Chapter 139
Skylar
“It’s going to be so weird seeing my parents when they were younger…” Lucas says, rubbing his chin. “My Dad looks the same, though. He stopped aging, but my Mom is in her early twenties or something? That’s going to be weird. I’m used to her being a cougar…”
“A cougar?” consider my curiosity piqued. “You mean to tell me your Mom didn’t always date a younger man?”
Lucas laughs. “My Dad is actually the older one, but, like I said, he stopped aging. He doesn’t like it, though.”
“Why not?”
“It makes Mom unhappy when younger women try to hit on him because they think she is too old for him.”
“Well, that’s rude… And wait, I thought everyone in the pack knew they were fated mates. I mean, hello, both of your parents have been Alphas.”
“Yeah, no one in the pack would dare to flirt with my Dad, but I’m talking
about human women.”
“Oh…” I look down at the floor, unsure what to say next, while my mind spins. Is Lucas going to stop aging, too? Am I going to share the same future as his Mom?
F*ck, I hope not. I don’t want to be a cougar–not that I have anything against older women dating younger men, I just…. Lucas looks better than me already, and adding wrinkles to my face wouldn’t be good for my self- confidence.
‘Better hope that well water your sister went looking for works,’ Jinx
comments.
‘For sure.’
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Chapter 139
“So,” Lucas interrupts my thoughts by clapping his hands together. “You ready to send us to the past, Skylar?”
“No time like the present,” I say with more bravado than I feel. The truth. is, I’m terrified. What if I send us to the wrong timeline or something?
“Alright then,” Lucas drawls, flashing me a smile. He stretches out beside. me, his strong body exuding warmth. I feel my lips curl into ant involuntary smile; he has this infectious energy that makes fear seem like the most trivial matter in the world. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing,” I tell him. “You just stand there and leave this to me, okay?”
His smile remains. “Okay.”
With that, I take a deep breath while imagining myself opening a portal to the past. My hands are sweaty, yet I grab Lucas’s hand and squeeze it as I
concentrate.
I need to go back and picture a time when Lucas‘ parents were fighting Lucian. It was over eighteen years ago before Lucas was brought into this world. Before we existed.
Closing my eyes, I focus even harder and clench my teeth as I try to focus my magic. It’s dizzying. A portal has never needed this much energy to be opened.
“You’re doing great, Sky,” Lucas tells me. “A portal is beginning to open… keep it up, honey.”
With a jolt that shakes my bones and a wave of nausea that sweeps through me, I finally manage to create the portal.
“Holy shit, Sky!” Lucas exclaims. “You did it!”
I open my eyes and gaze at the portal. “I…I really opened a portal to the past!”
Lucas laughs. “Maybe we should try walking through it before we celebrate, yeah?”
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portal and say everything goes according to plan, then we will find ourselves in the same mansion, but back before you existed, and um…how do we explain that to your parents?”
“Well,” Lucas says, scratching the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. “My parents know amazing magic exists, so why don’t we just tell them the truth? My Dad would believe me. He is the calm and collected one…my
Mom…”
“What about your Mom?”
He grimaces. “She would probably pass out from shock…”
“I see.” I chew nervously at the inside of my ch*ek, looking from Lucas to the swirling portal. The idea of meeting Lucas’s parents, who don’t know about Lucas, is daunting. But if he thinks they will help us, then I trust.
him.
“Okay,” I say, inhaling deeply, “we tell them the truth.”
Lucas beams at me and takes my hand. “That’s the spirit, Sky. Let’s do
this.”
The moment we step through the portal is a jarring one. It feels like being flung sideways at breakneck speed and then suddenly being snapped back into place. When we emerge on the other side, I’m disoriented, and it takes a moment to get my bearings.
“Are you okay?” Lucas asks worriedly.
“I’m fine,” I say, but it’s an obvious lie. I’m dizzy, and when my knees buckle, Lucas chuckles before catching me. His strong arms go around
me.
“Easy there,” he says, steadying me with a firm grip. “You must be exhausted from using up so much magic.”
I lean against his chest gratefully, my head spinning. “Yeah, nobody warned me about the motion sickness.”
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Chapter 139
Through the dizzying blur, I look around. We’re standing in what appears to be the same room we were just in–Lucas‘ room–but there are subtle differences. The vibrant wallpaper faded to a milder tone; the plush carpet. is thinner and not yet worn out. The lights are more yellow, and the whole place just… seems new.
Lucas releases me and begins to survey our surroundings. His jaw sets. rigid as he takes in the changes–changes that are backward for him. This is his childhood home after all, only now we’ve gone a long way back.
“Are you sure we’re on the right timeline?” I ask tentatively.
Lucas looks up at a photograph on one of the walls before turning back to me. “I think this is the past and the right timeline. Don’t ask me how. It just…feel it.”
Suddenly, we hear a door slamming shut and a younger version of Lucas‘ Mom swearing. “I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT ASSHOLE LEFT ME AT HOME
TO FIGHT LUCIAN HIMSELF!”
Lucas snorts. “Oh, we are definitely on the right timeline. That’s my Mom, and she is pissed off, pregnant, and about to give Dad hell once he returns home… There is just one slight problem.”
“What is that?”
“My Dad has already left to fight Lucian, so…eh. We need to find the location, or else our journey will be for nothing.”
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