Pregnant, Panicked, and Chased by My CEO Husband Chapter 23

Pregnant, Panicked, and Chased by My CEO Husband Chapter 23

Georgia spent half the day climbing the mountain with me, cursing Finn the entire way.

“He’s insane. Why would he run this far? Does he think we’re all twenty-six-foot pythons?

“Do you not hate snakes anymore?”

“I’m working on it,” I said.

Finn had spent too many years alone. Later, he found another supernatural being to teach him some kind of binding ritual and tied his fate to mine.

If I died, he could not live either.

He thought that was a good thing.

After I died back then, he had tried to die too. Either the mountains were not high enough, or the ocean was not deep enough.

Once the pact was in place, his whole snake self became cheerful again.

He had to drink my blood to maintain his human form. If he did not, he would slowly fade away.

His logic was that if I loved him, I would not be willing to let him die, so I would definitely allow him to drink my blood.

And if I did not love him…

“I’ll just die, then.”

I did not think that was acceptance.

That was taking acceptance to a clinically insane level. Do not learn from him.

Georgia and I were nowhere near prepared for what we saw when we stepped into the cabin.

Finn was covered in blood, with a fistful of colorful feathers clutched in his hand.

Beside his tail was a chicken.

The moment I walked over, the chicken flapped wildly.

“Professor Sullivan, help me!”

The voice sounded so familiar.

“Julian Crane?”

He nodded frantically.

My gaze shifted to Finn. He instinctively pulled some grass over himself to cover his lower half, looking devastated.

“Don’t look.”

He turned his head away.

Black scales were scattered all over the floor.

I looked at the featherless bird, then at Finn, whose scales had been ripped out. Fury shot straight through me, and I grabbed Julian and started beating him.

“You pulled out my husband’s scales! I’m going to kill you! How dare you touch my man!”

Georgia joined the fight.

No one listened to his excuses.

When we got tired, we called a temporary truce.

Julian’s crying echoed through the woods.

“Sweet baby Jesus and all the saints! He pulled out his own scales! He said you were afraid of snakes and liked birds, so he wanted to modify himself. He plucked all my feathers! Look at me! Does this make any sense? A snake trying to use bird feathers? Does that make any sense at all?”

He sobbed like he had been deeply wronged.

“He started ripping his own scales out without warning. I said he was terminally love-brained, and he hit me. This is absurd. This is humiliating. I can’t live like this.”

He tried to ram himself into the wall.

No one stopped him.

Julian sulkily hid in a corner.

Finn also tried to hide in the inner room.

I went in and snapped, “Come here.”

He obediently slithered over and covered my eyes with his hand.

“Don’t look. It’s ugly.”

I lifted my wrist and held it to his mouth. *Drink. Otherwise, you can’t get home like this.”

I scolded him. *Finn, can you toughen up for once? You run off to wait for death the second something goes wrong. Have all these years taught you nothing?”

He looked pitiful and wronged.

I saw many handkerchiefs hanging by the window, so I grabbed one and used it to wipe the blood off him.

“Why is it wet?”

He looked embarrassed.

Julian stuck his head in and mocked him. *Because he cried into it. More than a dozen handkerchiefs. He cried into them and hung them up to dry. Useless.”

A murderous look slowly entered Finn’s eyes.

I turned his head back toward me, and our eyes met.

“Come home with me, okay? I don’t hate you. Humans are naturally afraid of snakes, and you never told me anything. Of course I thought you wanted to eat me. Finn, I never wanted to hurt you. You taught me so much, and I can’t bear to lose you.”

He gave a sulky little “Oh.”

I stood on my toes and kissed him.

The man in front of me seemed to ripen all at once, like a green persimmon turning sweet.

The System suddenly appeared with a tiny bindle over its shoulder to say goodbye.

“You’re not protecting the Male and Female Leads’ love anymore?”

It said, “Finn gave me a ton of money. I’m a System that knows which way the wind blows, so I’m off to order eight male-model Systems. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

We carried that chicken down the mountain.

A pregnant woman and her husband were on their way up to the chapel at the summit to pray for a blessing. Finn looked back at them for a long time.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He said, “That family will be very happy. Felix, go on.”

I seemed to see a hazy spirit behind him.

The person named Felix wore a military dress uniform. He removed his cap, saluted, and walked toward the pregnant woman.

Thankfully, we were only halfway down the mountain, so we quickly helped get the pregnant woman to the hospital.

I let out a breath of relief. I had thought those spirits were lives he had harmed.

He smiled.

“I learned it from you. When I went with you to pay respects at memorials, I realized I could see them. Like you, I wanted them to return to the thriving country they bled to build and protect, and to experience the peace they fought for.

“Marina, you raised me, so I am a reflection of you. There are many things you don’t remember, but I do.

“I am a supernatural being, but I understand love better than many humans. You once loved me with everything you had and taught me how. Now I’m teaching it back to you. Love is a loop. Love doesn’t disappear. It’s like a Möbius strip, endless and deep, circling forever. We will meet again.”

He remembered the poem I had once read to him.

It was a poem by Auden.

[I would love you until rivers leapt to mountaintops.]

[I would love you until salmon came singing through the streets.]

[I would love you until the ocean was fenced in, drained, and hung upside down to dry.]

[I would love you until seven stars cried out hoarsely like geese and ducks in the sky.]

The moon slipped behind the clouds.

Finn kept clinging to me and nuzzling against me like he could not get close enough.

“I’m taking back everything that belongs to me!”