Chapter Seventeen

“How did it go today?” My father nudged me to a seat across from him and waved to an omega. She brought in the plates. “Thank you, Manda.”

“Thank you, Manda.” I smiled up at the girl, and she ducked her head, then left. I turned back to my father. “It went as well as expected.”

“Which wasn’t good at all.” I pointed to him and nodded.

“Exactly.”

“What happened?” He dug into his food, and I told him about the day.

“We started with running, and even those that had already shifted were…”

“Weak?” my dad threw out while waving his knife around.

“Pathetic.” I countered. I cut into my steak and nearly moaned with the first mouthful. “They barely made it two laps before they were huffing. Then I called them over, and we started to talk about what was going on.”

“And…”

“And then some girls were giving us pushback about commanding other wolves. So I made a point.”

“What was the point?” My father focused fully on me, and I grimaced. He might not agree with my decision.

“They wanted to hide behind the council but then balked when I told them that what they were doing was against our laws, too.” I growled out, thinking about what they said. “So I commanded them to do jumping jacks while we questioned them, then those that were innocent were released.”

“And the ones that weren’t?” My dad leaned back, and I dropped my cutlery.

“I left them jumping until they got the point across.”

“How many threw up?”

“Only one.” I nearly whispered the last part, but my father just laughed.

“You do what you have to do, darling. I gave you free rein of the women, and I meant it.” I picked my fork and knife back up and continued eating. “Now, are you going to give me such a fight tomorrow morning?”

I rolled my eyes and looked at him. “I don’t understand what I am even doing.”

“I already told you, you are connecting to nature.” My dad cleared his plate, and Manda came back with his dessert and took his plate away. “Figure out the way you need to connect to nature yourself. I can't guide you, or else you won’t bond the way you need to.”

“Bond the way I need to?”

“If I tell you how it works for me and you make a connection, it might be strong for you, but more often than not, my way won’t work as well for you. You might cripple your magic. Forge your own path and bond with your own magic to reach your full potential.”

“I don’t know if it will matter,” I tossed back.

“Oh, believe me, it will.” My dad shook his head. “Once you create your own bridge, I can teach you my way, and you will feel the difference. You will see how much it will tie your hands, and you will hate it.”

“How do you know?”

“I did the exact same thing you are doing. I’ve been in your shoes.” He tossed his head back and laughed. “I hated it. My grandmother would taunt me day in and day out, and I hated it. But once I was able to do it, she taught me her way, and the power was a mere trickle compared to the roar of my bridge.” I watched as my dad’s eyes grew misty. “I miss that old bat.”

“Your grandma?”

He cut his eyes to me and gave a tiny nod. “You would have loved her, and she you. But witches, they don’t live as long as us, and she was already old by the time I came of age.”

“She died?”

He nodded. “Died swinging her cane and bellowing her power at rogues.”

“What?”

“We were attacked a few decades back, maybe a hundred by now. She was alone in her cabin when they attacked. She came to help, but she was old and slow. Two rogues attacked her at once, and I watched her take them down. But soon they realized they had to take her down if they wanted to win. This little old human woman was blasting through their ranks. I watched her send out her power, and then she was gone. She took every one of them with her, though.”

A tear fell, and he brushed it away. “She sounded amazing.”

“She was. Just like you. You remind me of her. You even look a little like her when she was younger.”

“Really?” My dad got up and grabbed a faded picture frame from a shelf and brought it over. There in the photo was a gorgeous young woman holding a babe. Her dark, curly hair trailed over her shoulder.

It was like looking in the mirror.