Page 16 of My Perfect One
Seraphina
When Sebastiano names off the ones that are going to Australia, my brothers and I are a little offended that we weren’t asked to go. After they explained why, it made more sense. But that doesn’t mean I like it. I had said that I want to be there when they raid the facility. I did notice that my Apollo won’t be going either. And I feel some relief because I need him here with me.
After they all leave, Hanako updates us on what the cleaners are saying. They believe everyone deserves to have the chance to be rehabilitated. Unfortunately, this time it might not have been the right way to deal with them. We don’t know Matilda or Paul, but I can tell the family is kind of hoping that they’re not involved. I can see the sadness in them when we talkabout everything that’s happened. Apollo told me he feels like if Matilda and Paul are involved, they could’ve stopped them. When he told me that, I told him it’s not their fault. Not even the cleaners are to blame for whatever the siblings do. They were only doing what they thought was right.
I can see how worried the family is about the trip, and I hate that I can’t do more to help. But knowing that we’ll have answers soon helps my anxiety. We’ll get revenge for our parents and the twins. Fuck, I miss them so damn much.
CHAPTER NINE
Seraphina
My anxiety is super high and Apollo says I’ve been talking in my sleep. My parents said I would do that when I was stressed out. Waiting for the family to call us is the hardest part, next to not knowing what they did with our parents and the twins’ bodies. It still kills me not to know that information. Maybe we’ll be able to find out now that we’re heading back to the facility. They must have kept records, right?
“Do you want to go to the campgrounds and shift for a while?” Apollo asks me.
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Of course, I’ll ask the others if they want to join us.”
Apollo holds me, I always feel so safe in his arms. I hope my brothers find their mates and from what I’ve seen, finding your chosen mate is just as strong as a fated one. Ares and Sakura are chosen mates. Watching them together is how I feel about Apollo. And when they shift together? It’s adorable. Sakura is a red panda, she says they’re bearcats, and she’s the size of oneof Ares’ ass cheeks. It makes me feel better about how small I am compared to Apollo. My snake has enjoyed wrapping herself around Apollos neck. He told me that his polar bear is worried she’ll bite him. I don’t have the heart to tell him that one day she probably will. She keeps promising that she won’t hurt him, she just wants to nibble on him. But so far, Apollo and his bear said no to the nibbling.
“This isn’t fair. I wanna shift and play too.” Sebastiano arches an eyebrow at us.
“I mean if you really want to, we can test that theory that if we bite you, we can make you a shifter.” Apollo chuckles.
“Oh no. Fuck that. I remember the rogue shifter we dealt with. And that bastard was born that way. I’ll just continue to complain that I can’t shift.”
We all laugh. Rogue shifters are usually born of a human parent and a shifter parent. They can become a rogue when the human parent rejects them. And if the shifter parent doesn’t take them into their clan, it can make them feral. As shifters, our human side craves the family life. Without it, we can go crazy.
We head to the cabin that was made for the shifters. Apollo and I wait till everyone shifts and leaves. Then we shift together. My snake goes over to his bear and flicks her tongue at him. He stares at her and then makes weird noises. I think he’s pretending to puke and my snake isn’t amused. She keeps showing her fangs to him. Then she launches us at him, he doesn’t react fast enough and now we’re on his back. I can see his face in the mirror and he doesn’t look excited about this. But he starts walking outside and heads to the pond that everyones at. I wish we could communicate more in our animal forms. At least I know what’s going on and if I need to, I can force her to shift back…most of the time. There have been times when she doesn’t feel like listening.
We swim around in the pond. Sometimes I can tell which polar bear is mine. But the brothers look identical in their bear forms. This time I take a guess and hop onto the closest bear. By the look of horror on his face, I’m guessing I chose wrong. There’s another bear that’s sunning on a rock and they’re making wheezing noises. I think that’s Artemis. The bear I jumped on is now racing for the rocks and diving down into the water. I think he’s trying to shake us off him. But he doesn’t realize we can hold our breath too. So I hold on by wrapping our tail around his neck. Which makes him pop his head out of the water. And now he’s roaring and flailing around. It kind of sounds like he’s gasping for air, but we’re not holding on that tight.
When he gets onto a rock, he shakes his whole body and we go flying. Luckily I land on another polar bear. This one licks me. My snake isn’t amused at being licked so she flicks her tongue at him. I let her know that I’m pretty sure it’s Apollo. When he turns on his back, I know for sure it’s him. I curl up on his belly as he puts his paws on me. I love my bear and I’m positive my snake does too. Even if she still wants to nibble on him.
Apollo
Watching Seraphina’s snake fuck with my brothers is the best thing I’ve ever seen. Today was Eros’ turn to deal with my snake. I thought about saving him, but it was too entertaining to watch. Artemis never stepped in to help either. She just watched and laughed. At one point, she was laughing so hard, she fell of the rock she was sunning on.
We spent the rest of the day at the otter enclosure. At first the otters didn’t like my girl, we think it’s because they can smellher animal in her scent. And snakes aren’t usually friends with otters. But after about an hour, they started to warm up to her. It was the same way when Francesco first brought the otters to Lake Renegade. They didn’t want to play with us, it didn’t matter if we were in our human or shifted forms. But now? They love us as much as we love them. Even when we’re shifted.
When we get back to the house, we grab a shower and join my family for dinner.
“I think you both should get ready to leave,” Mamá says to us. “I have a feeling they’re going to send for the rest of you before they land. Because the flight is so long.
“We’re packed and ready,” I say to her as I nod.
The flight is about sixteen to twenty hours, so we had discussed that maybe the rest of us should leave earlier than originally planned. At first we were going to wait till they found out what’s going on over there. But again, that long flight time could work against us. So Adonis, Sebastiano, Eros, Noah, Gervasio, Valentino, Marcello, Oliver, Archer, Seraphina and I are heading out tonight. The council wanted Seraphina and her siblings stay here in Lake Renegade. But they all refused and fought to be able to go. I can’t blame them. I’d want to be there to take the facility down too, if I were them. Ares is mad that he’s not being allowed to go. He says if anyone deserves to be there, it’s him. Sakura and Haruki feel the same. Because of that, we’ve all agreed that whoever is in charge, we’re going to bring them back to Lake Renegade. Especially if we find Matilda and Paul.
“You need to be careful, you remember what happened here. We don’t know what kind of weapons they have, and I need you all to be extra vigilant.”
“We will, Mamá,” Eros says to her.
I hate that our mamá is so worried about us. Especially after what happened to Ares. I watched her go through all of that and it still hurts to remember how she was. My mamá is a strongwoman, but no parent should have to deal with the thought of losing their children.
“That goes for you three, too,” she says as she looks at Seraphina and her brothers. “You’re a part of our families now and none of the parents here are willing to lose any of you.”
The three of them nod at my mamá. I can see how much it means to each of them to hear her say that. I’ve tried to put myself in their shoes and I just can’t. The idea of losing anyone in our family is too much to think about.
