Page 58 of Ondine: Vol. 2

Our bond hums with the three of us being near one another.

“How’re you doing, Jake?” Shadow asks.

“Are you kidding? They are like magnets.”

“So, things going according to plan?”

Shadow pops a marshmallow in his mouth.

Awe poor Jake. All his scheming seems to be working out for him. Ondine is in the house. She’s aware she needs us to have her favorite man. And Jake and her are fighting. Which I think is their preferred state, honestly. I could feel Jake’s anger rise at the same speed as his sexual arousal.

“It is working out though, isn’t it?” I look over at him and he’s got a smile on his face.

“A flawless plan perfectly executed.”

Shadow changes the subject, “Oh, I found her parents. Like you asked.”

I startle a little at the confession. Ondine’s parents were…missing?

Jake flops his head to me, obviously feeling the confusion in the bond. He explains, “Ondine’s parents were a no-show at her graduation. They didn’t seem to care at all she perfumed omega, and, most upsetting, her chronic bond sickness is definitely from years of neglect on their end. She was a beta born to two alphas. It seems they didn’t care much for her when she stopped being a cute little kid. When she was twelve or something, they went traveling and left her at their country home. And then never really came back.”

Shadow cuts him off—“Turns out they did not go far. They stayed at their townhome in Cash City. I don’t have much evidence they traveled at all.”

“I want to know why they left her. What was so important. And why her perfuming and graduating didn’t seem to get their attention. Should we put in our guesses? I think they are on drugs. Drugs are much better than daughters. I can’t think of something better than drugs at all actually.”

I roll my eyes at Jake.

“I think I figured it out,” Shadow says, putting away his s’more stuff. “They just contracted with an omega.”

Oh, wow.

“I stand corrected. Omegas are better than drugs.”

“Yeah, but here’s the thing. Their omega is a female. And she’s 24 years old.”

I’m going to be sick.

Ondine is 23.

No.

“Yes. And they’ve been courting her for a year and half. Her name is Acadia.”

“We can’t tell her.”

I agree wholeheartedly with Jake.

We sit at the fire for another hour. Jake, lounging in his chair propping his head up on his hand. Shadow playing on his phone. And me, just trying to clear my thoughts.

I’ll never sleep again if I can’t clear my head.

Suddenly Jake gets a text and runs off into the house. I’d be worried but he seemed curious and hopeful. So I let it go.

18

Architect

Ondine