Page 156 of Alastair

“Mason?” Gray asked, struggling to open his eyes.

“Hey, angel.” Mason cupped his cheek. “Let me see those big brown eyes. There you are.”

“Did we win?”

“Hell yeah we did.” Mason brought him closer, his body shaking with a relieved cry. “It’s over.”

Raiden’s soul returned to his body next, and when he awoke, he was attacked by Nico, then pulled in for a hug by Titan. And the first words out of his mouth? “Man, I’d kill for some pizza.”

“Fuck, I love you,” Titan said with a light laugh. Tears shone in his cyan eyes as he kissed the side of Raiden’s black hat. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Kyo touched the gold stone, telling Castor he was an idiot and that he better get his “redheaded ass” out of the sword, or else he’d sell his Lykan Hypersport—an ultra-rare sports car that was the avatar of Greed’s most prized possession.

A shimmering gold cloud flowed into Castor’s chest before he groaned and sluggishly sat up. “Why you gotta hurt my feelings, little dragon?”

Kyo pounced on him, his earlier composure crumbling now that his mate had returned. He cried against Castor’s neck.

Phoenix materialized beside Night Fall and brushed his fingertips over the royal blue stone. His black tail lay motionless in the snow behind him. “Everyone’s looking at me. I hate it. But what I hate more is that you’re a goddamn gemstone right now. I see your body, but I don’t feel you, Bell. Your scent is gone.” A tear landed on the stone. “Please come back to me so I can kick your ass for leaving me in the first place.”

Bellamy’s soul lifted from the stone and returned to his body. Before his eyes even opened, Phoenix leapt on top of him, tucking his face between Bellamy’s neck and shoulder. His tail curled around Bellamy’s leg.

“I hate you so much,” Phoenix mumbled against his neck.

“Yeah,” Bellamy rasped, running a hand up and down his spine. “I know.”

Only two souls remained. One black and one purple. I ran out of patience. I couldn’t hold back anymore. I walked over and knelt beside the sword, my vision blurring as the purple stone pulsed beneath my fingers.

“You made me a promise, Pride,” I said. “You promised you’d break this spell so we could bind our souls. So we could become whole.” Brighter, the stone glowed. “You wouldn’t go back on your word… would you?”

A heavy sigh sounded from behind me. Uriel. I had momentarily forgotten that the archangels still needed to discuss the issue of me accepting Alastair as a mate after being ordered to refuse him. They could decide to uphold their former ruling and forbid me once again.

That didn’t matter. Loving Alastair was worth possible damnation. If they decided to cast me out later on, so be it. I wasn’t giving up on him, now or ever.

But although the stone reacted to my voice, nothing happened. I kept talking to him but got the same result.

“Why isn’t it working?” Raiden asked, his voice scratchy.

Heaviness pressed down on my chest. I caressed the stone. “I know you enjoy testing my patience, Alastair, but now’s not the time.” The purple stone continued to pulse, growing brighter, then dimming again. Fear bubbled up and churned in my chest. “His soul isn’t responding to me like the others did with their mates. Is it because we didn’t complete the mating ritual?”

Konnar appeared across from me, head tilting, as if he was listening. “He hears you.”

A tear slipped free. “Then why won’t he return to me?”

“Kallias,” Galen said, arms still around Simon. “When we were inside the sword, we could speak to each other. Al must know he’s still trapped.”

Raphael frowned. “His mate is already dead, yes? Then you may not be able to retrieve his soul.”

Alastair must’ve realized this. And he refused to leave Kallias behind.

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “There must be something we can do.” The life Alastair wanted was so close, one free of war. One where we could be happy.

No one spoke for several moments.

“There’s one thing we can try,” Uriel said. “Well,Ican try. None of you are capable.”

I focused on him through watery eyes. “You of all people would help?”