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ANOTHER summer day quickly passed. The sky was high.
On this particular morning there wasn’t a cloud in sight. The green landscape turned a shade darker after being washed by the rain. The mild winds brought humidity.
“Good morning. Sorry I fell asleep right away last—What’s wrong?” Euphemia saw Zelaide glaring at his IHT in the kitchen as she came down the stairs.
Did he get bad news from Pal?
Euphemia knew Palmina contacted Zelaide every morning. She didn’t know what the agent’s messages said, but she assumed they were about more than just work. Zelaide was always so indifferent about it that Euphemia didn’t ask.
Two days ago, Euphemia had seduced Zelaide hoping it would lead to more. Her plan ended up backfiring and leaving them stuck in the same tense rut of bodyguard and client.
At least I figured out that he’s attracted to me and not disgusted. But he also didn’t try to have sex with me or say he loves me. I get that we were interrupted halfway through, but there was plenty of time before the alarm went off. I still don’t know how he really feels.
After daybreak, Euphemia threw herself into her work to drown her sorrows. When Zelaide returned from Gothic City that evening to pick her up, she pretended to be her cheerful self on the way home.
This was her first morning back at home with him.
Zelaide didn’t seem like himself. Anger radiated from him in waves.
“Zel…?”
What’s wrong? He seems furious.
The Beast Blood trembled, the IHT bending as his big hands crushed the sides. She had never seen him this angry before.
Is it not from Pal?
“…illed…”
Fangs gleamed from his downturned lips.
“What?”
“Manuela was killed…” Zelaide growled as if the words were ripped from his gut.
“Manuela? Who is that?”
“…A Beast Blood woman I know. I saw her yesterday afternoon. She was killed that same day. They discovered her body this morning.”
Euphemia rushed to figure out what was going on with her drowsy brain.
Zelaide had picked her up from the laboratory just after dusk yesterday. The day’s activities left her so exhausted, she fell asleep as soon as she got in his car and didn’t even remember when they got home. Her plans to talk with him about their relationship had been ruined by fatigue.
Zelaide likely carried her to bed. She woke up once in the middle of the night, but he wasn’t downstairs when she went to the kitchen for water. But he never left her alone at night, so he had to have been somewhere on the property. She heard Tipsy whimper outside while she rummaged through the fridge for food, which likely meant Zelaide was on the roof.
In that case, he could have only met with Manuela during the afternoon when he went to the city without Euphemia. She didn’t know what his business was with the other woman, but if the anger and sadness she sensed from him was anything to go by, she was someone important to him.
Is Manuela his mate…?
Zelaide glared at the picture displayed on the IHT screen, his teal eyes glowing. Euphemia followed his gaze down and promptly turned her head away.
“…Ugh.”
She only glimpsed the picture for a second, but that was enough to tell the woman was brutally murdered. The screen was a sea of blood, the body eviscerated.
“Horrible…”
Euphemia stared at Zelaide’s back. He trembled with anger.
“I… It’s my fault…” he hissed through clenched teeth.
“Your fault? Why?”
“Because I went to see her… She was killed to get back at me… All because I just saw her… She has a son!”
Zelaide’s claws dug into the IHT, cracking the screen. Intense rage and sorrow seethed in his eyes. Seeing him express such raw emotion for the first time led Euphemia to conclude, Oh…I see. Zel loved this person. Loved this woman who was a Beast Blood just like him…
“Was she your mate, Zel…?”
“…Manuela was a good person.” He raised his eyes from the screen, but neither confirmed nor denied her question. “A really good person,” he repeated.
Zelaide’s own stupidity made him sick. I shouldn’t have gone anywhere when I know they’re watchin’ me.
He never thought they’d go this far just because he briefly stopped by a filthy apartment in the middle of the day. Manuela was a strong Beast Blood; she could hold her own against normal humans. Zelaide always took precautions against Infernum, but they had taken their cunning and hatred a step further than usual and killed her.
Of course they killed her to intimidate and spite Zelaide.
They’re finally tryin’ to seriously smoke me out… Not just me… Euphemia too. There’s no room for doubt now.
