Page 71 of Bellamy

“And yours was promiscuous?” I guessed.

“He was a licentious prick who ruined my mother’s life,” Bellamy said. “He seduced her and convinced her to run away with him. He fed her lies. Said they’d live happily ever after. Then right when he learned she carried me in her belly, he abandoned her. He fulfilled Lucifer’s orders and was done with her. She found him whoring around in a brothel not long after that, and the bastard just smiled at her.”

I didn’t know Bellamy well, but I doubted he could ever be that cruel.

“My mother had nowhere to go and no money to her name,” he continued. “She eventually found work in a pleasure house. That’s where I grew up. She despised me. Gods, how she hated me. She saw my father every time she looked at me. ‘You have his eyes,’ she’d always say before shoving me away or slapping me. Of course, it was my sin showing her his eyes. Despite him breaking her heart, my father was still the one she desired the most. I wanted her to love me so badly and didn’t understand why she didn’t.”

I pushed to my feet and went over to stand beside him. I hated the brittleness in his tone, like he was barely holding himself together.

“I was just a little kid, Nix.” Bellamy’s voice broke on my name. That same breaking happened in my chest when he turned to me and pushed his forehead to mine, his arms circling my waist. “Fuck. I’ve never talked about this.”

Bellamy avoided relationships because he was afraid he was too much like his father. As I held him, it hit me that he probably didn’t feel like he deserved love. His mother had drilled it into his head that he was this twisted, dark thing that should be hated. Deep down, I think he believed that too.

“I wish I could’ve met your mother.” Anger churned inside my veins, my blood running hotter. “I would’ve ripped out her tongue so she could never speak another cruel word to you again.”

“Yeah, something’s definitely fucked-up in my mind,” Bellamy said with a short laugh. “Because that’s one of the sweetest things I think anyone’s ever said to me.”

“I would destroy anyone for you.” I touched his cheek. “Anyone and everyone who hurt you. I’d kill them all and not think twice about it.”

Bellamy’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed. “Even Asa?”

“Especially him.” The truth sank into my bones. “Your enemies are now mine.”

The bond between us had deepened so much in only a matter of days. The last tendrils of loyalty I’d had for Asa died away. Whether it was strictly due to me and Bellamy being fated mates or something else, I didn’t know. It didn’t really matter in the end. The outcome was the same: me being right there in my mate’s arms.

“I shouldn’t like this,” Bellamy whispered. “You saying these things.”

“Does it make you want to come to the dark side?” I teased. “Life’s more fun without a moral compass.”

“I think you still have a moral compass.” He rested his hand on my collar. “You’re just more selective with how you use it.”

“Perhaps.” Careful not to stab him with my horns, I laid my head on his shoulder. “But I’m far from a good person, Bellamy. Being your mate won’t change that.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“No, I’m not going to let you put a leash on me too. A collar is as far as I go.”

He laughed, which was my intention. He then became serious again. Too serious. “Is this real? Or is it another trick? Tell me the truth. Please. No bullshit.”

“It’s not a trick.” It was the perfect moment to tell him about why I really helped him escape the underworld, but the words wouldn’t form. What would I even say? Asa hadn’t told me why he’d allowed Bellamy to leave. I was just as clueless as anyone else.

I could tell there was more Bellamy wanted to say, but he pushed it aside for now. “We should head back,” he said, holding me firmer. “Hold on tight.”

Bellamy leapt off the cliff with me tucked against his chest. His wings caught on the air a few feet from the water, and we glided over it before reaching the mansion.

It wasn’t until later that night when we were in his bed, his cock pumping in and out of me as we both moaned in ecstasy, that he finally let his words from earlier fall from his lips.

“Don’t betray me, Nix,” Bellamy said on a moan, face pressed to the crease of my neck. “I won’t be able to handle it if you do. It’ll break me.”

“I won’t.” I moved my hands to his shoulder blades and fingered his wing slits. Warmth pooled in my belly as he groaned deep. “Out of everyone in this world, you’re the only one I don’t ever want to hurt.”

Bellamy nuzzled my collar as his orgasm hit. His release triggered mine, a white-hot pleasure that left me gasping.

Never let an enemy know your weakness. And I now knew his: me.

He was mine too.

Chapter Twelve