AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I couldn’t help but stare into his eyes, trying my hardest to figure out what was going on inside his mind. I couldn’t reply to him, partially because I didn’t know how to respond. There was only one reason I’d have marks like this on my body, and I wasn’t going to share that private information with him.
“Just so we’re clear, I’m not old enough to be your father–I’m old enough to be your great, great, great, great, great, great grandfatherat least. My immortal life has been a long, rough journey, leading me straight to you. I’ve been watching over you since the day you were born. There’s a reason for that.” He moved his hand lower, until his fingertips sat at the valley between my breasts. I inhaled sharply, and mentally frowned at myself. Why wasn’t I telling him to back the hell up?
“That’s not true,” I unconvincingly squeaked.
“Isn’t it? I know you got your first skinned knee on the playground because you stood up to a bully who pushed you down. For your Pop Pop’s last birthday, you got him Mets tickets and took him to the game. Whenever you order pasta at a restaurant, you order lobster ravioli in a blush sauce.” He trailed his fingers below the water to my leg, running his fingertips over the horrid mark on my inner thigh. “I’m not stupid, Diana, I know how you got these marks. I’m going to tell you again, these men are dangerous and they’ll ruin you. Part of me thinks they’ve already started, if you were considering my advice.”
“They’ve been nothing but good to me since I got there, except Mal. He’s a little shit,” I countered. “He disliked me from the minute they took me.”
He laughed again, a rich, deep laugh. “Yes, he is. He’s damaged in a lot of ways. How do you think he became a hellbound? And you meansince they abducted you. They didn’ttakeyou anywhere, as taking implies you chose to go with them.”
How did he know they kidnapped me? Zaz was keeping a lot of stuff close to the vest, and it made a lead weight settle into my stomach. I was a coward, because instead of demanding he tell me how he knew any of this or how he knew where to find me, I asked “What is a hellbound? None of the guys will tell me, and Desmond let it slip that Mal used to be a warlock. He told me if I value my safety not to ask Mal about it.”
“Solid advice. Mal would have no qualms about hurting you. A hellbound is a magical being who receives the ultimate punishment of eternal damnation. They have to sustain themselves from the sadness and fear of others for the duration of their sentence. The Satan in power at the time is the one to pass judgment and sentence them. You have to do something truly unforgivable and completely against nature to become a hellbound. Do you still feel safe with them now, knowing who you’re living with?” He raised a brow at me, as if to dare me to say yes.
Did I? Mal had never been kind to me. Sometimes when he looked at me from across the table or saw me in passing, I got the bone-chilling feeling that he more than hated me. I saw it in every one of his sneers and cold stares.
“I notice you’ll say anything to turn me against the men who saved my life, but you still won’t tell me about yourself and what you know about me. You won’t prove to me that I can trust you, either. That’s convenient, totally not something a spy would do.”
He held my face in his calloused hands, rubbing my cheek with his thumb. He leaned in and ran his tongue over my lips, willing me to open up to him. I closed my eyes, and without thinking, let him kiss me.
As he caressed my tongue with his own, the blackness focused on an image. I was cuddled into Azazel’s side, his arm around my waist. We each held the end of an open book and were laughing together. The edges of my vision were blurred, so I wasn’t able to tell where we were. Then the scene faded, and my vision refocused on him flying high in the sky above a forest with me in his arms. His wings beat hard against the wind as we rose higher and higher toward the sun. Although this moment in time was clearer, it was still blurry.
I felt his hand migrate to the back of my neck, and once our lips parted, my eyes opened again. We were back in the stream, so close together now that our chests were flush against each other. His wings were extended, and he flapped them slowly in the water, creating calming ripples.
“Do you understand why you can trust me now?” he whispered in my ear.
My heart was pounding a mile a minute. A million feelings swirled around inside me, colliding in a crash that sent me straight into panic mode. “How did you do that?Please, stop with the riddles,” I pleaded. “Just tell me what that meant. Those things never happened.”
He settled next to me to sit with his legs extended like I was, pulling me onto his lap so I laid between his legs with my back to his. Strong wings cocooned us, the wet feathers surprisingly comfortable against my skin.
“Diana, those things haven’t happened…yet. I showed you them so you’d know that in time, you’ll more than trust me. I told you I’d protect you.”
“You’re doing a great job so far,” I snapped, pushing out of his hold and swimming away from him to put some space between us. “I had a hit put on me by the Devil himself, whom I’ve never met and had no clue existed until a week ago. You claim I’m living with dangerous men, yet I don’t see you trying to save me from them. You won’t tell me how to stop this time-hopping fuckery, and you’re keeping things from me and not giving me the whole picture. Maybe future me trusts you, but current me sees a shit-ton of red flags I can’t ignore!”
He huffed out a sigh of annoyance, his brows dipped, and the crinkle around his eyes became more defined. His southern drawl was thick with emotion. “In time, I promise I’ll tell you everything, but there are things you need to experience. I’m doing everything I can to protect you on my end, but I’m begging you, watch yourself around them. I know them better than you do.”
My anxiety was so ramped up that my chest tightened and my throat went bone dry. I had to get out of here. He swam toward me again, and I held a hand up to him to hold him off. I closed my eyes and thought of Ares’ bathroom, and how good the water smelled. I pulled my knees into my chest and dipped my head low, wrapping my arms around myself, as if doing it could possibly protect me from the overwhelming sense of dread I felt. A familiar itchiness spread all over my body, but I didn’t open my eyes right away.Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
A floral aroma permeated my senses. I lifted my head, opening my eyes to find myself back in Ares’ clean, crisp bathroom. Four white walls with cyan accents. I frowned when I saw the open door. Was someone here? I had to clear my mind of the negative emotions and paranoia clouding it. As soon as I finished my bath, I was going to dry off, get dressed, and return to my room where I could think in peace. I dunked my head below the water, holding my breath as long as I could before I resurfaced again. Bash stood in front of me, still naked from the night before, with a look of relief on his face.
“Ares, I found her! She’s in the tub!” he shouted.
Ares ran in, putting his hand over his chest as he exhaled. “I just checked in here though, and she wasn’t there.”
I was about to come up with some lame excuse, but Bash saved me the trouble.
“She was underwater when I came in, you probably didn’t look hard enough around the partition wall and missed her in your frantic search. I swear, Birdie, he was super-speeding around the house like a bloody maniac, tearing it apart because he thought you left.”
“Excuse me for giving a fuck about her.” Ares rolled his eyes, turning his attention to me. “I was just worried about you because you weren't in bed, or in your suite. I think I speak for the both of us when I say we take your safety seriously. Anyone who fucks with you would pray for death, because that would be a blessing compared to the hot Hell I’d lay on them.” Ares’ eyes glowed, and his smile was downright nasty, the corners of his mouth practically touching his ears so his teeth were on full display.
I wasn’t sure whether to feel safe, scared, or thankful that Bash saved my ass without even knowing it. Should I tell them about Azazel? A little voice inside me told me to continue to keep him to myself.
“Well, here I am,” I said awkwardly.
I held onto the edge of the tub and started to stand, but Bash offered me his arm instead and helped me up. He leaned in, inhaling deeply along my neck.
“You smell familiar,” Sebastian said in a suspicious voice.
