"I can prove it if you don't believe me."
"When you were seven?" Ryan asked.
Hope nodded. "Apparently, because I've got vampire, witch, and werewolf in me, it knocked the pit out of commission because it was created using the blood of a vampire, a witch, and a werewolf, and Malivore disappeared.
"How did people forget you right after you left town?"
"You remember?"
"I remember. But Seylah doesn't."
"You're not human."
"How do you know that?"
"The spell I did, it erased me from human memory, but anyone not human would still remember me. It was the only way I could get away from Triad."
Ryan's face twisted into something almost heartbroken and he pulled away, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, presenting her with his back.
"So, you didn't get pregnant when you were thrown into the pit."
"What? No. I got pregnant when I slept with you when I was here last time. How the hell could the pit get anyone pregnant anyway?"
Ryan grabbed his pants and pulled them on, his hands shaking.
No. No. No! This was turning out even worse than she'd been afraid of. He wasn't just denying it was his, he was dressing, leaving her. This couldn't be happening. No. No. He could reject her if he wanted to, but she wouldn't let him turn his back on his child. She could take him walking away from her. No, actually she couldn't. It hurt, but his baby didn't deserve his abandonment.
"It's your baby!" Hope leaped off the bed and spun him to face her.
He scoffed and pulled away from her as he said, "That's not possible."
"I haven't had sex with anyone else. It is yours!"
"I'm sterile! I can't father a child! It's why Malivore threw me away in the first place!" Ryan spat. "So, save it for someone less gullible!"
"I don't think you're gullible!"
"Apparently you do if you think I'd buy that I'm the father of your child! I've been alive for centuries! If I could father a child, I would have by now!"
With a flick of her wrist, Hope threw Ryan across the bed and straddled him. He stared up at her, his eyes wide with shock, his breath coming in quick gasps.
Pinning his hands above his head, she growled, "You got me pregnant. I haven't slept with anyone else and I don't know why you think the tar pit that erased me from the collective consciousness as a child would be able to knock me up now."
"Malivore wasn't always the tar pit you saw."
"What?"
"It was a golem, created by the werewolf, witch, and vampire you mentioned. Malivore, the eater of the dark, was intended to destroy dragons since they were so difficult to kill, but it proved far more effective than they thought and it started consuming anyone not human or the protected species, the werewolves, witches, and vampires. The more it consumed, the more sentient it became until he was truly alive. With his new awareness, he realized he was alone, and soon, he started attempting to create more like him. But these new golems lacked his powers and were all sterile, though he became better at his craft, each one looking more human." He swallowed thickly. "Including me."
"Malivore created you?"
"Yes. Formed from the earth and brought to life with the mud of his body. I am one of those golems."
"How could something so empty and cold create a man like you?" Hope freed one of his wrists so she could stroke his face.
"I'm sterile. There's no way I can be the father of your baby."
"No one like me has ever existed before. Maybe since I'm Malivore's weakness, it's what you needed to be able to procreate."
"I want to believe you. Truly, nothing would make me happier than to know that the woman I fell for is carrying my child. Proof that Malivore was wrong about me and to have the chance to be a better father to a child of my blood than he was to me."
"So what made you think that Malivore the mud bath got me pregnant?"
"Perhaps I should finish the story, tell you how he went from being a creature who could walk to the mud pit you saw. Because it's the only way it will make sense." Ryan caught one of her curls between his fingers and twirled it around. "After he threw me away, and refused to accept any attempts I made to be a good son, I turned on him, leading witches to him and they turned him into the pit. But in that state, humans could use him against anyone that sided against them, including other humans. I felt so guilty for what I'd done that I tried to return myself to my father."
"You went into the pit?"
"Yes, but he rejected me, left me there in the darkness for decades to punish me for betraying him. I screamed and begged him to hear me, but I was still the failure I was before to him. So I waited in the dark, until one day, he spat me out, near Seylah. She had been thrown in two years before I was spat out and she was horrified to learn she was pregnant. I helped her run and I protected her and Landon, while doing my best to support her. So yes, the story I told you was true, just without the supernatural element."
"Malivore created the son he wanted."
"The son who can procreate like he wants, so when he finds a way to free himself from his current state, he can use Landon like a meat suit."
"He wants to possess Landon?" Hope asked, horrified. Who would do that to their own child? She couldn't imagine wanting to harm the baby she carried in that way
"Yes, which is why I was so concerned when I first saw you and your partner in town. I knew you were Triad and I thought Malivore had found us."
Hope rolled onto her side, taking him with her, so that they were lying face to face.
"So, Seylah was basically raped by Malivore since she didn't have a choice as to whether she got pregnant or not and then spat out to give birth to his child."
