I didn’t know what Belle talked about either, but I thought she had a point. I’d never seen Belle like this, so out of control, listening to her darkness without fighting, struggling so much that she was begging me for help.
There was something about this place or the people here or those babies that got to her.
Belle sighed. “I really think there’s something special about them. Something only Damien knows. Something, today, I felt. And if I could feel it, then I think you can, too.” She turned her gaze toward Inferno. “I’m sureyouhave. So please, tell me the truth.”
He exchanged a glance with Legend. Then he shook his head. “Why do you wanna know?”
“Because I don’t think what Damien did was random. He went through a lot of trouble to getthosebabies born for a reason. And that reason could be the answer I’m looking for.”
“The answer to what?”
“Why I’m not allowed to have my own child.”
Legend scowled. “What? What do you mean you’re not allowed to have your own?”
We filled them in about the asshole angel’s visit, message and Damien’s absence.
“What did Damien say to you when he…did what he did?” Belle urged.
“Lies. He said nothing but lies.” Legend wiped a palm over her face. “He tried to convince me that I should have been his replacement, like I’d rule Hell so he’d go play house with you. But all this time, he was lying. He was just trying to take my babies and raise them in Hell so you’d…” she looked at me and Alec, “…come back to your senses.”
“Come back to my senses?”
Vixen dropped her gaze. “He thought the babies would be enough to lure you back to his kingdom. He wanted you to leave the other three and be his alone to rule Hell with him.”
My fingers clawed the air. “That son of…”
Alec broke in a frenzy of curses, seething. “I’m gonna kill him. I don’t care what he is. Damien fucking Pattison is dead.”
Belle paled; she looked like she was about to pass out. “But we have a deal. This doesn’t make any sense. The devil always keeps his end. Why? And whyyourbabies?”
“It doesn’t matter. I told you he was lying. I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but my children are not evil, Professor Ferro. They are half human, half shifter. That’s it. They have nothing to do with the Devil or your issues with Heaven.”
“Vixen, please—”
“You were right. I shouldn’t trust you. Please leave me and my girls alone.”
Vixen Legend was obviously hiding something but I was too angry to even push and squeeze it from her. “C’mon, Belle, let’s go.”
“But—”
“We’ll figure it out on our own, I promise, but right now we gotta go.”
“Where?” she protested.
“To find that fucker king.”
She let out a heated breath. Then she grimaced at Inferno. “Do you have any idea where your father is?”
He shrugged. “We didn’t leave off on good terms. Did you try home?”
Belle’s grimace deepened as she shook her head in response. “Could you…check for me?”
“You might be Hell royality, but I don’t run for you. The only people I take orders from are Prez and Miss Legend, and right now she wants you to go.”
Miss Legend? Who calls his mate Miss? Fucking demons.
“I was only asking for a favor, Inferno.” Her eyes traveled between Legend and her demon. “You all owe me this much. But it looks like I’ve made a mistake coming here in the first place.”
