Page 90 of The Devil's Wrath

She reached out, her hand hovering just above my cheek. I could feel warmth radiating from her, comforting me in the midst of my grief. “I know, sweetheart. And you have a choice,” she said softly.

“A choice?”

“You can come with me, leave behind the pain and the suffering of the world. Or you can go back.”

I stared at her, my heart torn between the desire to stay with her and the aching need to return to Theo. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I’m so tired of fighting, Mama. I’m tired of the loss and the pain I feel every waking second.”

She smiled mournfully as she brushed a strand of hair from my face. “You are stronger than you realize. You always have been.”

I leaned into her touch, savoring the warmth and comfort of her presence. “What if I’m not strong enough this time?”

“You will be, Wren. You have so much love waiting for you on the other side.” She paused, moving her hand down to my stomach. “So much to live for.”

I followed her gaze, confusion clouding my mind. “What do you mean?”

She smiled. “A new life grows within you, a part of you and Theo. A reason to fight, to live.”

My hand instinctively moved closer to hers, pressing against the flat plane of my stomach.A baby? I couldn’t be pregnant. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I didn’t even know if Iwantedto be a mother.

“I’m scared,” I whispered, my voice catching in my throat. “I’m not ready to be a mother. What if I can’t protect them from the darkness in my world?”

“Oh, Wren.” She sighed, pulling me into her embrace again. “Noone is ever truly ready for the challenges of parenthood. But you have a strength in you, a light that even the darkest shadows cannot extinguish.”

I clung to her, breathing in her familiar perfume, committing every detail of this moment to memory. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“My love, I will always be with you, watching over you and your little one.” She pulled back, cupping my face in her hands. “But it’s time for you to go home.” Her gaze drifted to something behind me, and a knowing smile graced her lips. “Listen.”

I strained my ears, trying to hear what she was referring to. At first, there was only silence, the vast emptiness of the void pressing in on me from all sides. But then, faintly, I heard a voice calling my name.

“Wren, please come back to me. I need you.”Theo’s voice was distant, muffled as if he were calling to me from across a great chasm. But it was unmistakably his, filled with a desperate, aching longing that shattered my heart into a million pieces.

I turned back to my mother, tears streaming down my face. “I have to go back,” I told her. “He needs me.Theyneed me.”

“They do.” She smiled a radiant smile that seemed to light up the darkness around us. “And I will be here, waiting for you when it’s your time. But that time is not now. Give Gage a hug from me. Tell him to forgive himself because we love him unconditionally. Oh, and tell that stubborn boy to open his heart again.” She leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. “Go to Theo,” she breathed. “Go back to the life you were meant to live.”

I closed my eyes, and the void crashed around me.

THIRTY

THEO

There was so much blood. It seemed like the more I applied pressure, the more it seeped between my fingers, staining the grass dark beside her.

“Hold on, baby,” I whispered, my voice crackling with desperation. “Just hold on. Help is coming.”

I couldn’t lose her. Not like this. Not when there was so much unsaid between us. Regret stabbed through me, sharper than any blade. She was growing paler by the second, her breathing shallow and labored.

“What happened?” Kai asked, concerned as he approached behind me with Haven close to him.

“She was shot,” I choked out. “She pushed me out of the way when the gunman shot at me. She took the bullet meant for me.”

Kai shed his jacket and pressed it against her stomach. “We need to get her inside now. She needs medical attention.”

Gage.

Gage is here.

He can save her.

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