“Look what you’ve done now,” I whisper sinfully, gripping my cock in my fist and squeezing. “Break the circle, Elijah. Face me. Face your fears.”
“I’m not scared,” Elijah says defiantly, raising his chin. His voice quivers, but he doesn’t back down.
“You’re not.” I grin. “This is much worse. You’re…aroused.”
“Amnot,” he breathes, but kicks the edge of the circle and moves ash and candles out of the way, letting me in.
I push him deeper into the circle once more until we’re both standing in the middle together, then wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze gently. Possessively.
“Tell me, Beloved,” I purr, and Elijah swallows hard. “What truth did you give up to summon me?”
“None of your business,” he spits.
“Feisty,” I chuckle. “I thought men of God were supposed to be docile little creatures.” His blue orbs widen as he trembles beneath my touch. “I think I’ll have fun with you yet.”
Elijah shakes his head repeatedly, and I slide my hand down his chest, tugging him closer by the front of his pants. “W-what are you?” he stammers.
“What do you think I am?”
“Oh, God. Are you a demon?”
Ilaugh. “I’m neither an angel nor a demon.” His wide eyes shine with tears, and I shiver at the thought of licking them from his cheeks. “I’m fallen but not damned. Cast down not for lust, but for mercy.”
“I don’t really understand what that means.”
“Most humans don’t,” I say, reaching up to brush a strand of hair away from his eyes. “I’m a Hollow Flame.”
“Which means?” His voice trembles just like the rest of him, and I swear my cock has never been harder.
“Iwas cast out for loving a mortal.”
Elijah chokes, eyes wide.
“A very long time ago, I was tasked with testing the hearts of priests, prophets, and kings. I was meant to stir temptation. I was a watcher of mortal love.”
“So you made people fall in love with you…on purpose?”
“Precisely.” I grin, but it falls quickly. My thumb brushes over his bottom lip, and his chest heaves. I stare at the brand on his chest—the one he hasn’t seen. A sigil of a flame. “But it was me love ruined.”
“How?” he whispers.
“I fell in love with a mortal man,” I whisper back, and Elijah’s eyes widen even more if that’s possible. He tries to take a step back, but I grab the back of his neck and lower my forehead to his until we’re sharing breath. “I laid with him. Touched him. Worshipped him. I loved him deeply, for years, in secret.”
“A-a man?”
“Yes.” I nod once, rolling my forehead over his. Elijah’s breath is warm against my mouth, and I have the urge to close the distance between us. But I don’t. That would be idiotic.
“What happened to him?” he asks softly, eyes connecting with mine. But I look lower, to where his lip is trapped between his teeth. It’s taking all of my self-control to hold back.
To not claim him right this second.
“When the other angels found out, they erased Isaac. Scattered his soul so I could never recover it.”
“That—” Elijah gulps, eyes shining with empathy. He’s too good for this world. No one will ever deserve him. Only me. He was made just for me. “I’m sorry.”
I pull away, frowning.
Elijah looks up at me, still trembling from head to toe. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”
