Chapter Twenty-Six

I let the power rush down my veins until I felt its everywhere in my body. “Good, Angela,” Apollo said encouragingly - something he hadn’t done in the past but started doing after our intense talk. “Now focus on your control, and not the power itself, otherwise it won’t work.”

Nodding silently, I pursed my lips, focusing. I fixated on the control I had of the power, like chains that caged the power. “Now try to do something,” Apollo instructed.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and thought, shake, Earth! Shake!

Nothing happened, and frustration made me groan. “No worries, Angela, keep trying,” Apollo insisted.

“But it’s not working!” I snapped. “Why isn’t it working? I’m doing everything you tell me!”

“Impatience won’t help you, just take a deep breath and try again,” he said calmly, as though he had no care in the world.

I sent him an irritated look. “Sometimes you really piss me off, Apollo.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t change the situation. Come on, Angela, stop wasting time.”

Pushing my anger aside, I took another deep breath, closing my eyes again. I thought about controlling the power in my veins, the power that was mine as long as Tempest was asleep, and with every ounce of my will power, I screamed in my head, Earth, shake!

And then it happened. I felt the air around me thickening, and an odd heat spreading over me from within. I felt something quiver, and when I opened my eyes I saw that the earth was indeed quaking a bit. Wonder made me open my mouth stupidly, and the small earthquake I caused stopped, but I didn’t care. I smiled from ear to ear, and looked at Apollo expectantly, seeing him giving me a rare smile. “I did it!” I exclaimed, excited, and ran over to him and crashing him with a hug..

He let out a short chuckle. “Yes, Angela, you did it,” he said, hugging me hesitantly back.

A laugh full of relief left my throat, and I felt so fucking happy that something was finally happening, but the happiness was short-lived, because at once exhaustion set in. My lashes fell on my eyes, and sleepiness made me lose hold of the power, which led to Tempest waking up with a roar…

I woke up in my bed. Strider was in the room, reading some book, and when he saw I was awake, he glanced at me worriedly. “You okay?” he asked, coming to sit at the edge of my bed. “Apollo brought you back earlier and you were awfully pale.” He cupped my cheek.

“I’m fine,” I said, smiling weakly. “Just tired. Controlling this power isn’t easy.”

He smirked. “I’m sure.”

Suddenly, before I was ready for it, a roar of rage echoed in my head. My eyes widened and I grabbed my head tightly, trying to shut off the noise the Spirit created in my brain. Strider tensed, staring at me with open worry, and I saw his lips were moving but I couldn’t hear a thing but Tempest.

You betrayed me! She screamed. You betrayed my trust! You said you won’t use my powers! Mine! Not yours! You ungrateful girl! I hate you! I loathe you! If you want to control my powers, you have to give me your body! It’s not fair! You should be stuck in her instead of me! Feel what it’s like being helpless, knowing you can’t do anything but being controlled like a fucking marionette!

A terrible migraine attacked my head, and my vision was all black. Tempest, calm down, please, I begged, but the Spirit’s rage was beyond stopping.

I was faintly aware that everything around me shook, that thunder echoed ominously, that a downpour was pouring out of the clouds outside. People yelled, hands grabbed my shoulders and shook, but it was like it happened to someone else. All I could feel was Tempest and her burning rage.

THE CHAOS IS MINE! She roared. MINE! MINE! MINE!

Tempest! I called in despair.

Something strong landed on my face, and my eyes closed, darkness crawled in, and I felt like I was falling into a bottomless pit...

“Rosa… Please…”

“No! Give me your hand, Brock! Don’t give up!”

“Rosa… I-I can’t…”

“BROCK!”

I sat up at once, gasping and sweating. A sharp pain sliced my head, making me wince, and when I lifted my hand to my forehead, I felt a bandage there. I also noticed I wasn’t in my room; I was in the college’s infirmary.

Memories of what happened before I lost consciousness hit my mind. I recalled Tempest’s screams, and when I looked for her inside my head, I found out she was… gone. I mean, not completely gone. I felt her, sort of, but she was silent, distant, as though not quite asleep, but not quite awake. She was there, faintly, but she also wasn’t.

The infirmary door opened and in walked Fred. When he saw I was awake, his terse shoulders relaxed a little. “Angela,” he said, taking a seat next to my bed. “How do you feel?”

That was a trick question. “I’m fine,” I said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. “I’m… Tempest lost control, that’s all.”

