Chapter 64: Shaky Alliances

Aurora

“Again!” Eleanora shouted as she waited for me to focus and go over my training once more. We were currently in the mansion backyard, and we had been at it since the break of dawn. I was completely exhausted.

Wolfgang had come home for dinner as promised, and he and Eleanora had been bickering and bickering nonstop ever since. It was like living with two little kids who kept fighting for their mother’s attention.

Even Mrs. Kala got annoyed and practically ran from my house as soon as she was done with dinner.

After dinner, I excused myself and went to bed as well. I was completely drained since I had had little to no sleep after the attack, and the excitement of meeting Eleanora this morning made me forget about even getting some rest.

I was exhausted, so I headed to my room, but not before hearing Eleanora warn me that we started training before dawn.

Here I was now—it’s way past noon, and we’ve only stopped for a quick snack, then continued with the training.

She’s been trying to show me how to channel my emotions into my powers in a healthy way, but I suck at controlling my emotions.

~“Tell me about it,”~ Rhea huffed as she looked, bored.

~“Shut it, Rhea.”~ I growled back as I tried to focus, but it was really hard.

“Remember what I said, Aurora. You need to empty your mind. Don’t think about anything. Just feel…feel the wind caress your skin, feel the grass crunch beneath your feet. Let those feelings draw your powers out.”

I swear I was trying, but my head was so full I couldn’t shut it off.

I was currently trying to manipulate and move objects with my mind. Eleanora thought it’d be the safest thing to begin training with because it didn’t involve much damage.

I can control all four elements at will, but so far, I have only used fire and earth. I have yet to discover how or when I’ll trigger the other two elements. I can’t even manage to get control of my emotions.

I was moving a ball with my mind…or trying to because the ball so far hadn’t even moved an inch off of the ground.

“Focus, Aurora! Focus!” Eleanora shouted at me as the ball began to wobble.

“That’s it! Keep it up!” She kept encouraging as the ball bounced in a complete frenzy, suddenly springing from the ground and shooting up straight into one of the mansion’s windows, shattering the glass.

“Shit!” I shouted as I covered my face with my palms.

“You’re not giving your all, Aurora. Again!” Eleanora shouted as she threw another ball for me to catch.

“This is exhausting, Eleanora! I can’t do this!” I exclaimed.

“That’s because you’re not focusing,” she answered nonchalantly.

“Maybe I’d do more if I had more advice than simply ~shutting my mind off~. What does that even mean?!! How the hell I’m I supposed to stop thinking?” I shouted back, exasperated.

I threw the ball back at her. She stopped it midair with a wave of her hand.

“It means that you need to concentrate on your surroundings and not on your unstable thoughts,” she said with a bored tone. “Should we bring one of your friends here and harm them a bit so we can trigger your powers?”

She turned toward the open back door of the leader’s house.

I felt all the hairs on my skin stand as my blood boiled.

“You wouldn’t!” I growled.

“Wouldn’t I? Let’s give it a try and we can find out,” she taunted.

“I wonder where that little mousy-looking girl that’s called Emma is. Isn’t she your best friend? I think she was let out of the hospital today,” she said as she got closer to the house.

I swung one of my hands and pulled back. The door instantly slammed shut with a loud bang in Eleanora’s face.

She turned to face me with a huge smile on her face.

“That’s it!” she said as she clapped. “Let’s go over it again!” She threw another ball at me, but a huge hand shot out and grabbed it midair.

“What kind of training did you say you were giving my mate?” Wolfgang asked as he threw the ball back at her. She stopped it again with the wave of her hand.

“It seems to me that you’re only harassing her while destroying my house,” he added, displeased.

“It’s none of your business, Alpha Wolfgang,” Eleanora defiantly answered.

“It is my business when it involves my luna, and I don’t particularly like the way you are speaking to her,” he growled.

“Oh, right. I’m such a klutz,” she said as she tapped her head. “I forgot you were the only one allowed to treat her badly and talk down to her. Sorry, it must have slipped my mind.”

“I have never—” Wolfgang started to say, but she cut him off.

“Oh sure. You never treated her badly. You were the perfect mate all this time,” she shot back. “Don’t think I don’t know everything you had my little girl go through while you were too proud to accept her as your mate.”

Wolfgang looked taken aback for a moment, but he quickly snapped out of it and composed his expression. Pack members had started gathering around to watch the scene.

