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Caleb rolled over and yanked me to his chest. He buried his face in my hair and let out a sexual moan. I could hear Pan laughing and I could feel Caleb’s erection. Shit, he was huge. I couldn’t go anywhere without fighting him, but he’d stopped shivering.

“I blame you for this, Pan, and I shall have my vengeance.”

“Good thing there are two other priests here so they can hear his confession that he copped a feel and yours that you enjoyed it.”

I pried Caleb’s hand off my boob. I wasn’t dead, and he knew his way around a nipple. He was also sleeping.

“Down, boy, or we’re both going to get smote.”

“Stop grinding on me, then,” Caleb growled. “Go to sleep. I’m freezing and exhausted.”

Caleb wasn’t totally out then if he was able to talk. He was also apparently very fine with this if his erection was any indication. He was cuddling me like a beast, but I still had to adjust myself to get comfortable enough to sleep. And since he was pressed right up against my back, that kind of involved rubbing my ass all over his dick. Caleb could have backed up and he didn’t.

He spanked me for good measure. I guess I had that coming since I technically spanked him first. I was finally comfortable. Too comfortable, actually. I liked this a little too much.

What.the.fuck?

Iwoke up alone, having had the best night of sleep I’d had in a very long time. I had nightmares for years after what happened the night my mother went missing and then I slept really lightly after the witches found the right talisman and tea to keep the nightmares away. Pan was also responsible for a lot of that.

Damn. Was this was normal people felt like when they woke up? I could get used to that, but basically, it could never happen again. There was no reason for it to and I certainly wasn’t going to push the issue.

When I walked into the kitchen, they were all eating. Rainer did a breakfast skillet, but he was going to have to go to the grocery store soon because we had to be running low on food. They were all wearing Rainer’s clothes and Saul was pretty pornographic in those gray sweatpants because he was so much bigger than my uncle. I once saw a drunk naked guy strolling down Bourbon Street and didn’t even blink. I wanted to cover my eyes at the sight of Saul and that just wasn’t like me.

The biggest change was Father Caleb. He was lighter and joking around. I hadn’t known he’d been hexed until someone told me, but he must have been fighting it longer than I thought possible. Caleb must have been cursed since the first time we met, because he seemed like an entirely different person.

“Hi, Logan,” he said.

He was definitely smoldering at me and he most definitely touched my nipples last night. I wasn’t saying a damned word about the nipple thing because Rainer would kick his teeth in. I was the queen of disassociation and I could easily pretend I didn’t find him attractive and kind of liked and admired the guy for how he was handling all this.

“Feeling better?”

“I feel like a new man. You gave me my life back. I can’t thank you enough. I apologize for acting like we knew better than you and not listening before. We’re listening now. I’m not sure how much change we’d be able to make. The Pope is a good man, but the chances of me ever getting close enough to him to tell him anything we’ve learned is slim. Bishop Henry would get to him first and have us excommunicated with a lie.”

“That guy is a dick. Pan offered to eat him. I thought it would cause too much problems, but it can still be Plan B. Pan eating someone is always Plan B, by the way.”

“Gross,” Saul said. “He’d probably taste like unseasoned boiled ground beef.”

“That’s oddly specific,” I said.

“My mother passed when I was four and my dad raised us. He was a good man and an absolutely terrible cook. Instead of browning the ground meat in a skillet with onions and garlic, he’d boil it with no seasoning.”

Rainer and I were both New Orleans, born and bred. I was pretty sure someone showed up and arrested you for not seasoning your food here. Rainer didn’t just teach me to fight monsters. He taught me family recipes. Most of the stuff he’d been cooking for these priests had been passed down during death bed confessions because nothing was ever written down. I could cook it just as well as he could.

“Do they cover serving your kids that in therapy?” I asked.

Saul just grinned at me and shrugged.

“I didn’t know any better until I left home. It’s why I love New Orleans so much.”

“I hate to break it to you, but most of the people who work in the French Quarter are ready to kidnap you so you can’t leave because they love you back.”

They really did. It wasn’t just the drag queens. Everyone said he tipped well, treated people decently, and was always willing to listen without judgement. If someone was causing a scene, he could de-escalate and get them out of there without anyone hurt. Saul had this open, choir boy face you just wanted to trust, but I was learning there was also a decent guy under all that brawn.

Caleb cleared his throat because yeah, I was staring into Saul’s baby blues a bit too long.

“Thanks to Saul’s breaking and entering and theft, I can start looking into any communication between William and Henry. I grew up with William and I’ve been working under Henry for twenty years. They both joined the Church for the wrong reasons. I happen to know Henry wants to blow the lid on supernaturals and so does William. I need to see what they are up to.”

“Good plan. Saul and I can keep digging into Canterbury and Solomon can work on the translation.”