Free Angel Kin by Jana Downs Page B

hoped the sight of the house  would hush the bitching nephilim up, and he had been right.
                          
“Okay, well, he may be a generous, thoughtful, and wonderful  man, but he is still getting it when he gets home,” Erik said from the  back seat. “He didn’t tell us it was this big.”
“Oh my God! It’s so beautiful!” Levi chirped happily. “I just want  to squeeze him to pieces. Look, Erik, it’s everything we wanted. It’s a  home!”
“It’s more than that,” Erik said as Bren cut the engine after putting  the car in park. “It’s our home.”
The sentiment was circulated. Bren hoped one day to have that  sort of place, too, somewhere for his family to rest when they were  weary, a place to grow as a family, to laugh together. There hadn’t  been nearly as much laughter lately as there should have been.
* * * *
Madigan had installed them in the guest rooms downstairs and set about whipping a sweet treat up for lunch. The sandwiches were placed in the empty fridge, and the drinks were stored away beside them. He’d even convinced Dex to go back into town to get him some things he needed to make a couple cheesecakes as a treat for arriving safely. Yuri sat at the island reading a magazine Dex had brought back for him. It was some special-edition   Times   piece about the history of America which had him thoroughly engrossed.
“That smells fantastic, babe,” Yuri complimented as Madigan whisked the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. He hated having to use store-bought pie crusts, but he didn’t really have time for anything else. The stainless-steel oven was already preheated and waiting for Madigan to slide the three pies he’d made into it.
“You can’t possibly smell anything,” Madigan said, laughing.  “It’s not even cooking yet.”
“Smells sweet. Can I lick the bowl?”
“It’s got raw eggs in it,” Madigan reminded, pouring the contents
into one of the pie crusts until it was just the right amount of filling.
                           
“So what? It’s not like I can get sick from it. Come on, babe. I  have been dutifully sitting here, waiting for you to finish cooking  when I could’ve been in the living room with the fifty-two-inch  plasma screen and all the ESPN channels at my fingertips. I feel like  this is not an unreasonable request.” Yuri’s pout was adorable, and  Madigan couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.
“You’re a dork. But since you asked so nicely, here.” He handed  the bowl over and watched as Yuri began scooping out the remaining  contents with his fingertips. Madigan’s nose wrinkled. He could’ve  understood if he would’ve been making chocolate icing or something,  but cheesecake mix? Ew.
Levi and Erik were still exploring the rest of the house. They apparently hadn’t expected their angel to splurge quite the way he had. It really was a lovely home. Madigan couldn’t help but imagine him and his angels buying a home similar to it soon. He was approaching their union like it was a marriage now, and as such, the next logical step would be to make a home together.
Levi came trailing into the kitchen then, an armload of picture frames in his hands. “I want to fill all of these when we go have pictures taken,” he announced, setting them down on the small eat-in kitchen table. “I’ve collected them since I left home four years ago, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect memories to go inside them.” He took out the delicately decorated silver ones. “These are going to be for the wedding photos.”
“That’s great, Levi,” Madigan said, stooping over to put the cheesecakes in the oven. He set the timer for twenty minutes before circling around to have a look at Levi’s considerable collection. He was an odd one, the collection of photos yet another odd quirk in his personality.
As Levi started to talk about the wedding that would