Page 26 of Alastair

“You aren’t yet ready to face Lucifer, and I won’t risk losing this war by bringing any of you with me and giving him the chance to take you off the board. Too much is at stake.”

“Fuck the war!” Bellamy came toward me. “This is my husband’s life we’re talking about. My brother’s life too. You can’t expect us to stay behind when they’re in danger.”

“You brought me back so that I could fight,” Kallias said. “Allow me to fulfill that purpose. You say we’re not ready, but this is what you trained us for. If we’re not ready now, we never will be.”

Gray nodded. Raiden breathed deep, steadying himself, and then nodded as well. Daman glared but seemed just as determined and ready for a fight as the others.

“I’ve given my answer.” It was too risky.

“To defeat Lucifer, all eight of us need to be a united force,” Galen said. “So what makes you think you can face him on your own? We have a much better chance than you at retrieving our brother.”

“My intention isn’t to fight Lucifer,” I told him. “The objective is to grab Alastair and Phoenix and teleport back here.”

Daman traced the curve of his falx sword with his fingertip. “If you can’t reach Alastair in time and he dies, we lose this war regardless. So stop being a stubborn ass and take us with you.”

Every second we wasted arguing was another second Alastair faced Lucifer alone. And as much as I disliked the notion of them going with me, it could give us a slight advantage. Lucifer, though powerful, might be taken off guard if all eight of the cursed sons appeared before him. Any hesitance on his part would give us time to grab Alastair and the demon and teleport back to the island.

It could also backfire.

However, the Nephilim were right. Going by myself would be foolish. Especially now that Lucifer had regained so much of his power—much more than he’d had when I confronted him in the underworld months ago when I’d gone to, yet again, save the boys from one of their silly decisions.

“Fine.” I saw no other solution. “But your mates stay behind.”

“Absolutely not,” Titan said with a growl, drawing Raiden in closer to his side.

Warrin did the same with Daman, and although he kept his silence, his expression was an unspoken challenge for me to even try denying him the right to accompany us.

“Like hell I’m missing out on another fight,” Mason said, holstering a handgun. He had a rifle in the other hand, both filled with silver bullets. He had a special round of bullets made from melted-down celestial steel on him as well. Those bullets wouldn’t harm Lucifer, but they had the power to kill a fallen angel. The silver bullets would kill practically everything else—demons and monsters.

“I’m stronger with my mate by my side,” Castor said, turning his face into Kyo’s black hair.

“Very well.” Trying to convince them otherwise would waste even more time.

Galen turned to Penemuel. “Tell Clara and the others what happened.” He then nuzzled Simon’s temple—the one mate not going with us. The human would only be in the way if he did, as he was clumsy and had no fighting skills, unless you counted the time he tried to break out of the underworld with a spatula as his only weapon. “I love you.”

“I love you too, big guy,” Simon said, chin quivering.

“None of that.” Galen smoothed his thumb across Simon’s chin. “I’ll be back soon.”

“You better be.” Simon lightly smacked Galen’s broad chest before snuggling against it, his glasses going askew. “You may be big, but I’ll kick your ass if you come back with even a scratch on you.”

Once everyone gathered around me and created a joined link with their arms, I activated the teleportation stone and focused on where I wished to go—to him. I tried to convince myself my actions were solely driven by my duty to the celestial realm. We needed Alastair alive so that he could lead the cursed sons in the war against Lucifer. But the twisting in my gut told me the truth.

Ineeded him alive… for reasons I refused to dwell on.

The sun’s warmth was ripped away as we teleported. Darkness then shrouded me, and I breathed in cold winter air. I stood in the snow but didn’t feel the bite from the cold, even while shirtless. Temperature had no bearing on angels. The others stood beside me, taking in our surroundings.

A cry pierced the night.

“Nix,” Bellamy whispered, stumbling forward.

Up ahead, Phoenix was on his knees, holding his head. To prevent him from using his teleportation power, Lucifer had targeted his mind. The pain wouldn’t allow him to focus on anything else. Beside him stood Alastair, his sword drawn as a shade lunged at him. He sliced the demon in half, creating a surge of orange light as it burst into flame and turned to ash.

Despite my insusceptibility to the temperature, a chill ran down my spine at the sight of Lucifer Morningstar. Hair like midnight and eyes glowing like blue flames in the darkness. He stood off to the side, his expression cold as he watched Alastair fight. Vepar and Purah stood at his side.

We had materialized a short distance from the rubble of the mansion and hadn’t been spotted yet.

Kallias faltered in step as his gaze landed on Lucifer, and his knees buckled. Even from our distance, he felt the Morningstar’s energy.