“But again, why would I need one? I’m not in any danger.”
“I feel like you are. And remember our conversation about who my family is?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why.”
Sawyer sighs. “Okay.”
“Oh and well…we probably need to tell you something. Or well, show you,” Ares says.
Sawyer stares at him. “Why do I feel like it’s something weird?”
“Weird? Why would you think that?” Ares smiles.
“Okay. Now I know it’s something weird.” She laughs.
CHAPTER TEN
Sawyer
I’m a little worried about what Ares is going to show me. We follow him over to where his family is and the Nikolaidises are there too.
“Okay, so we’ve decided to let you in on our secret. Emerson has told us how he feels about you and River. And for us as a family, this is a big thing. Our secrets are kept within our families and no one speaks of it outside,” Zeus Athanasiou says.
“Are you sure you want me to know this secret? I mean, really sure? It sounds like something more than learning about the Mancinis and the Bastianinis.”
“Are you serious about being with Emerson?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes. I’m sure about this.”
“Okay. First, please don’t yell or scream. It’s scary when people do that,” Eros says as everyone laughs.
“We’re all going to go over there for a minute, and we’ll come right back,” Apollo says.
“What’s going on? And why is Sebastiano recording me?” I whisper to Emerson.
“You’ll see,” is all Emerson will say. I squint at him and he laughs more.
What the hell is going on? I’m so confused. Everyone is staring at me. All of a sudden, I see a fuzzy face look around the corner of the wall. It looks like a fucking polar bear. We’re all going to die.
Emerson
We watch the two families walk over to the structure they made for this purpose. Because they’re shifters, most of us don’t bat an eye if they’re naked and shifting, newcomers don’t usually feel the same.
We see one of the polar bears poke his or her head around the wall. The look on Sawyer’s face is priceless.
“Why are we still standing here? Polar bears are vicious, man-eating animals. We need to back away slowly. How the fuck did it get back there? Are the families okay? Are they dead?”
Sawyer’s still babbling as the rest of the Athanasiou family comes out. Then we see the Nikolaidis’ white tigers, the Minamoto’s red pandas and the Crawford’s taipan snakes. At this point, Sawyer’s trying to climb me like I’m a tree that will save her from the animals. And I can’t stop laughing.
“Why are you fucking laughing?”
She’s almost on my shoulders as one of the polar bears sits in front of us and smiles. Or at least I think he’s smiling.
“DON’T EAT ME. I promise, I taste like rotten meat. You won’t like the taste of me!” she screams at him.
