Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Onyx: When someone tells you, “You’ve changed,” it might simply be because you’ve stopped living your life their way.
She gasped. “You shameless bastard!” She went at me again. This time, she lunged for me, getting on top of me.
In less than a second, I flipped us over, gripping her throat with my bloody hand, marking her.
“Who do you think you’re fucking with?” Unable to resist provoking her, I insisted, “I’m going to need that dagger back now.
You can keep the belt.” Licking away her tears from her cheek, I bit, “I’ll tie you up with it. ”
All the color drained from her face. “It was you… How did—”
“Hennessy,” I half sang, purposely trying to taunt her. If we were going to have it out, then I was going to enjoy it. “You haven’t been paying attention. I fucking warned you.”
“But you showed me your hands.”
Cocking my head to the side with an evil grin, I confessed, “I just showed you what I wanted you to see. Haven’t you met the makeup artist?”
She rasped, “You fucking asshole.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “How many ways do I have to prove that to you?”
“Why?”
I maliciously smiled. “We’re bonded for life now. You’re mine.”
“You can’t own my soul unless I consent,” she breathed out, not waiting a second. “Rule number one, asshole. The devil can’t collect what isn’t owed to him. That’s free will, you fucking asshole!”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it, loving the fact she already knew that. Sucking on her bottom lip, I scoffed out, “You’re too smart for your own good.”
She didn’t let me get away with it, chomping down on my tongue when I slid it into her mouth. I groaned loudly, and it only made my dick harder. I claimed what was mine, continuing my descent. She kissed me back, not that I didn’t expect her to.
She was as addicted to me as I was to her.
I couldn’t help but notice how vulnerable she felt. How exposed she was to me at that moment. Hennessy didn’t just poison me. She was venomous to herself as well. Belladonna ended up being toxic for both of us, and I hadn’t seen that coming.
For a woman who hid behind her strength, it was hard to watch. At least it was for me.
She slowly licked my blood off her lips, trying to govern her unsteady breathing. Hoping I didn’t realize how much she wanted me to touch her.
Hold her.
Comfort her.
I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I wasn’t made like that either. I wouldn’t know where to begin. I wouldn’t know what to say, how to explain, how to tell her I’d fallen in love with her. Perhaps it was her venom that made that happen too.
For the first time in my life, I understood the meaning behind the saying that love could kill you, and you’d think I’d already know that by now.
She paused, panting with her forehead placed on top of mine. “None of this makes any sense to me. I should hate you. What did you do to me?”
“You do hate me, or at least you will.”
“Hate is not what I feel for you, Onyx.”
“Hmm…” I murmured against her lips. “If that were true, you wouldn’t live to say it to me.” My bloody hand hadn’t left her throat.
“Why did you mix our blood?” she asked when she noticed.
“The more questions you ask, the less anything is going to make sense.”
“I want to know anyway.”
Going completely against my better judgment, I declared, “It was a ritual of silence.”
“Silence?”
I wanted to provide her the only security I could, which only put her life in more danger, and trust me, the irony was not lost on me. Despite feeling uneasy about confessing this, I answered her persistent question as if I was a man on death row, and in some cases, I was.
Looking deep into her eyes, I shared another truth, speaking with conviction, “I vowed to never tell you what happened to your father.”
If she weren’t lying down, she would’ve fallen to the ground from the impact of what I just openly shared with her.
“You knew my father?”
“Knew isn’t the word I’d use.”
Her eyebrows pinched together. “That’s the same thing your aunt said to me when I asked her about him.”
I stayed quiet. What could I reply to that…
“All I was told was that he died when I was young.”
“He did.”
“Where? Here? Is he part of the Brotherhood too?”
Unsure of how much I’d actually share, I went with it and answered, “He’s like me.”
“What do you mean? Like you, how?”
“He’s a legacy family…”
She gasped with wide eyes. “The crest I saw in the museum?”
I simply nodded.
“What does that mean?”
“Your ancestors started the Blood Oath Brotherhood, just like mine did.”
“Ay dios mío.”
I shook my head, confirming, “Your God isn’t going to save you from this, Hennessy. Your father already cursed you with his last name.”
Determined, she snapped, “I’m not my father.”
“Your bloodline is, and that’s all that matters.”
