†††
“……”
“Zel! Zelaide! Wake up! Oh my stars… What in the universe is with today…?!”
“Mama? Mama!”
Zelaide heard whining and complaining right beside his ears. It should have been the most annoying sound, but those voices comfortably permeated his mind. He opened his eyes. An endless blue sky filled his vision.
“Oh! He opened his eyes! Are you all right, Zel?”
Shadows blocked out a piece of the blue sky. Two faces peered down at him. The smaller and rounder of the two was flapping her lips, trying to say something.
“Shiny…eyes.”
That was the same thing she said to him before.
“…Ugh.”
Zelaide’s eyes quickly adjusted to the light. It was hard to believe, but he had passed out. But not for long, if the sound of that same dog chasing the Frisbee was anything to go by.
“I—”
“You gave me a serious scare! You were too heavy for me to hold up, so when you fell you crushed the branches behind you. How do you feel? Does your head hurt? Your pulse is fine, but should I call an ambulance for you?” Euphemia calmly assessed his status like a scientist as she checked his pulse.
“I’m not sick, Yumi!” His eyes shifted to the girl staring at him from her mother’s side. “She’s…”
“Me?” the girl pointed to herself and tilted her head.
“This girl is…”
“Didn’t you hear me? This is your daughter, Zephyr,” Euphemia introduced their daughter to Zelaide, then turned to the girl. “See this man, Zephy? He’s your daddy.”
“Daddy?” Zephyr repeated.
“That’s right. Your daddy.”
“W-Wait. You mean she resulted from our one time together?” Zelaide struggled to come to grips with the situation.
She’s a child born of the time Euphemia and I madly made love after I was acquitted and came home to her?
No words could describe how he felt. He thought it was almost impossible to have children with a human.
“Yes. I realized I was pregnant a few months after you left.”
“……”
“I carried her a great deal longer than nine months, but she’s two now. She’s clearly your child. She’s much stronger and tougher than most toddlers.”
“……”
“Dada?”
The fearless child dressed in all pink wouldn’t stop looking at Zelaide’s eyes.
“That’s right. This is your daddy. Isn’t he wonderful?”
Zelaide took a good look at the little girl mystified by him. She had her mother’s looks and his eyes. He never felt one way or another about his eyes, but that clear teal color was remarkable on his daughter. She still had his sunglasses. She held them out to him.
“Here, Dada.”
“Good girl, Zephy.” Euphemia hugged her daughter. She looked at Zelaide with misty eyes as if asking him what he was going to do now.
Does that mean…you will forgive me? You’re willing to love me again?
“Will you let me devote myself to you…?” he asked out loud.
“Yes…love me in your own way, just stay by my side. I want your love and your presence.”
“…Love?”
“I’ve always loved you,” she insisted. “And I’ll continue to love you. I won’t let you go even if you want to this time.”
“……”
“And if you do leave again, both your daughter and I will hate you.” Euphemia shot the Beast Blood her angriest look yet.
“…Hate.” Zelaide shivered, horrified by that word. “Don’t…hate me… I might die.”
“You blockhead! Don’t talk about dying so easily! Listen here, buster. I gave birth all alone. Do you have any idea how long I carried our child, how much harder a Beast Blood child is to carry? I mean, Erica, my mom, and friends were there to support me, but…you weren’t! Morning sickness sucked, I always felt anxious, and it hurt. But a man like you can’t even begin to imagine my suffering, can you? I plan on talking your ear off about it, so you’d better stick around to listen okay, my beloved Beast Blood Zelaide!” Euphemia declared. A single teardrop fell from her eyes. “What’s your answer?”
My beloved Beast Blood. Those words were all he needed.
Zelaide looked up at her and nodded hard enough it felt like whiplash. “I’ll make it up to you… If you’re okay with a worthless man like me, then I’ll devote everything to you. You can have the rest of my days.”
“You sure about that? I know Beast Bloods live longer, but you’ve already lived for half a century or so. I plan to live a long and healthy life, so who knows, we might die around the same time… Sure you want to give me the rest of your days?”
“Perfectly sure…”
“Then tell me what I want to hear,” Euphemia ordered.
“Yumi…I love you, my mate.”
On that night in the Wilds, he had come across a strong-willed woman holding a gleaming blade to her own throat, unwilling to let those rapists claim her. Their fates had been decided by that single encounter.
Euphemia didn’t reject the hand gingerly reaching for her. His fingertips ran over her soft cheeks. Nothing about her had changed.
She returned his heated gaze. He had become sexier and even manlier than she remembered. She couldn’t tell if he had lost weight or if that was just muscle.
They needed each other’s kiss like they needed air.
Through their warm embrace they returned to the three months they had spent together and chased away the time spent apart.
Zelaide sighed first. Their lips still touched as if they had forgotten to pull away.
How was I able to live without her?
“I won’t let ya go again…”
She’s finally mine…and I’m finally hers.
“Mm…”
Zelaide clasped his mate tightly against his chest.
“Mama!” Zephyr whined, displeased the two adults weren’t paying her any attention. She stomped her little feet and puffed out her red cheeks. Like Euphemia said, she had quite the personality for a two-year-old. In her hands, she still held his sunglasses.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Zephy.” Euphemia quickly broke out of lovey-dovey mode and crouched in front of her daughter. She took her little hands and placed Zelaide’s hands on them.