AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterTwenty-Six
CALEB
Ihadn’t even touched her, but the scent of Sunday’s arousal continued to torment me. Even now, hours later, my dick was still hard, still aching for relief. The fecking sounds she made as they’d had her right in front of me echoed in my mind. I’d pulled sounds like that from deep inside her, I wanted to then as well, but I hung onto my resolve by the thinnest thread I had remaining.
The way she’d looked at me, begging me with her eyes to touch her. To taste her. God above, it was nearly my undoing. Did she have any idea what she did to me? How little control I had when it came to her? How every time I touched her I swore it would be the last, even when I knew she’d make a sinner of me the next time we crossed paths.
“Is something burning?” The words intruded on my thoughts, the angel Gabriel’s voice holding annoyance as he looked at me. “Caleb, your hand.”
I blinked, my thoughts of Sunday dissolving as reality came crashing back down. I glanced at my hand where I was clutching a rosary, the silver cross embedded into my palm. Thin curls of smoke rose from where the metal continued to burn my skin. I removed my personal implement of punishment and tucked it away into my pocket, the shame of my failure to control my lust hitting me hard as God’s own messenger stared me down.
Beside me, Lilith smirked, her eyes glowing as she fed on the lust I’d tried and failed to push aside.
“You,” I growled.
She blinked, feigning innocence. “What? You know I’m not one to turn down a free buffet, sugar.” Then she licked her lips, letting out a lusty sigh. “Delicious, by the way. Forbidden fruit always is.”
Gabriel’s lips twitched from where he stood in the center of our gathering. “If you’re quite done with... whatever that was, we have business to which we must attend. Business that is taking me away from other matters I’d much rather be focused on.”
“Like that book in your pocket?” Lilith asked with a sultry curl of her lips. “I do love a good smutfest.”
“I’ve said it before—”
“It’s not smut if they’re in love. Yes, I remember.” Lilith was a ballsy one; I’d give her that.
For a demon and angel, two celestial beings that played on opposite sides, they certainly had an interesting friendship. The same could be said for most of the people in this room.
“I’m with the angel. I have the safety of my pack to concern myself with. We were fine until you brought the half-breed here, Fallon.” Ronin Farrell’s booming voice filled the space from where he was seated.
The circle of society members seemed so out of place in the basement ofIniquity. The room was nothing but a box with peeling wallpaper and empty shelves as decor, a single pendant light hanging from the center of the ceiling and illuminating all of us in sickly light. Well, almost all of us. The Seer remained cloaked in shadow, her hood low on her face as she stood just outside of the group.
“She was brought here to keep this from happening. Instead it’s gotten worse. Blackthorne’s son can’t keep his dick away from her.” The growled words from Niall Fallon vibrated through me.
“You will refrain from speaking of my son that way,” Cashel Blackthrone snapped, his fangs on full display. “We did what we could to keep them apart. I know from experience, a mated pair like them will not be stopped.”
“My, if I knew there’d be a dick measuring contest, I would have brought my popcorn.” Quinn Satori was an enigma, the Novasgardian ambassador new to our secret group. She smirked, looking every bit as devious as the demon sitting next to me. “Nord never mentioned how much fun these little meetings were.”
“What do you have to say for yourself, Priest? You were charged with keeping Sunday safe. You failed. The seals are opening.” Cashel’s eyes burned molten amber, so like his son’s.
“I cannot be with her twenty-four hours out of the fucking day. Even if I could, she’s a grown woman. I do my best, but she makes her own choices. As you bloody well know.”
“But you want to be,” Lilith muttered under her breath. I was going to hang her up by her toes if she didn’t stop taunting me.
“We really have taken every precaution. No one anticipated demons would return to the surface. Or that they would single her out so quickly.” Antoinette le Blanc’s words almost sounded like a defense. One I hadn’t expected. The headmistress and I rarely saw eye to eye on anything.
“This isn’t about the fucking demons. It’s about the seals. My granddaughter is going to end the world, and since no one would let me kill her when she was born, there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”
Rage boiled in my blood. If anyone harmed a single hair on her head, I’d tear their heart from their chest and feast on it while they watched.
“Careful, Priest. Your feelings are showing.” Lilith looked pointedly at my hands, knuckles white as my fingers dug into my knees.
“The girl is an innocent. She doesn’t deserve death. She requires saving.” Gabriel glanced around the room, his eyes singling me out. “She needs a guardian who can keep his personal emotions in check.”
Especially if he wants to redeem his soul.
He didn’t say the words out loud, but I felt them in every cell of my body. It’s why I was here, after all, part of this motley crew. I was not one of the members, but a servant to their cause. If I succeeded, my reward would be my soul. Gabriel himself had promised to go into purgatory and bring it back to me.
And yet, I continued to fail at every turn. I couldn’t keep my fecking hands to myself.
