Fated Mate

Echoes of Power

Emily's hands grew warm as she kneaded bread.

She stopped in her tracks, looking down at her hands as warmth filled her fingers. The dough she was working with began to steam a little under her palms and she pulled her hand back with a gasp.

"Everything okay?" Sarah shouted from the other side of the kitchen.

"Fine," Emily said, still quickly as she dunked her hands in a bucket of cold water. "Just... burned my finger with the oven door."

It was a lie. She hadn't baked the lie in the oven.

The events were the same for the third day in a row. Yesterday, Sara had happened upon an accidental flash of unnatural light behind her when she unintentionally dropped a pot. The day before, she'd been so traumatized that she gripped a wooden spoon so tightly that the tips of her fingers were scorched, and the spoon was scarred.

Emily's stomach twisted in fear. The power inside of her was still stirring, and still unpredictable and dangerous. What if she hurt someone? What if she lost control at a crowded meal, or while she was standing too close to Sara?

But she couldn't risk it.

-

Within the next week, Emily started withdrawing. She ate her meals by herself, saying she was not hungry or that she was too tired. She ceased assisting in the kitchens, but instead took on isolated work-patching clothes in her room, caring for the boughs at the garden's extremities where no one dared to stop by.

Sandra was the first to perceive. "Have I done anything wrong?" the young omega inquired one day, her face lined with concern.

"No," "I just ... want to be alone," Emily replied.

"But you look so sad-"

"I'm fine, Sara. Really."

The lie tasted worse than the truth, but it was a lie that needed to be told. Rather than confessing she was petrified of turning into the curse she'd always been told she was.

Arthur did, too, but when he wanted to speak to her, Emily steered clear. "I'm just getting used to it," she said to him. "I need to be by myself."

She hated the pain in his eyes, but she could not tell him the truth. Not when she didn't even understand it at her own.

-

Victor Mathis, however, was the one who finally trapped her.

Emily, sitting by the stream at the border of the territory, was working on breathing exercises she'd learned as a child - whatever it took to ease the restlessness that seemed to be radiating off her flesh. He was silent, at least up until he spoke.

"Running away isn't a fix."

Emily jumped, her eyes flashing briefly before she caught herself. Victor was just a few feet behind, arms folded across his chest, his face unreadable.

"I'm not running away," she said defensively.

"No?" Victor shifted his weight and moved closely, settling on an adjacent rock. "What do you call it when you vanish for days on end, and hide from everybody who loves you?"

Emily averted her gaze. "I'm protecting them. "

"From what?"

"From me." She said it before she could prevent it from leaving her mouth. "I can't control it, Victor. Power- It just happens. I cook things without trying. My eyes glow. What if I hurt somebody?"

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "For pulling away. I was scared."

Arthur crossed to her, cupping her face gently. "Of what?"

"Of hurting people. My power-it's getting stronger, and I can't control it."

Victor was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke his voice was softer than she had ever heard it. "When Arthur first promoted me to Beta, I was terrified."

Emily blinked and turned to look at him. "What?"

"I was just barely twenty-two when I was young – Nothing else can aim at my soul with such keen precision as age.I'm too old to be a novice in a life - We all are.There were wolves older than me by two*fold or three fold, who have been through things that I can only imagine, who are much stronger and smarter than I am – I kept waiting for Arthur to realize he'd made a mistake."

Victor's jaw tightened. "During my first real battle, I froze. Completely frozen. One of our fighters almost perished because I couldn't decide swiftly enough."

"But you're-" Emily made a helpless gesture. "You're one of the strongest people here."

"Now," Victor said. "But not then. Then? I was a mess. I isolated myself, convinced I was going to fail everyone." He looked into her eyes. "Arthur found me one night, told me something I've never forgotten. He said, 'Strength isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing to face it anyway."

Emily swallowed hard. "I'm not sure how to do this."

"You don't have to face it alone." Victor got up, and held out his hand. "Come back Let us help you figure it out.

Emily took his hand after a pause.

