Chapter 33
I’ve been practicing my meditations and magic for two weeks straight. It’s actually exhausting work but I never let up.
With my path I made--which made it easy for me to come here whenever I pleased--I started coming on my own at least once a day and sometimes even overnight.
Nobody really knew much about it. I don’t know when things got so busy for people but no one’s really been around these past few weeks.
Mel was away visiting family for a few weeks since it’s a long journey to walk. They belong to her mom’s old pack so they were on different territories than our own. Which isn’t uncommon.
When mates come from different packs the family’s still stay in touch. She’ll be back on Wednesday.
Jasper has had weekend training every weekend which I knew was going to happen. He’s been preparing me for this but I still miss him like crazy.
He has duties here during the week and we spend as much time with each other as possible but he hasn’t been around my house at all. He’s been glued to that pack house for whatever reason..which was stressful for me because I hated running into Devran.
I hope the community doesn’t feel like I've been shucking my responsibilities away now that I spend much more time in the forest at the sacred lands.
Not that they know where I disappear to but I'm usually always around the community volunteering my time and services.
Gran swears I'm doing them a better service by practicing my gifts. So for two weeks straight I have dedicated most of my time to this. This place and these gifts.
I had the fire from the candles, the water I brought from home in a jar, dirt from the earth, and the breeze all around me. Earth, water, wind, fire.
I can’t do too much with that. I've just been trying to spend quality time with the elements as crazy as that sounds.
I’ve performed my flower trick a few more times just to remind myself that this is real and that I do have gifts of a mystic.
Because sometimes when I try hard to learn something else and nothing happens I almost convince myself it is because I can’t. Because I don’t actually have these witchy powers.
I've learned to control the flicker of a candle’s flame which is entirely useless but was good for concentration training.
I’m not sure if I can call forth the breeze because it’s happened on some occasions but not others. So then I wondered if it was just a natural breeze that came sometimes and I actually had nothing to do with conjuring it.
What the hell does a Mystic do? I’m working blindly. I have no idea if Mystics even possess the power to do things like call upon the wind.
I do this as I go along and I'm making it up along the way. I listen to my intuition on these things because I hope it is actually sacred knowledge that is slowly passing through me.
That’s what Gran said Mystics did. They taught sacred knowledge to indigenous tribes and to the Werewolf people, so obviously they obtained this knowledge somehow.
I was sitting cross legged beside the altar in the middle of the circular clearing. With my eyes shut I was trying to mentally call upon the breeze. I would even move my hands at times to push the air along, coaxing it to blow.
I was in deep concentration and I was trying to let the request flow through me instead of trying to make it move for myself. Slowly and subtly I heard the rustling of leaves and I tried to focus on that and make it bigger.
I lost connection with it a few times but I remained in my deep concentration and reconnected again. The leaves would rustle softly with the gentle breeze that would start to come.
I was startled into alertness when a voice suddenly interrupted and with my jolt came a strong gust of wind. Was that me?
“What are you doing?” The voice said. I scowled.
“Devran...what are you doing here?” I was so annoyed. This felt like an invasion of privacy.
“I asked you first” he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked around as if answers would be visible to him. The candles blew themselves out and I knew that meant this session was officially over.
I have come to the conclusion that the Moon Goddess blows those candles out when she wants me to finish or like now when I am interrupted.
Maybe its a coincidence but I felt like the sacred grounds really controlled those flames and when they were out that was like them telling you that’s all they’d give you.
“I was meditating” I waved at my posture and I felt it was obvious.“Who allowed you to start coming to our sacred grounds? What right do you have to be at this place?” He scowled at me.
I stood up and scoffed. “It was your Gran’s idea and I've been nothing but respectful here.”
Our eyes met and burrowed into one another’s for a long time without a word spoken between us.
“You shouldn’t be bringing bad energy to this inner circle. Step out of it” I directed him. That got him pissed.
“Excuse me? I think you’ve spent too much time among wolves, you seem to think you are one now and that you can just adopt our Moon Goddess as your own” he dared say to me.
I can’t wait to prove this man wrong when I show him I have all the rights in the world to be here and to be connected with the Moon Goddess. I can’t wait to shout in this idiot’s face that I am a Mystic.
The day will come but it isn’t today.
“You cannot control my beliefs, Devran. I know you like to control everything around you but you can’t control this. I have always been respectful and also partaken in all your rituals. Like when we all made offerings at your ceremony to become Alpha. Remember,
you stole my ring offering” I called him out.
“I did not” he snarled at me.
We'd already removed ourselves from the sacred circle and I was swiftly walking back to town. I was following the markers and trying to just ignore him but that’s impossible.
“How did you know I was even out here?” I asked him, still walking on. He grabbed me to stop me from moving.
“I have eyes on you. I don’t trust humans, remember?” He used the same smart tone I just had. “You were reported as disappearing into the forest every day lately. I needed to know why” he stood in his power stance.
“I’m minding my own business. I'm doing nothing harmful that warrants you to come here and ruin my time” I told him outright.
As we glared at each other another gust of wind passed through us and my hair was whipped around. Without thinking Devran reached out and smoothed down my hair. I gave him a funny look and he quickly retracted his hand.
“It’s getting windy. A storm could be coming. Let’s go” he told me.
