
silence before Lexi could no longer stand it.

“
Who the hell are you?” she
snapped.

“
I’m a personal friend of
Chase’s,” Kira said in a way that implied they were close. I wanted
to rip the honey-blonde locks from her head.

Lexi took it in a different
direction, her eyes leaping between Chase and Kira. The spark of
demon in her eyes spread. “If you’re cheating on my best
friend
...
” she
growled.

His face puckered. “Ew. Gross, Lex!”
he cut in before she could defame his character.

I loved my best friend for caring
enough about me to call out her own family, even though it couldn’t
be farther from the truth. In another situation, I might have found
it funny, but the tension that settled between us made my blood
fizzle with energy.

“
You wouldn’t be the first
to be seduced by a demon,” Lexi justified.

Dark fire snapped in his
eyes.

Oh boy.

{Chase
}

Ragged breaths scraped
through my nose and lungs, and
I felt my
inner demon working. Seeing Kira at the house I grew up in, feet
away from Lexi, magnified
my rage. I wanted
to cut her in half and send her into a confetti of ash.

But Kira had proven she wasn’t like
the demons I was accustomed to. The same rules didn’t apply, and I
didn’t think she abided by their rules either. In a way, it kind of
made sense we were related. Rules weren’t our thing.

“
Chase?” Angel lowered her
voice, wordlessly asking what was going on.

I ignored her, refusing to let Kira
out of my sight. “What do you think you’re doing here?” I hissed,
my body instantly stepping out in front of the girls. Kira had
nerve, I’d give her that, but that was all she would get. After
everything she’d done, I wanted to rip out her sticky
bits.

“
So you do know her?” Lexi
demanded. Her foot stomped the ground, causing a tremble under my
feet.

At this point, her feelings were the
least of my concern. If I had to be a jackass to keep her safe, so
be it. “It’s not your concern, Lex. Go inside. I’ll take care of
this,” I replied flatly, teeth gritted. I expected the next
revolution to erupt, but before Lexi could utter a protest, Kira
overstepped her boundaries.

“
Lexi,” Kira said in a slow
drawl like she was savoring the sound. “What a beautiful name for
such a beautiful, young woman.”

Lexi’s turquoise eyes narrowed. “Are
you hitting on me? Because I don’t date demons.”

Angel choked behind me.

I just shook my
head.
What have I gotten myself
into?
No matter how I played this out in my
mind, it all ended with my balls cracked.

Kira let out a sultry laugh. “Sorry
sweets, your dad is much more to my taste. Is your brother around?”
Her eyes moved to the house.

Lexi’s started to glow. “Chase, what
is going on?”

There were whole parts of my brain
that were trying to stop me from lying, but the stupid parts won.
“Nothing is going on, except this demon isn’t welcome
here.”

Kira leered. “Now, that isn’t any way
to treat family. Especially, after everything I did to help you
and…Angel, is it?”

She knew damn well what her name was.
There was no need for the coyness. My expression darkened, and I
wondered if it had been no accident that I’d stepped foot in that
bar.

Lexi’s attention zinged between us,
and I had been dreading this the second I realized who Kira was to
my family. A splay of emotions navigated over Lexi’s
face.

“
Chase and I spent plenty
of time catching up on his little trip to Vegas, didn’t we
luv?”

Lexi twisted up to look at me and
flinched. “This is the demon you sought for information? My
mother?”

In the distance, I registered the purr
of an engine and tires crunching over gravel, but I dismissed it,
wincing. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t know who she was until
later.”

Lexi’s face pinched. “Just splendid.
And that makes it okay? Were you ever going to tell me?”

She had a right to be
angry. I was pissed
with myself, with the
world, with Kira, and with the Pope. “I don’t know,” I
admitted.

No reaction whatsoever.

And that alarmed me.

But Angel had plenty to say as she
stepped forward, her chin in the air. “Oh, bless your little heart.
I just bet it was difficult for you to come here and throw a big
old turd in our faces,” she spat.

“
You got yourself a girl
with spunk.”