“What the fuck?” she exclaimed. “Does my mother—”
“Why do you think you live in the Peruvian , Hennessy? Now I need you to open your fucking eyes and see the truth that’s been in your mind this entire time because it’s the only thing I can’t share with you.”
“So your loyalty lies with them?”
“My allegiance is to keep you alive.”
“My family has a generational business. They’re not hiding me.”
“Your mother has one. That has nothing to do with your father.”
“Why do you say it with such contempt? What did my father do?”
“He betrayed the Brotherhood, and it cost him his life, but before he sacrificed himself, he made sure you wouldn’t know about his legacy. It ended with him, and up until this school year, his request was met.”
“What happened?”
“Your fucking uncle.”
“What can you tell me about him? How is he marrying your aunt? She’s a Devereaux. Why isn’t it an arranged marriage like your sister's? My uncle isn’t in the Brotherhood.”
I merely watched that little mouse running wildly inside her head until once again, all the expression from her face vanished in plain sight as she figured it out on her own.
Answering what was on her mind, I confirmed what she already predicted, “He pledged his alliance to marry her.”
If your soul could actually leave your body for a few seconds, then that was what just happened to Hennessy. I swear I saw it rise right out of her chest and float above us.
Trying to give her whatever reassurance I could, I explained, “You and I are the same.”
“If that were true, I would know about my family’s past.”
“It was designed that way.”
She frowned.
“Your father made sure of it. He did it to protect you.”
“Protect me from your family?”
“No,” I stated. “Protect you from the Brotherhood.”
“My mother knows?”
“The only ones who don’t know are you and my sister, I mean, she knows some, but not all. At first, it was the only reason I agreed to watch you.”
“And now?”
“You’re the reason I can’t stop obsessing over you.
Their plan backfired because, baby, to watch you, to learn about you, your every movement, your every gesture, your smile, your laugh, the way you dance, the way you cook, how you talk to nature, how you can read people so easily, your beliefs, your knowledge, your beauty…
” I caressed the side of her face, leaving my blood there too.
Maybe in a way, this was my ritual for her.
“Your kindness, the way you love, your innocence, your sass, your determination, your wit, your smart-ass fucking mouth, your strength, your courage, the power you have over wild animals and my fucking dick, everything about you… is to love you, Hennessy Belladonna.”
Her eyes filled with fresh tears. “That’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“If I had a soul, I’d hand it to you. Do you understand that?”
She nodded. “I understand everything.”
“Good.”
“Deja?” She swallowed hard, my eyes hardening. She knew she wouldn’t get anything else out of me after that. Changing the subject, she questioned, “How long have you been stalking me?”
Unable to resist, I leaned forward, kissing and licking those tears off her face too. “Since the second you stepped onto American soil.”
“That’s four months, Onyx. You’ve been lying—”
“I never lied to you.”
“What do you call what you’re doing right now? You think any of this is normal?”
“Since when have you ever been normal, Hennessy? You talk to nature like it talks back to you.”
“It does.” Without missing a beat, she added, “And you can hear it, or this wouldn’t be your escape too.” She gestured to the firepit.
“I come here to stop the voices, Hennessy.”
“Does it work?”
“It did until you woke them from the dead.”
“Is that what your aunt meant by the woods are witnesses?”
“Just as much as you are. Now do you understand that?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” I repeated.
If I had the power to freeze time, I’d have done it right then and there, but magic like that didn’t exist. If it did, what played out next would’ve never happened to begin with.
In an instant, my whole world flipped upside down as I knew it would eventually. Preparing for it wasn’t enough, no, not even close.
Sacrifice was never something I enjoyed watching. Especially when the victim didn’t earn it, which in most cases, they didn’t. Except none of that mattered.
There were rules to follow, and I just broke all of them, putting our lives at risk to share some of the truth she deserved to know.
I hung us on the cross that night under the full moon. You reaped what you sowed, and I understood that the moment I shouted, “Run!” to Hennessy.
But I was too late. The consequences of my betrayal caught up to us. I grabbed her hand, yanking her up with me and hauling ass, straight out of hell. The demons always caught up with me, particularly when I was dragging an angel with me.
We didn’t make it out of those woods, not when we ran into Caspian…
Hanging from a tree.