My twin’s laugh made me whirl around and run back to the river. I was just about to berate him for laughing at a time like this when I saw the drenched head of a little wolf beside him in the water. The little furball looked just as pleased with himself as his dad did.
I scowled at both of them. "What's so funny? And where did you come from, Zak?"
"Hey, relax," Nero said, grinning. "He was here the whole time."
"What?" I cried. "Where?"
Nero’s smug grin widened. "Under the water. He never left my side."
Zak nodded in agreement. "Watew."
I wanted to be mad—okay, I was a little mad at Nero—but Zak's adorable voice toned it down. I couldn't be angry at him.
"Now do you believe me that he can breathe underwater?" Nero asked.
I narrowed my eyes. "Maybe. It still freaks me out, though."
"Why? You can breathe underwater too, in your koi form."
I fidgeted with the end of my hair. "Yeah, but he is a wolf. Wolves aren't supposed to breathe underwater, unless our biology teacher was full of crap."
Nero chuckled. "No, she wasn't. But Zak is special." He tilted his head, his voice turning gentler. "And our dad's special, Nishiki. If you think about it, we are too. Our mom isn't anything like us but look at how we turned out."
He could say that again. Our mom was just a regular old human, not a shifter, not an alpha or omega or beta or whatever, just ordinary. Well, except for the fact that she was kind of kooky, but that was unrelated.
Something about Nero's words rubbed me the wrong way. Our entire life, I had already felt like the two of us were special, and not exactly in a good way. We were twins, but a fraternal pair, so when we told people about it they always assumed we were lying because we didn't look alike. We were also mixed race and sons of a single mom, who—even though she was a respected doctor—was always a little harmlessly bizarre. Needless to say, as children we were never quite that popular in the neighbourhood.
Things changed when we hit our teens. Nero started to act out, while I assumed the role of the 'good' child. Except my grades weren't that great. But I was attractive, so people didn't care if I was smart or not. My subpar grades and golden hair led people to believe I was just a dumb blond.
That was around the time that boys started taking notice of me. Even the ones who claimed they were straight couldn't resist me. I grabbed all their attention without meaning to, until I realized that Ilikedthe attention and started doing it on purpose. I thought if I could get one of them to truly like me for who I was, all of the flirting and teasing would be worth it. But it never was. They never wanted anything from me past the surface of my appearance. They just wanted arm candy.
God, it was embarrassing to think about now.
But could I really say that anything had changed? Even after my teen years, I'd never been able to form a meaningful relationship with anyone. Maybe I was doomed to be alone forever.
"You okay, Nishiki?" Nero asked.
I snapped myself out of my daze. "Fine. Just… No more pranks, okay? Your uncle's weak heart can't take it."
Zak giggled. He liked it when I was overdramatic, which was often.
"Maybe Uncle Nishiki is right," Nero said to his son. "Why don't you go take a break, okay?"
Zak grumbled, but doggie paddled his way to the shore, where he shook out his fur and slumped on the ground. I smiled. I always thought it was funny how kids never realized they were tired until they were forced to take a break.
As Zak fell into a nap, Nero sidled up beside me so that we were both sitting on the shore, our legs in the water. Ever since we were kids, we'd been fond of swimming, but I guess I never realized just how much of that came from our genes. If only little Nero and Nishiki knew that they would grow up to be fish people.
"Sorry if I freaked you out," Nero said sympathetically. "I just wanted to prove that our father's blessing on Zak was real."
I gave him a tired smile. "Trust me, there's a lot of things you tell me that I don't think are real. That doesn't stop them from happening anyway." I looked down at my legs, the image of them blurring under the dappled light of the water. "I think you’re more into all of this than I am."
"Shifting, you mean?"
"That, but also everything else. Shifting. Being an alpha." I laughed. "Finding a fated mate."
Nero grumbled at me. "What's so funny about that one?"
"Come on. You have to admit it sounds silly."