"Yes. And then I was spat out to make sure Landon survived to adulthood so Malivore can take over his body. But I rebelled and that became even easier when Seylah started seeing me as a person instead of a part of my father."
Hope traced her fingers over his lips.
"If I'd realized you weren't human, I would have handled telling you about the baby differently, like performing a spell that would prove the paternity. But think about it, my father was a thousand years old before I came into existence, a vampire before he broke his curse. If he could father a child after that, why can't you father a baby with me?"
She carded her fingers into his hair, as she met his gaze, willing him to believe her. He had to believe her. This tiny bundle of cells growing within her was a part of him and her, and when she finally gave birth, it would be its own person and proof that she was wanted. A spell would have made this so much easier, but she wanted him to want this, want her, without any help. It had to be because he actually believed her and trusted her, not because she made him do it.
"Is it actually my baby?" Ryan whispered, a heartbreaking desire to hope in his eyes.
"It's your baby, Ryan. Malivore was wrong about you. I'm the tribrid, the only one of my kind, Malivore's weakness. So, the rules that apply to everyone else in regards to him, they don't apply to me. Hell, I was so much of a weakness to him that he had to spit me out."
"So, he still exists." Ryan sighed, his body sagging.
"Yes. He did have a portal set up after I destroyed his main body to send monsters my way to try to kill me, but I found it and poured some of my blood into it. It closed and as far as I know he hasn't created another one."
"Your blood with no body attached to it will make it difficult for him to expel it, so smart move."
Ryan shed his pants and pulled her tightly against him. As he held her, Hope smelled tears and she wrapped her arms around him.
"You're carrying my baby," he murmured in awe.
"Yes."
He rolled them so that he was lying half on top of her, his dark eyes vulnerable.
"You came back for me."
"Yes." Hope stretched up and kissed him softly. "Meeting you inspired me to do something I'd hardly dared dream about, being free. And then when I was on my way back to you, I found out I was pregnant."
"You were coming to me back before you knew about the baby?" Ryan asked in a choked whisper.
"Yeah. I rebelled against Triad because of you, because you made me feel like I was worth more than what I could do."
"Oh, God, Hope. You have no idea how terrible it's been since, reading your last text, telling me goodbye, I was so scared because I know better than most what Triad is capable of. Then, Seylah couldn't remember you anymore and I thought you'd been thrown into the pit."
"And when I came back, I was pregnant and you thought Malivore did to me what he did to her because you didn't know I wasn't nature's cosmic mistake so the rules don't always apply to me." Hope ran her hand up and down his back in an effort to soothe him for the pain she'd put him through.
"Yes. And you're not a mistake, Hope." Ryan pressed his cheek against hers and murmured, "You're a damn miracle, that's what you are. You brought my father down even more than I did and made it so Triad couldn't use him to get rid of people who got in their way. Now you're giving me a baby."
"Do you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"I honestly don't care one way or the other. You're pregnant with my baby, so boy or girl, I'll love this child just the same."
"You want to wait until the baby's born to find out?"
"Maybe later we can find out, but right now, I don't care. You're here, you're safe, and you're pregnant with my baby."
Drawing her leg up his side, Hope kissed him. Ryan groaned and deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding into her mouth. When Hope finally pulled away to draw a much needed breath, Ryan kissed his way down her throat.
"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Hope, you're a miracle. You survived my father and now you're pregnant with my baby."
"I swear me being pregnant is a turn on for you," Hope moaned.
"Damn, sweetheart, it's definitely a turn on, because it's mine. My baby growing inside you and soon, everyone will be able to see that I got you pregnant."
Her heart twisted with what he wasn't saying. He'd spent centuries believing he was less than because he hadn't been able to father a child until now. So of course he was proud of the fact that his child was growing inside her womb.
He sat back on his heels to look over her body, then leaned over and kissed her belly.
"My baby, growing right here," he whispered against her skin.
"Oh, Ryan." Hope dug her fingers into his hair, holding him lightly to her as her head fell back.
Ryan kissed his way back up her body, pressing his mouth softly against her nipples.
"I love you," she sighed, arching against his mouth.
"I love you, sweetheart," Ryan murmured against her lips.
"Take me, please." Hope wrapped her legs around him, arching beneath him. "Take me. I need you."
Ryan's lips parted as he braced himself above her, his dark eyes earnest.
"Please, Ryan," Hope begged.
"Oh, Hope," he groaned as he slammed into her.
"Yes, Ryan, yes. Just like that."
Hope kissed him then, her tongue sliding into his mouth as she drew his hips closer to hers.
With a groan, Ryan finally claimed her body, their cries of pleasure mingling in the air.
