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PANDORA

“Y es.” I forced the word out of my throat, hoarse and cracked.

“You want to bond with them?” Dad asked gently, concern flashing in his dark eyes. “I need to be sure this is what you want, Pandora. This is your decision. But I agree you should complete the bonds if it can save you.”

I nodded weakly. The mere tilt of my head sent spasms through the muscles in my neck.

“She’s hurting,” Dex croaked. His magic flared briefly, soothing some of the agony before it came rushing back. “I can’t take enough of it away to help her.”

“Then you two need to hurry,” Hunter interjected, his jaw tight. His dark blond hair was down, and it was messy from running his hands through it a million times. His pain mirrored mine through the bond.

Reed and Skel were suffering, too. I could sense their understanding of the situation for what it was. They knew I was ready to seal the bonds with Bram and Dex.

Dex’s fog gray eyes met mine, searching for any sign of hesitation. “You’re sure?”

“She is,” Reed spoke for me. “Talking hurts her too much to answer. I can sense that much through the bond.”

I shot Reed a thankful glance.

Skel stepped forward, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead. His magic thrummed over my skin, warm and comforting.

For the moment, my fear of shadow magic and of the curse inside of me faded.

“I’m sorry,” Bram blurted suddenly, his gaze fixed on Dad. “I wanted to do this the right way. To earn this. But I’ll make it up to her. Every wrong I’ve done against Pandora—I swear it.” He bowed his head, his voice thick with sincerity. “I’m sorry to her, and to you.”

Dad’s scowl deepened. “Let’s save my daughter before we dig into the past.”

Dex gave a jerky nod. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too. I’ll cherish her for the rest of our lives.”

Dad’s gaze softened as it shifted to me, and his voice dropped to a murmur. “Pandora, I love you. Everything will be okay.”

“I love you too,” I rasped. Talking felt like sandpaper grating against the raw flesh of my throat.

It was worse than Penny Bones cutting through my vocal cords—something I never thought possible.

Dad’s eyes shone with unshed tears, a bittersweet smile flickering across his face.

Was this the first time I’d told him that?

Sweat dripped down my temples, and I gasped as fresh agony lanced through my chest. My hand clutched at the pain.

“You two, mark her,” Grimsworn urged Bram and Dex. “ Now . The curse is spreading rapidly.”

“Drecken,” Dad snarled.

“Daryl,” Jenni whispered, her hand slipping into Dad’s. “He’s right. Look at her. She needs them.”

The world blurred as vibrant colors swirled in my vision. Weakness sank into my bones, leaving me hollow and brittle.

Hunter moved toward me, his touch gentle as he lifted Nebula’s skull up and kissed my cheek. “Fates be with you, starlight.”

“Wait—” Dad and Nebula started in unison, but Jenni clicked her tongue.

“Did you want privacy when we bonded?” she asked.

“Of course.” Dad’s face flushed crimson. “That’s different.”

“Not really,” she replied, pulling him toward the door. “They deserve this moment without prying eyes.”

“Give her this moment,” Hunter whispered to Nebula as he walked out.

The others followed, and Skel winked at me as he closed the door behind him.

Agony roared back, my muscles convulsing as nausea churned in my stomach.

Bram and Dex moved to the bed, climbing in on either side of me with careful precision, their touches featherlight against my skin.

“I wanted to do this differently,” Dex murmured, his voice thick with regret. “To ease you into my magic.”

“And I wanted to earn this,” Bram added, his magic flickering before Chaos manifested. The cute, wolf-like spectral creature emerged, and he rested its head on my lap.

Jerking my arm up slightly, I managed to stroke his ghostly fur once before my arm fell to my side again.

“But we can’t watch you suffer anymore,” Dex said.

“We’d do anything for you,” Bram rasped. “Including this.”

“Do it,” I rasped, the little strength I had was fading.

Please.

Dex’s warm hand enveloped mine, and his lips brushed my palm. “I’ll mark you here, okay?”

Bram’s tail coiled gently around my torso, raising my shirt up as its tip rested over the scar on my stomach. “And I’ll mark you here.”

Our magic flared, and in sync, they marked me.

Dex’s tongue flicked out, piercing my palm with an audible crack that reverberated through my bones. One black swirl flared to life on my skin, a mark of shadow magic.

“It’s perfect,” Dex croaked after his tongue slipped back into his mouth.

Bram’s magic surged as his tail warmed, transferring chaos magic into me. A tattoo of a small wolf with glowing red eyes formed over the scar on my abdomen, the image searing with a dark, chaotic beauty.

“Perfect,” Bram agreed, staring in awe at his mark on my stomach.

I reached out my trembling hands, sliding up their shirts until my palms rested on their bare chests.

I summoned the last reserves of my magic, pushing it into them and flooding our matebonds. Their fears and doubts about not being worthy of me came to my realization, and it broke my heart.

Summoning more strength than I knew I had, I sent acceptance and love surging back to them.

As their magic intertwined with mine, my soul knit itself together. My matebonds pulsed with our magical essences, and my soul was stronger than it had ever been.

It was whole.

All five matebonds surged in harmony.

Chaos magic sparked. A small black wolf pup sprang forth from the mark on my stomach, and she landed on Bram’s lap. Her red eyes gleamed with mischief.

“Hi,” I whispered.

She barked, tilting her little head before fading away almost as fast as she appeared.

“Your chaos manifestation,” Bram explained, “a smaller version of mine.”

The door opened, and the others returned.

Grimsworn entered with a gleeful grin. “Your soul is whole,” he announced, magic popping like fireworks off his fingertips. “Let’s break that curse, shall we?”

“Enough with the theatrics.” Dad rolled his eyes. “Break the curse on my daughter.”

