2 Years Later

I sit up in bed and reach for the glass of water when Lucian steps in and takes the glass from me.

“Let me,” he says, holding it to my lips.

I glare at him. Brim, sleeping at my feet, lifts her head.

“Even Brim is giving you the evil eye,” I tell him. “I can hold my own glass.”

Lucian sets it back down and sits beside me.

“I know you’re perfectly capable. But I don’t want you putting any more strain on yourself than necessary.”

I open my mouth when another pain shoots through me and forces me to close my eyes and take quick and short breaths.

Lucian puts his hand on my belly, and I feel our baby kicking, reacting to his touch.

“They’re getting closer.”

Lucian checks his watch and nods in agreement.

“They’re eager to meet their daddy,” he says.

“Daddies,” I remind him.

It’s so…surreal. That’s the right word. Never in a million years would I have imagined that me, a man, would be pregnant. But in the sea of eldritch creatures I work with, some of them can make that possible for me. So that’s how I’m here now, in bed, in our home, with a baby bump so big I can’t get out of bed without help, ready to pop.

“They need to hurry up,” I tell Lucian, and another contraction ripples through me, straining every muscle in my body, human or otherwise.

“You sure you don’t want me to call someone?” Lucian asks for what must be the hundredth time.

I glare at him for the hundredth and first time.

Not only would a doctor not know what to do with a pregnant person born male with a borrowed magical birth canal from another dimension, but we don’t know what the complications might be.

Lucian holds me close to him, arm around my shoulder, lips to the side of my head, and stays there until the contraction stops and I can breathe again.

He offers me another sip of water and lifts the blanket to look between my legs.

“I think it’s time.”

I nod, turn my wedding ring, and make a blood sacrifice.

I may have a myriad of creatures inside me, but I need a second consciousness to take care of business. I’m in too much pain to even think straight, let alone deliver this baby.

Master Jung, I’m here for you. Don’t worry.

A familiar creature grows inside me and, without a second thought, unleashes its tentacles and gets to work just as another contraction courses through me.

Lucian lets the tentacled monster do its work and sits beside me, wrapping me in his arms and peppering kisses along the side of my face to soothe the pain.

I close my eyes and push.

“I…I…” Lucian says, but he never finishes his sentence.

I’m soaked in sweat, too tired to lift my head, but I look at him, the question hanging off my lips but never quite vocalized.

Before he can answer me, the tentacled monster lifts its appendages and puts a dark bundle in my arms.

I narrow my eyes and tighten my hold, expecting the heat of another person to register against my bare skin, but it doesn’t.

Lucian reaches for it with hesitation.

“What…what’s going on?” he asks.

“I don’t know.” I focus on the dark bundle, trying to understand what I’m holding.

What is this?

Your baby, Master Jung.

The bundle moves. A little tiny dark hand here, a little leg there. It’s like it’s stretching, but…it’s like it’s not really here. And it still feels cold.

What have I given birth to?

The little head turns, chokes, and a cry fills the room. A human cry.

Lucian sits closer to me, holding me, and runs his hand over the shadow in my hands.

“Is…is this our baby?” he asks.

“Master Jung, no one has given birth to a three-fold being before. Your child is the first of its kind. It was an honor to deliver them.” The monster speaks through me, then retreats into its dimension, and I find the strength to inspect our baby.

A head. Two white gaps that seem like eyes. Two hands. Two legs. One…oh. A son. Definitely a son.

Suddenly, the coolness makes sense, and I wrap my other hand around our son and rock him to sleep. Lucian watches me, holding me until the crying stops and our baby’s pure-white eyes close.

“Lucian,” I whisper.

“Yes, my darling man.” He looks at me, hanging off my every word, as if I hold all the answers. If only.

“I think our baby is one-third demon, one-third witch, and one-third…eldritch.”

He nods and looks down at him again.

“That he is,” he says, and his confused expression is finally broken by a smile.

A smile that warms its way to my lips and my heart.

I look down at the sleeping shadow and take a deep breath of relief.

“He’s our son,” I say. “He’s our son.”

The more I say it, the more my heart fills with something new. Something strange. It’s not magic. It’s a feeling. An emotion. It’s like a switch. It turns on, and I know, no matter what, no matter what my baby looks like or what he is, I love him, and I will tear the world apart if anyone tries to hurt him.

“He is, my love.” Lucian kisses my forehead, my nose, my lips. He lingers for a moment and then bends and kisses our son too. Our little boy made of shadows.

If people were confused when they saw me pregnant, I can’t wait to see what they think when they meet our baby.

Whatever they have to say, I won’t let any of it affect him. I won’t let anyone tell him he’s wrong. I won’t allow anyone to call him an abomination. Because I know it will happen. I know this world too well.

But this is the luckiest boy in the world because his dads will scorch anyone who dares touch him.

But…

Something tells me our little bundle of joy won’t just change Lucian and me, but the whole world.

Once and for all.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed My Demon Husband. Lucian, Yu-jin’s and their son will return 200 years later.

And as for Jace’s story, look out for My Devil Wish soon on my store.