Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future by Neener Beener chapter 15
The next day we meet with the Betas and Gammas in Bronx’s office first thing in the morning. They all
agree on something right away. I don’t get to leave the packhouse unless I have two security guards at
all times. We don’t know where Ryan or his dad are. Bronx is not willing to take any chances.
Ashley picks up her phone and laptop and goes to the back of the office where there is a small
conference table. She comes back a few minutes later with a smile on her face.
“All set. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” she says cheerfully.
“Good work, Ashley. Alright team, next order of business. We have to do research and figure out why
Kas has powers and if there is anything we need to do to make accommodations for her, ” Bronx says,
” Kas, tell us what you have experienced so far.
Please.“
His demeanor when we are around other people is a stark difference from when we are alone together.
This version of Bronx is kinda s*xy, I must admit.
“Well, the first thing that happened was my eyes changed color to violet. The left one first, then the right
one. They started to
change when I was in the pack hospital after…well, I was healing from an injury, ” I try to avoid getting
into gory details, ” Within a few days they were both the color they are now. But before that they were
just plain old gray.“
Bronx is taking notes on his laptop. The others are just paying attention to what I am saying.
“I noticed my hair changing color next. It used to be light brown. The color change started just after my
eyes changed. It was a little darker at first and it happened in sections on my hair, but it happened
quickly. Even though it’s long, locks of it would go from brown to silver overnight, until it was all silver. I
think it was a total of two weeks from brown to silver. Once it was all silver, it lightened up and got more
sparkly.”
“Have you tried to cut it?” Lenora asks.
“No. The last time I had to cut my hair was because someone threw gum at me. That was before it was
silver, ” I say matter of factly. Bronx lets out a low growl.
“Knock it off, Bronx, ” Milo says, “We’re trying to move forward here.“
It’s the first time I have heard Milo speak to Bronx this way, but it works. Milo clears his throat and
motions for me to continue.
“The burning people with my hands, well, the first time was a day or two before Lex woke up fully. The
second time, she took over and I couldn’t stop her.“
“I’m sorry. Did you say burning people?” Reggie looks at me with wide eyes.
“Old news, Reggie. Keep up, Babe, ” Ashley dismisses her mate, “Keep going, Kas.“
“Oh, also, I’m pretty sure I’ve stopped time around me a couple of times but I’m still able to move. I
don’t know. The second time, it didn’t work right and just slowed down time, Lex wasn’t
able to tell me why. Just that we don’t have our full power until she’s able to shift.“
“You already know about me being able to heal Lenora. About half an hour before that, I think I had a
premonition? I can’t be sure but that’s the only way I can explain it. We were in the store and all of a
sudden I was reliving a real bad memory that happened before I came to Blood River. It had to do with
Ryan, Alpha Graham’s son. The memory was the one I told you about last night, Bronx,” Bronx nods
and squeezes my hand, “but then the bad memory stopped and I swear I saw us sitting in the food
court and I could smell his scent. But we weren’t actually in the
food court, we were still in the store. When he actually showed up in the food court, it seemed like deja
vu more than a premonition, like I imagined it but then I remembered it while it was actually happening.“
“So that’s what happened when you dropped all those clothes in Victoria’s Secret?” Ashley asks.
Bronx growls, “Excuse me, where?“
“Oh relax, big brother. She needed underwear and bras,” Lenora says defensively, but her face looks a
bit guilty.
“Ohh, you know what, I think I saw when it happened! I saw the glow around you but I figured it must
have been the pink lighting in the store, ” Ashley recalls.
Just then there is a knock on the door. Bronx bids the person to enter. Two burly men dressed in black
walk in.
“Kas, this is James and Marco. They’re going to be your personal guards, ” Ashley stands and
introduces us, “Guys, this is Kas.
She’s Alpha Bronx’s mate.“
They look at each other, then look at me and bow slightly, “Welcome to Blood River, Luna, ” the one
named James says.
Bronx stands up, ” Gentlemen, you’re to know where Kas is at all times. If she leaves the packhouse,
you escort her. Even if it’s just out to the gardens, even if she is with me. Twelve hour shifts while she’s
in the packhouse. When she goes out, both of you have
eyes on her at all times. Are we clear?“ “Yes, Alpha,” they speak in unison.
Bronx pulls out a picture of Alpha Graham and Ryan, “These two men are dangerous and are
potentially stalking my mate. The younger one tried to attack her yesterday. Lenora was able to stop
him. If you see either of them, protect Kas at all costs.
Consider this a military escort.“ “Yes, Alpha,” they reply again.
Marco steps forward, “Luna it’s our honor to serve you,” James nods behind him. I bow my head
slightly at them and thank them both.
