Page 153 of Alastair

I was too numb to care.

Clara staggered toward the boys’ bodies before losing her footing. Her chest heaved as she tried to breathe. She screamed instead. She gathered Gray in her arms and cried into his hair, rocking back and forth in the snow.

Mason dropped down beside her. The former Marine normally kept his emotions at bay, but he couldn’t hold in his pain in that moment.

None of them could.

Phoenix pulled Bellamy against him and released a broken yell, his eyes flashing red. The tree in front of him caught fire.

Warrin cradled Daman’s body. He had reverted to his human form, but as he silently cried, the tears crystallized on his cheeks. His silver eyelashes shone like ice.

King Tatsuya stood behind Kyo, hand resting on his head. Kyo held Castor, muffled cries leaving him as he hid his face in Castor’s red hair. “I told you not to leave me, Red. Why can’t you just listen for once?”

Alastair was still in my arms. With a trembling hand, I brushed aside a strand of his pale blond bangs. My chest was so tight. Something built inside me. A cry. A scream. A complete breakdown—I didn’t know. But as it built, I pressed my face to my mate’s cheek. His cold cheek.

“You promised me.” I gently rocked him, as if that would somehow make his eyes open. Somehow bring warmth back to his skin. “By the gods, you better not break it. You better return to me.”

“What do you mean?” Mason asked. Clara had handed Gray over to him. “Return how?”

The boys hadn’t shared that detail with their mates, thinking it cruel to give them false hope.

“They can break the spell,” Phoenix said. “Can’t they?”

“Y’all better not be bullshitting me.” Simon took off his glasses and wiped at his eyes with his coat sleeve before curling beside Galen. “Because my heart can’t take it.”

“There’s no guarantee it will work,” Clara said with a sad shake of her head. “Which is why they didn’t tell you.”

“But it could,” Titan said, holding Raiden. Nico knelt beside them, his cheeks stained with tears. “They can come back to us.”

“Tell us what we need to do,” Kyo said. “I’ll do anything.”

“Same.” Mason.

“I’ll do anything. Kill anyone. Whatever.” Phoenix nuzzled the top of Bellamy’s golden hair. “I just want him returned to me.”

“That’s the thing.” Clara glanced at the boys. “We can’t do anything. They’re the only ones who can reverse the spell.”

“How will they do that from inside the sword?” Titan asked.

“Sheer willpower,” the witch answered. “Their souls are connected to each of you. That will help call them out.”

“How long will that take?” Mason’s distant voice matched his expression. He petted Gray’s hair as he stared down at him.

“Minutes? Hours?” Clara glanced up at the sky. “But it needs to happen before the first light of dawn. The spell was cast beneath a black moon, so it must also be undone beneath one.”

Michael materialized beside me. Asa was with him. My friend stared at the boys, his hard expression cracking around the edges.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Asa said, his crimson eyes sweeping across the scene before him. He then eyed Lucifer. Light Bringer had broken apart upon his death. “They killed him.”

Warrin glared up at him. “If you intend to gloat, I will rip out your heart.”

Asa put his hands up. “Hey, I have no love for them, but this is a pretty shitty turn of events. I felt a connection beginning to form with Pride right before… well, this.”

“Go away,” Simon mumbled at him.

“Is that any way to speak to family?” Asa responded.

“You’re no family of mine.” Simon rested a hand on Galen’s neck. “My family is gone.”