Page 73 of Priest

Priest shrugged. “What would you do in his shoes?”

“I was in his shoes,” Knight hissed. “And I most certainly didn’t look for a way back.”

“That’s because the lab was still operational when you escaped,” Priest pointed out. “And you’ve never been in his shoes. What happened to you was different.”

“I—” But then Knight deflated. He turned to Poe. “I think this could be a mistake, but it’s on your head.”

He stormed out, and Priest held back a sigh.

Poe looked torn, but Azriel closed the distance between them and set his hands on Poe’s shoulders. “Don’t take it personally. He’s like that with the people he cares about.”

Poe laughed bitterly. “He doesn’t even know me.”

“He knows you better than you think,” Priest said, slipping past them to grab coffee. For a moment, he swore he could taste tendrils of lust in the air, but before he could flick his tongue out to verify, it was gone. “You need to be patient with him. This is harder for him than he wants to let on.”

Poe let out a short breath. “I don’t want to hold you up or anything, but I really need to do this.”

“We’re not going to stop you,” Azriel said. “So long as you promise you’ll say something if it becomes too much.”

“I promise,” Poe said quietly.

There it was again. Priest flicked his tongue out, and Azriel smacked him. “Stop that. I know what you’re doing, and I will rip your tongue out if I have to.”

Priest raised a brow at him. “I’m not hungry. I was just curious.”

Poe looked confused, but Priest wasn’t about to fill him in.

After a beat, Poe sighed. “I’m going to go check on Oliver.”

The moment he was out of the room, Priest rounded on his friend. “A baby Vampire?”

“It’s not coming from me. He’s dealing with a lot of confusing feelings and emotions. Everything is heightened, and he feels a little… grateful to the people who rescued him,” Azriel explained. “Trust me, it’ll pass. And for the record, I would never prey on someone in his position. Do I think he’s attractive? I mean, look at him.”

Priest snorted. Objectively, he supposed Poe was good-looking, but now that he and Oliver had bonded, he struggled to see beauty in anyone else.

“He’s adorable in that weird, humanly awkward way. Like a baby giraffe. But I don’t want to fuck baby giraffes,” Azriel said.

“Protest much?”

“Fuck you.”

Between one blink and the next, Azriel was gone, leaving Priest to the coffee. He didn’t think there was actually something going on, and he did understand what Azriel was trying to say. But he also couldn’t deny that now Poe had turned, his life was going to be different.

Not only that, but if they were right about the mates thing, his prospects about any happily ever after he might have would be drastically and completely changed.

20

OLIVER

Oliver wasn’t entirely on board with Poe coming to the compound, but he understood why his friend needed to do it. He could also see how frustrated Poe was by how careful the others were being with him. Priest was mostly hands-off, and so was Knight for obvious reasons. But he hovered a little too close, and Azriel didn’t let Poe get more than a few feet away from him without putting a hand on his shoulder or his back.

Poe looked like he wanted to pounce on the Angel and drain him, and Oliver wondered if Az would let him if he did. Poe had clearly been feeding, though Oliver couldn’t bring himself to ask on what—or who. But he could tell Poe was still hungry.

He wished he knew more about Vampires. He never thought they deserved the sort of treatment they got, but he’d never put much study into them either. For so many years, he believed they were caused by a viral infection in humans. Now, realizing it was a genetic mutation or something, it changed everything.

He could only hope the lab had something left behind because he wanted to help figure it out. Not just for Poe’s sake but for everyone who had been turned against their will.

The drive to the compound wasn’t terribly long, but Oliver considered asking if they could just use their powers to close the distance. Knight seemed happy behind the wheel though, and Azriel looked at ease. Priest seemed to sense his discomfort because he picked up Oliver’s hand and gently played with his fingers.

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