Mommy Wolf: Raise A Cub, Claimed By His Beast Daddy

Chapter 289: Jojo’s Birthday

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Jojo! Happy birthday, my dear boy. Happy birthday, Jojo!"

"Uwaaahh! Thank you, Mommy, Daddy!"

Jojo was dancing around when his mother and father sang for him on his birthday. The beastmen had no tradition to celebrate birthdays except when they were about to reach adulthood at sixteen.

But the humans did, and she celebrated it by roasting meat with some herbs for Jojo to eat, since Jojo couldn’t eat sweet stuff except for fruits.

On top of that, she had prepared a gift for her favorite boy. She had it in her hand, but before giving it to Jojo, she told him:

"Now, close your eyes, Jojo. I have a surprise gift for you."

"Whaaa! Okay!" Jojo obeyed without hesitation. He closed his eyes shut, and Sisi slowly opened her palm, and then put a necklace around his neck.

"Alright, open your eyes now."

Jojo opened his eyes slowly and looked down to see a small necklace with a pendant made out of a strange white stone carved like a wolf head.

Jojo didn’t like necklaces or any jewelry because they were just shiny little things that only looked good on his mother. But since it was a gift from his mother, then he gladly cherished it.

He hugged his mother again and said, "Thank you, Mommy! I will keep it safe!"

"Mm~ the faeries are the ones who carved the stone, but the stone itself is a gift from my grandmother, which is basically your great-grandma," Sisi said. "As long as you’re wearing that necklace, you will be able to call faeries to help you—or at least come for a chat with you, so you won’t be lonely. Isn’t that great?"

Now, Jojo was finally excited with the gift because he was often lonely.

He had no same-aged friends. Even in the palace, his status made it hard to make friends because no kids were around.

His father said that he’d introduce him to a few same-aged friends once he was five years old, but since they were still in the forest right now and waiting for his mother to give birth, Jojo could only talk to the faeries in the meantime.

The faeries had been watching this harmonious family from outside. They dared not to come in because their Darling told them to wait outside first with the gift they had prepared.

Once Sisi turned her head and gave them a wink, all the faeries who had been waiting flew into the hut while holding a flower crown.

Jojo’s golden eyes glimmered with joy seeing the faeries who slowly put the flower crown on top of his head.

"Jojo, in our culture, a flower crown is given to the one celebrating a birthday!" Crush Tutu said.

"And we eat lots and lots of flower nectar too!" Bold Dodo added.

"Oh, oh, don’t forget to sing and dance around with fellow faeries!" Jan Keke and the rest of the faeries were holding hands and then flew around Jojo, singing and dancing to celebrate his fifth birthday.

Jojo tried his best to follow the song, but in the end he simply clapped his hands joyfully.

Kael watched the birthday celebration in silence.

Of course, he couldn’t see the faeries. But he was glad that his son could make friends with the faeries. After all, since they’d be stuck in this place for at least nine months, the faeries would be Jojo’s only friends.

Then, he looked at his wife who was singing along. She had been glowing every day, perhaps it was because of her pregnancy, but Sisi truly looked like a mother right now.

Of course, she was already a mother with Jojo before. But this time, she had this aura of a loving woman who’d sacrifice everything for her baby’s safety—even her own life.

And he silently prayed that it was nothing but unproven paranoia on his side, because he’d rather never have an offspring of his own if it would hurt her.

Once the celebration ended, Jojo was already sleepy. He rested his head on Sisi’s chest, and it didn’t take long before he fell asleep.

"He ate too much," Sisi commented while patting the boy’s back.

"Heh, it’s fine. He’s five years old now. He’ll start to eat even more, and he’ll be able to eat an entire bull on his own once he reaches his teenage years, around twelve years old," Kael said while scooting closer towards Sisi.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and asked,"Sweetheart, you’ve been returning to the faerie land every night. Can you stay here for tonight, with Jojo and me? I’ll keep you warm, don’t worry."

Sisi always came to visit them in the morning, but would leave at noon after lunch back to the faerie land.

Kael and Jojo tried to keep her by any means, but Sisi insisted that she had to return. Thus, every night felt very cold for the pair of father and son, because their beloved Sisi wasn’t there with them.

Today was a little special because of Jojo’s birthday, and Sisi was staying until dusk.

Kael wanted to hug her at least for one night. He wanted to feel the warmth of his wife, even if it was just for a fleeting moment, because it felt unfair for him to get separated for so long without a way to feel her before sleep.

Meanwhile, Sisi was seriously considering it, but she knew that the answer was likely... no.

Not because she didn’t want to spend more time with her family, but because staying outside of Grandma Tree’s garden would weaken her constantly.

She didn’t want to look ill in front of Kael and Jojo, because she knew that Kael wouldn’t stop and would get fussy over it.

However, today was Jojo’s birthday, and she didn’t want to be separated from him as well.

Thus, she decided to endure the pain for the entire night and nodded,

"Alright, I can stay for the night. But you have to go to sleep for real this time, Kael—even if you don’t need to."