Shit.
‘Lynx!?’I look down and see that he has indeed passed out by my feet and…singing to the rhythm of an old song …?
‘Shake that, mmm, mmm butt.
Gimme that, mmm, mmm strut,
Gimme that, that, that smut,
Gimme that, Gimme that, gimme that slut!’
“Does someone want to help me?” I ask as I try to rouse Lynx but think better of it and try to move him to the sofa.
“Here.” Lennox steps forward and holds out Tempest to me. My jaw slightly drops as I freeze like a deer in headlights.Wait, he wants me to hold her?
“Here, Lennox. Let me take her,” Sierra intercedes, walking into the room. She finishes drying her hands with the dish towel over her shoulder and gently cradles her daughter.
Lennox reaches down and helps Ryker lift Lynx and carry him to the sofa, propping him up in a sitting position. Reaper jumps up and curls on the opposite side, quickly falling asleep.
I finally shake myself out of my stupor and mumble thanks before shaking Lynx awake.
“Ugh.” He groans and then smiles up at me. “Rezzi-bear. I had an amazing dream where you were in skimpy lingerie, dancing on a cloud of fluorescent cotton candy. But then, right when you were doing the splits, someone yelled surprise, and a baby with bright sapphire eyes popped up on a lollipop!”
I bite my bottom lip to hold back the laugh, but it bubbles out of me anyway, and the room fills with laughter.
“Well, that’s one way to slice the tension,” Chester says, coming to lean on the sofa with Moni by his side.
“What do you mean?” Lynx asks, giving me a bewildered look. His eyes go wide when gurgling cuts through the room. “You mean I wasn’t imagining the baby?” he says, peeking up and over at his mother.
“No, Son. This is Tempest. Your baby sister,” his mother explains before cooing down at the blonde-haired beauty in her arms.
“How?” He stumbles while getting off the sofa and approaching his parents, but it’s Ryker who answers.
“I would think after last night, you wouldn’t need the birds and bees talk.” He snickers before turning to me and raising an eyebrow. “Did you teach him nothing? Do you need a refresher?” he asks, giving me a heated look.
My jaw drops. I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or livid that he just aired my dirty laundry in front of Lynx’s parents,whom I just met.
Before my mind decides what to do, Lennox chuckles and reaches for Lynx, ruffling his hair and thankfully ignoring Ryker’s comment.
“It’s okay, Son. Given the fact that we typically only have one offspring, we understand the confusion. We wondered the same thing. But one thing is for sure: the times are changing. Come on, I’ll give you guys the tour while Sierra gets dinner started.”
The mention of food causes my stomach to grumble and clinch. The last time we ate was breakfast, right? We follow Lennox out of the family room and down a hall lined with portraits. Hoping to catch some embarrassing pictures of Lynx before I met him, I take in the portraits but quickly realize I don’t recognize anyone in them. Then again, that’s understandable since I only met Lynx’s parents a few minutes ago. Some are of single men or women, and some are of families. All of them ranged in different ages.
“Who are they?” Moni asked, sipping on a coffee cup.Did she have that a second ago? I swear my bestie can’t go long without that sweet nectar.
“These are some of the past Storm Shifters that have served as the Gatekeepers here.” Lennox stops and bows his head at the last portrait. “This is the last family to serve before we were asked to intervene while they conducted a search for them.”
The family that smiles back consists of a mother and father with dark brown hair and orange eyes. Their son has pitch-black hair and yellowish-green eyes and looks about ten in his picture.
“What happened to them?” Knots asks, leaning on Knox’s shoulder. Already, he’s looking better and not as pale as he did in the hospital bed.
“We don’t know, but a few months ago, when we came to visit, Kirkland said he felt like he was being stalked but laughed it off. We didn’t think much of it until a few weeks ago when we got the call to come and replace the family since they went missing.”
Missing? Oh my god! I look nervously at Lennox, and a sour taste floods my mouth. Did someone go after them because of this place, or was the family singled out? Could something happen to Lynx’s family, too? I wonder if it has something to do with what’s been happening in Purgatory and now Hell?
At the end of the hall, it breaks off into three directions. “To the left behind that door is a spare bedroom with an attached bathroom. It works like most things in Purgatory, so just think of how many beds you need before opening the door. Sorry that you have to share,” Lennox says, giving us an apologetic look. He continues, pointing at the hall straight in front of us, “Down there is mine and Sierra’s bedroom, and this way is the rest of the house.” He leads us down the right hall and stops in front of the next room on the left. “This is the nursery, and on the right is the all-purpose room.” At the bewildered looks on our faces, he elaborates. “This room changes to accommodate what we need. Be it a lab, meditation room, garden, things of that nature.”
“Oh! Could I make it a coffee shop?” Moni asks, raising her cup of java with hopeful eyes.
