Chapter Fourteen

My father skidded to a halt at the edge of a small clearing with a stump in the center. I slid off Loki’s back, and he trotted off to shift. He walked back to me and gestured to the center. “Go sit.”

I nodded and walked into the clearing. The tree’s shadows were still deep, as the sun had just breached the tree tops. I shivered, not from the cooler temperature, since wolves burn hot, but from the feeling of the woods. It felt like something was here. Something was waiting for this moment.

I turned to face my dad, and he was still at the edge of the clearing. “Why are you still back there?”

“This isn’t for me, it’s for you. I have already done my time in this place.”

“Your time? What are you talking about?”

“This is a sacred place. The clearing here holds our family’s power, and it’s warded against it.”

“Against it? Dad, what are you talking about?”

“Just listen. Sit down on the stump.” I sank to the top of the stump and then looked back to my father. “Take your shoes and socks off, then plant your feet.”

“Why?”

His laugh cut through the quiet air. “Are you going to question everything I tell you?” He shook his head and then waved his hands.

I took off my shoes and socks and then quirked an eyebrow at him. “Happy?”

“Yes. Now, the first lesson you have to learn is connecting to nature. We pull our power from the world around us. Give and take, push and pull, every action has a reaction.” My father planted his feet and took a deep breath. The trees shifted toward him, like his intake of breath was pulling them to him, and then he blew out. The trees bent backwards and shivered in the wind, almost dancing like they were happy. “Sometimes we take power, sometimes, like now, I give it.”

My mouth was hung open, and I was looking around. “How did you do that?” My eyes darted from the dancing trees to my father, and his face was alight.

“Magic.” His laugh was contagious, and I laughed with him. “Now to do that, like I said, the first step is to connect to nature.”

“How?” My mind was blown, and I had no clue how to connect to anything other than my phone.

“Focus on the air around you, the way the wind blows. Focus on your feet, how the grass tickles your soles, the ground supports you. How the trees pull energy from the sun and the land. How the animals survive off the land. Everything is connected, and once you connect to the land, you can feel it all. It will be overwhelming. You will feel…alive. For the first time in your life, you will truly feel alive. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and felt the wind blow around me, and it whispered through the trees. I wiggled my toes in the grass, and I felt…stupid. “How do I know if I’m doing it right?” I cracked open my eye, and my father was gone. “Hello? Dad?” I stood and started walking to the edge of the clearing and called again. “Hello?” The dark trees shifted, and I took a step back.

I was alone in the woods, and I had no idea what I was doing. It was too dark to stumble through the trees alone, and I felt like eyes were watching me from the darkness. My skin pebbled, and I turned away from the dark shadows in front of me.

“Dad? Hello!” I called again, and panic started to set in. How was I going to get back?

He told you everything he could. Focus. He will come back for you once you have tried for a few hours.

Nix’s voice jolted me, as I was so focused on my father being gone. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

He can’t tell us. Loki told me the same. He said all he could, and now it is up to us to figure it out.

I sank back down to the stump and closed my eyes. But every noise, every shift, had me jumping.

There is nothing to be afraid of here. This is a sacred place. You are safe here. Now focus.

I took a cleansing breath and settled myself again. I closed my eyes again and focused on the wind and grass again. I settled deeper onto the stump and focused on my breathing. In and out, and eventually, everything started to fade.

“You fell asleep, huh?” I jolted and fell off the stump, sprawling on the ground to my father’s laughter.

“What?”

“It’s okay. I fell asleep my first time, too. Come on. It’s lunchtime.” I stood and made my way to my father, who ruffled my hair. “C’mon, sleeping beauty. I’m starving.” He walked away and came back as Loki. I hopped on, and we made our way back to the house.

Chapter Fifteen

“Let’s go! Faster! Your wolves, not humans, you can do better than this!” I screamed out again and again, standing next to the Beta and Gamma females. Tina and Lynn watched the females struggle to run around the inside track. I turned to face them with wide eyes. “What is going on?”

Tina shook her head and watched the struggling women. “The females here only train if they want to. Your father doesn’t force us to train.”

“I told him it was a mistake.” Lynn, the Gamma, looked at the girls with a curled lip. “Look at them. It’s only been two laps, and they are already winded.” The muscled woman shook her head and tossed her arms. “I don’t understand this laziness. What happens if we get attacked?”

“Well, I’m here for two months, and in the future, you two will continue this after I leave.” The two women cut their eyes to me, and I nod. “I talked to my father, and he caved when I went over the last pack that kept this outdated opinion for the females in the pack.”

“What pack?” Tina furrowed her brows.

“Stonebrooke.” I shook my head. “We had a few survivors that were transferred by the council before I left.”

“What?” Tina looked back to the group of women, and Lynn’s mouth dropped open.

“The pack is gone?” Lynn questioned, and I nodded. “Wow.”

“Second biggest pack can topple. Where does that leave us?” Tina wiped her face and then screamed out. “Hustle ladies!” A huge groan could be heard, but I smirked.

“It leaves us right here, training these women to fight for themselves.” I clapped and walked over to the track. “That’s enough. Come on over.” The girls stumbled in, and I had to laugh at their pathetic state. “Ladies…that was just…”

“Horrible,” Tina cut in.

“Sad,” Lynn tossed out.

“A start.” I shake my head at the two standing next to me and laugh. “This is new, and uncomfortable. But it is necessary.”

“Why?” one girl called out.

“Well, first, it teaches you how to protect yourself in case of an attack. Second, once you can shift, it creates a deeper bond with your wolf. And last, and this is the most important for this pack, it will teach you that other than the ranked wolf, aura power means nothing. Someone with a weaker aura can and will put down another wolf, as long as they have the right motivation.”

I heard someone scoff, and I looked over to Aurora, smirking, and I smirked back. Tina lifted her lip. “It’s true, it’s rare, but I have even seen a weaker wolf put down a beta. She was protecting her warrior mate during an attack.”

“How is that possible?” A random voice came from the back.

“Wolves, in the wild, have the hierarchy, but our packs only have a couple of designations. Alpha’s, beta’s, gamma’s and omegas. Everyone else in the pack live within the basic wolf structure.”

“We know all this,” Aurora called out and laughed with her group of mean girls.

“If you knew that, then this pack shouldn’t be having the issues that it is having,” I tossed back. “Are you a ranked wolf, Aurora?”

“I will be,” she tossed back, and I laughed.

“Do you know the probability of an alpha wolf mating to an unranked wolf?” I cocked my head and stared her down. She glared at me. “The answer, if anyone else was wondering, is zero. Zero percent. Even if the man liked the woman, the wolves would never agree. The female wolf would roll over and bare her belly, and the alpha wolf would tear into her for ever thinking she could make him bow down to her. That’s what an alpha female does. She supports her mate, but also pushes back, stands up against him. A weaker wolf could never do that.” I stared Aurora in the eye when I said it all until she looked away finally.

She needed to understand that she would never match with my father. “What is the issue you were talking about?” One of the mean girls called out, breaking the tension.

“You have unranked wolves acting like they are ranked wolves and using their power to demean, bully, and command other wolves to do their bidding.”

“So?”

My anger flashed with her smarmy voice. “So, what if I commanded you to do jumping jacks until you died?”

She reared back and stumbled over her words. “You can’t do that.”

“Who says?”

Her eyes darted back and forth, hoping someone else would say something, but everyone else stayed silent. “The Council.”

“The council also states that unranked wolves cannot wield power over weaker wolves,” I countered back. “So what, the council is good enough to save yourself but not good enough to follow?” The silence was deafening.