Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 83

Aria’s POV

I’m a dangerous man, Aria.

I’m a monster.

I’m not what you think.

You should not look at me like that.

I’m not a saint.

I had dismissed all of the different times that Roma had hinted that he was not who I thought he was and even though I had seen him kill a man and seen him kill feral wolves, I had still believed that he had no choice.

That he was doing them because he believed that it was the right thing to do.

That he was protecting the greater good.

But hearing him say that he felt pleasure from murdering someone, his own father, it made me wonder what he was capable of.

“What? Speechless now?” He said as he rose to his feet and neared the bed, his eyes still red and even though I was scared out of my mind, I remained still when he crawled to the bed and sat in front of me, his claws out as he traced my cheek with a finger.

“You’re trying to scare me now. Why?”

“Shouldn’t you be scared, my sweet woman? You said you wanted to know everything.”

“And I still do.”

Wrapping a hand around my neck, he massaged slowly and I gasped when his hand tightened around my throat, not right enough to hurt but enough to raise warning bells.

“In my nightmares, I see him on top of Selene, my first mate. My pregnant mate. Trying to stick his d**k inside her. Can you imagine? Your ruthless abuser of a father that spends his entire life maltreating you until you are a hard brutal man doesn’t think that is enough. He thinks that raping your mate is character development. Well, Aria, that nightmare actually happened.” He whispered as he kissed my cheek and tears spilled down my face in pain at the horror of what he was saying.

“It was a rainy night and I didn’t even know that something so monstrous was happening to her. If I had only gotten there a second later he would have succeeded in raping her. Her clothes had been torn, her hands wrapped protectively around her pregnant belly as she tried to fend him off. I didn’t think. I snapped. Years of rage at that monster made me move. I ripped out his throat in front of her. And even when he was dead, I didn’t stop tearing him apart, enjoying every bit of it. That night, my mate saw the monster that she had married. And even though it had been to protect her, it broke something in that fragile woman. It broke something in me too. I had killed an Alpha and the goddess was not happy even though she knew what he was. And because I showed no remorse, I was cursed with a demon. Cursed to kill anything and anyone in my path whenever the beast emerged. Cursed to be a killer.”

More tears spilled down my cheeks for him. For all of the horrors that he had to endure.

“The humans killed my mate one night when she had been unfortunate to be in the woods. And that night I had been with her. I don’t remember anything that happened after that. But when I came to, I saw dead bodies everywhere. Everything and everyone in the forest that night, both human and wolf had been murdered by me. So much b***d on my hands but the worst part was that Selene had watched me for the first time transform into that beast. And she had taken her dying breath terrified of me. Scared of the man that was supposed to be her protector. I’m a killer, Aria. Those chains that you see in the West wing? They’re to hold me down. To stop me from hurting anyone and everyone in the pack when the Beast comes out.”

I remembered how he had looked ready to hurt Raphael that day in the woods and could only imagine the grief he felt to not be able to control the beast inside of him. The fear of living everyday wondering if you were going to harm your loved ones by mistake.

The fear of waking up covered in b***d of your loved ones and knowing that you killed them because you lost control.

I realized that instead of fear, my entire heart was filled with love and sorrow. Immense sorrow. For those he had lost. For the abuse he suffered as a child. For having to take his own father’s life. For every innocent life he had taken when he lost control.

Letting him see my eyes, I cupped his face and kissed him.

Soft and gentle.

I cradled his face and felt his hands loosen from my neck to wrap around me as he buried his face in my neck and his body shook.

“You’re not going to hurt me, Roma. You know that.”

“You don’t know that. Because in my nightmares, I see you being raped. I see you die. And all of it is my fault.” He whispered against my hair and I held him even tighter, relieved that he was opening up to him. That he was showing me all of those parts of him that he kept so close to his chest.

I’d seen enough of the Beast to know that it had not tried to hurt me so far for some reason and I knew Roma thought it was luck, but I had faith that it meant something.

That it was a miracle. That fate was trying to give him a chance at happiness.

I didn’t say a word as he cried into my neck.

I held him until he stopped.

And then in silence, I followed him into the bathroom and together we bathed under the shower, basking in each other’s presence.

I smiled gently when he gave me one of his shirts and pants to wear, glad that I smelled like him as we headed downstairs to the cafe opposite us for breakfast.

He didn’t look like he wanted to speak but as we left the penthouse, he linked his fingers with mine and I knew that he was trying to gather his thoughts.

We had breakfast and started the journey back to town and just as I got down from the car after he parked in front of the house, he rounded the vehicle and stood in front of me, looking nervous.

“I’m sorry for what happened. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He whispered and I nodded, rising on my tiptoes to k**s him.

I smiled into the k**s as he wrapped his hands around me and when we pulled apart, he rested his forehead against mine.

“I know that it’s probably too soon to say this, but I think I’m falling in love with you, Aria Ajello.”

My heart hammered in my chest and when I looked up at him, I saw the sincerity in his soft gaze.

I was about to respond when someone cleared their throat and when we turned to look, Carlos walked towards us wearing a smirk.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the lovely couple?”