a praying man. Okay, we also both know I don't completely believe you exist. In which case, I'm probably only talking to myself right now. But just in case I'm not, can you please remember that Father Clarence is your boy? He's been down here spreading your word and doing all those good deeds. So yeah, if you can see your way into not letting him die, that would be cool.
I'm not sure how I can threaten an immortal being that might not even be listening, but if you are there and you are listening? Thank you for creating this man. But you should probably know that while I can't kill you, I will happily kill as many of your people as I can if I ever need to avenge my mate’s death. Just saying. Letting him live might be a good thing for you too. People will live and I won't blacken my soul with the murder of innocents.
Are we good? Cool. Thanks. Okay, bye. Or… Amen. That's what I was supposed to say to send the prayer, right? I considered that for a second and it felt like the right word. Okay, God. Amen.
I wondered if my mate could see past my poker face to read my thoughts. No, stupid. He can't read your mind. If you were mated and in shifted form, maybe. But mind-reading isn't a mate thing. You're safe, he'll never need to know about your twisted idea of prayer.
Father Clarence looked bemused as if he couldn't believe his luck when he looked me in the eyes. I held myself still, trying not to give any of my thoughts away. Did he realize that we were screwed? I was pretty sure that priests weren't allowed to get married to anyone but God. And even if they could, surely a man of God didn't belong with an assassin.
Although, my chosen missions were well-intended as a rule and I only chose targets who were purely evil and needed to be dead. Shit, who am I fooling? No matter what, at the end of the day I killed people for a living. There was no way the good father was going to be able to work with that. I didn't care how strong the mating pull was; my chosen profession wouldn't sit well with him. Obviously. There was no way he could possibly overlook that, right?
I was still lost in thought when Nash poked me in the ribs and nodded toward Darius and Father Clarence. They were heading toward a small house across the way. My mate kept glancing at me over his shoulder but Darius didn't seem to notice. Gib either. He'd taken up residence on the other side of my mate and the two of them were chattering like freaking magpies while we walked across the lot.
I knew they were shielding him in case a sniper was set up nearby—because nobody would dare shoot if the prince and his consort were right there. We had planned it before we showed up at the church and it was a good plan that I myself had suggested.
And now I hated it. Hated it right along with the two fuckers who were now dominating my mate's attention.
Nash frowned at me. "Why are you looking so constipated? I'm not sensing anything right now and our plan is working perfectly. Calm down before you make anyone who might be watching suspicious."
I was about to tell him what he could do with his opinion when I realized that he was right. "Sorry. There's, um, a small complication that I'm not ready to explain right now."
Before my brother could push me to spill, we made it safely to Father Clarence's home. Once we were all inside, I skirted around my brothers to keep people between us while the good father locked the door and bolted it. He double-checked all the curtains before turning his attention to me. Before he could say a word, Darius interrupted by getting right up in his face.
"Father Clarence, I've come to tell you that there is a contract out on your life. Without giving away any family secrets, trust me when I say that my mate and his brothers were in a place to intercept the contract so we can save you. My question is, why would someone want to kill you? If you were caught, prison should be your only fear. Has something happened recently?"
Father Clarence scrubbed a hand over his face before shaking his head. "No,