Page 67 of Priest

“Is that—oh gods, Poe,” Oliver said. He shifted closer and cupped Poe’s cheek. His skin was so cold now. “I’m not afraid of you. I just didn’t want to make it worse. Knight hates being touched. Priest said that’s one way to send him into a frenzy, and I didn’t want to do that to you.”

Poe let go of Oliver’s hand and wrapped his arms around his middle. “I want to be touched. I want… I want to know that I’m not something. Some monster. But everyone seems to?—”

Oliver cut him off. He couldn’t stop himself. He wrapped his arms around Poe and pulled him until he was spooning him, holding on as tightly as he dared.

“Every touch hurt when I was with them,” Poe said in a small voice. “Every single person came with some kind of agony at their hands, and… and I need to remember not everyone will be like that.”

Oliver pressed his forehead to the back of Poe’s neck. “It’ll never hurt here. Not with me, not with the Alphas, and not with Azriel.”

Poe took in a deep breath, and it trembled on his exhale. “He said he’s taking me to his place. I didn’t think an Angel would want to deal with a messy newborn Vampire.”

Oliver couldn’t help a laugh. “Messy newborn Vampire sounds like his dream job. Come on, you’ve met him.”

Poe snorted and snuggled backward. “That’s fair. And, uh… thank you. Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Oliver tightened his arms, and he felt a small pang of grief when Poe didn’t grunt from the force of it. Because of course he didn’t. He wasn’t human anymore.

“I will never give up on you, okay? You’re more than a friend. You’re more than family to me. Priest might be my mate and my bonded, but you’ve been my other half for as long as I canremember. You saved me. Even if they’d brought me a lifeless corpse, I would have forced Priest or Jeremiah to show me to the gates of the afterlife, and I would have come for you.”

Poe laughed, but it sounded close to a sob, and he twisted in Oliver’s arms. “I feel the same way about you. I think that’s why they couldn’t break me. Not completely. I knew you’d find me eventually.”

Oliver stared into his eyes, irises almost fully red now, and he knew once Poe had fed enough, they’d be completely scarlet when he fed or lost control of his emotions. “They did enough to make you turn.”

Poe nodded and bit his lip so hard his fangs broke skin. He swiped at the drops with his tongue, then shuddered. “To be honest, I don’t know how it happened. It’s not what they tell people though. They didn’t infect me with a virus. I never got sick. It was like… It was like they were using pain to invoke some kind of reaction or something. Like they were trying to wake something up inside me.”

Just like Jeremiah had suspected. Like their missing Nephilim friend had been studying.

He ducked his head and caught Poe’s gaze. “Was there a Nephilim at the lab?”

“The Hellhound guy already asked me that when I woke up, and if there was one, I don’t remember,” Poe told him, looking sorry. “I remember the sound of kids. I… I think that made me angrier than anything else. I asked the Hellhound how many of them died, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

“I don’t think he has numbers on how many were there before the raid,” Oliver told him. “But I know there were a handful of kids that were alive and two that were turned.”

“Oh gods,” Poe groaned, flopping his head back. “I had these ridiculous plans about how I was going to escape and save them, but I failed.”

“You didn’t. You called to me—you kept calling to me, and I heard you. I found you.”

Poe studied him for a beat. “So it’s true. You’re?—”

“Part Angel, I guess. Some sort of family secret shame,” he said bitterly. “Part of me wants to go confront my parents, but I also never want to see their faces again.”

“Does it make you a Nephilim?”

Oliver laughed and shrugged. “I don’t think so, but no one seems to know what it makes me. Priest still calls me his little human, though because of my powers, I can feed him without getting hurt. Azriel thinks that the more I use my abilities—like, the more I learn about them and hone them—the more powerful I’ll get.”

You’ll always be my little human, beloved.

I know.

“So we’re both freaks?”

“Yup. You and me until the end,” Oliver said with a grin.

Poe started to laugh, but it turned into a yawn, and he glanced away with embarrassment. “Sorry. I think I’m still tired.”

“After what you went through?” Oliver shifted his arms back and pulled the blanket up to Poe’s chest. “It’ll be time for you to eat soon, right?”

Poe swallowed heavily. “Would you mind if—if you didn’t watch that part?”

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