Page 45 of Gray

“What’s with the twenty questions?” Bellamy asked, fine brow arching.

“Why are you avoiding said twenty questions?”

“I’m not avoiding them.” Bellamy snatched up his phone and stood from the couch.

“Know what I think?” I stretched out my arms, my joints popping, and then stood up, still a bit groggy from my nap. “I think you’re sad.”

“Sad?”

“You miss Daman.” The two of them had always been close. Made sense for Bell to be going through withdrawals and being sad now that Daman had gotten married and moved away from home.

Bellamy shook his head. “That’s not it. I do miss that moody bitch though.”

“Then what’s wrong? You’re hardly ever picky about your hookups. It’s just like me with sleeping. I’ll nap anywhere.”

I tried prying into his mind. If one of us was thinking hard about something or upset, our thoughts had a tendency to betray us. Meaning, those thoughts projected into the minds of any of us close by whether we wanted them to or not.

Alastair was the exception to that. He’d learned to keep most of his thoughts hidden from us.

“Get out of my head, Gray,” Bellamy said in a tone of voice he rarely used with me. He sounded… well, mean. He squeezed his eyes closed and took several deep breaths before looking at me again. “I’m sorry. Just… don’t do that. Okay?”

“Okay.”

His reaction told me something was definitely wrong with him though. I wished he would confide in me like I confided in him. Like I confided in all of them. We were family.

“Come get your human,”Alastair told me telepathically.“I explained most things to him about the war. I told him about our allies but not where they’re located, just in case he decides to use it against us. I’ll let you tell him the rest.”

“The rest?”I asked.

“He doesn’t know about our sins. All he knows is we’re the sons of fallen angels. If he’s going to be staying here, we can’t keep it from him. He’s sharp for a human.”

Nerves swirled in my belly.“Does he know that Belphegor is my dad?”

“No.”

More nerves. I felt sick.

“Gray?” Bellamy touched my arm. “Are you upset that I snapped at you? Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s not you.” I offered him a smile, but it felt weak even to me. “Al said he and Mason are done talking. I…” I swallowed the thickness in my throat. “I gotta tell him about us. About our sins and stuff. Tell Mason, not Alastair. He knows obviously.” Bellamy pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. I ignored him. “I don’t know how he’s gonna take it. What if he thinks we’re evil and tries to kill us?”

The humor left my brother’s expression. Bellamy could go from charming playboy to cold-blooded killer in a flash. They were two sides of him. One came out more than the other, but both sides were inside him. Lust of bodily pleasures and bloodlust.

“Want me to be there when you talk to him?” he asked. “If he calls us evil, I’ll give him a reason to think that way.”

“Hey, don’t threaten him.” I lightly shoved Bell’s shoulder. “That’s my maybe-mate you’re talkin’ about.”

“I’ll be close if you need me.”

“Thanks.” I smiled again, this one feeling more genuine.

After leaving the living room, I headed toward Alastair’s study. Sunlight streamed in through the many windows in the mansion, and I skipped down the hall, excited about it. It had been so long since we’d seen a clear blue sky. I took it as a good omen.

“Someone seems happy,” Mason said, exiting the study right when I got there.

“I am. The sun’s out.” I tugged on his arm. “Wanna go outside?”

The tight lines around his eyes smoothed. “Anything to see you smile like that.”