Page 52 of Bellamy

Yet, I knew he would. Just as I’d always save him.

It was our curse to bear.

“Come on, big guy,” Simon said once Galen lowered his wings. He guided the bigger male toward the staircase.

Galen looked over his shoulder at Bellamy. Anger was still present, but something else was too. Guilt, maybe. “You good?”

Bellamy nodded. It looked like he wanted to say something, but his body shook. His nostrils flared. He was seething. Was he mad because Galen attacked him… or mad because Galen threatened me?

Alastair approached us once Galen and Simon left the basement. Anger lurked in the depths of his eyes as he focused on me, less obvious but still present. “I never thanked you for helping my brother escape the underworld. You have my gratitude. But don’t think this changes anything. I don’t trust you.”

“That sentiment seems to be going around today,” I said. “I feel so loved.”

Bellamy’s lips twitched.

“While I don’t agree with how Galen handled the situation, I admit he wasn’t totally in the wrong.”

“What are you saying, Al?” Bellamy asked in a suspicious tone.

“Galen is hotheaded and brash, but he realizes the danger imposed on us with this demon being here. Even while in a cage, his very presence puts us at risk.”

“That’s not true.” Bellamy shook his head. “I have everything under control—”

“Go upstairs, Bell,” Alastair said without taking his eyes off me. Something was different about him. He’d never been the warm and welcoming type, but the coldness in his voice unsettled me.

“Why?” Bellamy stepped in his path, putting himself between me and one of his brothers. Again.

“Don’t make me give you a direct order.” Alastair looked at him.

“What are you going to do?”

Alastair’s expression hardened. “What you can’t.”

A small breath left me in a sharp exhale. He was going to kill me.

“No,” Bellamy snarled, coming to the same conclusion. “Lazarus said he wants me to try to—”

“Trybeing the key word in that sentence,” Alastair interjected. “Phoenix will never switch sides. You know it just as well as I do. Asa’s claws are dug too deep into him, Bell. Keeping him alive will only put our mission in jeopardy.”

“Fuck the mission!”

“You don’t mean that. The mate connection is making you feel that strongly. Once that connection is gone, you’ll be yourself again.”

“You can’t do this, Al. I won’t let you.”

Emotion finally bled through Alastair’s cool indifference. “I can’t let you destroy not only yourself but all of us right along with you. We can’t keep the demon caged forever. And we can’t let him go. We also can’t trust a word he says. It’s wise to snuff out a threat before it’s too late to do so. This is the only logical—”

“Fuck logic.”

“Lazarus trained me so hard when we were young so I’d be strong enough to make these hard decisions. I have to do what’s best for my family. For you.” Alastair’s chin quivered before he steeled himself. “Go upstairs, Bell. That’s an order.”

Bellamy gritted his teeth, body shaking. He refused to move. And he looked to be in excruciating pain because of it. “Please, Al. Don’t.”

Alastair averted his gaze. “I have to.”

“Bullshit!”

I’d done a lot of fucked-up things in my life to survive. Manipulated those around me, killed countless people, and fucked whoever I needed to in order to get ahead. Damn everyone else; I only cared about myself.