Chapter 127: Chapter 127

Knox:

Lennon was out of it the whole time I cleaned her up. Cass changed the sheets while I got her ready for bed, and by the time we snuggled into bed with Lennon tucked between us, the last few days caught up with all of us, and being in the comfort of each other, our sleep came easy and without warning. Or at least I thought it did. I slept in silence for some time, and then Selene called out to me the same way she did the night I met Lennon.

“Do you know why the stories of Pandora’s box are all the same?” I leaned back into the darkness that I found peace in, agreeing to play her little game.

“Tell me, Selene. Do you ever sleep?” I ran my fingers through my already messy hair attempting to recover from a lazy yawn. Her laugh came freely, but as it died down, so did the humor in her tone.

“Tell me, Death. Do you know the answer to my question?” I don’t know what she is up to, but as always, I said f**k it and played ball with her.

“I assume when many people tell a story the same way, it is because that is their perspective of the same exact thing the rest of them see.” I shrugged, just wanting to get back to Lennon and Cassius.

“All of the stories of Pandora’s box are the same because no one who lived during her attack survived to speak of it. It is a tale passed on from person to person, but they fail to realize that the reality of her attack was much worse.” I thought about her words for only a second. My mind struggled to process her words as my sleep still weighed heavily on my bones.

“Why have you called out to me?” the urge to get back to my mates was gnawing at me.

“Lennon’s power is a great good. Just as Cassius was formed, Gaia and I formed her with the universe’s well-being in mind. Her power knows no bounds, and hell would fall upon those realms without the bond created between the three of you. But we need her at full power. You see, Knox. Harley kept the magic flowing, the energy, and when Cassius was born, that energy would always exist. But Lennon, Lennon is the life force. A light like no other. But with her light comes challenges. That is why I picked you just for her, Knox. The darkness of death is the balance of life’s light. Both of you are like yin and yang, and with Cassius’s tie to the universe, the three of you are the key that will lock Pandora’s box once and for all. But beware, the blinds have been pulled over the eyes of all. Pandora is close, and her strength is growing. The three of you must be ready when the time comes.” And with that, she was gone, and I was sitting up in bed with sweat rolling from me. Cassius and Lennon stirred at my movement, but thankfully, I didn’t wake either. I laid back down, curling into Lennon’s back, and fell back into that peaceful slumber I had been aching for.

Her movements stirred me, and I chuckled, watching as her naked a*s ran through to the bathroom. How is she still bashful around us after being such a filthy little thing last night? I listened as the shower flipped on, and with the bathroom door still cracked, her scent was carried into the room on the wings of the steam filling the bathroom.

“Cass. Wake up. We all need to have a chat.”

I shook him, but he only rolled over, looking at me like I had spoken to him underwater, and his brain couldn’t process my words.

“We need to talk,” I repeated again, to which his response was to only bury his face into Lennon’s pillow and growl at me.

“You sound like you want to break up.” He murmured through the pillow.

“You can’t break up with me now, baby. You’re stuck with my fine a*s for good.” I chuckled, laying back against the bed.

“Then what?” He asked, rolling onto his back too.

“Selene called out to me again last night. I think something is happening, and whatever it is, it involves—” She stepped out of the bathroom naked, towel drying her hair, and f**k me, did she look incredible.

“I don’t have any clothes.” Her face shot bright red as Cass, and I drooled over her perfections. It wasn’t until she flipped her hair over on the other shoulder did I see it. Cass’s mark. We both shot upright in bed, stunned by the beauty of it. It looked like a tattoo. It ran in thin black swirls from the mark itself. It ran up into her hair, disappearing in her thick curls and then back down, caressing her shoulder and attaching to the tattoo Cass and I gave her.

“Isn’t it pretty?” She smiled.

“Idk what it is, but I will ask Mother when I see her today.” Oh shit… We’re in trouble.

“Werewolves… like myself… Claim our mates by marking them with our bite… last night…” his words fell away when the realization claimed Lennon.

“Is this what the tattoo on your parents is? Their marks?” She growled, pointing to the most fantastic mating mark I had ever seen.

