Chapter 23 · The Silent Guard

Cole's blood is on Derek's hands.

I can see it from the corner of my eye while I'm pushing, while my body's tearing itself open to get this kid out. Derek's holding him up like Cole weighs nothing. Like he's just another body in the way.

But Cole's chest is still moving.

"Push, Ivy," Rena snaps, and I don't have time to think about anything else because the pressure's so bad I can't breathe.

I bear down. My nails dig into the edge of the table. The lights overhead are too bright and the air smells like copper and antiseptic and something older, something that shouldn't be in a place like this.

Derek's staring at Cole. Not at me. Not at the baby.

"Finn bloodline," he says, quiet. Almost to himself. "I thought they were all dead."

Rena doesn't look up. "I don't care if he's descended from the moon herself. Ivy, again. Now."

I push. My vision goes white at the edges.

The voice is still there. The one from before. The one that came from inside me, from the kid I haven't even met yet.

*Father.*

But she wasn't talking to Derek.

I know that now.