Page 24 of My Perfect One
We all get into one of the cars and Sebastiano drives us back to the hotel.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Serapina
The entire ride back to the hotel is silent. The shock I felt when I saw my parents and the twins is still sitting heavy with me. I can’t wrap my brain around what’s going on. Apollo takes my hand and kisses it.
“Promise me you won’t leave me.” I whisper to Apollo.
“I got you, Astéri mou. I’m not going anywhere.” He says as he kisses me.
I can feel my parents watching us, my mom is smiling.
When we get back to the hotel, we decide to order room service before we sit down to talk. Oliver and Archer stick close to me, I think we’re all just so confused. When we finally sit down, we all just stare at each other for a few minutes.
Zeus introduces himself and everyone that came back to the hotel with us.
“I need to start by saying that none of you should feel bad about leaving us. We thought we were dying too. When I woke up, at first I couldn’t figure out what had happened. All I knewwas that it looked like your mom and the twins were gone. I was really weak and could barely stand up. When I was finally able to get up, I panicked when I couldn’t find you three. I found three bodies near the bathroom, and saw the bite marks on their ankles. So I figured that you all did that and somehow got out. Their bodies were still warm, so I even though I didn’t know how long it had been, I knew that it wasn’t that long. I tried to shift, but I couldn’t and after a little while, the others started to come around. I thought about trying to escape. The front door was open. But I still couldn’t move or shift and neither could your mom or the twins. When they finally came in to check on us, all we could do was stare at them.” My dad tells us.
“We stayed with you for a while. We kept checking your pulse and you didn’t have one. We waited and waited, but none of you showed any signs of life.” I say softly. “None of us wanted to leave you.”
My mom comes over and kneels in front of me.
“I know, baby. But you did the right thing by leaving. I’m so proud of the three of you for doing what you did. You made it to Lake Renegade. But I need to know why you came back. You were safe.”
“We came back to find out who took us. And I hoped to find out what they did with your bodies. I still wish we had known you were alive.”
“We found out a few days later that a woman named Matilda wanted to see if one of the serums they were working on worked. It was a serum to slow our heartbeats to mimic death and keep us from shifting. I overheard one of the milkers talking about it after we got up. That’s how we figured out what they must have done to us. I don’t know why they did it to some of us and not all of us. But I’m glad they did. And they still don’t know that we have two venom sacs or that the venom that we’ve been giving them isn’t toxic.”
“Did you see or hear anything else about Matilda? Or someone named Paul?” Enea asks as he joins us.
“No. I only saw the handlers, the same three that the kids killed. The milkers talked a lot when they would be milking us. I think they assumed that we couldn’t understand them. I will say that I don’t think all of them were shifters. Some of them were, we could smell them. But there were a few of them that were humans and they’re the ones that talked the most.”
Sebastiano pulls out his computer.
“Do you recognize either of them?” he asks.
“They both came into the apartment before. That woman is a raging bitch and she laughed at how we had our chance to escape and fucked it off. She even said that the three of you were dead. That you were killed while trying to escape. I refused to believe her, I asked for proof. And all she could show us was pictures of Taipan snakes. I told her I wanted to see your shifted human bodies. And she said that they burned your bodies after she took those pictures. That’s why I refused to believe her.” My mom tells us.
“It took us a week before we were able to shift. No matter what they tried, we just couldn’t. Finally this past week we were finally able to shift. But it was painful and it felt like the first time I shifted. So I don’t know what was in that serum, but she’s an asshole for making it. That week we couldn’t shift was the worst, my snake was in agony.” My dad explains.
I can’t even imagine needing to shift and not being able to. Listening to all their stories makes me so sad. And a little guilty because they were suffering while we were in Lake Renegade settling into our new lives. Sakura tells my family about what happened to her and her family. My mom goes over to her and hugs her. Sakura tells her that it’s all worked out. That now she has her family back and the love of her life.
Apollo
I lean over and kiss my girl on the head as we listen to her parents and the twins talk about what they went through. The tension in her body is starting to worry me, so I pull her closer to me and I feel her relax a little more.
“So I can see you all have things to tell us too.” Her mom smiles as she looks at me and Seraphina .
“When we got to Lake Renegade, I realized my mate was there. I remembered the stories you used to tell us about how it was when you met each other. And you definitely weren’t lying. It was like I slammed into a wall. And my snake kept flopping around chanting mate. Then I saw Apollo and I just knew.” Seraphina says as she smiles up at me.
“I watched my brother and sister find their mates. One was chosen and one was fated. Finding Seraphina was more than I ever imagined. And now I don’t know what I did before her.”
“You had more time for pocket sandwiches.” Seraphina giggles.
“Oh no, I still have time for them.” I chuckle.
We spend the rest of the night talking and getting to know her family. Our plan is to leave tomorrow, we really want to talk to Matilda and Paul. Seraphina’s family needs closure.
