“I like brushing my teeth.” His grin was all Finn, even with Reese’s mouth. “I like having teeth to brush.” His thumb rubbed over my knuckles while he examined my eyes. “Still working on the plan?”

“Thinking about after. Assuming we actually make it out with my sister, she’ll still be pregnant. In the badlands. There aren’t a lot of happy ways for that to play out.”

Mellie would carry her baby for at least seven more months. She would feel it kick, and she would deliver it, and she would love it.

Then she would watch it die.

“Unless you happen to have an extra soul in your back pocket,” I finished, unable to disguise the grim note in my voice.

“Well, the pants are Reese’s, but I doubt it.” Finn squeezed my hand. “People die unexpectedly, right? Accidents. Heart attacks. Shot in the chest by an outlaw.” I remembered the fake exorcist he’d killed in my living room to protect me. “I mean, look how many people the Church killed tonight just to protect their secret! So there have to be some souls in the well at any given time. Not enough to make the world go round, but maybe enough for one baby born on the run in the badlands without a donor. Right?”

I nodded slowly. “But how do we know there will be at the time her baby’s born? How can we know for sure?”

“We can’t. Your sister is in the unenviable position of giving birth with no guarantee. Just like women a hundred years ago.”

“Okay, but even if she and the baby both survive the delivery, infants are like helpless little police sirens, going off with no warning. Noise attracts degenerates, Finn. Beyond that, he’ll need diapers and clothes. And what if he gets sick? We can’t—”

Finn laid his finger across my lips. “Yes, there’s a lot to figure out. But what’s your other option? We’ll make it work because we have no other choice. You don’t have to do everything on your own. You’re not alone anymore, Nina.”

His hand moved over my jaw, his fingers sliding slowly into my hair, and I closed my eyes. His mouth met mine again, and this kiss was deeper. Slower. The novel feel and shape of Finn’s new lips was more obvious under such thorough attention, and I shoved my reservations away. I’d realized that every physical moment we shared would be precious because it would be short-lived. It would be borrowed.

Finn’s existence was a miracle defined by impossibilities, and to be with him, I would not only have to accept those impossibilities, I would have to embrace them.

When he tried to pull away, I slid my hand into his hair, holding him close. I wanted more.

A door flew open in the short hallway and I pulled away from Finn, my cheeks flaming, as if we’d been caught. Devi stormed across the living room, tugging her shirt into place over the waist of her pants. “Someone’s outside.”