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My eyes move over her face, inspecting her. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m fine.” She smiles weakly. “Just tired.”
I look down at him again, studying his button nose and his long, dark lashes. “I can’t believe you made this giant baby.”
She breathes out a short laugh. “I did and lived to tell the tale.”
“You’re amazing.” Cradling the crown of her head with my palm, I lean forward and kiss her forehead. “You both are. What should we name him?”
“Brian?” she asks, her brows shooting up her forehead. “It kind of sounds like Bryn, and I thought…” She shrugs. “It will probably make Marcus and Isolde happy, too.”
Hetty’s relationship with Marcus has been awkward but warming with each day. Getting him away from Goldenrod and the Order changed him. He’s quieter, more thoughtful. He spends most of his time with Joanna, though. They live a few houses down, and we see him every so often.
Never at the same time as Mother, though, as they still devolve into arguing and accusing each other of things each time they’re in the same room together.
“I think they’d like that. Maybe they’ll finally agree about something.” I smile. “Brian it is.”
Staring down at him together, the air feels weighted with something. I’m not sure what, but when I look up at Hetty again, there’s a tear streaming down her cheek. She must feel it, too.
I rub it with the pad of my thumb before nudging her under the chin. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I’m just—just wondering what kind of life he’s going to have,” she admits tearfully. “We don’t know how much longer…”
We’ve been largely unharmed in Crescent Rock, but there’s nothing to say how much longer that will last. Jason chose to stay back at his cave overseeing the lake. But before we left him, he warned us that the men wouldn’t give up that easily.
So far, there have been a couple skirmishes on the perimeter of Crescent Rock, but nothing we haven’t been able to handle. Rill was right to relocate everything to Crescent Rock—it’s so high up and secluded that it’s easy to feel protected and untouchable. So far, the men haven’t been able to breach it.
“No one’s going to hurt him,” I say, cupping her cheek. “And no one’s going to hurt you. Not as long as I’m here. You know what I’ll do to protect you.”
She sniffles as I pull her close, our baby between us. Eventually, her tears dry, and she pulls away, smiling.
Brian wakes up fussing, and I watch as she starts to feed him, laughing and wincing as he latches onto her.
But as I stare at them—my family—a new emotion beats through my body.
Sitting here, all that anxiety over the past few months has transformed into something different. The primal need I’ve always felt to protect Hetty, grows, making my limbs ache.
I’ll do anything, I realize, to protect them from whatever destructive, evil forces come their way.
I’ve killed for Hetty before, and I don’t think I’ll mind having to do it again.
Bonus Epilogue
Orion
A Garden in Mercy City
The men are outside in the trees tonight, sitting in wide wicker chairs, smoking cigars and sipping brandy. Loud belly laughs and good-natured arguments waft through the air, the twinkling light bulbs strung in the trees creating a gauzy atmosphere.
I walk slowly even though there’s no way they’ll notice me—they’re too stupid, their senses too dull. But still, my heart beats in anticipation as my bare feet press on the concrete path behind the bright trees.
None of the other alphas here ever get the opportunity to do things like this. But they like me more than them. I can’t say I blame them. After almost two years locked up in this place, I can assuredly say the other alphas are savages.
Screaming and clawing at their cages.
Fighting like wild animals.
They’re too stupid to know that if you don’t fight back, you’re treated just a little bit better. You get privileges … like taking out the trash.
