Page 48 of Priest

“He really is quite sweet once you get to know him though. He can just be a little prickly with new people.”

“I’m right here,” he grunted.

“Of course you are, dear,” Flint said. “Tamir’s out back, fiddling with one of the ATVs. Why don’t you two go for a quick flight before dinner?”

Rorick was already speed-walking toward the large glass doors that led to the back patio.

“No hunting,” he called after him. “Both freezers are already full to capacity.”

Rorick waved a hand in the air and then disappeared outside. There was a flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a rumble of thunder.

Oliver looked at Priest and then Flint. “Is it safe for them to fly in a storm like this?”

Flint laughed, and Priest had to press his lips together to stop from chuckling himself.

“Dragons are pretty hardy,” Flint told him, his perfectly white teeth almost blinding from across the room. “Even if they somehow managed to get themselves struck by lightning, it wouldn’t penetrate their scales.”

“Whoa,” Oliver whispered. “That’s so cool.”

Priest bristled. “Demons are pretty cool too, you know.”

Snorting, Flint went back to chopping his vegetables, a huge slab of meat waiting next to the grill top. Priest knew he was being ridiculous, but the words had flown out before he could stop them. He didn’t want Oliver admiring any other supernaturals or their abilities.

Oliver leaned against his side and tipped his head back so their faces were only inches apart. “Of course they are. In fact, there’s one in particular I’m quite fond of.”

He hopedfond ofmeantwished to be mated to.

Now that Flint had broken the seal on that word and Priest was finally letting himself acknowledge the possibility, it was all he and his Demon could focus on. He wanted that. He wanted Oliver by his side for the rest of his life, caring for him, and protecting him, and feeding off him.

When he didn’t respond, Oliver scrunched his eyebrows at him.

Priest cleared his throat, smiled as best he could, and said to Flint, “Is Caspian still working downstairs?”

Flint nodded. “He’ll probably be at least another half an hour. He had some conference call that he had to hop on, but once that’s wrapped up, he’ll be done for the day. Dinner won’t be ready for an hour or so. If you guys want to head up, we made up the same guest room you were in last time, Priest.”

That sounded like a great idea. He needed to chill for a minute before subjecting himself to the entire Hoard. He gave Oliver a more genuine smile. “Let’s go get settled in. You can meet Caspian and Tamir at dinner.”

Oliver studied his face for a moment, then gave a half shrug and turned to Flint. “Thank you again for letting us stay.”

“Of course,” Flint said. “Like you said, the Alpha Team is family, even when my brother would prefer us not to be,” he added with a wry grin.

Priest led the way out of the kitchen, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Oliver slipped his fingers between Priest and whispered, “What did he mean? Why does Storm sometimes wish you guys weren’t considered family by his brother’s Hoard?”

He considered what he should say since it wasn’t really his story to tell but then decided Storm would understand him sharing with his… future mate. “He has a complicated relationship with his siblings and parents. Flint is the only one he speaks to on a regular basis. His parents won’t talk to him atall, and his other siblings only on holidays or when something major happens.”

Oliver made a sympathetic noise. “Family can be complicated, that’s for sure.”

Priest wouldn’t know, but he decided not to bring that up. They weren’t talking about him and his childhood of growing up on the streets, in and out of foster homes, until he met Jeremiah and the two of them teamed up to keep each other safe. And then, when they were a little older, they found a newly turned Knight, so traumatized from the unspeakable things that had happened to him he was barely functioning.

“You know how Dragons always have multiple mates, right?” Priest said, leading them up one side of the grand staircase.

Oliver’s eyes were on the mural on the ceiling, twenty-five feet above them. “Right. Hoards are a minimum of three mates, though usually five to six is more common.”

He rattled off the information like he was reciting it from a book, which he probably was. Priest wasn’t sure why he found that adorable as fuck, but he did.

“Well, Storm… he’s not interested in having more than one mate.”

Oliver whipped his head around, nearly stumbling on the next step. “He doesn’t want more than one mate?”

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