“We will be here in the back library for the next several hours, gentlemen. Your assignment starts
immediately. You two work out who’s on guard first. Wait outside the office, ” Bronx says. Power seems
to be rolling off him as he speaks.
“Yes, Alpha, ” they repeat. They both bow to me again and leave the office.
“That was intense, ” Lex says in awe.
Bronx stands up and we follow him to a door near the back of the office. He opens a keypad, punches
in a code, and the door silently opens.
“This is your private library?” I look around in awe. There are mahogany tables and giant lounge chairs
all over the huge room. There are large, old books in glass cases and on pedestals placed strategically
around the room. There are two stories of floor-to- ceiling built in mahogany bookshelves packed full of
books that go around three walls. The fourth wall is just windows facing a beautiful pond.
“Alright guys, let’s split this up,” He pulls out a laptop and pulls up a list of books in the library. He gives
us each ten books to look at. We split up around the room finding our assigned books and finding spots
to go through them.
I find a pad of paper and a pen and start making notes. Three hours later, I ‘m through eight of the
books I had pulled from the shelves without having found anything useful.
A loud growling yawn makes everyone jump out of their skin. “Milo! You scared the crap out of
everyone! ” Lenora scolds.
” Sorry. I just needed to stretch, ” he says, feigning innocence, “I’m going to the kitchen to get us all
lunch. Any requests?”
“Just get some pizzas. Oh, breadsticks and applesauce for Kas. Do you want anything else, Baby?
“A banana would be great. I’m really hungry.” Bronx smiles, “Get the lady a banana, Milo!”
I turn back to the book I ‘m reading. It is written in old English, so it’s difficult to understand. I flip the
page to find a beautiful
hand-painted illustration. It i s a depiction of the Moon Goddess. There’s a man standing next to her
that looks like a king. They are surrounded by children. She is holding a baby in her arms with gray hair
and violet eyes. The title on the next page says ‘Manae – Children of Selene’. No freaking way.
“Bronx! I found something! I found something !” Everyone comes over to look at the book.
“Menae? Hmm. I saw something about that in a more recent book. Let me go get it,” Reggie muses. He
trots over to a pile of books and brings them over.
He flips through the pages until he finds what he’s looking for and starts reading aloud, “The Menae are
fifty children of the Moon Goddess and the human king Endymion. Modern times say they represent
the fifty months of the four-year Olympiad cycle.
“So basically, a kid a month for a little over four years? It looks like Zeus allowed the Menae to be
goddesses, even though Endymion was human. There is no mention of any names or their powers, but
if they are goddesses, they would have some type of power right?“
Bronx strums his fingers against his cheek as he looks at the laptop screen, “Alright, so this says there
were two Olympiad cycles. Ancient Greeks believed one four-year cycle had forty-
nine months and a second cycle had fifty months. Something to do with the lunar cycle because that is
how they kept track of time. We don’t use lunar cycles to keep track of time anymore, so it doesn’t
matter that there’s more than twelve full moons per
calendar year.“
I look more at the old English book while he is talking, “Uhh…my name is here…“
I point to a small print sentence that clearly says ‘ lokaste’ in the middle of it, but I’m not familiar with
the words around it, so I can’t figure out what it’s saying.
Reggie looks over my shoulder, “It says Kas in there?“ “No, Reggie, my full name is lokaste.“
“Oh sick! Like lokaste the Seer,” Reggie says, sounding excited. “Who is lokaste the Seer?“ I ask,
confused.
“Reggie, Kas is clearly not named after an Assassin’s Creed character, ” Bronx rolls his eyes as he
looks up from his computer.
“Okay, but Iokaste the character predicts the future just like our lokaste can. Could be relevant! “
“Please don’t call me that. Just call me Kas. Please, ” I request. “Why don’t you like being called
lokaste anyway?”
Ashley asks.
“I, um, it was the name on the blanket I was found in. I like to think my parents put a lot of thought into
what my name would be. I always wanted to ask them more about why they chose such an unusual
name for me but I can’t. Who knows, maybe they
just saw it in a book like this and thought it was pretty. I guess I may never know, ” I shrug, trying not to
feel down. I feel the familiar lump of sadness in my chest.
He must sense my sadness, because Bronx clears his throat and gets everyone’s attention away from
me, “Back to the task at hand. According to this, lokaste was an ancient Greek woman.
She was the queen of Thebes. Accidentally married her son who just so happened to be Oedipus.
Whoops! “
“Ohh-kay, definitely do not call me lokaste! ” I proclaim.
Bronx snorts a little and looks back at the monitor, ” And some people believe the word lokaste
translates to…oh…”
He trails off before he finishes. He sighs and rubs his face in his hands.
“TRANSLATES TO WHAT?! ” Lenora yells, throwing her hands in the air. “Violet.”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda