Juniper

Twenty Five

Juniper swung her hips around as she danced to the slower song. Her headphones she'd borrowed from Raph were on her ears, blocking everything around her.

Her mate spoke to her about their deal, her being more included and he promised to keep his end of the deal.

However, he was going to kill the three prisoners they still kept from the coven and he announced he wanted her to stay home for it.

Begrudgingly, she agreed. Because she was trying to learn to compromise.

Currently she stood at the counter looking over a map. While he was gone she'd gone through all of his paperwork he'd gathered on her- their- situation, all the people he'd had as interests.

After picking out certain profiles, she circled areas on the map that she knew the coven frequented. Some of the same places they'd followed her to and or attacked at.

Juniper hummed quietly, she was a sucker for some music from the 80s. Her father mentioned it was her mothers favorite music.

They brought a type of comfort to her she could never properly describe.

From the doorway, Raphael had been watching the woman.

Juniper's hair was pulled up messily, the coils falling in her face so she had to push them away every few minutes.

He inhaled her scent deeply, her ochre skin was blemish free. Her plush, pouty lips were pressed together before she'd mumbled the lyrics of what she was listening.

Raphael recognized the song, having remembered when it was popular a few decades ago.

Her gray eyes were sharp, focused on what she was doing.

Something shifted in his mind, his demon falling harder for the demoness. His priorities were shifting more and more day by day.

Everything was beginning to revolve around her. She was at the center of everything. All of his thoughts.

Loudly, he set his keys down on the counter so she'd see he was near.

Juniper jumped a little in surprise. Turning right into Raphael's chest, the man cupped her face.

His lips captured her own.

She grunted softly, eyes widening but promptly reaching to thread her fingers through his hair.

He grumbled a little, pushing her flush against the counter with his large body. Their tongues fought, lips bruising.

After several minutes, he let Juniper go. She gasped for breath while clutching his biceps. He rubbed her back gently.

"I want one of those whenever I get home," he husked as their faces were inches apart. Their noses brushed one another's.

He pulled away from a mildly stunned Juniper, looking at what she'd done while he was gone.

"O-Only if you deserve it," she managed to blurt out after a few seconds.

He nodded while narrowing his gaze at the map.

"Alright..." he trailed off distractedly. Leaning over the counter with either hand besides the map, Raphael spoke up with furrowed brows.

"What is this?"

Juniper ducked under his arms, sandwiching herself between her mate and the counter.

"I circled where they followed me to," she trailed her finger over the black circles. They traveled south along the coast until Juniper decided to go more sporadic in her locations.