Kindred (The Watcher Chronicles #2) by S.J. West Page B

obviously don't seem to trust your judgment because of your insistence on keeping me safe.  Are they really that important to your plan?"
    Lucifer sighs.  "As soon as I'm through with them, I'll send them back where they belong.  Until that time, I need their power to find the others."
    "What are you planning?" I ask, desperately hoping he'll tell me, or at least give me one small clue to know what we're up against.
    Lucifer stands and walks the short distance to me.  He raises his hand to gently run the knuckle of his index finger across my cheek.  I instantly wonder what he's thinking and feeling.
    The bracelet around my wrist becomes warm.  Before I even realize it, I know exactly how Lucifer feels about me.
    He feels torn between his need to accomplish some great task and his desire to keep me protected.  I know he desperately wants me to know him better, to fully understand him.  Confusion seems to be the predominate emotion he feels when he looks at me, like he can't quite understand why I mean anything to him.  I'm just a human after all.  Why should he care whether or not I live or die?  But he knows I'm more than just a mere human, just not more of what.  He doesn't feel love for me, not exactly.  His curiosity about me makes him yearn to be around me, and I know he'll use any excuse from now on to come see me more often.
    "I need to leave now," he says, dropping his hand back to his side.
    The front door opens and Mason steps out.
    Lucifer looks at Mason's disheveled appearance, wrinkled clothes and haphazard hair.  It's painfully obvious Mason's just gotten out of bed. 
    Lucifer's eyes narrow on Mason.  "Mason."
    "Lucifer," Mason replies, saying Lucifer's name like it's a cuss word.
    "I hope you're treating Jess with the respect she deserves and not just using her like the other women I’ve seen you with."
    "I love her," Mason says, making sure Lucifer knows how he feels about me.
    "I suspected as much," Lucifer says.  He turns back to look at me.  "I can't say I approve of your choice in men, but I suppose you could have done worse.  At least I know he's not one to say those words lightly like human men are want to do.  I assume you love him as well?"
    I nod.  "Yes.  I love him."
    "No accounting for taste, I suppose" he says, like he's disappointed in me.  "I'm leaving now.  You have nothing to worry about as far as your physical safety is concerned.  The princes and the Watchers under my command will not be bothering you again.  You have my word on that.  After I get through with Asmodeus and Mammon, they won't even think your name much less try to hatch a plan to harm you."
    Lucifer looks over at Mason.  "And if you hurt her, well, you know what I can do to you."
    "I'm fully aware," Mason says, crossing his arms over his chest, staring hard at Lucifer.
    "Then I will leave the two of you for now."  Lucifer looks back at me.  "But I will be back."
    Lucifer phases and Mason walks up to me, wrapping his arms around me.
    "What were you thinking coming out here alone to talk to him?" He questions.  "Why didn't you wake me up?"
    I encircle his waist with my arms and lay my head on his chest.
    "I didn't want you to worry.  Plus, you looked so comfortable in bed, I didn't want to wake you.  You know I needed to talk to him anyway, to tell him what happened."
    "At least we don't have to worry about you being abducted again," Mason says, kissing the top of my head.
    "At least," I agree.
    "Hey you two!"
    I lift my head from Mason's chest and see John Austin walking up the steps to my porch with a white cardboard box in his hands.  Even from where I'm standing, I can smell the heavenly aroma of Beau's cinnamon rolls.
    "Hey John Austin, is it Wednesday already?" I ask, knowing the answer but feeling a need to ask it anyway.
    "Got proof in the box that it is." John Austin smiles at us.  "Mama Lynn asked me to go fetch the two of you some rolls this morning.  She said you guys would probably