I wanted to laugh and tell him it was just me sending out my anger into the air that responded with powerful gusts of wind in turn. I think I might be getting the hang of the wind thing.
Devran sniffed the air to see if he could detect a storm because yes they can weirdly usually tell. Something about the scent of the air changes I guess.
“It’s gonna rain” he announced.
“It’s not gonna rain” I rolled my eyes.
And damn mother nature for being unkind but as soon as I said that I felt the first drops of rain. The sky had shown no indication of a storm but I guess this one crept up on us fast.
“Oh Goddess” I huffed at my luck. It started to pour and we had no choice but to continue walking down the trail to the village.
When the rocky terrain in one section of the forest got slick with water my foot slipped and I grabbed Devran’s thick arm to keep me steady.
He rolled his eyes but took my hand and kept his other hand close to my back. Both to keep me from falling and to guide me forward. I hated that he was touching me but I’m not about to sprain an ankle because of pride.
In a thicket of trees Devran asked if I wanted to try to wait out the heavier portion of the storm because with the covering of large trees and branches it shielded a lot of the rain from pouring on us. Almost like an umbrella.
“I guess for a few minutes” I shrugged. The heavy pouring shouldn’t last long.
I hugged myself for warmth and leaned against one of the thickets of trees to wait this out. Devran leaned casually on the tree trunk beside me. I tried to avoid eye contact but I could feel him looking at me.
“What?” I asked, shifting my eyes over to him. When he smirked I knew I shouldn’t even have asked.
“Your shirt is see through” he surprised me by telling me. It wasn’t what I was expecting and I quickly looked down and gasped, rushing to cover my chest.
I cursed under my breath and he tipped his head back and bellowed out a hardy laugh.
“Don’t look at me” I huffed, turning away from him with my arms crossed over my chest. I could practically feel his pretty blue eyes and that smirk of his still lingering on me even while turned away. When I shivered he took a step closer.
“You know, wolves run hot” he informed me like I didn’t already know. “Good for you” I nodded to him. He chuckled and took another step closer.
“If your ego will allow it you are welcome to lean against me for warmth. We wouldn’t want you getting sick and missing work” he slyly told me like a fox more than a wolf.
“I’m just fine” I scoffed.
When I shivered with the breeze running across my damp clothes I huffed in frustration and he chuckled again. Without asking this time he just closed the gap between us and his front was suddenly pressed against my back.
I froze in place at feeling him there. His two large hands came up to rub my arms as his firm chest remained pressed to me. I shivered for a whole different reason.
Why did the air shift? Our bond is gone.
I tried to ignore him and just use him for his warmth. When he wrapped his defined arms around me I placed my head back to lean on his chest and we just stood there in silent waiting.
This looks intimate to stand this way but it wasn’t. It was for practicality. We’re in the mountains. It can get damn cold if it wants to.
With my head leaned back against his chest I could feel his steady breathing. His arms were very warm around me as was his body that was so closely pressed to mine.
“Now imagine if I hadn’t come to check on you” he finally spoke after a few minutes of perfect quiet. “Check on me? You were spying” I corrected him.
“Either way, if I didn’t you’d be alone out here dealing with all this” he reiterated.
“Thanks, Dev, you’re my hero” I deadpanned in the flattest voice possible. When he chuckled it rumbled in my head.
“I don’t think this rain is going to let up anytime soon. I think we just have to get through it” I huffed, not looking forward to it. I’ve lived in the mountains for a year. It isn’t my first storm but it doesn’t make it any more fun.
“Your call. I’m better on my feet than you are. I should just shift and run down without you” he smirked. I was glancing up at him so I could see it.
I slapped his arms off me but he placed them right back. I crossed my arms under his crossed arms to show my defiance and attitude. It made him chuckle again.
“You are the least threatening creature I have ever come across. Even a bird can at least peck an eye out or something. You are completely harmless” he leaned down and whispered in my ear.
I stiffened against him then pulled away altogether. “Alright, let’s get out of here. If you’re gonna start getting all weird and touchy I would rather slide down the mountain” I retorted.
“After you” he waved for me to start our trek again. I held onto tree trunks as I watched my step to be sure I didn’t step on anything slippery or that could trip me up in this heavy rain that makes visibility quite poor.
I had my neon pink markers to guide me. I would ask Devran for nothing. When I felt a hand at my back I whirled around and in doing so I almost fell. Devran was quick to catch me.
“Why’d you jump like that? I was just helping” he rolled his eyes at me. His black hair was soaked down against his forehead as was my hair in a sopping mess.
My shirt may be see through but I can’t even worry about that right now. I had a bra on. A thin one, so maybe pointed peeks of hard nipples were obvious, but they were at least covered from being seen through.
I caught Devran glance several times and if whacking him didn’t prove that I would probably slip I would’ve hit him every time.
“Okay this walk feels a lot longer now that I have to go this torturously slow” I groaned.
“I’ll shift and you can ride me” he offered. I didn’t like his tone when he said ‘ride me’.
For some reason I just did not want his wolf to help me. I feel like between both parts of him that was who truly rejected me and I was holding a grudge even though it was stupid to.
“What’s the problem?” He huffed.
“I don’t like your wolf” I turned my nose up at him. A low growl rumbled in the depths of his chest.