Page 139 of Bones

I wanted a life with Deke more than anything in the world.

Almost.

But never at the expense of other lives.

Once the ceiling, floor, and walls were covered in red, I knew what that meant. We all did without saying anything.

The Four were going to take out that monster. End Absolve. Save the future souls while Juno’s magicks contained the blast.

And we were going to die while doing it.

Mates reached out to squeeze hands. Or touch butts, since Juno grabbed a handful of Stellan’s ass.

We made peace with what was about to happen.

The sacrifice we would make.

I said I wanted to be brave…

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

TOGETHER

DEKE

“Not yet,”Aurora said ineveryone’s head. Her eyes went unfocused, but she still spoke. “Not yet.”

I had no clue what we were waiting for, but I knew we were running out of time.

The body-changing bastard approached. The temperature dropped rapidly until we could see our breath. Despite the fact there were no windows in the bunker, his hair whipped around in a breeze.

“Not yet.”

He stopped. That sewage-green smoke from our last battle surrounded him.

“Now!” Lilith and Aurora shouted at once.

Juno shot another blast of her red at him, but he was already frozen.

“What the hell?” Stellan asked.

An assist?

We didn’t have time to piece it together.

“The wards.” Aurora rubbed her head. “Lennon, you have to melt the wards from his bones.”

No one argued. If she was wrong, we died anyway. But if she was right?

Juno guided him as Lennon touched every spot with a ward. It had to hurt like fuck. His magicks was eating away at the bone. Melting it.

But the fucker didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.

“That’s it,” Juno said, quickly scurrying back. “Let’s light this motherfucker up.”

Her red protection stayed in place as all four siblings blasted him with magicks.

He moved, taking a jerking step toward us.

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