---

Emily returned to find Arthur in his study, surrounded by letters and old books. He looked up as she came in, and his face was full of relief."Emily-"

Then we'll learn together." "He gestured at the clutter on his desk. I've been writing to scholars, other Alphas, anyone who gets their hands on me. We'll get answers."

Emily felt tears prick her eyes. "Why do you believe in me so much?"

"Because you're worth believing in," Arthur said simply.

The next day in the afternoon, Emily was scanning the training grounds from a distance when it happened.

A pair of fledglings squared off-training combat maneuvers under the vigilant gaze of their trainer. One lunged, the other dodged, but the movement went wrong. A wolf's leg twisted painfully and he fell with a scream, there was a sickening crack.

The trainer came rushing over, but from where Emily stood she could tell it was a severe injury – bone was out through the skin and a river of blood was flowing on the ground.

"Get the healer!" someone shouted.

Emily didn't stop, didn't think, and began running towards them. The crowd parted as she dropped to her knees beside the wounded wolf─a boy not older than nineteen, contorted with pain.

"Emily, you shouldn't-" began the trainer.

She wasn't hearing. Her hands rose to hover above the wound, and suddenly, they were glowing- a gentle, golden light that radiated with heat. Emily had no idea what she was doing, but her instincts told her where to go. The light brightened, streaming into the wound.

The fractured bone started to move back into place. The flow of blood lessened, and then ceased. The ripped skin sewed itself back with nothing left but a tiny scar.

The boy's screams slowly softened, became whimpers before stopping all together, silencing everyone in shock.

Emily withdrew her hands, looking at them in disbelief. The glow dissipated, and she was left shaking and fatigued.

Not a single word could be heard from the training grounds.

"What did you just do?" whispered one of them.

The lad eased himself up, trying out his leg. It flexed like it should have, as if it had never been broken.

"It doesn't hurt," he said, wonder in his voice. "It's... healed."

Mur murs rippled through the crowd. There were wolves that gazed at Emily in reverence, and others that were terrified. She even heard the whispers-unnatural, powerful, dangerous.

Emily had shaken knees and was backing away, she was trembling. "I don't... I didn't want to..."

Arthur was at her side, his hand firm on her shoulder. "Everybody, back to training," he ordered commandingly. "Now."

The crowd started to slowly break up, seemingly unwilling to leave their gazes fixed on Emily, their eyes still lingering on her.

-

Later that evening, Arthur called a private meeting with Victor, Sarah the cook and the pack's healer-an elderly woman named Margaret. They convened in Arthur's study as Emily sat in a chair near the window, feeling as if she were a specimen being analyzed.

"She mended a compound fracture in seconds," exclaimed Margaret, her voice teetering between awe and unease. "That sort of power... I've never even heard of things like that."

"Is it dangerous?" Victor inquired.

"I don't know," said Margaret. "But power of that magnitude, untrained and unpredictable-it could be."

Arthur spoke firmly, "Emily isn't dangerous." I'm not saying that she is," retorted Margaret. "But we need to know what we're dealing with. For her safety, and ours."

Emily said quietly from the window. "I don't know," Taela said, confusedly. It just...happened. Like the fire I lit back at Sparkling Star. I don't know how to run any of this."

Sarah, who until then had kept silent, cleared her throat. "I suppose control isn't the point, not yet. Perhaps she just needs to know what she is first,"

Arthur bobbed his head slowly. "We need help. Professional help. One that knows about hybrid powers?"

"The witch?" Victor asked. "Eleanor White. She knows ancient magic."

"Yeah," Arthur agreed. "We will take her advice."

Emily surveyed each of them-these people who were attempting to help rather than abandoning her. I could handle and it was humbling all at once.

"What if I'm too dangerous?" she whispered.

Arthur went over to her, dropping to one knee so they were on the same level. "We'll figure it out," he said with the same quiet determination. But Emily – you saved that boy's life today. That's not something a girl like you should be doing." That's dangerous," she said, shaking her head. That's a gift."

Emily wanted to believe him. But as she stared at her hands, still tingling with the residual energy, all she could think was: What am I becoming?