Page 53 of Priest

“The two of you will have plenty of time for that later,” Knight grumbled as Priest ushered Oliver toward the car.

Oliver flushed and ducked his head, and Priest shoved his middle finger at his friend. “We weren’t doing anything.”

“You forget I can feel it,” Knight said, grimacing large enough to show his fangs.

“Oh gods,” Oliver groaned.

Priest had no defense against that. Supes could sense when nearby Incubi were hungry, and they could also sense when he was feeding if they were close enough. He sighed and opened the door for Oliver, closing it gently behind him before turning to his friend.

“Why are y?—”

“Don’t,” Knight said, an edge to his tone Priest was unused to. “It’s bad enough Sunshine and Remi can’t keep it in their fucking pants for more than five minutes.”

Priest fought back a laugh. “Well, Remi’s young and virile.”

Knight turned a little green. He was always wary and uncomfortable around people being physical, and while Priest understood why, he also understood how much it made Knight suffer. He was touch starved and unable to seek what he was so desperately craving except in the most desperate moments.

“We promise to keep it in the bedroom,” Priest said, giving his friend a break. “Oliver’s more focused on Poe anyway.”

“And he’s sure this is the place?” Knight looked uneasy.

From the information Jeremiah had put together about Knight’s captivity, they were very near where he’d escaped. Knight’s memory of the whole thing was foggy, like someone had scooped massive holes out of his brain, but he remembered enough. Priest and Jeremiah had searched the area for years,trying to find a clue or to get lucky and stumble upon the place he’d been held, but they’d always come up empty.

Until now.

“He seems very certain, and his powers are growing. I trust him, and not just because he’s…”

“Your mate?”

Priest flushed. “Demon mates are so rare they might as well be nonexistent. You know this.”

“We thought the same thing about Hellhounds,” he gently reminded him, raising a brow. “And last I checked, Angels could basically find theirs while unconscious.”

“But Nephilim—” Priest started, then stopped.

Oliver wasn’t a Nephilim. He was something else—something closer to human but still so powerful, and he could feel his lover’s strength growing by the day. He was lucky Oliver wasn’t one. Because human and Angel pairings were forbidden—a decree from the gods, not some bigoted government official—and Nephilim were cursed at birth to sense their fated mates but never be able to find them. If they did find them, the mate always found some grisly death.

He shuddered at the thought.

Knight hummed, pulling Priest from his thoughts. “There’s something we need to talk about at the safe house.”

“About mates?” He scrunched his brows in confusion.

“About all of this. Remi got an email from his ex.”

The only ex Remi had was a Nephilim he’d dated at Hillsland University. Priest had only met Ozias briefly when he’d come to check on Remi after the team had recovered him from his kidnapping. He was a renowned scholar, and he could hear other people’s thoughts. Rumor was he’d been collared with magic by the university, but Priest didn’t buy it. He didn’t buy that was evenpossible.

“Alright, let’s get on the road.”

Knight rolled his eyes when Priest climbed in the back with Oliver and pulled him close. He could sense the tension coming off his beloved in waves; there was no way he could leave him to sit and stew on his own.

Oliver was scared for his friend—scared of what they’d find when they got to Poe and scared for what it meant. Something was obviously brewing. Something beyond some fringe group of fanatics who wanted to kill Supes.

Priest just didn’t know how deep it went and how the hell they were going to unravel the increasingly complicated ball of string now that they’d started pulling at all the loose threads.

The safe house was tucked into the woods somewhere near a lake. Priest hadn’t been to this one before, but the layout was like the others. It was single story, deceptively large inside, and blended well enough into the surroundings that it was almost impossible to pinpoint from an aerial view. The road leading up to it was slightly wider than an average hiking trail, and they used just enough magic to cloak it and stop anyone from accidently stumbling upon it, but not enough to draw attention.

They had a covered garage for their cars with a mossed roof and tunnel that attached to the side door so none of them were exposed walking outside. There were retinal scanners at each end of the tunnel, and he knew there would be another one they could use to escape if the cars were compromised.

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