“I have accepted that my arrogance placed Aurora in harm’s way, and I’ve vowed to make it up to my mate for the rest of my life,” he said the last part while staring at me.

“And I’ve vowed to keep her away from danger, and right now I consider you to be dangerous,” he added as he took menacing steps to Eleanora who looked unfazed.

“Oh, you’re gonna come at me then? Bring it on, pup. I’ve handled much worse rabid dogs than you,” Eleanora said as she tied her hair in a ponytail.

This was getting out of control and I had to do something.

~“Aurora, you need to stop them now. Wolfgang is about to pounce on Eleanora,”~ Rhea shouted in my head.

“Bring it on, wolf!!” Eleanora shouted, enticing Wolfgang who suddenly sprang toward her. He was about to jab her with his clawed hands when a sudden force pushed them both backward.

Everyone who was in the yard gasped as they saw what happened, and I stood there with my hands extended before me.

~“Rhea. Did I just do that?”~ I asked my wolf, and she hummed in response.

“Hahaha, see? Told you it’d work, you mangy pup,” Eleanora said as she stood and scampered from the bushes where she had fallen.

On the other end of the garden, Wolfgang was groaning as he stood as well, holding his head.

“Yeah. Can’t deny that your plan worked out as you predicted,” he said as he brushed the dirt from his pants.

I looked at them both without really understanding what was going on. One minute they were at each other’s throats, and now they were merrily chatting as if they were old pals.

“Can any of you care to please explain what is going on?” I asked, exasperated.

“Sorry about that, honey. Wolfgang and I did that to help trigger your powers. And it seems that you tapped into the wind element,” she said as she came over and hung one of her arms around my neck.

“You both were acting?” I said as I realized what she meant. “Goddess! For a moment I thought you were gonna kill each other!” I shrugged her arm from around me and backed away.

“Now, Rory. We did it to help you, dearie,” she said as she gave me a stern look. “Wolfgang agreed he’d do this little act to get you riled up to access your powers. And it worked.”

“You were in on this too?” I asked Wolfgang.

He scratched his head as he looked down.

“Yeah. I promised I’d help, and when the witch asked for my assistance, I couldn’t help but agree,” he said.

~“Please don’t be mad,”~ he begged through the mind link, and I couldn’t stop the fluttering butterflies in my stomach.

He looked like a kid who just got caught trying to sneak a stray puppy into the house.

~“He’s adorable,”~ Rhea cooed, and for the first time, I couldn’t agree.

“Thanks for the help, but I’d appreciate it if you two didn’t trick me like this ever again,” I said before walking to the house.

“Where are you going?” Eleanora asked.

“Home. I need to take a bath.” I walked into the mansion and right through it to the front door.

I marched straight home and into my shower. As the warm water hit my sore muscles, I felt it as I finally relaxed.

~“It’s only been one day of training and my muscles ache all over. Will I get through this training, Rhea?”~ I asked my wolf as I let the water cleanse my body.

~“We will get through it, Aurora. Don’t worry! We have Eleanora, who’s helping us, and our mate too.”~ She cooed like a fangirl.

~“Come on, Rhea. Should I turn the cold water on to calm your raging hormones?”~ I said to my overexcited wolf, to which she threw a raspberry at me.

After my bath, I changed into one of my dad’s oversized shirts and some leggings before heading downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat.

When I got there, I found Wolfgang leaning against the island, looking as casual and sexy as hell.

“Hey. For a moment I thought about checking on you in case something had happened to you in the shower,” he said with his devilish smirk.

“Yeah. I’m sure you would have liked that. Checking on me in the shower, while naked,” I said, emphasizing the word ~naked~.

I could swear I saw his eyes turn dark before he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck—something I noticed he does when he is nervous.

“Yeah. Let’s not talk about you being naked for the time being,” he said, and I could swear I saw his cheeks tinted red. Was he really blushing? The mighty alpha of the Blood Mood Pack was blushing.

“Well, you shouldn’t have gone there then. Anyway, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I thought you would be hungry so I came looking for you. Would you like to go grab something to eat?”

“What about Eleanora? Where’d she go?” I asked him as I grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

“She left after you did and said she wanted to walk around town to remember old times,” he said with a shrug. “So, what do you say?” He looked at me with hopefulness.

I looked at him for a few seconds wondering if I should accept or not.

“Fine. Just let me get changed.”