Atlas blinked at his mate. Had he known that? “Seven sins.”
“The seven deadly sins,” Bel confirmed. “Given to Lucifer to help him complete his tasks. To help the king of hell punish the evil souls.”
“Okay.” Maybe Atlas should have asked more questions. One good look at Bel and Atlas knew it wouldn’t matter. “That’s fine.”
Bel smiled at him. “You have no idea what that means.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Atlas assured his mate.
“It should. After we mate, you will be tied to me for eternity. We will never be apart.”
“Eternity,” Atlas said. There was something important not being said.
“I am one of the oldest demons in existence. Only Lucifer himself is older than me.”
Atlas nodded.
“The fates would never give me a mate that would leave me. When we mate, you will become immortal.”
Holy shit! “Immortal?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t ever die?” Atlas asked for clarification.
“You can’t die.”
“Can’t? What it someone chopped off my head?” It was the worse way that Atlas could imagine losing his life. Why he came up with something so gruesome, he had no idea.
“You would recover,” Bel told him.
“What if I got blown up?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
Bel winced before answering. “You would recover.”
“I won’t ever die?”
“Never.”
“And you would stay with me the whole time. Forever?” Atlas asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ve been alone for a very long time. I’ve heard how Gage and Cary talk about Lucifer before they mated,” Atlas said. “You should have selfishly mated to me and fuck the consequences. You didn’t. Even now that I told you I want you to claim me, you’re still trying to warn me away.”
“Not,” Bel said and paused. “Not warn you away really. Just warn you in general, I think.”
“And you think because you’re some high-level demon, I don’t really want to mate with you?” Atlas questioned. “I knew that already.”
“My first job was to collect the souls of beings that engaged in gluttony. That used their gluttony to hurt, kill, and abuse others.”
Gluttony. Atlas looked around the room. “And that has to do with your room because…” He allowed the question to trail off.
“I can never have enough of what I want,” Bel confessed. “When I get fixated on something I want, then I start to collect it. And collect it until something else catches my attention.”
“It’s a part of your makeup,” Atlas told him.
“To my very soul,” Bel said.
