came up to my side, hand drifting around my waist.
“They are,” I agreed, leaning into him. “I think the run-in with the hellbats gave this army some confidence.”
Kais had been leading Bethel citizens in their fight training for over a week now, with Azariah’s help on hellion knowledge and Zach leading the weapons drills. After the initial grumbling of soreness and fatigue that came from training twice a day, the flock was starting to shine, treating the recent battle as if it were a learning exercise instead of an attack. Their tenacity was truly impressive—the strength and muscle memory settling into their limbs made them more confident, and their recent experience encouraged their own improvisation.
In that same amount of time, Kais and I danced around each other with suggestive jokes and playful banter. He did seem less on-edge after our rough fucking on the mat, so it must have done him good. His taste was lighter, more at ease lately, although he didn’t approach me about repeating it. And like a damn human, I couldn’t bring myself to walk up and ask, “Hey, wanna grab my horns and pound the Hell out of me again?”
It didn’t stop me from crawling into his bed at night though, and holding him through the nightmares that still plagued him. He thrashed in his sleep, cold sweat on his brow until the moment he touched me. I stroked indulgently through the dark curls on his head, rubbed his back, and pushed to him all the emotions that Zach and Stavros filled me up with.
My boyfriends didn’t seem bothered by me going to him at night. They had each other, and somehow seemed much better at keeping their jealousy in check than I was.
“Do you think they’ll be ready for the next attack?” Zach pulled me posessively against his hip. Once so closed off to any physical touch, he started raining down the affection, almost overnight.
“The water supply is restoring and Az blessed all the weapons.” I nodded as I scanned the gym full of people moving through their drills. “You’ll have a fighting chance for sure.”
And if I could just bring myself to leave, maybe you wouldn’t have such a target on your back.
“And with you,” he pressed a kiss to my horn, pulling a soft gasp from my mouth, “there’s no way we can lose.”
I looked up with a smile, leaning into him as he tugged at me for more not-so-sneaky kisses, but the sense of dread was always looming. He had no idea how weak I was, that every time I talked myself into crossing over the gate, he or Stavros would kiss me like that, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Not even to save these men from Kimaris' wrath and King Belial’s conquest. I’d imagined that Belial wouldn’t be pleased to find out about Az’s release, but I hadn’t imagined he’d be willing to bargain.
If Belial wanted Azariah back so much, nothing would stop him from tearing Bethel apart brick by brick on his way. Unless I could convince Belial that Azariah wasn’t worth the bother. That I would more than make up for the loss. If I could just bring myself to leave in his place.
Fucking coward, I thought with every indulgent taste of Zach’s mouth.
“Ugh. Who needs to see that?”
Zach tore away, his head whipping around in search of who’d offered their commentary, but everyone on the bleachers was conveniently looking the other direction.
I rubbed his shoulder with a sigh. “It’s okay, Zach.”
“No, it’s not,” he growled, mismatched eyes narrowed dangerously. “You’ve been here over a month now. You’ve done so much for this town already, by helping out and by protecting us. If I could get over myself, so can they.”
“Some people will never look past the horns.” I shrugged. “The conditioning runs too deep. And I’m sure it doesn’t help that you’re their priest.”
“Well...yeah, I guess.” Zach admitted sheepishly. “Vows of celibacy just don’t seem as significant at the end of the world.”
The young priest perked up when Azariah walked in through the side doors, answering the squealing calls of his name with smiles and waves. From here I could see how his jaw tensed.
“I just got an idea,” Zach announced, his eyes following the angel. Excitement wafted off of him with the bright flavor of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
“Do tell.”
“You should heal Az fully,” he said, returning his gaze to me. “In public, where everyone can see.”