Page 191 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“You were right.” Terra nodded.

“I know.” Lucy laughed.

Terra shook her head.

“You don’t have to enjoy it quite that much.”

Her mom gave her a look.

“What do you mean? I’ve been watching the two of you suffer for weeks.”

“It was a form of suffering,” Taurex said gravely. “I thought I would have to live the rest of my life without my fated mate.”

“And I thought you stopped loving me after I rejected you,” Terra murmured.

He shook his head.

“I have never stopped loving you, lovely one. You are the only woman I want forever.”

Terra’s heart swelled so painfully she thought it might burst.

“Careful,” she warned him. “If you keep being so sweet I’m going to start crying again.”

Lisa tugged on her skirt.

“Mommy?”

Terra looked down to see her daughter.

“What, sweetheart?”

“Does this mean the Bull-man is going to be our new daddy?” Lisa wanted to know.

The question silenced everyone.

Terra looked at Taurex and saw a careful kind of hope shining in his eyes.

“Do you want me as your father?” he asked Lisa and Cody, who had come to stand beside his sister.

“Yes!” they both shouted.

“Then that is exactly what it means,” Taurex assured them.

“Yay!” Lisa yelled.

Cody’s face lit up.

“The Bull-man is our dad!”

“Bull-man-daddy!” Lisa exclaimed. And then they were holding hands, both jumping up and down together and chanting, “Bull-man-daddy! Bull-man-daddy!”

“Children,” Taurex began, though his voice had gone suspiciously rough, “perhaps we should discuss the terminology⁠—”

Lisa threw herself at him and Taurex caught her with one arm automatically.

Cody joined them a second later and the big Monstrum lifted him with his other arm.

Terra laughed through her tears and leaned in to join the hug.