Maybe it had been necessary. Maybe he’d needed to walk through the darkness to appreciate the light. Or maybe he was just incredibly, impossibly lucky. Either way, he wasn’t questioning it.
“We should get back,” Sam said. “Before Nina tries to carry all the festival purchases herself.”
“Chloe’s the same way. Stubborn.”
“They’d get along well.”
They already were. When Victor and Sam returned to the women, they found them making plans.
“Dinner next week,” Chloe was saying. “You and Sam should come over. We can compare notes on living with protective monsters.”
Nina laughed. “They’re not that bad.”
“They’re terrible,” she corrected, her eyes warm. “And wonderful.”
He felt Hyde rumble with satisfaction. She understood. She knew what they were and still chose them every day. Just as they chose her.
“Dinner sounds lovely,” Nina said. “If Sam promises not to lurk in the shadows the entire time.”
“I don’t lurk,” Sam protested.
“You absolutely lurk.” Nina patted Sam’s arm the same way Chloe patted his. “It’s very dramatic.”
They made plans and then Sam and Nina wandered back towards the ice sculptures and he found himself alone with Chloe again.
Well, as alone as you could get in the middle of a crowded festival, but it felt private. Just the two of them. Three, counting the baby.Four, Hyde corrected and he grinned.
Yes, four.
“Having fun?” she asked.
“I am.” He pulled her close, careful of her belly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For bringing me here and not letting me hide.”
She smiled up at him. “You were never hiding from the world, Victor. You were hiding from yourself.”
She was right, as always. He’d spent years fearing Hyde and treating him as an enemy instead of an integral part of who he was. But she had seen the truth and had loved both of them. She’d shown him that he didn’t have to choose. He could be both. Human and Hyde. Man and monster.
“I love you,” he said. The words came easily now, with no fear or hesitation.
“I love you too.” She touched his face. “Both of you.”
Hyde purred and the sound rumbled through his chest loud enough that she laughed.
“Is he happy?”
“Ecstatic.” He kissed her gently. “We both are.”
They stayed at the festival for another hour, wandering through stalls, listening to music, and sharing roasted chestnuts and stolen kisses.
He let himself expand a bit more when the crowd pressed too close, let Hyde rise just enough to keep Chloe safe and comfortable. And no one cared. No one even blinked. Because this was Fairhaven Falls where monsters and humans lived side by side, where love mattered more than species, and where he could finally, finally, be himself. All of himself.
“Tired?” he asked as she yawned for the third time.
“A little.” She rubbed her belly. “Someone’s been kicking all day.”
