priest’s cheekbone, then placed a fast kiss on Zach’s lips.
It was over so quickly, any of us could have blinked and missed it. But nobody did. Kais and Stavros wore matching bug-eyed expressions, while Zach looked ready to cry with joy. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, a grin splitting his face as his hand reached up to touch the back of Azariah’s palm.
“Of all the angels and humans I’ve known, none hold a candle to your brightness, Zachariah.” Their foreheads touched, lips hovering mere inches away from each other. “You shine with the pure light of God within you. I can see it as clearly as your beautiful, curious eyes.”
Kais coughed, but nothing seemed to break the spell the angel had over his fellow priest.
“I used to get teased about my eyes being different colors,” Zach confessed, his head leaning heavily into Azariah’s palm.
“Oh sweet, dear little lamb...” I almost thought he was going kiss Zach again, but the angel’s lips landed on his forehead this time. “You are brave, you have suffered, you have remained true to your faith, and that is why you are one of God’s most favored warriors in these trying times.”
“I am?” A single tear tracked down Zach’s cheek, wiped swiftly by Azariah’s thumb, naturally.
“Are you guys hearing this?” I snapped my head between Kais and Stavros watching the train wreck unfold right in front of us. “He’s totally working him over!”
“Poor, jealous little succubus,” Azariah taunted, turning to me. “Have I foiled your plans of getting your seductive hooks deep in this pure, untainted soul?”
“I never would have—ugh!”
Defending myself was pointless, so why even bother trying? I turned and skulked off mid-sentence. The fucking wing was splinted, so I was clearly no longer needed.
“Deyva!” Stavros called after me, but I slammed the door on him, just as he did to me.
Okay it wasn’t the same thing, and maybe it wasn’t fair to get all bent out of shape. They were human. Why did I expect them to listen to me? It was in their DNA to ooh and ahh over an angel. I just had the tiny sliver of hope that maybe they actually trusted me a little more at this point.
It was foolish of me to even hope for that much, so naively human of me. After centuries of being a simple tool in a much bigger system, I wasn’t used to feeling anything at all. No, the feelings didn’t start happening until I started sipping from these men’s dreams.
“Deyva!”
I ignored the call of my name floating after me down the hallway, choosing to wallow in my thoughts instead. At this point, I didn’t even want a pity fuck from Stavros. I’d rather starve than choke on the vile flavor of pity, no matter how good his body felt.
“Deyva, wait.” A hand closed around my upper arm and I whipped around, stunned for a moment to see that it was Kais that ran after me.
“I’m just going to the office to lay down for the night,” I told him stiffly. “Still not running away or sneaking into people’s houses for midnight meal orgies, or whatever you’re worried about me doing.”
He at least had enough tact to look surprised. “I’m not worried about anything. I just wanted to say, don’t worry about Zach. That out there was…yeah.” He scratched a hand through his thick curls, and I mentally cursed my twitching fingers for wanting to sink into that hair too.
“It looked like he was trying to seduce Zach,” I said flatly. “Because he’s the most naive of you three. And Zach’s falling right into it. That angel is fucking up to something, Kais.”
“Yeah, Daisy, I hear you.” Kais nodded, his words solemn. “I told Stav to separate ‘em before running after you. We’ll figure it out, okay?”
I was rendered speechless. He believed me. The sexy, grumpy, warrior priest had a bit of sense after all. Maybe the most out of all of them, with the exception of giving me that fucking nickname.
“And for the record,” I found my words once again. “Despite what I am, and what I need to live, I have not once attempted to manipulate or seduce a single person since I got here. Azariah doesn’t need to feed like I do, and right off the bat he’s preying on someone. Stavros came to me, I didn’t—”
“Again, I hear you.” Kais pulled in a deep breath, looking far too calm and contemplative for the situation at hand. “Your good behavior