Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Apollo
It’s been a few days since we found out who was behind the kidnapping of Seraphina and her family.
The company Omni BioCorp is the parent company that owned the building in Illinois and the one in Australia.
They also own other buildings, some in the United States and some in Europe and Asia.
The one thing we’re not sure of is if they’re all research facilities and if all of them are experimenting on shifters.
But first we need to find out more about the facility in Australia and take care of them.
Then we’ll fill the cleaners in on what’s going on.
Hanako’s the one who suggested we wait to tell them.
Some of her cleaner family has heard rumors about the other facilities.
But never any concrete evidence. Just stories.
Seraphina has been tossing and turning more when we’re sleeping. I’m not the lightest sleeper, but when she moves, it wakes me up and I hold her tight. I want to chase all her demons away. But I don’t know what she’s dreaming about and by the time she wakes up, she doesn’t remember either.
This morning I open my eyes and she’s staring at me.
“Why are are you staring at me?” I whisper.
“Because I still can’t believe you’re my mate.”
I roll over and face her.
“I think that every time I look at you. You’re everything I could ever want. I hope you never forget that. I can’t promise that I’ll never hurt you or make you mad. But I can promise that I’ll never cheat on you or betray you in any way.”
“Thank you for that. Cheating is a big one for me. Fated or not, I’ll never be able to forgive something like that.”
“I feel the same way. My parents have been together for most of their lives and I’ve never even seen my baba look at another woman. That’s what I’ve grown up seeing. That devotion they have to each other.”
“I love that so much. My parents were the same way. They would’ve loved all of you.”
Seraphina’s stomach and mine decided at the same time to start growling.
“I smell food.” She giggles.
“That’s one thing you’ll always smell in this house. My mamá made sure we could all cook at least the basics. Because she said she was tired of keeping up with our appetites.” I laugh as we get up and get dressed.
“My mom said the same thing to us. At least one of us was always hungry. She finally said if it’s not breakfast, lunch or dinner, we had to make our own food.”
“I think your mamá and mine would’ve gotten along well.”
“I think so too.” She gives me a smile.
We head downstairs and find my mamá making breakfast. Usually she’s at the bakery, so this is a treat for us.
“Smells delicious,” I say as I kiss her cheek.
“I thought Seraphina, Oliver and Archer might like a nice breakfast.” She smiles at Seraphina.
“Thank you,” Seraphina says, I can see tears in her eyes. I walk over and hug her.
“Morning, Mamá,” Adonis says as he walks in.
“Why are you here? Don’t you have a job?” I say to him as Eros joins us.
“Breakfast is the most important part of my day. I’m a growing boy.”
Eros snorts. “Yeah, growing sideways.”
“Mamá! You see how they treat me? I’m your baby.”
“No. I’m the baby. You’re the Pudge,” I say, ducking as Adonis throws a piece of sausage at me.
“You’re wasting food, Pudge.” Ares laughs as he and Sakura join us.
Seraphina’s giggling at all of us.
“You’re all so mean, I don’t even know why—I’m so nice to all of you. I eat all the leftovers so that you don’t have to, I taste-test all the pastries to make sure it’s something you’ll all love. I mean I don’t know what else I could do for you people.” He sits down and pouts.
Mamá goes over to him and kisses his head as she’s giggling.
“You can be my taste tester every day,” she says to him.
“See? Mamá loves me. Even if the rest of you suck.”
“Was he always this dramatic?” Sakura asks.
“Yes,” we all say at once.
“Wow.” Adonis squints and flips all of us off.
“Not in my kitchen,” Mamá says as she points a wooden spoon at Adonis.
I snicker, but when that spoon is pointed at me?
I smile and blow Mamá a kiss. We all sit down and have breakfast together.
It’s been a while since the whole family has sat down to eat.
Kostas, Artemis and Orion showed up right before we started eating.
I’ve missed having everyone in the same house.
I really hope that Seraphina wants to have a big family.
Because I know I do. I look at my girl and see her laughing and having fun with my family.
This is what life is supposed to be like.
Now to get revenge on those bastards that came after us and her family.
We all meet up at the clubhouse again, but this time the entire council and all the shifter families are here.
“I asked my papà to get everyone together because we have some news. The facility that we found in Australia is still there. Zeus, Artemis, Kostas, Calliope, Romano, Armando and Keegan are leaving in an hour. They’re going to look for the facility and see if they can get in,” Sebastiano tells us.
“Wait, why aren’t we going too? It’s our home, we know where to go—” Archer starts to say as he frowns.
“That’s exactly why none of you can go. Whoever took you, knows who you are and what you look like.
What we need right now is information. And the only way to do that is to send some of us that they won’t know.
Which is why Ares, Sakura and Haruki can’t go.
Paul and Matilda know what they look like.
After we get more information, then we’ll know what to do. ”
“Do you think we’ll be able to go back home?” Seraphina asks.
“That’s up to you. Are you thinking of going back to live there?” Francesco asks, as he looks between the two of us.
I’m doing my best not to answer for her. Why would she want to move back to Australia? I need her here. What if she’s thinking of leaving me? I’ve heard the stories, sometimes fated mates choose to not be together. I feel like I’m starting to panic. I can’t lose her.
“No. I don’t want to live there anymore, I can’t speak for my brothers though. I just want to go back and say a proper goodbye to my family.”
“We’ll make sure you can do that when all this is done,” my baba says to her.
“Thank you,” she says as she leans on me.
I can feel some relief in Seraphina as she listens to the plans that are being made. Everyone knows that when it’s time to take care of the people that are behind this, I need to be there. I don’t care what it takes. I will help get revenge for Seraphina and her brothers.
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 talk about 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.