“Yes. I’m sorry.” His eyes no longer looked tired. Now they looked like he hated that she didn’t know what was happening but didn’t regret marking her.

“No. I… I want to be with the two of you. It’s just Ashley’s baby is—” I cut her off this time.

“Not Cass’s. Trust me, trust us. It isn’t his.” I pointed to Cass, who nodded a bit too eagerly.

“But if it is, this ruins your chances with your family Cass.” She looked so sad and guilty, like wanting us was something she had to be embarrassed by.

“You and Knox are my family. I hate Ashley. If that child were mine, which it isn’t. I could still be a father without being with Ashley.” He stood, taking her into his arms.

“It doesn’t matter now. Selene called out to me from the darkness last night to tell me our bond was chosen for a reason. Something to do with Pandora.” I stood, too, not wanting to be left out of the group hug.

“Yeah, we need to talk about that. Harley and Fallon had visions that Pandora was coming to open her box. In the drawing Fallon showed me, Pandora opens her box, and I am in the middle destroying the darkness.” She scratched her head like she hadn’t forgotten to mention this. But considering she couldn’t do much but scream our names last night, all is forgiven.

“How do you fight with light?” Cass asked the question I was wondering, too, but our ignorance only made her smile.

“Like this.” She held out her hands, letting her eyes turn to the bright white, her hands lit with orbs of blinding light that were as impossible to look at as the sun, and then she killed out the lights and looked at us with a grin.

“I’m a human sun ball.” She shrugged, grabbing my shirt off the floor and tossing it over her head before leaving Cass’s room and crossing the hall to the one she had been staying in. She returned dressed in workout clothes and was tying her hair up while Cass and I dressed.

“Mother is waiting for me. Are you guys coming or?” She didn’t have to ask me twice. After last night I can’t be away from her right now. I didn’t mark her last night, but damn, seeing Cass’s on her skin makes me wonder if my mark will show like that too.

“Sure. I’m game. Coffee?” I asked them, walking towards the door myself. When we all agreed that coffee was the best idea. We headed towards the elevator that opened with a ding revealing none other than she b***h herself, and Lennon was pissed.

Lennon:

Why the f**k does she have access to his floor?

“What the f**k is she doing here?” Ashley asked. Her f*****g voice is so irritating it could make a dead man shiver.

“She is my mate, Ashley. The better question is, why are you here?” Cass asked his question cooly, like her presence didn’t cause a rise in him but damn it, it caused one in me. The urge to shatter her face is overwhelming; the only reason I have contained myself this long is her pregnancy.

“This.” She flicked her wrist, revealing a whole roll of ultrasound pictures that both Knox and Cass were very uninterested in. But the possibility still hangs in the air for me. That could be my mate’s child.

“The pup isn’t mine, Ashley. It would do you well to recognize that and go to any of the other men that you willingly spread your legs for. Goddess knows how long that list is. That kid is not mine.” Cass’s eyes were swirling as his silver wolf made its presence known.

“Cassius, when this child is born, you will see it is your child. Then surely you will reject her and choose us, right?” and there it is. My greatest fear having a light shown on it.

“No. Lennon and Knox are my goddess-given mates. Nothing or no one will come between that. Now get out of the Alpha floor and do not return.” His aura slipped out slightly, making her whine and turn back inside the elevator, pouting like the child she was. Seeing her there still staring at me did nothing to ease the ache growing in me to knock her teeth out. But her questions still hang in the air like humidity so thick you could cut it with a knife. Unfortunately, if any of us plan on getting coffee. Those feelings have to be put on the back burner.

“Mother is still waiting for us in the forest, and if I am not there soon, she will get grouchy and unleash a thousand squirrels to torment the pack or conjure a swarm of insects to aggravate. Anything to occupy her wandering mind.” I chuckled lightly, trying to pull everyone’s thoughts from the elephant in the room. I stepped into the elevator, twiddling my thumbs on the way down. I was thankful when the door opened, and the freshly brewed coffee wafted into my nose. After grabbing me a cup, I cut a portal into the little bubble Mother, and I created last night, a secret place right in the open that only the people I chose can access, and just as I expected, Mother was up to no good.

