“You can’t wipe my memories.” She stopped pacing and watched my reaction. I opened my mouth and closed it. “It doesn’t work on me. I think because I am your mate.”
“That would have been nice to know earlier.” I smiled slightly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because it was clear that you wanted me to not remember, so I let you think I couldn’t,” she confessed. “Are you upset that I lied to you?”
“No. You were quite flirty with me that day, Storm.” I grinned.
Her cheeks flushed as she stared at me.
“I followed you to see Avesh.” She blurted out. Gods, she was full of damn secrets. “I saw you demand to know how to transfer a bond. That always bugged me because we had one. You saw it that day too. It was faint, like the heavens didn’t want us to see it. So why did you want to know how to transfer it? Was it because you did not want to be mated to me?”
Oh shit, this is what she was worried about?
“Because I figured one of the higher powers would do something to it. Gods aren’t supposed to be mated to other gods. I asked because as soon as they fucked with our bond, I was going to make sure I was the only man you were bonded to. I would rip apart anyone to get that bond. But then you told me it was in Holden, and I could not kill him. That's why I was so upset that day. I knew Holden was such a better man than me, but I also loved him. They gave it to the one man I wouldn’t kill.”
“That is why you were so angry?”
“Yes.” I frowned. “Holden would have treated you well, Storm, and I love him. I would never hurt him for the bond.” I frowned at her. “You’ve known this entire time who I was.”
I turned and paced around the room, watching my mate, not realizing that she knew this whole time who and what I was. She loved me this whole time. I didn’t have to be so damn secretive with her over this.
“I knew the moment I saw you.” She watched me with curious eyes. “I knew when I saw that faint bond between us. It was the heavens that did not want us to be together because of what your parents did. But I knew that even the heavens were not going to keep me from you. Gods don’t get to be mated, especially a God of Hell and a god from the heavens. I’m sure they were worried that you and I would go down the same path your parents did.”
“Fuck, Della. I wish you would have said something.” I stared at her. She had been very good at hiding this from me. “I was trying so hard to hide it because I did not think you could love me back. I thought you would send me straight back to Hell and get a different mate.”
“I know you wanted to use me to fall from the grace of the heavens to break your curse.” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t say anything because I figured you would love me enough to back out of it, and you did.”
“You are too understanding about all of this.” My face fell. “Why aren’t you more angry?”
She smirked. “I guess I trusted the fact that you said you loved me. Although I did not enjoy being apart from you for the past few years, I had a feeling when the void side of you resurfaced that you would understand why I did what I did—that you would forgive me. The only thing I am upset about is that you knew you were going to die—that you would come back to me. You should have told me because those nearly 300 years almost killed me,Haden. If you would have told me that you’d be coming back, it would have been easier for me.”
She was watching me closely with grief in her pretty eyes.
“I had one brief vision that I found you again in another life. I honestly did not know if it would be my next life or four lifetimes away. There was no way I could tell you, Della. You and I both know that you would have stopped it, and I needed to die. I wanted to because I knew whatever you did that night would make me yours. That is all I have ever wanted—to be yours.”
Della’s body relaxed as her gaze shifted over all of me.
“No man would ever give me what you have. You know that you are the only man I have looked at, right? I have never doubted that you were the perfect one for me.”
I could hear the sincerity in her voice. Della truly meant what she was saying.
“Yes, and you know you are the only woman I have looked at or ever will. My eyes and heart have never wandered from you, even before I ever met you. Something deep inside of my soul knew we were waiting for you.”
Her chest was rising and falling in steady breaths. The air was filled with tension and longing.
“Can we finish what we started this morning?”
I smiled. “I’ve been thinking about it all day.”
Della smiled at me as her eyes flashed white. Fuck, I will never have my fill of her.
“Take your clothes off, Storm.”
She obeyed immediately. She stood in front of me completely naked, and I let my greedy eyes fall down the length of her body. Della was perfect, from her smooth skin to her curvy body. When my gaze met hers, I saw her waiting patiently for once.
“Come here,” I demanded.
She listened without hesitation. Slowly, I grabbed the collar of my tunic and stripped it off, exposing my bare chest. Della’s greedy eyes looked over me before she gave me a smirk.
