“Mmph! Stop it, Arelia! Enough is enough! I have no physical interest in this woman, my interest is purely intellectual,” Maurice stressed, managing to break free of his wife’s iron grip.
Arelia reluctantly freed her husband who was gasping for air.
Euphemia and Ronaldo froze in their chairs, stunned by that public display of affection.
“I’m so sorry. She’s…well…a tad on the jealous side. Take that!” Maurice stretched up in his chair and bonked his forehead against his wife’s. He didn’t seem the least bit annoyed by her clinginess.
It was a sweet display of love between a married couple and through it Euphemia noticed something. Arelia’s eyes glowed for a whole second while her face was shadowed by Maurice’s.
“Ah! Excuse me! Is it possible that your…wife…is a Beast Blood?” she asked.
“Seriously?!” Ronaldo exclaimed.
“Pardon me?” Maurice responded in shock.
“P-Please don’t be offended! It’s just that…I have a Beast Blood friend…and she reminded me of him is all… I’m sorry if I’m wrong…” Euphemia’s voice grew smaller as she spoke. She feared she had pried too deep.
Arelia’s eyes took on a sharper gleam.
“Um…I’m sorry,” she apologized again.
“No, you aren’t mistaken. Arelia is a Beast Blood,” Maurice replied while searching Euphemia’s eyes.
Ronaldo’s expression was unusually tense.
“But how could you tell? From her stature?” Maurice inquired.
“No… I noticed her eyes glowing for a second when her face was shadowed by you… My friend’s eyes also glow beautifully in the dark.”
“Ahh, that’s how you guessed it. You weren’t afraid when you first saw your friend’s eyes?”
“Afraid? Not at all. I mean, he’s so handsome, strong, and kind… Why would I be?” Euphemia recalled those teal eyes that glowed silver in the dark. And then her thoughts led her to another possibility. “Excuse me for asking, but might you and Arelia be…mates?”
“Yes…we are mates,” Maurice immediately confirmed her abrupt question. “I see you even know that term.”
“And you’re married?”
“We sure are. Married and mates. Fortunately, if that’s the right word, Arelia’s parents are both human. Genuine Homo sapiens. In other words, she was the result of a random genetic mutation. That’s why she has a birth certificate. Most Beast Bloods don’t. We are mates and a married couple,” Maurice repeated, helping Euphemia digest that piece of information.
“…I see.”
Beast Bloods were said to be the survivors of the indigenous species living on this planet before human colonists arrived.
Ancient records kept by the colonists described how the native people gradually declined and died off as a direct result of humans reproducing at a faster rate and the sheer difference in their technological prowess. However, the genetics they left behind while intermarrying with humans for centuries never disappeared from the gene pool. They survived deep within the people who colonized this planet and occasionally resurfaced. Beast Blood was the name given to children who shared those genes.
Beast Bloods looked similar to humans, but they tended to be taller, larger, stronger, and physically gifted. The greatest trait used to distinguish them from humans was their irises that glow in the dark.
Beast Bloods were the reoccurrence of a species thought lost to the cruel passage of time and colonization.
“My friend said there’s no record of his birth…” Euphemia said, thinking of Zelaide.
“Then both of his parents must have been Beast Bloods… Beast Bloods tend to despise reading and writing, so they rarely leave any records behind.”
Once Maurice mentioned it, Euphemia realized she had rarely seen Zelaide reading or typing anything. But that didn’t mean he was uneducated. She remembered him mentioning that he had overhauled his home security system. Not to mention he responded to her text messages without issue. He was clearly capable of using technology and reading, so did he just decide not to use it unless he deemed it necessary?
“They generally don’t show interest in things unnecessary for survival. They are only attached to life…and their mates.”
“Mauri,” Arelia purred the pet name she gave her husband, grabbed him by the chin, and passionately kissed him on the lips in front of Euphemia. Ronaldo, the man who prided himself on being a flirt, was completely upstaged by her.
Wow…
“Mngh…Arelia! I’m talking. Didn’t you bring us tea? Would you mind pouring us some?”
“Okay…” Arelia listened to her husband’s request and poured tea into each of the cups on the tray, spilling a little over the edges in the process. Then she reluctantly left the room per the look she received from Maurice.
“I can’t apologize enough. Arelia is a great woman, she just doesn’t know how to communicate with others. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but it seems to be a common trait in Beast Bloods.”
“I see…”
“By the way, how old do you think Arelia is?”
“Hm…somewhere around twenty-five or twenty-six?” Euphemia guessed.
“How about you?” Maurice asked Ronaldo.
“I’d guess around the same age.”
“In her mid-twenties, huh? She certainly looks around that age. But she is actually older than forty. She’s just a little older than me.”
“She is?!”
“No way!”
Euphemia thought back on the gorgeous woman who had just stalked out of the room. Her smooth, unwrinkled skin and taut body could have only belonged to a young woman. But Palmina had mentioned before that it was believed that Beast Bloods developed much slower than humans.
She was telling the truth?
“Ever since I met Arelia and became her mate, I’ve extended my research to include Beast Bloods. Are you curious about my findings?” Maurice asked.
“Absolutely! I would love to hear what you have learned.” Euphemia leaned forward in her chair.
“All right… Is your Beast Blood friend a man?”
“Yes.”
“Are you mates?” Maurice questioned.
“What? Mia, is that true—”
“No! Don’t jump to conclusions, Ronaldo,” Euphemia said over him. “…I really…don’t think we are. A part of me wishes it was true, but I am just someone he was hired to protect…that’s all I am to him—a contract. I don’t think he dislikes me though…” Her voice grew quieter the more she spoke.