“
So I’ve been told,” I
grumbled.

A car pulled into our driveway and out
stepped frat boy.

Oh for fuck
sake.

Lexi still was unresponsive, eyes
glazed. Kira was smirking, clearly amused. Angel’s mouth fell open.
And Colin’s timing was impeccable. “My life is a three-ring
circus,” I muttered, eyeing Lexi’s…whatever he was. It was still
unclear to me what their relationship status was.

“
What do you get when a
human, a demon, and a hothead walk into a bar?” Angel
whispered.

Only Angel would pick a time like this
to make a joke. “You’re killing me here, Angel Eyes.”

“
Well, it was either make a
horrible joke, or let you tear into both of them. I thought dry
humor was better than violence in this situation. Things are
already pretty heated and tense.”

Like a dog with his tail between his
legs, Colin strutted over the lawn, completely oblivious to the
crockpot of shit he just walked into.

Or maybe he knew and was willing to
risk it all in the name of love.

Fool.

“
Spring Valley is kind of
out of your way, isn’t it, Conner?” I asked when it became clear no
one was saying anything.

He shoved his hands into his front
pockets, rocking back on his heels. “It’s Colin, and I’m here to
see Lexi,” he said, eyes rotating to my cousin.

Some people just need a high five.
With a chair. In the face.

Lexi was still staring at Kira. Kira
was staring at her. And I was sure a nuclear bomb wouldn’t break
the trance. Mother and daughter seeing each other for the first
time, I guess I should be glad no one had lost a limb. Travis
seeing Kira might be another story.

Nobody knew what to do or say next. I
rubbed the back of my tense neck. “Lexi, get Colin out of here.
Stay in the house and lock the doors,” I ordered, taking control of
the situation. “Oh, call Emma and Travis. We need to
talk.”

Her lips thinned. “You bet your ass we
do.” After one extended glance at Kira, she stomped off, dragging a
dazed and confused Colin behind her.

As Kira started to step forward,
Lexi’s name on the edge of her lips, Angel moved in, nothing but a
streak of auburn hair as she blocked her path, too fast for a
human. “Don’t think about it,” she warned.

Fear. Real fear, for the first time,
popped in Kira’s scarlet eyes. Her body went stiff. I mean, I knew
Angel could be scary, but this was unexpected, and then Kira said,
“I wondered if this would be your fate.”

Huh?

I trailed Angel’s movements,
sidetracked by how quickly she had moved from one spot to another.
She was glaring wide-eyed at her open palm, a bolt of shock
thundering through her body. I averted my eyes downward, and sucked
in a sharp breath. All five of her fingers were flickering with
fire. Seeing it a second time did nothing to lesson my
amazement.

Apparently Kira wasn’t as floored as
the rest of us. “What are you ranting about?” I commanded. It
crossed my mind to also add a few threats, like salt in an open
wound.

Kira’s voice came out unusually dry
and quiet. “Not until she douses the flames.”

I glared, feeling as if this might be
an advantage. As much as I wanted to give her the middle finger and
tell her to stick it, I needed Kira.

And it burned my butt.

“
Angel, any chance you can
extinguish those firecrackers?”

She looked at me then at her hands,
confusion wrinkling her forehead. She didn’t know how to summon the
fire, so it only made sense that she also didn’t know how to get
rid of it. Her heart rate kicked up, transferring through our bond.
I did what came instinctually, calming the panic that just started
to eek through her.

Swallowing hard, she shook her hands
like you would a match.

Kira released a breath, raising her
brows. “You might want to work on your control there,
luv.”

I blinked, preparing to snatch Kira by
her slender neck. The backstabbing demon owed me answers, and I was
going to get them by any methods necessary.

But she was gone.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

Looks like I’m going demon
hunting.

Chapter 20

{Angel
}

A dark cluster of clouds moved in
front of the pale moon, creating a dull, almost tarnish color. The
tips of my fingers were warm, degrees hotter than the rest of my
body. “Where did she go?” I did a full circle to check my
back.

“
To Hell would be too much
to ask for,” Chase muttered.