Chapter 9

CATALINA

My face was pressed against something warm and soft. I sighed in happiness, remembering falling asleep cuddled up with Mateo. My arms tightened around his waist, pulling myself closer to him.

“This is weird,” a rough voice said, one that definitely did not belong to my dragon. My head snapped up, eyes landing on a pair of dark ones.

“Why the hell are you in my bed?” I glared at the offending male next to me—the one I was currently still wrapped around like a spider monkey. I scrambled across the bed to get away from him, my legs getting caught in the sheets.

“Where is Mateo?”

He sighed, wiping invisible lint off his nicely pressed suit. “The dragon left for school, as well as the others.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great, another day stuck with you,” I said.

He threw a smirk in my direction, getting up from the bed.

“You can always go back to school. That was your plan to begin with, right?”

Before I could answer, Kol appeared on the bed. He side-glanced at Lucifer, then dismissed him completely, focusing all of his attention on me—or well, my stomach.

“How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Has the baby been kicking?” He fired off the questions, a concerned frown on his face.

I giggled at him. “I don’t think the baby has even grown feet yet, Kol,” I said, giving him a wide smile.

“Get dressed, breakfast will be waiting for you downstairs,” Lucifer demanded, leaving the room.

Kol chuckled on the bed next to me.

“I can’t believe he’s the face I had to wake up to.” I groaned, tempted to climb back under the covers and sleep. Unfortunately, the thought of Lucifer returning to get me out of bed entered my mind. I shuddered, thinking about the last time.

“Mateo didn’t want you to wake up alone, so he demanded one of us stay in bed with you. I was taking care of business, and everyone else went to school. So that left our darling teddy bear,” Kol explained, getting from bed and walking over to my closet.

“And he agreed to that?” I asked curiously.

Lucifer had been throwing my mates around since meeting them. There’s no way he let one of them order him to do something.

“Not necessarily.” He hummed, looking over a low-cut black shirt with interest.

Usually, I’m okay with my mates dressing me, but I can’t say I’m not a little wary about Kol picking out my clothes. I mean, it’s ~Kol~—what more do I need to say?

Getting up from the bed, I walked around to meet him at the closet. It was best I supervise while he picked out my outfit. “What do you mean?”

Grabbing a pair of black biker shorts, he examined them, then tossed them to the side. Half the clothes in here I’d never seen, considering Lucifer’s staff picked them out.

“When the dragon puts his mind to it, he can be one scary bastard.” He snorted, grabbing a pair of black leggings. Was he intentionally only looking through the black clothes?

Turning, he shoved the clothes in my arms. “Get dressed.”

My brows raised at his order. Why didn’t my mates ever ask? It was always a demand. Maybe I needed to start putting my foot down and let them know who’s really the boss here.

Glaring in his direction, I stripped out of my clothes, sliding on the low-cut shirt and leggings. Even though the shirt was very revealing, it was surprisingly a comfortable outfit.

But I didn’t thank him as I followed him out of the room and down the stairs to my other mate.

The kitchen was bustling with workers when we arrived. Lucifer stood next to the table, a book in his hand. When he looked up and saw me, a frown stretched across his face, heat in his eyes. He snapped his fingers, barking orders for everyone to leave.

“I think the boss likes seeing you in black,” Kol leaned over to whisper.

A slight warmth flared against my cheeks as I watched Lucifer watch me.

A chuckle sounded from the left of me as Kol moved to take a seat. The table was covered in a variety of breakfast foods, from pancakes to French toast, and eggs to sausage. My mouth watered at the sight.

When was the last time I ate?

I grabbed a seat at the head of the table, shooting Lucifer a smug smile. It bothered him whenever I took this seat, considering it was his.

Kol snorted, grabbing the seat next to me. Ever since we found out I was pregnant, he’d been sticking extra close to me.

Lucifer sat at the other end of the table, smoothing a hand down his impeccably pressed suit. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was always so well put together. And why did he own so many suits?

Clearing his throat, he reached for a glass of wine. “You look ravishing, Catalina.”

Leaning back in my chair, I smiled. “Is that so?” I teased.

“Careful, kitten, he’s wired and ready to go,” Kol whispered, making an inappropriate gesture with his hand in case I didn’t catch his meaning.

I rolled my eyes. If I wanted to tease my mate, I was well within my rights to do so.

“Why should I be careful, Kol? He’s not going to do anything to me.” Folding my arms on the table, I stared him down. “That I wouldn’t like.”

In a flash, he was gone, disappeared from the room.

Kol let out a loud laugh next to me. “I wonder if he prefers his right or left hand?” he mused.

Once again, I rolled my eyes.

“Why did he leave?” Lucifer wasn’t cold to me like Jayden, but he was still very distant. Something deep in me wanted to get closer to him. Demanded I be closer to him like I was with my other mates.

He shrugged. “I won’t sit here and pretend I know what he’s thinking.”

Then he grinned. “But if you’re needing a release, I’ll be glad to help.”

“Keep that thing away from me.” My stomach growled again.

I ignored anything else Kol was going to say because right now only the food mattered.

***

Stuffed and satisfied, I lounged on the end of the couch. My room, the dining room, and this couch were my favorite places inside Lucifer’s home.

“What do you want to watch?” Kol was at the other end of the couch, massaging my feet while flipping through the channels.

“An action movie sounds nice.” I waited for him to scroll, but nothing happened.

I looked over to find him staring at me. “What?” Did I have food in my teeth?

His eyes dropped to my stomach, where my hand had been rubbing it unconsciously. “Oh.”

“How are you taking the news?” he suddenly asked.

“What? Being pregnant? Well, I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. I didn’t bother forcing any of you to wear a condom.” He grinned at that.

“But I felt like the timing was all wrong. There were people out there wanting to kill me. How selfish was I to bring an innocent life into this?” I voiced the fears I didn’t realize I had.

But it was true. This was not the greatest time to get knocked up. Maybe eight years from then would’ve been better.

“Or maybe the timing is just right.” I looked up as Lucifer entered the room, a foreboding feeling hitting me instantly.

The feeling was coming from him. I stood. “What? What is it?”

He looked at Kol first, then back to me. “Athena made a visit to the school sooner than we expected.”

“Don’t tell her,” Kol hissed from behind me.

“And now your mates are missing.” Everything froze as a wave of sorrow washed over me.

“Nick? Mateo? Lucien! Sebastian!” I called out, but got no response.

“No.” My knees gave out from under me, and I fell heavily against Lucifer, who caught me.

“She has them.” A strange thump happened in my chest. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I passed out.