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“OOH my, Zel? To what do I owe the pleasure? Have you ever come this soon after a visit?” Manuela asked with a smile. “Then again, we didn’t do anything during your last visit.” Though she wore revealing clothes that exposed her voluptuous chest, her greeting was dry and unprovocative.
“I didn’t come to do anythin’ with ya today either. I brought your kid a motorcycle like I promised. I left it in the back,” Zelaide replied morosely.
Zelaide usually met up with her at the finest apartments she owned when he came to take care of certain urges, since that doubled her profits, but for any other business he preferred to use inconspicuous locations in the filthiest part of Downtown.
This particular apartment was located in Out Circle’s District G where they had met a week ago after Zelaide was attacked by Inferni. The area was far from safe, but Manuela had apartments in every part of the city to better serve each client’s unique needs.
Zelaide’s official reason for visiting today was to drop off one of his older motorcycles for her son since he heard the boy didn’t have any means of getting around.
“You’re giving him a motorcycle?”
“It’s an old model, but it runs well.” Zelaide left the motorcycle at the backdoor and slipped inside the apartment.
“Thank you, darling. Sean will be thrilled. He said he hasn’t saved up enough to buy a car yet.”
“Is he still hitting the books?”
“Sure is. He’s sharing a place with a good friend, so I don’t get to see him much these days.”
Manuela looked the part of a doting mother when she spoke about her son. Zelaide noticed she had taken on the same look with him lately too.
“…So? That’s not the only reason you came today, is it?” she asked, changing the topic from her son.
“Yeah… I had some questions for you…” Zelaide trailed off. The way Manuela assessed his face with a knowing smile made him feel like a boy caught in the act.
“I’m sure you do. You specified this location and reek of another female… Smells like you did it last night. Who with? Doesn’t seem like my replacement.”
Manuela’s curiosity was piqued. For years Zelaide had never smelled of another woman.
“I know most of the females in these parts but don’t recognize that smell. I haven’t heard about anyone new either. Where did she come from?”
“……” Zelaide’s expression was hard.
“Could it be the girl you mentioned last time? Didn’t you say she was human? Don’t tell me you—”
“I didn’t do her!” Zelaide roared. “I won’t do that kinda thing with her… I can’t.”
“So that’s it. You met your mate. How’s it been? Life changing, right?”
“…!”
“Oh wow, I’ve never seen you blush before. This is fun.”
“Shut up!”
“Hahaha! You don’t usually snap either.”
Manuela was unfazed by Zelaide’s blustering that typically caused adult men to quake in their boots. Age difference played a big part in her calm handling of the younger Beast Blood.
“…But why didn’t you go through with it? Is she unwilling to accept you as her mate? Human women are finicky.”
Zelaide winced away from his fellow Beast Blood’s frank questioning.
But he came to see Manuela today because he wanted to consult her about these things. Putting up with her teasing was worth the information. This was a particularly touchy subject for male Beast Bloods.
“I don’t wanna hurt her…” he admitted.
“Hurt her? Where’d you get that idea? Did the girl cruelly reject you, saying she never asked for a beast like you to be in her life? And then that pissed you off so bad you’re afraid you’ll attack her…?”
“Don’t even joke ’bout that! I’ll slaughter anybody who tries to hurt her, even if that’s me!”
Beast Blood men protected their mate’s with their very life. Their whole world revolved around that woman.
“Do you hear yourself? Sounds like she’s your mate to me.” Manuela smiled with the wisdom of an older woman. The young Beast Blood glared at her obnoxious confidence.
“Mate… What the heck is a mate? Why does having one make me so miserable?”
“Misery is what lets you know they’re your mate. You want to embrace them and be embraced. You want to love them and be loved. And you want to devote your whole being to them,” Manuela explained to the youngster using human words. She believed that was the best way to impart this knowledge to Zelaide.
“…Do ya know it the moment you meet?”
“If only. Stuff like that only happens in the convenient love stories humans write. It’s not that easy for us to figure out. But there’s this sense that you can’t forget the other person no matter how hard you try. You’ll experience magnetic attraction to them. You become extra sensitive to their voice and smell in ways that stimulate your desire. By the time you realize it, you won’t want to be apart from them and have this unbearable desire to make them yours…” Tears glistened in Manuela’s eyes as she spoke. “At least that’s what my deceased mate said about the time he met me.”
Talking about it reminded her of the mate she lost. But Zelaide related to the information she imparted.
“It wasn’t that way for you?” she asked.
“…I don’t know. I just wanna protect her. I don’t wanna hurt her.”
“That’s why you should protect her so she doesn’t get hurt. Why do you feel so conflicted?”
“Because I could become the very thing that hurts her,” Zelaide crisply concluded.
“How?”
