Page 46 of Whiskers on Kittens

I growl-chuffed the entire time, dutifully changing position and even rolling onto my back so he could properly attend to my belly. As I was the most superior of cats, I did not flay the flesh from his bones for indulging in a brisk rubbing of my furry perfection.

Once he finished and turned on the shower, he backed away to give me space to play with the bubbles, which I did with wild abandon, rolling around on the shower floor and batting at his feet, which had plenty of long fur for me to play with. Laughing, he caught me, picked me up, and held me under the shower to get the soap out of my coat. “If I let you do that for much longer, you’ll get out of the shower panting and unable to do anything for the rest of the day.”

I hissed at him despite acknowledging he made a good point.

Once my coat was clean of bubbles, he turned the shower off and gave my coat the conditioning treatment. Once he let it set, for two minutes he counted in Mississippis, he used the handheld faucet to clean my coat, a wise move all things considered.

I would have played in the shower and made it ten times harder on him to make sure I wouldn’t be licking chemicals when I groomed myself. He picked me up, tucked me under his arm, and with zero care someone would be mopping the floors, he hauled me to the vanity where I’d left my phone. He tapped the screen with a finger to activate it and held it up. “Unlock it, please.”

As he asked nicely, I did as he wanted, grateful my paw pads could tap the numbers in the correct order to unlock it. Once he had the phone open, he went to my contacts, scrolled through, went to the section dedicated to devils, and located Belial’s number. After initiating the call, he held the device to his ear. “Sorry to bother you, but unless the plan is for us to become moldy and miserable, we could use some assistance getting our coats dried off. We have purged the filth off. Okay. Thank you.”

Instead of Belial, Lucifer popped into the bathroom, but instead of a snow leopard, he came armed with a succubus dressed in a leather corset and jeans with feathered wings and a snow leopard’s iconic spots, ears, and tail. The woman giggled and rubbed her hands together. “She’s adorable.”

“Well, she is a clouded leopard, a being almost as superior as the snow leopard,” the Devil replied.

“Her face is cuter than mine. It’s the eyes. They’re more expressive.” Snagging a towel, the succubus bounced over, snagged me from Easton, and wrapped me up. “He’ll handle your hybrid first. It would not do for your bed warmer to become ill. I’ll show you the best dryers for the big fluffs like him as you’d hate having to bargain to prevent mold.”

As I couldn’t purr, I growl-chuffed to indicate my enjoyment of the attention, wiggled in the towel, and turned my head enough to lick her hand to show her my approval.

Lucifer prowled around Easton, poking and prodding at his arms and abs. “You’ve done a good job feeding him, Kelsie. He’s still a little underweight but he’s improving. Excellent. Double the dosage of the protein mixture you bought and keep him on it for a month. When you run out, text Belial, and we’ll handle getting you the next batch. I’ll make sure you get the appropriate documentation to add to your CPD case. He should have been provided the mixture as part of his work, especially as they take advantage of his form.” After a few more pokes and prods, the Devil snapped his finger.

Steam burst from Easton’s coat, a light breeze blew, and when the white cloud faded away, the hybrid resembled a rather fluffy poodle in dire need of a brushing. Easton growled, pawing at his face in an effort to get his fur out of his eyes.

“It will give Kelsie some amusement for a few hours as she loves brushing any furry beast willing to sit still for her. You’ll get to brush her coat out, but it’ll be easier. Her fur coat is much shorter although she’s far more plush than the average leopard of any spot.” Lucifer eyed his wife. “Sorry, my darling.”

“It’s the truth. I’m not going to get mad at you for telling the truth. There’re no gene abnormalities causing her thicker coat, is there?”

“She has adapted to Chicago’s winters, and she hates getting too cold. I suspect latent practitioner magic as she doesn’t practice much. Some, but not much. Her coat probably benefits when she isn’t doing any spells.” The Devil held out his arms, and the succubus handed me over. Rather than do the snapping the fingers route, he set me on the vanity, freed me from the towel, and took his time checking me over as well. “Easton, you’ll want to keep an eye on her. She’s not getting sufficient protein, and it looks like she’s dealing with a few vitamin deficiencies. I’ll bring over the supplements, and you can help evaluate what she’s eating and not getting sufficient of. My darling, do you want to bring Diana and the scanner over?”

“Let them rescue those poor kittens first. It could be stress. She’s been hovering over her underfed hybrid. At least her fur hasn’t gotten patchy.”

“At least not yet.” Lucifer put his hand under my chin, lifted my head up, and peered into my eyes. “Her eye health is fine, her coat is healthy enough, so it’s likely just stress. We’ll keep an eye on it. Easton, I’ll give you my number. If she starts losing spots, give me a call, and I’ll see about getting her scanned. We cannot allow our kitties to lose even a single spot.”

“Lucy,” the succubus warned.

“What? It’s true. Spots are precious, and we cannot permit such an atrocity from happening on our watch. I simply will not allow it.” The Devil removed the towel, used a hand under my belly to get me to stand on the vanity for him, and snapped his finger. Warmth spilled over my coat, seeping down to my skin, and I relaxed at the sensation. After a few minutes, it faded, leaving me toasty and dry. “All right. Both of you go get shifted. We’ll meet you in the dining room so we can get to work. We have information for you and an update on the women you’ve plucked from the gates of a living hell.”

FIFTEEN

“I’m the Devil, my darling, not a fluffy angel with a morality complex.”

Once we were both shifted back to human and properly dressed, Lucifer fed us like we’d never seen food before in our lives while his wife stood guard, lashing her tail if she thought we weren’t eating like we should be. I inhaled several plates of steak, eggs, and chicken before my stomach declared its satisfaction, and then I ate two more plates to avoid the succubus’s wrath.

I gave up trying to calculate how much Easton devoured, suspecting he had extra stomachs somewhere to consume as much as he did without showing any sign of overeating. He ate while I worried about how I’d keep him fed while we searched for the kittens and brought them home.

It took almost an hour for him to tame his appetite.

“All right. Now that the hungry beasts have been contained with food, it’s time to get to work,” the Devil announced. A snap of his fingers removed all evidence of our feeding frenzy. A second snap decorated the massive table, suitable for seating twenty, in a layer of papers. Some still cracked with the blue-white light I associated with holy fire. “My brothers and sisters helped organize this. According to Gabriel, everything you need to rescue the kittens can be found here, although you may need to clean some more houses. I suspect my brother wants to abuse his holy fire and use my bags again.”

I grinned, as I could believe that without any effort. “For an archangel, he does have a troublesome side. So does Michael.”

“Our daughter has corrupted both of them nicely. She’s done excellent work.” Lucifer shot his wife a glare. “I don’t see why we have to share possession.”

“Because I said so.”

“Why must you insist on using those foul words? They’re hard to argue with.”

“That’s why I’m using them. Just be glad I still permit you to use some of her pet names to drive her crazy, but she is our daughter, and you only get to use my when I am not present.”