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He didn’t drop to his knees, but he voiced his request as sincerely as possible without sounding desperate. “Please. I will be in your debt if you could find it in your seeking heart to assist me and my people.”

“And pray to you. Do you know how weird that is?”

“No.” Pan shook his head. “That’s what happens. People pray to me, and I use magic to help them. Sometimes I show up, and we have a…party.”

“Party?”

“There are more fun ways to worship on your knees than prayer.”

Understanding and heat flickered in Noah’s eyes. “Since I have more magic than you, perhaps you should be worshipping me.”

Noah smiled, and Pan wondered if he also looked that smug when he reached a great conclusion or did grand acts of magic. He brushed past and walked toward the dark wooden pub door.

Pan watched with his mouth open. The nerve. The audacity. No one refused him. People begged to serve him. But Noah had a point—if they were comparing magic, which they weren’t—worshipping Noah might create more magic. “Fine. I will.”

Noah stopped on the footpath out the front. His nose was pink from the cold, but his eyes were bright. “What do you mean, you will?”

“Exactly that.” Pan walked over and placed his palms against Noah’s cheeks. He drew in his breath and closed his eyes. He’d never prayed to anybody. Never worshipped anybody. But he knew how it went. That for it to mean anything, the ask had to come from the heart. And given how incredibly mortal he was, he was very aware of the beating of his heart and the blood rushing through his veins. It was quite distracting at times. Like now, as he touched Noah, his blood rushed to his dick which hardened and demanded attention which it wasn’t going to get since he was the one doing the worshipping.

This was kind of fucked.

This was beneath him.

No, he was mortal, and Noah had more magic in a single word than he had in his entire body. It was almost as if the old gods, the ones who no longer existed or who no longer troubled themselves with such puny matters, were doing this deliberately.

“Noah of the seeking heart, please show me the way forward so that I may return to wholeness. Let me be your servant.” This was killing him. He wanted to snatch his hands away and demand that Noah pray to him. Noah should be begging to be blessed by him. A god humbling himself to a human was unheard of. It was needed if he ever wanted to reconnect with magic. “Allow me to bask in your benevolence and blessings. I beseech thee to turn your loving gaze on me and turn your magic to my plight.” He was close enough now that Noah’s breath whispered over his lips. “And now you respond.”

“Do you respond to everyone who prays to you?”

Pan opened his eyes. “No, because that’s rather a lot.” Did that mean Noah wasn’t going to respond to him? “But I hear their prayers and sometimes send magic.” Which made him sound like a wet streak of mermaid shit. “And sometimes the act of asking the gods for help is enough to stir up the magic so that I didn’t need to step in. Magic is unpredictable and doesn’t always help.”

“Yet you want it back.”

“It is part of me. I am without a limb, without a sense, and unable to help my people.”

“You seem to be doing okay, having already agreed to help a dragon and a vampire.”

If he had magic, he’d have already found the dragon. “Did you sense anything when I prayed to you?”

“Um… yes…” His cheeks turned pink. “Though I wouldn’t call it magical.”

Pan leaned closer. “You might be surprised by what is considered magic.”

Noah’s tongue flicked over his lower lip. “Uh-huh. Why don’t you show me?”

He didn’t need a second ask. He closed the gap between their lips, tilting his head as if he were a supplicant, but it was Noah’s lips that parted first as he gave the blessing.

Time ceased to exist.

Pan wasn’t sure if his heart was beating or if his lungs were working. None of that mattered, though, because there was magic on Noah’s tongue, even if it wasn’t flowing through Pan’s veins. There was a sharpness in the air they shared. And he made damn sure to worship Noah’s mouth as if he’d never get the chance again.

The pub door opened, and the spell was broken. The tiny shimmers of magic faded away. Noah gasped, and Pan stepped backward, letting his hands fall away even though he missed Noah’s skin on his palms immediately.

It wasn’t Linda standing in the doorway, but a woman in dark clothes and a tight bun. Her eyes were the same green as Noah’s, but she held herself with authority. This must be the aunt.

Her gaze flicked between the two of them. “Is there a problem, Noah?”

“No. The incubus was a bit hungry, so I let him have a snack.”