Page 133 of Unveil

“No, we go at the same time. I’m not leaving you.”

“Please, baby…”

“You said you’d never leave me.You promised,”she begs, lips trembling before she crashes into me in an unbreakable embrace.

Almost unbreakable.

“You promised. You promised. You promised.”

Her tears cool my neck as she repeats it through coughs, her voice so shredded by smoke that every plea only hardens my resolve.

The fire dances around us, closing in. I’m trying to shield her, wrapping my body around hers, but do the flames bite her skin too? Is she already burning?

Is this how Hatch felt when our momma sacrificed herself for him?

I can’t let it happen again. I won’t.

I tighten my grip around Luna and find Nox through the inferno. His eyes are wide with the kind of terror that sparks rage instead. It’s an emotion I can clock from a mile away, especially now with it coursing through me too.

He finally catches my stare, his gaze locking with mine. A moment spanning an eternity passes between us. It ends with a silent promise, and I nod.

Take care of her.

His hard expression softens with understanding, knowing what I have to do. What I’m about to give up. He exhales with the weight of it, then shakes out his limbs, preparing for the most important catch of his life. When he raises his arms, they’re loose, ready.

I gather Luna closer to me, covering her nose with my shirt, and inhale her sweet jasmine and honey scent one last time.

“Hold your breath, baby.”

She sucks a breath in through my tee, obeying me on instinct. My hands drop to her waist, and I steal one hard, selfish kiss, savoring a final taste of the woman I’d burn for, then whisper against her lips.

“I love you, Luna Bordeaux. But I’m sorry. I can’t keep my promise.”

Shock makes her go limp, and I move too swiftly for her to get her bearings, scooping her into my arm. I wedge my shoulderunder an unburned section of the beam, muscles screaming from the weight, and spin her in one last dance.

Only this time, I let go.

My heart drops with her as she falls through the crevice. Her eyes widen with betrayal and terror, and the image overlays the horrible memory of her plummeting from the cliff.

For a split second, my legs twitch to dive after her again. Maybe I could make it.

But Whitby Rose gives up another of its bones as a rafter cracks and thunders to the floor, exploding pews before crashing onto the far end of the beam I’m holding, crushing my shoulder. I grunt, muscles tearing as I fight to keep it from toppling onto Luna.

She screams as she flies, her skirt flaring out like wings before she lands safely in her brother’s arms. I roar, rolling the beam off me, raining embers down my back. It crashes below, a wall of cinder and flame between me and them. Between death and life.

I stumble back, catching heaving breaths that burn from the inside out, and watch her through the fire.

She fights like I knew she would, writhing like a feral, furious little thing, clawing her brother to get back to me. But he cages her in his arms, then lifts her like she weighs nothing and sprints through the sanctuary. I blink, and they’re gone. Out of the church, out of danger, and into the darkness on the other side.

Relief makes me lightheaded, or maybe it’s the smoke. Either way, hazy images of Luna come easily. I picture her safe in the car with my family and hers, Dash flying down mountain roads like a bat out of hell, taking her back home. Back to New Orleans.

My thoughts cut to her being there, surrounded by everything and everyone she knows and loves. The terror squeezing my heart eases at that, because if I’m not with her,with her family is the safest place she could be. Sol and Nox will make sure of that.

Which means Luna is truly safe. And I… I’m gonna die.

And that’s okay. Maybe this, saving the woman I love, is what I was meant to do all along.

Smoke thickens around me, and I collapse under its weight. My skin begs for a balm as my nightmares burn into me like a fresh brand, the kind of pain that drags time to a halt.