“Very well.” Grimsworn stepped forward, his hands outstretched as if commanding an orchestra. Raw magic sparked to life and danced around him in an array of colors, twisting like ribbons. A guttural incantation spilled from his lips. It was a language ancient and unknown to me, but it was almost mesmerizing. Each syllable sounded like the striking of a hammer on stone.

“Oh, shit,” Bram muttered from beside me.

From the ground beneath Grimsworn’s feet, runes burned into existence, fiery and ethereal, spreading in a perfect circle around him.

Somehow I knew Grimsworn was definitely favored by the Fates for being blessed with the amount of power he was.

“No kidding,” Dex uttered.

The air shimmered, and the temperature plunged. Frost spread in jagged veins across the stone floor.

“Ice magic?” Reed gaped at the wizard.

“I thought only ice fae could wield that…” Skel trailed off.

“He is the strongest wizard in Kalista for a reason,” Hunter stated.

Grimsworn bellowed incantations toward me, his voice reverberating as though spoken by a hundred voices at once.

The curse sank deeper, clinging to me like tar like it was afraid of him, and it should’ve been.

White-hot agony ripped through me as Grimsworn’s magic settled over me. His power surged, slipping underneath the curse and tearing it from my bones piece by piece.

My mouth split in a silent scream, my body arching as the last traces of the curse seized me.

The room pulsed with magic, the air thick with power so potent it was suffocating.

With a violent motion, Grimsworn clawed at the air, and arcs of black tar exploded outward from the pores of my skin, splattering the walls and ceiling, carving deep gouges into the stone.

“Is that dark magic?” Jenni asked, fear lacing her tone.

“It’s dead,” Nebula answered. “It’s remnants of the dark magic curse. It can’t survive after being torn away from Pandora.”

Hunter relayed that message to everyone else, but I could barely hear his voice.

Grimsworn raised both arms high, his fingers curling into fists. A tornado of light erupted above him, swirling faster and faster until it became a pulsating orb of raw, unbridled magic.

Tendrils of bright light illuminated the room with flashes of brilliance as it stripped away the curse from my mind, body, and soul.

“Fates,” Reed gasped out, clutching his chest.

“Shit.” Skel rubbed his sternum.

“Fuck,” Dex cursed, gritting his teeth.

“Sorry, starlight,” Hunter croaked.

Bram’s entire body shook with pain, but he bit his lip to not vocalize it.

I could feel it, though. Through the matebonds. All five of my mates were feeling the backlash of this.

My soul ached—bruised, all from the dark magic being physically ripped away from it.

The power in the room was unbearable now, crushing down on me even as Nebula’s voice reached my ears, his words barely audible over the storm of magic. “Breathe, Pandora. We’re here. Your mates, your dad, Jenni, and me. You’re not alone.”

With a final incantation, Grimsworn hurled the orb directly at me. It collided with what was left of the curse, detonating into a deafening explosion of light and sound.

Pain, like fire and ice, tore through me as Dex and Bram clasped my hands tightly.

I couldn’t hear their words of comfort, though.

The curse was relentless.

Grimsworn extended his hands again, and streams of light burst forth, wrapping around the curse’s lasting presence and ripping it away again, inch by agonizing inch.

The last piece of the curse clung stubbornly, writhing around my heart.

I gasped for a breath, desperately needing to fill my lungs.

Grimsworn snarled, slamming his hands together with a magical clap. The runes on the floor flared brightly, and a beam of searing light lanced through the curse, incinerating the final fragment.

The brutal force of the purge pinned me against the bed, breathless and shaking.

My soul ached. There was no other word that could describe the feeling within me.

Nebula shouted something as the last of the dead dark magic from the curse finally purged from my body and slammed against Grimsworn. The magical impact sent him hurtling into the wall, but instead of falling, he stayed on his feet shakily, brushing off the debris with a wild grin.

Grimsworn’s laugh filled the room, manic and echoing. “What a challenge!” he exclaimed, his eyes alight with the thrill of conquest. “I’ve never broken such a thorough curse. That was…well, that was the strongest curse I’ve ever witnessed. Other than my own, of course.”

The room fell silent, the magic dissipating into a dull hum as Grimsworn’s magic faded into the ether.

Nebula grunted. “This wizard is insane.”

“True,” Hunter rasped, rubbing his chest as he came to sit on the bed with Skel and Reed following suit.

“Get out, Grimsworn.” Dad rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “But I owe you a thank you for saving my daughter.”

“No need for thanks.” Grimsworn’s eyes met mine, twinkling with knowing. “Take matters into your own hands now, Pandora Gravesend. Sybil is strong, but so are you. You can be strong. Stronger than both myself and Sybil combined. Do it.” He fluttered his fingers as he waved and stepped forward into nothing, teleporting out of the room.

The weakness from the curse ebbed away with each beat of my heart.

Chaos lifted his head off my lap and jumped off the bed, snarling at the corner behind Dad and Jenni.

My chaos manifestation swirled into existence. The little wolf pup stood beside Chaos and started barking at the corner of the room with him.

“What has them so excited?” Dad asked, frowning.

“Well, they are a part of Bram,” Skel snickered teasingly. “I guess he’s just excited he bonded with Pandora.”

Bram huffed. “There’s nothing wrong with being excited about that.”

“He’s right,” Dex agreed.

My manifestation became a tornado of chaos and started jumping around and knocking everything in the room over.

“Well, he’s destructive,” Dad muttered.

“She,” I corrected with a weak smile. “I think I'm going to name her Demo.”

“Short for what? Demolition?” Reed gaped at her as she destroyed a piece of paper from the desk.

“Exactly that,” I rasped.

Bram threw his head back with a laugh. “That's perfect for her.”

“Yeah, it really is,” Hunter agreed.

And for the first time in what felt like ages, I smiled as exhaustion pulled me into a peaceful slumber.