A few minutes later, his friend came to retrieve him. Fester blushed and left with him.
“I think they should be a thing,” Jenni stated.
“I think so, too,” Pandora agreed with a grin before lacing her fingers in mine and tugging me out of the classroom behind her.
50
PANDORA
The sun hung high in the sky, scorching us with the golden rays that streaked across the crystal-clear water of Odyssey Bluffs. The heat of the desert pressed uncomfortably against my skin, but the gentle breeze rolling off the cliffside was a reprieve.
I had my long black hair pulled up into a high ponytail, and my black one-piece bathing suit clung to my body in a way that made me feel confident instead of self-conscious. But that had more to do with the fact that I was around my mates than anything else.
The guys all looked amazing, more so than usual. Ever since we’d all been intimate together, it was like our matebonds had deepened even more.
I was drooling over my mates, and I wasn’t ashamed about it.
None of them had shirts on, just swimming trunks, and I couldnotstop staring.
Bram stood at the edge of the shore, his short black hair damp with sweat, and his red eyes scanning the clear water. The skull tattoo on his neck, the wolves on his chest, the wolf on his arm, and the hawk on his other arm were all on display.
Reed stood beside Bram, his dark brown coils bouncing as the breeze hit. His violet eyes were trained on the water as they talked about Gumdrop. His arms were crossed, but I could still see the small stars dotted along them. His freckles spattered his cheeks, and my heart ached at how attractive he was.
Hunter’s shoulder-length dark blond hair caught in the breeze, and his white eyes with that pretty gray ring fringed with long white lashes assessed me with clear concern. But he didn’t need to be concerned. I was perfectly okay as I ogled the map of Kalista splayed across his chest. I wanted to trace the skull over the Demon Capital with my tongue.
Skel’s messy black hair streaked with white blew in the wind as he grinned at me with emerald eyes filled with mischief. The scar over his eye also caught the light. Tattooed snakes curled around his arms, and a cliff similar to the one here during a thunderstorm with lightning was on his chest with a scorpion on his neck, and poison black liquid dropped down both of his thighs until dark magic goo covered his shins. His tattoos weresoattractive. Very common fears for all supernaturals. He bit his lip ring and reached up and ran the hand tatted with a spider through his hair.
Dex’s white-blond hair caught the golden light, too, and his fog gray eyes were glued to me as he smirked like he knew exactly what I was thinking. His tattoos of shadows wrapped around his biceps and down his arms, and his nipple piercings were also something I couldn’t ignore. The scar around his throat and scars on his back caught the light the same way mine did, but they only made me love him more.
All mine.
All five of them were my fated mates.
For a moment, I forgot everything—the pain, the trauma, the history that I carried with me of the bluffs: all from being attacked to falling off the cliff and drowning. None of that mattered anymore.
Nebula’s voice pulled me into the present, and I dragged my gaze away from my mates and toward his skull that sat atop my bag in the sand. “I’m proud of you, Pandora. You’re not spiraling into memories of the past horrors here. Perhaps your mates were right to take you here today.”
I smiled, my cheeks aching from how big I grinned. “Theydidpromise me a day of fun.” I stretched my arms over my head. “So, let’sallhave some fun.”
“Do be safe. Sybil is…drawing on my power again. I will manifest when I can,” Nebula whispered in a strained tone. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You can’t help what she does.” My eyes glistened with tears, the happiness I’d felt dampening with the knowledge that witch was hurting my best friend again. “Nebula…”
“No,” he hissed. “Go,enjoy. I’ll manifest soon. You five, teach Pandora to swim. Be normal, butdo notlet this ruin your day.”
“We promise,” Hunter whispered, respect drenching his tone, and Nebula de-manifested.
My heart ached.
Bram groaned. “Does that mean we have to actuallyget inthe water?”
Dex smirked. “Yeah, dude. It’s called swimming for a reason.”
“I’d rather summon a chaos serpent to ferry me across the water,” Bram muttered. “Swimming isa lotof work.”
I laughed, already feeling lighter than I had in weeks, even though Nebula couldn’t participate in the fun right now.
We would make Sybil Shaw pay for that later—today, we had to take a moment to breathe.
