Sorrow squeezed my heart. “That is what I had been trying to tell you.”
“Oh, my Devil. That smart bastard knows how to win every time.”
“Belle—”
“What’s taking so long?” She silenced me. “You said Alec isn’t far, and another minute of your roller coaster ride and I’ll puke all over the world.”
I landed roughly on the clearing of the willow tree, Beast Clearing as they called it, where Alec knelt in a circle of silver.
“Alec!” She ran away from my hold and stood before her mate.
His eyes glowed over her smeared-red, naked body, and then at the crown. He jumped to his feet and over the poisonous circle. Then he carried her and spun as if in a romance film. “Belle.” He kissed her fervently. “You’re here.” His hands roamed her in frenzy. “What did he do to you? Is it done? Fuck it’s done. It’s over.”
“Alec, listen. You can’t hurt yourself over me. Think about your brother. Think about the pack—”
A howl disrupted the sky, followed by the sound of paws pounding the snow and dirt. Then a blur of wind burst the clearing air. The vampire and the alpha wolf had arrived.
Kayden shifted swiftly. His reaction and Joshua’s were not any different from Alec’s as they spotted Belle.
“I’m glad you’re all here now,” she said. “Now, I can say goodbye to the three of you and give you the closure you need and get my peace.”
“What fucking closure or peace or living normally without you, baby?” Alec protested. “You’re my fated mate, Belle. How am I supposed to live without you?”
“Forever will be unbearable without our fated mate, sweetheart,” Kayden said.
“You can’t be so selfish, my love. You can’t just leave. We had a deal. You can’t just let him find a way out of it and win just like that,” Joshua said.
Her eyes darkened as the sky above. “What’s done is done. You can’t blame yourselves over me. You have to accept that our time is over for now.”
“Isabella… How could you be so cold?”
Her lips found his, overwhelming him with the blood. “It comes with the crown, Professor Asher.”
He winced, fangs out, as she withdrew and approached Kayden. “Take care of your brother. He needs you.” Then she glanced at Alec. “You need each other. Hell is not a nice place for you guys, not now. Wait until I make it better?”
“Do not listen to her. She is trying to numb your caution. She is only here to silence her beasts,” I blurted out. “Tell her you do not forgive her. Tell her she cannot have her peace. It is the only way she will remember. The only way she cannot let you go.”
Her three mates looked at me as if they had just realized I was there. Then panic flashed across their eyes.
“Traitor!Ibroke you out of Hell. Why are you helpingthem? ”
“Because as long as you can remember, there is hope. As long as you are a Belle, you can find me in the light.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
“That it is not too late.”
She pointed at the crown of skulls and thorns. “Are you blind? It’s already done. I’ve made my choice.”
“There is nothing in the prophecy that says once you are the queen of Hell, your choice is sealed. You still have the power to choose which child you will mother, which kingdom to tumble. You do not even have to tumble either kingdoms in the first place, Belle. Once you break up with Damien, you will no longer be barren, remember?”
Alec’s head lashed toward me. “Is that true? Can Belle still be the mother of a Lightborn?”
I strode to her and held her face between my hands as our gazes connected, sparked with undeniable attraction even for the queen of Hell. “Absolutely.”
“So what? We’ll replace one fallen angel for another?” Alec scoffed bitterly. “Archangel Asshole is no different from that Damien fuck. In Hell, she’ll forget about us. In Heaven, we can’t even set foot there.”
I cast a glare at him. “As much as I dislike your constant profanity and urges to kill and lust for blood and bodily sins, I shall not divide or separate you. I am not Damien. To compare me to the Devil is offensive and atrocious. I am cleverer, stronger, kinder and much more handsome with more virile organs to conceivecuterchildren.”