He nodded. “Apollo said the same thing - she got angry when you took control of the power, right?”

“Angry is not how I would describe her state of mind,” I murmured.

Fred sighed, and suddenly cupped my face, grabbing me in for a hug. “I’m glad you’re alright,” he said softly, “”you made us worry - all of us.”

I was a little stunned from his surprising show of affection, but my body melted under his touch, as it usually did where Fred was concerned. He made me feel safe again, and I hugged him back, getting so much pleasure from feeling his toned, warm body crashing me to him.

“How did you silence Tempest?” I asked, breaking the silence and pulling away from Fred.

He narrowed his eyes in some kind of anger mixed with pain. “We needed to hit you really strong for you to lose consciousness. Unfortunately, it led to you wounding your forehead,” he pointed at the bandage. “But it would be healed until Christmas in a few days.”

“I understand,” I murmured, feeling a little off-kilter.

Fred studied my face and I saw his nostrils flaring. “I think it’s time I tell you a few things,” he said.

I stared at him in confusion. “Things like… what?”

He took his hand off my face, and the absence of his touch was immediately felt. It made me wonder if my stupid crush on him, or more like physical attraction I had for him, would ever go away, because it was obvious I had no chance with him. He was the Alpha, and he probably had many other, more attractive women who were just waiting for his word to jump into his bed…

My hands curled into fists just by thinking about Fred with someone in his bed. Someone that wasn’t me.

I really need to stop with this stupid crush, I thought sombery.

For a moment I expected Tempest to answer me or something, but then I remembered she was currently AWOL, after the strong hit I got.

“Let’s start with Strider,” Fred’s voice made me focus on him again. “Strider isn’t a simply Guard like everyone thinks.”

“That’s not exactly a revelation,” I said, “I kind of got it when I saw how close the two of you are.”

“There’s a reason for that,” his eyes didn’t leave mine. “Much like how every new millennium an Alpha is born, there is also a Beta who’s born - it’s not a widely known information, and only werewolves who’re in the inner circle of the Alpha know of it. Strider was born to be my Beta.”

I blinked. “He was born to be your right-hand?”

“You can say that,” Fred nodded. “But, unlike the Alpha of the Millennium, the Beta won’t live forever. He’ll live a thousand years, and die when the Alpha’s ruling time is over. Meaning, Strider will live as long as I rule.”

That I didn’t expect. “So Strider’s life-span depends on you being an Alpha?”

“Exactly,” Fred replied, “and I’m telling you this now so you can understand why he’s part of my closest group of people.”

“I figured as much,” I murmured more to myself than him, averting my gaze away from him. “But why now? Why not before?”

“I didn’t really think about it until I remembered it must seem odd to you that he’s always with us,” Fred said, and there was logic in his words. Then his hand tucked away a few strands of my hair behind my ear, and my eyes flashed back to his red ones. My lips dried, and I flushed again…

But then I remembered Sally, and the fact she loved Fred. I liked Sally; she was the first werewolf who didn’t treat me badly. I already felt stupid things for Fred - I didn’t need to make things words. I grabbed Fred’s wrist, lowering my gaze. “I…” I blurted out, not knowing what I wanted to say.

Fred took my hand off him gently and I felt his absence again, like a living entity that refused to leave. “I broke things off with Sally not to hurt her,” he said, making me look back at him. “She feels too much emotion for me that I can’t reciprocate. I like her - but only as one of my good helpers and a close friend, not as a lover. I let it go on for too long, and I’m sorry for that, but the most important thing is that she’s free now to find someone else who would love her as much as she deserves.”

I was surprised he actually gave me an answer to something, I now knew, was none of my business in the first place. His eyes locked mine, and another blush bloomed on my cheeks. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, “I shouldn’t have meddled in your business. It’s just when I saw Sally cry…”

“You felt you had to do something,” he said, nodding. “I get it.” He rose from his seat. “On Friday, Christmas Eve, all of us are going to a restaurant together. You’re welcome to join us.”

I smiled a little shakily at him. “I would love to.”

“Good,” he said, “until then, I want you to stay here until you’re fully healed.”

“No problem,” I whispered, feeling something strange in my chest. Like pain, but not exactly. And when Fred left the room, the pain only grew. I didn’t know what it was, and it took me a few minutes of lying down in bed to decipher it.

I was yearning for Fred, for his attention, his touch, himself, more than I’d ever longer for anything in my entire life.