The same Infernum trying to eradicate Zelaide was colluding with Mayor Saionji’s enemies to bury them both. Their enemies were after different things, which meant even if they weren’t going to kill Euphemia like they had Manuela, they meant to see her ruined to the extent her older sister Erica could never again be seen in public, much less run for politics.
Meanwhile, they were composing a surefire scenario that would send the Beast Blood Zelaide to certain death.
Euphemia. Zelaide stared into those large emerald gems that anxiously looked up at him. A hot lump formed deep inside him. This woman is…my mate. But she probably doesn’t know that she’s become a Beast Blood’s mate. What’ll she think if she knew? What did she tell me the other night?
“Being your friend is a big fat lie! A lie I told to protect my hurt pride. I’m in love with you!” Euphemia’s words echoed in his head.
Love? What does it mean to love?
As a Beast Blood, Zelaide was incapable of fully comprehending human emotion. He could tell she was fond of him. But he feared fondness was a completely different kind of emotion from the ardor and fixation Beast Blood’s felt for their mates.
“Did you love her, Zel? The woman who died,” Euphemia asked, her lips trembling.
“Love?”
Do I love her? Aah, is that how humans express it?
Manuela had said the same thing to him yesterday.
“You want to love them and be loved. And you want to devote your whole being to them.”
Zelaide turned those words over and over in his mind.
Until recently, love was a distant concept. A word that had nothing to do with him could not move his heart. The swell that began like ripples on a calm lake now raged like a storm, eating away at his composure. What was love for a human? Did it share the devotion, the dedication, and the obsession wrapped up in the Beast Blood concept of mates?
“Zel?”
Euphemia’s luxurious golden locks were tied back in a tight bun for work and nonprescription glasses adorned her unpowdered face.
She wore a simple white blouse and plain black slacks. This was her desperate attempt to look intelligent by concealing her beauty, even though her intelligence had nothing to do with looks. Real planning about how to eradicate the addictive drug Nightz from this world through scientific means filled her head. This strange woman who embodied purity and innocence, yet possessed an unshakeable will was his mate.
I love you… If only I could tell her that.
“I don’t know love. Don’t need it.”
The complete opposite words left Zelaide’s lips instead.
I can’t tell her the truth. She’ll be next after Manuela if the enemy finds out I have special feelings for her.
The truth would also deal a heavy blow to Erica’s campaign and tear the municipal government apart. He couldn’t offer better ammunition to his enemies if he tried.
The situation was already dangerous enough as it was.
“But Manuela—”
“I told ya I frequent a prostitute,” Zelaide spoke over her. “I was one of Manuela’s clients. She occasionally looked after my needs.”
“Is that what you went to see her for yesterday? To satisfy your needs?” Euphemia couldn’t keep the accusatory tone out of her voice.
Instead of making love to me? You did it with that woman?
“Not yesterday. I dropped off a motorcycle and came straight back home,” Zelaide answered frankly, crushing Euphemia’s doubts. If he had to lie about his feelings, the least he could do was be as honest as he could about everything else. “She’s a tough Beast Blood woman. She became a prostitute to raise the kid she had with her mate before he died. She was a good person. There was no reason to kill her,” he said between clenched teeth.
“Did they…kill that person to threaten you, Zelaide?”
“Probably.”
“Then it’s got something to do with me too.”
“…Yeah.”
“Wait a few minutes.” Euphemia dashed upstairs and came back down ten minutes later. “Zel, my sister said she’ll make time for us tonight.”
“Why?”
“I wish we could go sooner, but Erica has meetings and I can’t take time off work… I also need time to look into some things.”
Zelaide panicked. Euphemia was plotting something and that couldn’t be anything good. “Stop right there. You’re still going to work after hearing ’bout this? It’s not safe inside the lab either, y’know?”
“I’m going. The enemy won’t show their true colors if I sit at home twiddling my thumbs. So I’ll try to lure out the traitor by prancing around like my head is stuck in the clouds. Who knew the day would come when my stupid-looking face could actually come in handy? Let’s take down Manuela’s enemy together!” Euphemia declared, too stubborn to sit around when there was work to be done.