“She and I are completely different sizes to start. Not to mention she seems to have barely any experience. Women go through a lot, right? Like…pain and fear…”
“Ah, that’s your concern…” Manuela examined the young Beast Blood in front of her. Is that what’s bothering him? She finally understood what Zelaide was struggling with.
He contacted her because he had wanted advice only she could give him.
“Doesn’t help that she’s a classy lady from upper society. She’s the type who shouldn’t have anythin’ to do with a scoundrel like me.”
“You have much to learn, young one… Do you honestly think we can give up on our mates with human reasoning? We’re Beast Bloods. Tell me the current situation you’re in.”
Zelaide silently pondered Manuela’s suggestion before reluctantly recounting the situation.
“I first met her when she was about to be violated by Vermis scum. She resolutely chose to take her own life rather than be sullied by their hands. Her eyes in that moment were more beautiful than anythin’ I’ve ever seen. I lost sight of everything else. I ended up savin’ her, which was the start of everything. For whatever reason she’s been hanging ’round me since… Buncha stuff happened that got me hired as her bodyguard by a family member.”
“And you started thinking she’s your mate while all this was going on, right?” Manuela interjected.
“I don’t know. Just watchin’ her made me hungry. Then she caught me scarfing down raw meat in the dark, but she said it doesn’t bother her.”
“Oh? Sounds like a good match then. Most prissy human ladies would be disgusted.”
“But now meat isn’t enough to…satisfy me,” Zelaide confessed, feeling pathetic. “She always gives off this sweet smell… So I constantly have to hold my breath or stand upwind. But the cravings are too much to ignore.”
“Those are normal desires for a Beast Blood male. Why don’t you get with her if she’s willing? She sounds like a fine mate.”
“We almost went that far yesterday. The blood went to my head, and I got so excited I wasn’t thinking straight… But then somethin’ interrupted us, and I came back to my senses.”
“Wow! Are you made of self-control?”
“I have to control myself. I’m too different from her… I don’t wanna hurt her. I’ve already experienced how crazy it makes me when I smell her blood.”
“Silly boy. Is that what’s got you worried? Women are sturdier than you think. They’re better at enduring pain than men. We’re made to give birth to children after all. Her first time with you might be a little painful, but she’ll get over it fast. Especially if she loves you. Has she told you how she feels yet?”
“…She has,” the young Beast Blood quietly affirmed. If the riders and senator from yesterday saw him now, they’d never believe he was the same monster who took them down. He was that downtrodden.
“Zelaide,” Manuela said with a patient smile. “Listen to me carefully. You have lived alone since your parents died when you were still a pup. You might not have gotten deeply involved with humans, but you were raised among them. That’s why you unconsciously follow their rules and morals.”
“What does that mean?” Zelaide leaned closer, curiosity piqued.
“We Beast Bloods mature slower than humans. Our outward appearance may look like an adult human, but our minds remain in adolescence for much longer. You’re a pure Beast Blood, but you’ve never had anyone teach you what that means.”
“Are you sayin’ I’m still a punk brat?”
“You’re a genuine punk whether I say it or not. Your strong cravings come from what’s commonly referred to by humans as teenage hormones. I’m amazed you’ve held back this long. It’s probably those human rules fostered in you that made it possible… For better or worse.”
“……”
“But you can’t keep that up now that you’ve met your mate. Follow your Beast Blood instincts and devote yourself to her before someone else does. That’s all there is to it.”
“Devote myself…”
“That’s right. Put your life on the line to protect your woman… Didn’t you come to see me because you wanted someone to tell you that?” Manuela pointed out, lightly tapping him on the cheek.
“I get it now…Manuela. I’ll do that.”
“Good. You do that.” Manuela smiled like an affectionate mother.
“…I won’t come here again,” Zelaide informed the woman who had supported him since he’d lost his parents. He had never loved her romantically, but she was an important person in his life who he could talk to and who taught him self-control and how to act as a Beast Blood male.
“That’s for the best. Though I hope you’ll occasionally meet up with my boy.”
“I will.”
“Go earn your place by her side. A Beast Blood’s mate means more to us than our own lives.”
“…I know that now.”
“Let me give you one last kiss. You’re now another son to me.” Manuela pecked Zelaide on the forehead when he obediently bent down. “Stay well. Become a great man.”
“Yeah…thanks.”
They shared a small smile. That was their farewell.
They were able to put an end to their relationship without any tears or regrets. But they would forever be connected by the common thread they shared as fellow Beast Bloods.
Euphemia was the place where Zelaide should return. She had become his mate.
Manuela watched the young Beast Blood depart with motherly affection. Her instincts as an older Beast Blood female were content; the child would soon become a man and have progeny of his own. She was proud of him.