“I lied to Maryanne when she asked if I could feel the baby,” Claire said in a steady, emotionless voice. “I felt him move yesterday... I can feel it even now.” Looking back to the window, she parroted what he had said to her weeks ago. “Black hair like mine, maybe my eyes. How many qualities will be paralleled?” The feeling of tears running down her face seemed at odds with her calm tone. “I cannot give him more than an unnatural existence underground. I will not be able to save my son.”

Shepherd leaned his mass forward so his elbows rested on his knees and looked pointedly at his mate. “Our son will not be raised in Thólos.”

Mirroring his body language, she leaned closer, her voice completely non-reactive, even if she looked like she could kill him. “You will take this child from me over my dead body.” Green eyes hardened. “You think you have seen me act out before? What I would do to you if you make one unsatisfactory move against this baby would make you wish you were back in the Undercroft.”

“You will never be parted from our children.” He answered at once, the Alpha taking immense pleasure in her scathing threat. Shepherd held her hand. “Thólos is not an acceptable place for either of you. As such, your departure is imminent.”

Claire took a slow breath. “And there is the complication. No one can leave Thólos.”

“There is no Thólos. Thólos is gone... it’s time to accept that.” That big hand moved higher to cup her cheek. “You need to let go and move forward.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Taking his hand away, running her own over her face to wipe the wetness away, she explained, “I have seen what’s happening on the streets no matter the pretty view you provided from this window.”

“Then let’s embrace the fact our son deserves better. You will live in comfort, be provided for. Paint all day if you wish. I will grant you a piano, teach it to our child.” Shepherd was using that earnest tone he employed when speaking of the future, of his plans for the world, all the little promises he had made that she had ignored.

It was making her nervous.

The way his eyebrows lowered at her stubborn expression, the shine of incredulity in his eyes matched the tone of his voice. “Why would you wish to remain here? Why choose the citizens of the city who murder women with dark hair, who are the ones responsible for the deaths of countless innocent children, who turn on each other, climbing like rats on a bloated corpse? How could you possibly be loyal to that over our son? Imagine what they would do to him if they knew who he belonged to.”