Page 17 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

But Wynvail remembered. "Cronus," he spat. "He put us here. He must have."

Verena sucked in a harsh breath, and her panic was about the only thing in any timeline that could have pulled Em and I apart. We reached for her at the same time, pulling her into a group hug.

"We're not safe. We were never safe," she snapped, her body trembling. "I hate this. I hate every fucking thing about this. Get off me!" She tried to extricate herself, but I held on tighter.

"We can stay here," I pointed out in a small voice.

"Stay and be at Cronus's mercy?" Harvey demanded, his hand shaking as he dragged it down his face. "No. We go back, and we find somewhere to hide."

Like Erebus told us to. No matter who was in danger or who Cronus threatened, we go dark and stay dark.

You could have everything you wish for, Halwen. You just have to shatter this timeline—and walk away from the fight.

But everything I wished for was here in this house with my mates and Verena and Kaida. We'd have to walk away from her, we’d have to—to give her up.

She's not real.

I shook my head hard enough that my brain rattled inside my skull. She was ours; it didn't matter if she was real. I'd died twice and come back to life; was I even real at this point?

"Say that again," Kai breathed, his voice as soft as a whisper but utterly lethal. His red eyes glowed, pinned on Harvey.

Harvey backed up a step, panic cracking through his soul. "We can't stay, Kai, we're at his fucking mercy."

Kai nodded, his breathing coming faster. "We should walk away from our daughter—that's what you're saying? We should, what? Leave her here to die?"

Wane held Kaida closer to his chest, his hand wrapped around her head and rage in his molten eyes.

"She's not real," Harvey whispered. He did nothing to stop Kai's fist sailing into his jaw. "Do you think this shit is easy for me? She's mine, too." When his voice broke, more tears flooded my cheeks. Em held me tighter. "But she's not real; she's a fucking trick, because Cronus knows how badly we want a baby. She's not real."

I flinched every time he said it. Kai punched him again, and Em stepped away to break up their fight, but they all froze when I said, "I carried her for nine months. That was real. You were there for every moment of it."

Verena hugged me so hard it hurt. She didn't say anything; there was nothing to be said.

"Can we—take her with us?" Wane asked, staring at the baby girl in his arms. "If we find a way out of this place and go back? We could go on the run with her; anything's better than fighting Cronus again. We were safe for years before Locke found us. We can be safe again."

Was that what Erebus meant by being able to have everything we wished for?

"Haley," Verena said, so quietly the guys wouldn't have heard her.

I glanced down at her, and my heart seized at the terror in her green eyes, at the fear that washed out her freckled face.

"I—I sensed it back when we were in Hell, but I didn't know how to tell you."

"Sensed what, love?" I asked, my own pain swept away for the briefest second.

She swallowed, looking so fucking young with her braids and the superhero t-shirt she wore with denim shorts. She was ours, in any timeline—she was our kid, no matter what. I kissed the top of her head, remembering the years we'd had with her even if those years hadn't actually happened.

They could have, if Wyn had betrayed Locke. This had almost been real.

"I think," she whispered, pressing closer to me, "I think you're pregnant. On the outside, in your real body. Maybe that’s why Cronus did all this?"

I flinched so hard, letting go of her and shaking my head. Pain grew so cruel it crushed my chest. "That's a sick thing to joke about."

"I'm not joking," she said quickly, panicking. She swallowed, tears filling her eyes—her own grief at losing this peace, this family. "I don't know how I can feel it, if it's my sunlight or—or something else but I—"

"Enough," I choked out, shutting out the words, shutting out Erebus's hints.

No.

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