Page 72 of Poseidon's Island Flower

Lucifer leaned against the counter, his arms crossed, sending daggers toward me. He knew he couldn’t rip his mate away from me. Uriel’s touch could alleviate pain in a troubled soul and from the very beginning, Uriel made sure I didn’t have to suffer when she was around.

“So where is she?” She bounced on her toes. “Where is Lani? I want to meet her!”

Lucifer pushed himself away from the counter, strode toward his mate and put his hand on her waist. He pulled her away, his nose tracing the side of her head. “Do you remember what we talked about, Bunny?”

Uriel nodded sheepishly, their fingers intertwined. “Not to crowd him,” she whispered.

Lucifer kissed her temple and pulled her to the counter where he was leaning.

“Good girl,” he said.

“But he looks happy!” Uriel clapped. “Are you happy, Poseidon?”

I nodded, smiling at my nephew and his mate’s dynamic. One of the darkest souls I’d ever known and the brightest, mated to one another to balance their each other. Lucifer almost put himself in Tartarus before he met Uriel. His anger and desire to destroy anything living was too strong, so he thought he would never have a mate. And if he did, he would destroy her. His soul was too dark, and his urgency to destroy the earth and all in it was too strong.

Once Lucifer met Uriel at her parent’s welcoming party for his younger sibling, it was all history. Uriel wiggled her way into his heart, and now he could never let her out of his sight.

“I’m actually in here to make her food. Would you like to help, Uriel?” I asked. Anything with sweets, Uriel would help with gladly.

Uriel squealed again and pranced around the island to pull ingredients out of the fridge. Lucifer shook his head, a smirk appearing on his face as he watched his mate lovingly.

“Hope you know what you are doing. She’s only caught my parent’s kitchen on fire three times,” Lucifer said.

Uriel scowled and shook her head. “Not my fault. The Underworld ovens run hot, and I haven’t figured out how low to make the temperature. It’s a delicate procedure when everything is burning down there.” Uriel wrinkled her nose.

I chuckled, pulling out a recipe book. Uriel settled on making brownies, something simple, as Lucifer suggested.

“So, what is she like?” Uriel propped her elbows on the counter as we waited for the brownies to bake.

Lucifer stared at her backside, most likely because her dress had risen. Uriel still had too much innocence and obliviousness to her surroundings. That was why Lucifer kept her locked away in the Underworld or took her places on earth or in Bergarian where wondering eyes were in short supply.

Uriel was sheltered, but she liked it that way. Uriel showed no signs of distress in that. She was happy as long as she was with him. It made me happy he would allow her to visit me.

Uriel helped give me courage when I had to help my brothers and sisters fight Kronos. However, the battle’s aftermath left me in shambles worse than before the fight.

“She’s wonderful,” I beamed. “Lani cares deeply about the sea, just like I do. She wanted to become a marine biologist but had to raise her brother. Her parents died when he was young. She’s a natural born caretaker.” My eyes warmed, thinking of how Lani took care of me.

Lani made sure I was comfortable in social situations. She reassured me; she knew what I wanted but couldn’t express. Lani was making me better. I could feel it already.

Uriel’s eyes softened.

“It was easy to get her into the ocean. She even took seeing Silas far better than I could have imagined.” My chest swelled with pride. Lani was terrified at first, but quickly regained her composure once she saw Silas bow before her.

“Because of the bond,” Lucifer said, picking up a banana from the fruit basket. “Bonds can make your mates relax, accept who they are supposed to be with and who they are quickly. Even if they don’t know they are mated.” He winked at Uriel. “Why do you think Uriel was never scared of me?”

Uriel took her finger and stuck it into the brownie bowl, licking the left-over chocolate batter. “I just thought you needed a friend.” Uriel dragged her finger out of her mouth, slowly. Lucifer’s eyes darkened, and his hands cracked my marble counter. “Or that, or you were constipated.”

“I was not constipated,” Lucifer growled.

Uriel shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever you say, Luci. Now please tell me, what does she look like? Zeus only told us so much.”

Loud mouth.

By now, all the Celestial Kingdom knew about Lani

“She’s beautiful. Her mother is from the United States, and her father is a native Hawaiian. She has gorgeous, tanned skin, and she has one blue and one green eye–”

“What?” Lucifer interrupted. “She has brown eyes.”

---