Chapter 16 What's Wrong With His Wings - Adele's POV
Hours of cleaning later, my fingers looked like shriveled prunes. When they said cleaning, I never imagined that it would be anything like this. The house wasn’t even that dirty, but somehow there was dust everywhere and the dishes were piled in the cabinets, hidden behind the doors. It was as if the whole house had hidden messes they stashed so it wasn’t obvious.
As I slammed the rag into the bucket of dirty water, I looked at the floor and admired how it shined. It was night now, with only the dim lighting of the room illuminating it. “Well, at least it’s clean now.” Then I sniffed the air. “And smells good.”
It hadn’t smelled bad by any means, but there was a certain musk in the air that was all male. Now, it smelled like a fresh spring day when the flowers were just blooming. I didn’t know where they got this cleaning stuff, but I wished we had it back on the mainland. I might have enjoyed cleaning a bit more.
“Ah, you’re finally done with the floors,” Darren said softly. “We took care of the dishes and wiped down the windows.”
He glanced at Dom, who had an exasperated expression on his face. They had worked endlessly on doing the dishes, which seemed to go on forever. Dom raised his hands, which were now pruny and growled.
Craven had slept through most of it, but had gotten up toward dusk and started straightening shelves. Thomas dusted behind him.
Arwen arranged all the medicine in their cabinet and did something else in the basement that I had no idea was even here. According to Tyler, I wasn’t supposed to know about their secret basement. It was too late now, though. After that was let out of the bag, he went back to washing everyone’s bedding.
Brantley organized the workout room and was still in there, arranging the weights.
Each one of them had their job, and they did it without complaining. They even looked like they enjoyed taking care of their home, while I felt so out of place.
Cleaning the floors wasn’t exactly the job I wanted. Being on my hands and knees like this reminded me too much of back home. Sadly, they didn’t even have a mop, so it was all done by hand with a rag. Once again, just like home, except there they did have a mop and refused to let me use it.
“I’m so glad we are done.”
“Just in time for bed. Tyler should be done with our bedding, so we can each make our bed with clean covers and sheets,” Dom said, his eyes drifting off as if he were in a daydream. “I love clean sheets.”
It made me laugh. “I can tell you are looking forward to bed the most.”
Dom let out another low growl. “It’s been a long day, and this wolf is tired.” He stopped as if listening to something, then sighed. “Well, I’m off to see if Tyler is done and get my sheets back.”
As he disappeared, I was left in the room alone again as I gathered the bucket and rag. I was careful not to leave footprints on the floor as I walked back to the kitchen. Craven came out of another room and was headed in the same direction. We collided before I could stop myself and went tumbling.
He caught me before I hit the floor and jerked me upright. “Oh, sorry about that. Are you okay? I’m not awake without blood and—”
His gaze went to my throat, sending a chill down my spine. I looked at his lips, noticing two tiny points sticking out. For a moment, I wondered what it would feel like to have them sink into my flesh, but then I shoved that thought aside. I hoped he didn’t read my mind and hear that thought. It would embarrass me more than I already was.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I said, clearing my throat. “The floor is wet, and I was trying to be careful. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you until it was too late.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Well, I guess we will both have to be more careful from now on.”
The way he was looking at me sent heat to my cheeks. We stayed like that for a few seconds until I heard Darren clearing his throat.
“Am I interrupting something?” His voice was almost teasing us both, but I dismissed it as I straightened myself. “It looks pretty intense.”
“No, nothing at all.”
Darren eyed us once more before disappearing to the kitchen. I stood there, rocking back and forth on my feet as I shyly glanced up at Craven.
“Sorry about that again. I guess I didn’t think about how busy this house is with eight of us in here.”
His eyes lit up with something I’d never seen, but then again, I’d never had much experience with other paranormal creatures. “You’re fine. With eight of us living in one house, it’s bound to get a little messy at times or crowded. I’m sure this isn’t the first time we’ll run into each other and it won’t be the last.”
The way he said that sounded like he wanted it to happen, but I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Of course, he didn’t think any certain way about me and I was silly to even have that cross my mind, even though I knew they said I was precious to all of them. That wasn’t something I could get my head wrapped around.
“Well, I’ll be off. It’s been a very tiring day.”
As I brushed past him, he caught me by the arm and yanked me backward into his chest. “You smell divine. I almost want a taste.”
Darren stepped out of the kitchen with a straight expression. For a minute, I wasn’t sure what he was about to do, but then he eyed Craven. “Go get your blood before you make her into a snack. Now, Craven. She doesn’t need you doing that unless she asks.”
Craven’s eyes left mine, but only for an instance. Once he refocused his gaze, he seemed more put together. “Sorry. I’m going now.”
Once he went to the kitchen, Darren shook his head.
“If he’s just waking up, you need to avoid him at all costs. When he’s hungry, he’d eat any one of us in a heartbeat.”
The bucket slipped from my fingers, crashing to the floor with water going everywhere as I heard those words. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner? I thought he was nice.”
“He is nice, but hungry. It’s just his nature to feed on humans and sometimes other creatures. Just be careful from now on and make sure he’s had his blood first before you run into him. That’s all,” he said, his gaze trailing up and down my body. “You do smell really good.”
He stood there for a moment, inhaling my scent. I stared at him, unsure if I should move or stay put. Did demons like scent too?
“Sorry, it’s just…been a long day and you’re a nice distraction.”
Darren moved past me and picked up the bucket. He looked at the water and sighed, which made me feel horrible for dropping it. Grant it, I could have been Craven’s blood bag and his words had put me into shock. I didn’t handle it very well.
“Sorry, let me have the bucket and I’ll start wiping up the water.”
I went to reach for the bucket, but our hands collided. He pulled back, his eyes widening as his cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Then his wings popped out of his back, unfurling and taking up the doorway.
“Well, s—” He cut himself off. “I think I need to go outside.
He disappeared before I could say a word, his wings wrapping around him.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said, my eyes still locked on the spot he disappeared. “I didn’t know demons had wings.”
I kneeled, grabbing the rag. It took me a while, but eventually I mopped all the water up with it and rung it out in the bucket before returning it to the kitchen.
Craven was sitting on one of the couches in the living room when I came out with a smile stretched across his too perfect face. “I hear you sent Darren into a tizzy. He can’t even get his wings to go back.”
“What’s wrong with his wings?”
As he stared at me, I wondered if there was some hidden meaning behind it that I wasn’t catching, but he shook his head, dismissing me. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll be fine once he calms down. Apparently, touching hands is too much for him.”
Touching hands…was too much for him? It was just a simple touch. “I probably need to apologize to him. I was just clumsy and didn’t mean to upset him.”
Craven laughed. “What?”
“I upset him,” I said sincerely.
Craven’s gaze met mine as another chuckle escaped him. “If you apologize, he’ll die of embarrassment. That isn’t what you did, witch.”
“I didn’t?”
He glanced toward the window, smiling. “No, but if you don’t know, it would probably be best if you go on to bed.”