Holding Andrew in one arm, I carefully picked my way down the hill. To my dismay, a little crowd of people had gathered around the bench, as if a single dad causing a commotion was more compelling than the cherry blossoms. I avoided their gazes as I grabbed my stroller and made a run for it, feeling as low as a rat snatching a piece of pizza on the ground.
Ugh, that was beyond embarrassing...
"Maybe he should leave the stroller at home next time..." I heard someone mumble behind me. Probably one of the people who'd been sitting on the bench when the stroller crashed into it.
It stung. Tears pricked my eyes. It wasn't my fault and I knew it, but it still hurt. Despite all my efforts, I couldn't be perfect.
"Seriously, it's such an eyesore," someone else said, a little louder, as if my silence encouraged the group to pick on me more. "Why can't he just leave his kid with a babysitter and come without it? And in such a big crowd, too!"
I was shocked at how openly these people were jeering at me. They seemed young, maybe in their early twenties. Old enough to know better but not mature enough to act on it.
They're just stupid kids,I told myself.Don't let them get to you.
The worst part was that I knew Andrew could hear them, too. I held him closer to my chest, wishing there was a protective bubble around him.
Back at our picnic blanket, I sat down and tried my hardest not to feel miserable. Andrew chewed on an arrowroot biscuit while I stared up at the sky. Despite everything going wrong, it was still a clear, perfect shade of blue.
I sighed and laid back against the grass. I just needed a minute to close my eyes.
Something touched my face. It felt light and soft, like a cherry blossom petal.
I didn't reach up to touch it. I was afraid if I did, it would slip away, just like everything else did.
A strange feeling washed over me. Maybe it was theMagic the Unicornstory fresh in my mind. But I did something silly and childish.
I wished on it.
Dear cherry blossom petal,
I would love it if you sent me a kind, competent alpha who loves kids. Oh, and me. Because I would love a partner because I'm sick of being lonely. Um... Please. Sorry for forgetting my manners.
Yours truly, Ryan.
2
Ulysses
Unicorns are incrediblyspecial mystical beings. They are capable of incredible feats; magic, healing, and much more. And of course, their unmatched natural beauty. Truly, they are one of the most magical and amazing creatures the world has to offer.
They are also very humble.
I know all this because Iama unicorn, of course.
With all that out of the way, I should remark that unicorns don't often appear before humans. Not anymore. With their dirty cities and disbelief of our kind, why should we? We have better things to do, like prancing in the untouched flower fields and having riveting conversations with fairies.
That was a jest, by the way. No fairy has ever held a riveting conversation.
Nonetheless, I find myself drawn to human society more than others of my kind. There's just something about humans that intrigues me. They come in so many shapes and colors and scents. Walking around a park full of humans makes me feel like a child in a candy store.
There is another thing unicorns are good at. We have an acute sense of distress. Not for every person in the world, mind you, otherwise our heads would likely explode. No, the ability is reserved for one being alone.
The one who is our fated mate.
Now, it's frowned upon for unicorns to mate outside of our species, and if we do choose to do so, we're encouraged toat leastpickanother mythical species, like a dragon or a gryphon. The idea of mating with a human, heaven forbid, is like saying you're going to mate with a sock.
So when I was perusing the cherry blossoms in the local park and my sense of my fated mate's distress began pinging, I was shocked.
I paused. Surely that couldn't be right. WasIdistressed? I looked myself over. No, I was quite proper and didn't have a scratch on me. My mood was fine as well. Then it definitely wasn't coming from me.