“Really, Mother? Why skunks?” I screeched, watching the little furry bastards run around with their cuteness.

“Come on, they don’t stink. They spray glitter.” She threw her head back, laughing at her own shenanigans. But I just rolled my eyes and started chugging the flaming coffee like a dumbass.

“You’re marked! she exclaimed, grabbing ahold of me and damn near spilling coffee all over us. But, at least, her face was smiling. Not that it matters; I love it.

“I am.” I beamed with pride that Cassius chose to mark me. It irritated me that he hadn’t asked me about it before he did it, but I was so in the moment last night that I would have agreed to anything anyways. Hell, if they had asked if they could shove a rod up my a*s so they could sit me in the garden to scare off crows, I would have likely agreed.

“Anyways, let’s get started, yeah. Big day.” She dusted her gown off, watching as Knox’s portal opened, and they stepped through, handing me a bottle of water.

Judging by the scowls on their faces, today will be a very long day… filled with glitter-pissing skunks.

Cassius:

Before we stepped through the portal, Knox made me agree that whatever happened today, I would only interfere if I was invited or following his lead. So, both of us strolled through, angry with high b***d pressure.

Lennon pointed to several skunks playing around the forest, and I c****d my head. I have never seen a skunk in this forest before.

“I told you. Oh, and they spray glitter instead of stink.” She gave me a thumbs-up, and I almost cackled. Gaia has a sense of humor.

“Shall we begin?” she asked Lennon, who nodded, chugging the rest of her coffee before handing me the cup.

“Yes, Mother. I’m ready.” Lennon shook her arms and took her stance to fight, and my heart rate picked up.

“When Pandora’s box is opened, you will have seconds to extinguish the chaos released and close the box before everything in this realm is destroyed,” Gaia spoke to only Lennon. It was like nothing, or no one, existed outside of the two of them.

Gaia waved her hand, and a swarm of darkness swallowed Lennon. Knox and I both stepped forward, but as we stepped forward, the light Lennon had shown us earlier blasted through the throng, disintegrating it entirely.

“More. I can handle more than that.” Lennon said, retaking her stance.

“This went on for hours until Lennon was wobbling on her feet, much like last night.” She needs to rest but keeps telling Gaia to send more darkness.

“She’s hungry,” Knox murmured. She hasn’t eaten since Chad and Grant, and I often have to remind myself that she eats at all because she doesn’t eat food. I hope he sees that it isn’t so easy to just sit and watch.

The swarm swallowed Lennon again. He opened his mouth, letting the black smoke of his hoard of rotten souls leave his mouth and float to Lennon, and when he fed her, her light ignited like an explosion in the forest, and this time, instead of nodding at Gaia to go again, she walked over to us. Knox was still feeding her, and the brighter her eyes got, the more he gave.

“Thank you.” She smiled at him, squatting down to k**s his lips softly. Then she gave me one, too, and much like how her light ignited after feeding, her k**s, coupled with the essence of Knox on her lips, had me ready to devour her all over again.

“My pleasure, princess.” He grinned playfully, feeling smug that he knew what she needed.

“Let’s go again, Mother.” She called out to Gaia.

“I am afraid I must go, daughter.” The calling has occurred.

“What is the calling?” Lennon asked.

“It is where beings of other realms are being called back to their own realms. It means that Pandora is almost at full power. It is almost time, daughter. Be brave. Don’t let anything rip you from the life you want, sweet girl.” And with that, she was gone, and Lennon was left looking into the forest.

“Well then… Let’s prepare the pack for hell if I fail this shit.” She shrugged and walked up to us, clearly questioning herself.

“Lennon, you won’t fail. You can do this. That was incredible! Besides, Knox and I will be at your side the whole way. We can help too. I just know it. I pulled her into my arms, still shocked that she was ours. I love her so much it f*****g hurts, and I don’t even think she knows that yet.

“Let’s go, princess. We will get Cass to call the pack together. But first I think we should talk to his parents. They had their own world-ending battle at one point too.” Knox told her.

He was right. If anyone could tell us how to navigate this mess, it would be my parents. Something tells me Mom could help Lennon navigate her strange new power. After all, at one point, she had to learn to navigate hers on the fly too.