Page 44 of Bellamy

“Do you have any idea the hell you’ve just unleashed, Bellamy? When Galen and Castor find out Phoenix is in our basement, they’re going to storm down there and rip him to pieces. Gray too, probably. That demon’s on everyone’s hit list.”

“And he’s not on mine?”

“Is he?” Alastair scowled. “Your fated mate connection says otherwise. Even if you wanted to kill him, you couldn’t. You know that.”

Yeah, all too well.

He sharply exhaled and tugged his fingers through his pale blond hair. “Why were you outside the barrier to begin with?”

Because I felt trapped behind said barrier.

I was tired of them treating me like I was some fragile thing that needed to be watched. In the two days I’d been home, they’d been relentless. Following me around. Asking me“how are you?”a million times.

My time in the underworld had been hell—literally. But I wasn’t broken. And it was thanks to the demon currently locked in the basement. Phoenix had kept me sane. Kept me in one piece when I’d been close to shattering.

I dropped my gaze to the rug. “I was bored and wanted to get away for a bit. I flew above the clouds so no humans saw me, don’t worry. When I reached the forest on the other side of the lighthouse, that’s when I sensed him. My body took over from there.”

Alastair’s frosty attitude lifted, if only a little. “The fated mate bond grows stronger with each meeting. You having sex with him only added fuel to the fire. Of course you two wouldn’t be able to stay apart.” Under his breath, he said, “I should’ve seen this coming.”

A light rap sounded at the door before it opened.

“’Sup?” Raiden stepped into the study. “Guess what’s in the oven?”

“Pizza,” Alastair answered with a deadpan expression.

“Hey. How’d ya know?”

Some of the tension rolled off my shoulders as I breathed out a short laugh.

My goofy brother never failed to lighten the mood. How Raiden showed his love was through food… alotof food. He had cooked me my favorite dishes and made me eat even when I didn’t feel like it.

“Round up the others,” Alastair told Raiden before looking at me. “A family meeting is in order.”

Dammit.

Raiden looked between the two of us with an “oh shit” expression before backing away and leaving. Fleeing, more accurately. Our eldest brother was scary when he was mad, and Raiden wanted no part of it.

Everyone made their way into the study. Gray took his favorite spot on the rug in front of the fire, and Mason reclined beside him, his large hand on my brother’s hip. Gray snuggled into him and closed his eyes.

Castor and Kyo came in tickling each other. Well, Cas did the tickling, and Kyo looked like he was two seconds away from whopping my brother upside the head.

Daman and Warrin were next, my brother’s hand clasped in his husband’s.

The air shifted when Galen and Simon arrived.

“Someone want to explain to me why I smell a demon?” Galen growled, eyes flickering between light gray and the black that came from Wrath’s influence.

“Hey, you’re right,” Castor said, suddenly serious. “I thought it was a leftover scent from when we hunted last night, but it’s too strong for that.”

“Phoenix is here,” I said, cutting right to the chase. “I brought him.”

The anger Galen directed at me in that moment made my insides quake a little. I could hold my own against him when it came down to it, but truth was? Wrath scared the piss out of me. He scared all of us. Even Alastair. He was our ultimate weapon but also a dangerous force to have around if he lost control.

And he’d lost control a few times. Simon helped calm him though. I suppose the human was another ultimate weapon, one meant solely for the massive wall of muscle beside him.

“That goddamn demon hurt my mate!” Galen bellowed. “He chopped off Simon’s goddamn finger. You expect me to be okay with this? Fuck you, Bellamy. I don’t give a shit if heisyour mate, I’ll—”

“Galen,” Alastair said inthattone. Galen tore his gaze from me and looked at him. “Calm your ass down.”