Chapter Ten

This is not how I planned things. This is not how I wanted to show my mate my true form. Fuck. Fuckity fuck. Shit.

I wait for his reaction. I wait for him to leave this room screaming. I'm prepared for him to push me away and ask to never see me again. I'm ready for the worst.

Instead, I somehow see acceptance and dare I say it, love, in his eyes.

"Hey," he breathes out, his fingers running over the back of my head, doing his best to soothe me. The broken little whimpers that keep sounding through the room are coming from me, and I do my best to stop them to no avail. I'm overwhelmed with how much this means to me, how unbelieving it is that Casper would accept me, all of me. "It's okay, Zeke. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

I bury my face against his shoulder, just desperately holding on, doing my best to believe his words. He accepts me. He's seen the monster I can be and is sticking around.

"I had to feed," I tell him, my words coming out slurred against his shoulder. "I had to feed so I could heal up."

"That's okay," he says, still petting the back of my head. "What do you feed on, Zeke?"

"Brains. Disgusting, I know."

"Shh," he shushes me, pulling me away from his shoulder so he can look into my eyes. "If they heal you and are something you need, then they're not disgusting. Nothing you do is disgusting, Zeke." He waits a moment before asking, "they're not like live brains, are they? Like should we be getting out of here before someone wakes up screaming that their husband's brain is missing overnight?"

"What? No! Of course not! There's a local hospital that I drifted over to. I found someone in their morgue to snack on."

Casper lets out a breath he was holding, giving me a nod. "Okay, then. It sounds like we're all good then."

"That's your big issue? Ethically sourced brains?"

"Well, yeah. What else would I be worried about?"

I blink at him, trying to wrap my head around this conversation. "Seriously? You're not upset that I'm literally a monster who eats brains."

"You're a banshee who eats ethically sourced brains. Just like I'm a familiar who can shift into a lion. We all have our quirks."

How could I stay anxious when my mate is calling what I think of monstrous just another quirk. He accepts me just as I am. I feel giddy with relief.

"Quirks? Baby, please."

Casper gets the most ridiculously love sick look in his eyes. "I like it when you call me that."

My breath is stolen from me. I can't believe he's okay with me being a banshee and everything that comes with that. All I can do is pull him into a kiss, pouring all of my emotions into it, silently telling him what this all means to me.

Casper makes a surprised noise against my lips but quickly begins to kiss me back, his arms holding me tight. How could I not love this man? How could I experience this level of acceptance and not fall, head over heels for him? Sure, these feelings have come on fast, but I have the rest of our lives to settle into them now that they're here.

That's how true mates work. The feelings come on strong and hard, two pieces of a puzzle snapping into place, two sides of the same coin finally finding each other.

"Casper," I breathe out, overwhelmed by the amount of emotions slamming into me. I give him one last kiss before reaching behind myself, flicking on the lamp. Casper blinks a few times, adjusting to the light. "I wanna show you my true face."

Casper's hand touches my cheek, keeping me from looking away. "There's nothing I want more than to see you, Zeke."

I let out a shaky breath before letting my glamor fall. I know my true face isn't as conventionally attractive as how I present myself. Red veins run down from below my eyes which are completely different now. The whites are completely black while my irises are white without a pupil. My mouth stretches ever so slightly wider, becoming uncanny in appearance. Instead of ears, I have small holes on the side of my head.

Like this, anyone would see a monster.

Anyone but my mate, apparently.

"Oh, Zeke. You've been holding onto this for so long, thinking it was something bad," he says, his fingers tracing the red veins of my cheeks. "You're not bad. You're not a monster. You're still my wonderful mate. You're still mine."

"I was so scared to show you," I confess softly.

"You don't have to hide things from me. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, Zeke. Through the bad and the difficult just as much as the good times. You're it for me."

"You have no idea what that means to me," I tell him, leaning my forehead against his.

"I think I might have an idea or two. You mean so much to me."

I kiss him again, unable to stop myself. He's perfect. Lady Fate truly knew what She was doing when She picked Casper as my mate. Someone who could see every part of myself and embrace it. Someone who could put my mind at ease. Someone who could love me just the same way I love him.

I pull back, brushing my thumb over Casper's cheek, imitating the way he's petting my face. "I have one more thing to tell you."

"Just one more?" Casper asks with a giant grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Yes," I tell him, mirroring his smile. My stomach swoops with affection intermixed with nerves, now for an entirely different reason. "When I was in my phantom form, I saw something."

"Something? What did you see?"

"I saw that there's actually three people in this hotel room instead of two."

Casper chuckles, tilting his head in confusion. "Right," he says slowly, looking around the room for another person."

"No, no. That's not. There's no one else in the room with us. What I meant was there's someone else here."

"You're not making any sense, Zeke." He puts the back of his hand against my forehead. "Do you have a fever or something? Was the brain you ate bad?"

I playfully smack his hand away. "Oh my gods. Casper, you're pregnant."

"I'm sorry, what? I'm what? It sounded like you said I was pregnant."

I stare at him for a long moment, waiting for the words to sink in. "Yeah, you're pregnant."

"What? But I can't be."

"I assure you, you absolutely can. With how much we've been doing it since we met," I say, letting my words trail off. Casper's eyes are wide, darting between mine before finally, he moves, jumping into my lap and wrapping his arms around my shoulder and burying his face against my neck.

"Holy shit! Oh my gods! I'm pregnant? Are you sure?"

"Very," I say softly. "Are you happy?"

"I'm so happy I could pee myself."

I can't help but snort. "Please don't pee on me."

"I won't. I'll hold it, I promise. But yes, I'm so fucking happy, Zeke." He touches his stomach, grinning down at it. "We're gonna have a baby. Oh my gods, I can't believe it."

"I don't think I've ever felt more lucky that a monster like me was gifted someone like you."

Casper frowns, pinching my arm. "Don't call yourself that. You're not a monster. Would you call our baby a monster if they're a phantom?"

"Of course not."

"Then you're not allowed to call yourself that either."

My perspective changes in an instant. Our child might be a phantom just like me and no matter how I feel about myself, I know without a doubt that they'll have the innocence and perfection of a child. We don't get to choose the vessel we're born into, but we do get to choose how we'll treat that vessel, we get to choose the type of person we're going to be.

I'm choosing to embrace myself.

"You're right," I say softly. "Thank you."

Casper shifts us until we're laying down once more. He wraps himself around me, trading soft, barely there kisses with me until we're too tired to keep kissing even a moment longer. Pressed against my mate with his taste still against my tongue and the knowledge that our family is growing leaves me with the most peaceful sleep I think I've ever gotten.