Page 41 of Gambling with Time

He wrapped me in a bear hug, squeezing the life out of me. His face nuzzled into my neck, and he inhaled. “Yeah.”

There was so much emotion in that single word, my stomach dropped. I hadn’t thought about what keeping the secret from them would do to them. How selfish it was.

“I’m not hiding it from you guys. I mean, I am, but I’m not.” The words tumbled from my mouth, and I hoped they made sense. My stomach bottomed out and flipped uncomfortably as I waited for his response.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he whispered.

I leaned into his touch, needing more of his comforting warmth. Our bond was different from my bond with the others because he had been my rock in the storm. It wasn’t that I couldn’t count on the guys to be there. It was only that he had been there. While I pushed Raiden away and Alastor was helping in a different way. And Bellamy had been trying not to die. My life had been Lex, and I’d been his.

I sagged against him as I thought of something else. “Are you going to lock me up? Not let me fight?”

A surprised laugh parted his lips. He shook his head ruefully. “I’m pretty sure that would be Alastor or Raiden.”

“They don’t know?” I wasn’t sure if I should feel happy or sad about that information. Maybe I should just tell them.

“Are you locked up?” He grinned down at me, and I couldn’t help but return his smile.

“Good point.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and then tucked my head into his shoulder, holding me loosely. Soon, his hand settled on my stomach, over the life growing inside. The warmth of his palm sank into me.

“How did you know?”

I peered up at him, and he smiled. “You used my trash can to dispose of the evidence.”

“You go through your trash?” I pushed up to look at him better, my nose crinkled at the thought.

He chuckled. “No. It was on top, and the bag wasn’t all that thick.” He sobered slightly, the smile slipping from his face. “Are you–you, uh, keeping it?”

I pressed my hand to my stomach. It was strange. I knew that there were options, like abortion or adoption, but I hadn’t even considered them. Because keeping them felt right.

“Yeah,” I said softly. “He’s a part of one of you guys.”

Did it matter that I knew exactly which one? Not much. Because he would have four dads and be the luckiest child in the world.

“He?” His eyebrows fled behind his tousled hair.

“Yeah.”

CHAPTER 22

Alastor

Time had stilled the moments before the attack as if the very air felt the charge of electricity. My father had looked up from his desk, his ears alert to something I couldn’t hear, but the tiny hairs on my arms felt it.

Bellamy shifted his feet and even that felt like slow motion.

But that was before it slammed into high gear. We flew from the room, down the hall, out the wide doors.

And the only thought I had when I took in the absolute chaos was after all the maneuvering my father and the other Gods and Goddesses did, the battle came to his front door. It would be comical if we weren’t all in danger.

I would call it a trap if the Egyptians had any clue that the castle walls were holding all of the Underworld powers. At least we had a fighting chance with the other Gods and Goddesses here. They streamed out the doors with us.

Nyx’s shadows spread over the ground, eating through flesh like acid. Hecate glowed brightly as the snake around her neck and her dogs at her side prepared to strike. The Furies took flight over the fighting, picking off their targets one at a time. Their victims fell to the ground with crippling madness without even a touch.

Charun, the ferryman for the dead, stepped into the fray, his blue-grey skin looking sickly in the dim light. His mouth tusked, a hooked nose, and serpents draped over his arms, he looked like death itself. The double-headed mallet in his hands was the biggest one I’d ever seen, and when he swung it through the air, it took out four hybrids at once.

Even Mercury fought. You knew it was bad when the messenger God joined in. Usually, he was a silent watcher, delivering important messages between the worlds. But now, he fought for survival, because if Osiris won, we would all be in danger.

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