Chapter 44: Chapter 16

NATALIE

Damon walks with me past the jeep and into the woods. We’re on the opposite side of the territory from the weird energy and I’m not sure what we’re doing.

“I had my pop and Dirk collect those trees for firewood.”

I don’t respond and we keep walking.

“Natalie, what happened last night?”

I tuck a stray hair behind my ear. “I don’t know what you mean.” I know exactly what he’s talking about, I just don’t know what to tell him.

He stops walking and stares me down. I still can’t look at him. “Natalie?”

My resolve cracks. “You have a mate. Shit, I have a mate. We can’t be… You can’t…” Ugh, I don’t know what to say. He drops the subject and starts walking again.

We stop beside a picturesque frozen lake. He wipes the snow from two boulders and sits on one, leaving me to take the other. “I noticed you never took the tome,” he says as he looks over the ice.

I play with the hem of my jacket. “I’m not the best at reading. I can, but that was too hard. I couldn’t understand it.” I’m embarrassed for the first time ever about my lack of education.

“I understand, it’s not a problem. I read through it and I can tell you what it said. First off, there are different gifts that the Moon Goddess has bestowed on wolves throughout history. Healing is the only recorded gift in over one hundred years. Those gifts included control of the elements; fire, water, wind, earth, and life.”

I nod and he continues.

“Life is two-part; giving and taking, or healing and destroying.”

I look at my palms and I think I understand what he’s saying. “I have the ability to take life and heal those that are losing it.”

“Yes, exactly. However, the taking life part isn’t normal for other healers. They can’t do what you did to the trees and Gail. Now, you are able to do even more, like make a fire. When you’ve done it, you pulled the energy from the air, except once. In the alpha house, you used your own energy to create it.”

“That’s right. I did. I felt a little bit leave me like when I heal.”

Damon gives me a soft smile. “I believe that you have the power to control even more. In fact, I believe you have the power to control all five.”

“You think I can control water, earth, and wind too?”

He gives me a solemn nod. “That first time you lit the bush on fire, what were you thinking about, do you remember?”

I look down as I remember that he gave me his jacket. “I was cold and I wished I was in front of a warm fire.”

“You pulled the energy from the air first and you didn’t know what to do with it. I felt it.”

I nod. “That’s right. I was shaking my arms out because it felt so weird.”

“That’s where we’re going to start. First, you need to have the energy, then you manifest what you want to happen. Have you ever seen a water show?”

I shake my head.

“Okay, you’ve used a drinking fountain.”

I give him my duh face. He smiles at me with a little bit of a chuckle.

“I want you to try to make the water move like a drinking fountain.”

I look out at the water that’s frozen over. A smile crosses my face as I send a flame onto a spot on the ice. Damon startles and I laugh. “It was frozen. I had to melt it.”

He chuckles then tilts his chin signaling me to try. I focus on a drinking fountain in detail; the way it looks, the way it tastes, the way it feels. I open my hands and my light is purple. I’m distracted by the color and it quickly fades. “Did the book say anything about the colors?”

He nods. “A different color for each gift. Earth is green and wind is pink.”

“Huh.” I look at my hands. “That’s pretty cool. So what is the yellow light?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, it’s not in the book, but I did notice that it’s that color when you pull in the energy…” He nods toward the water and I turn back to it.

I clear my mind and think of the drinking fountain. My palms light up in a soft purple hue and the water bubbles up to the surface. I focus harder and it slowly begins to arc like a small drinking fountain. I smile up at Damon.

He’s smiling back at me. His eyes are even more proud of me than my dad’s after fixing my first broken bone.

I turn back toward the water and clear my throat. “Now what, sensei?”

“Do you like bubbles?”

Damon and I practice for hours at a time over three days, after training, of course. I can now control fire, water, and air in small quantities.

Today we’re in the greenhouse working on earth. He wants me to make plants grow. I’m in front of a strawberry bush because strawberries are delicious and I’m familiar with them.

I focus on the way they look, how they smell, and how they taste. My light turns green and a strawberry slowly begins to grow on the vine. I get excited until it over ripens then shrivels. “Damn it.”

“It’s like with healing, you have to know when to stop.”

“Easy for you to say. I don’t stop until I pass out. My dad gets after me every time.”

Damon chuckles and I try again. A new strawberry slowly begins to grow.

“Maybe think about eating it and you could stop yourself.”

My light fades and I give him the stink eye. The strawberry was just beginning to grow and is still a little green bud.

Damon snorts a laugh. “I’m sorry. Just trying to help.”

I smile back at him then let out a breath. I focus back on the strawberry and get it growing again.

Damon growls and gets behind me facing the entrance of the greenhouse. I let my power fade and turn around. Mr. Ramirez walks in with Spencer and a tall guy with messy brown hair. I can’t see much more since Damon is blocking my view. “Damon?”

“Time to go, Nat.” He takes my hand and pulls me with him. I look back at a waving Spencer and the staring guy just before we exit. He gives me a smile before Damon closes the door on him.

“Damon? Are you all right? Who was that?” I reach up to touch his shoulder as he faces the woods.

He grips my hand, keeping it in place. “I’m sorry, Natalie. That was Owen. I just didn’t want him to see you.”

“Is he that dangerous? I mean you’re standing right here. I know you would never let him hurt me.”

Damon half smirks. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” I swipe my nonexistent stray hair over my ear. His smirk changes into a small smile. “He is dangerous for tiny things like you that don’t train.”

I scoff and give him a shove. “Hey, I’ve been doing pretty well the last few days.”

He laughs. “Yes, you have. I’m proud of you. It only takes an alpha command to get you to do it.”

I make a face at him and he smiles his full smile, complete with perfect white teeth and dimples. Although he has been giving me an alpha command, it is becoming easier to spar with him.

Damon gets his serious face back on. “Owen isn’t very strong, nor a very good fighter compared to me, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hurt you. I just don’t want you near him right now. I don’t trust him and if he finds out about you, things could get bad.”

“I get it. Dec would be pissed if anything happened to me.”

Damon takes my hand. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, Natalie.” He emphasizes the word “I.”

I swallow and pull my hand away. I’ve already fallen in love with him, but he’s not mine to love. I take a step back and he gives me a disappointed look.

The look he’s giving me breaks my heart, he looks crushed.

“You should smile more, Damon. You have a great smile.”

His gaze softens, but his eyes are still sad. “I already do smile more.”

I roll my eyes then turn to kick a rock into the woods. “Do you feel that?” That weird buzzing energy is back.

Damon stands beside me. “Yeah. Let me get Finn over here then we’ll check it out.”

Finn makes it over in no time at all. I pull a small amount of energy from the air and let him feel what we’re feeling. He shudders. “Okay, enough of that. Lead the way.”

We follow the energy until it stops near the hospital. I look into the window, but the room is empty. Damon and I look at each other. We both know who occupied this room last. I look to Damon. “Where is he?”

Damon licks his bottom lip as he thinks. “He was released yesterday. He’s home recovering.”

Damon looks at me and I already know his question. I shake my head. “I can’t.”

He nods once. “Finn and I will go. You go to the pack house. Bianca is with my mom.”

I nod, and we part ways.