Chapter 35
1162 Words
Astrid hadn’t meant for it to happen again.
One moment she was breathing steadily, counting the rise and fall of her chest like Caspian had taught her. The next, the air around her shifted, soft at first, then humming, like something waking up under her skin.
She froze.
“I’m losing it,” she said, panic threading her voice. “I can feel it pulling.”
Caspian didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t move quickly. He only stepped closer, close enough that she could feel the warmth of him, the solid presence that always seemed to steady the world.
“You’re not losing anything,” he said. “You’re feeling it.”
That didn’t make it better. The fae power stirred anyway, light catching along her arms, faint but undeniable. It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t violent.
It was curious.
Astrid clenched her hands. “It doesn’t listen to rules. Or training. It just… reacts.”
Caspian studied her the way he always did when she was close to unraveling, not like she was fragile, but like she mattered.
“Then stop giving it rules,” he said. “And stop fighting it.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “That’s terrible advice.”
“It works for wolves,” he replied.
He reached for her hands, slow enough that she could pull away if she wanted. She didn’t. The moment their skin touched, something shifted. Not the power itself, but how it moved.
Her wolf lifted her head inside her mind, alert but calm.
He holds us steady, she murmured.
Astrid swallowed. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“You won’t,” Caspian said, certain. “Your magic isn’t cruel. It’s just loud right now.”
He guided her breathing without counting, without commands. Just matching her rhythm until her pulse stopped racing.
“Don’t push it down,” he said quietly. “And don’t let it run you. Let it exist.”
Astrid closed her eyes.
The power rose, warm, old, threaded with something like memory. Forests she’d never walked. Moonlight that didn’t belong to this land. For a second, fear crept in.
Then she felt Caspian again.
Grounded. Steady. Real.
She focused on him instead of the power. On the bond. On the fact that she wasn’t alone in her own skin anymore.
The light softened.
Not gone, never gone but contained, settling where it belonged.
When she opened her eyes, the world felt quieter.
“I can feel it,” she said softly. “It’s still there. Just not overwhelming.”
Caspian’s mouth curved slightly, pride warm but restrained. “That’s control.”
She looked at him, really looked. “You’re not scared of what I am.”
“No,” he said. “I’m aware of it. There’s a difference.”
Her chest tightened at that. “What if it keeps growing?”
“Then we adjust,” he said. “Together.”
Astrid nodded slowly. For the first time since the power had begun to wake, she didn’t feel like she was standing on the edge of something dangerous.
She felt like she was learning how to stand.
And Caspian steady as ever was right there, making sure she didn’t fall.
After done with training astrid and caspian went to the hall for Dinner.
Astrid felt the weight of the room the moment she stepped into the hall.
The long dining chamber was already filled, voices overlapping, laughter rising and falling, the steady hum of pack life. Torches lined the stone walls, casting warm light across polished tables and the banners of Caspian’s family. It should have felt welcoming.
Instead, it felt… attentive. This was the first time they were eating together with the pack.
Caspian’s hand rested lightly at the small of her back, grounding. “You’re doing fine,” he murmured, low enough that only she could hear.
She nodded, though her pulse had picked up.
As they moved through the hall, conversations faltered, not stopping outright, but softening. Eyes turned. Some curious. Some assessing. Some openly admiring.
“She’s beautiful,” someone whispered, not bothering to hide it.
Astrid felt heat rise to her cheeks.
Another voice followed, quieter, edged with resignation. “No wonder she’s his mate.”
A few women watched her with polite smiles that didn’t quite reach their eyes. Others looked away entirely, disappointment etched plainly on their faces. Astrid didn’t need heightened senses to feel it, dreams ending, hopes quietly laid to rest.
So this is what it feels like, she thought.
To be the one chosen.
To be the one others quietly mourned not being.
As they reached the family table, Caspian pulled out her chair with an ease that made her heart tighten. He leaned close as she sat. “Ignore the noise,” he said. “They’ll settle.”
“I’m not sure I will,” she replied softly.
He smiled faintly. “You will.”
As dinner was served, the murmurs continued, low, constant.
Men’s gazes lingered longer than necessary. Not disrespectful, but appreciative. A few nodded in approval, eyes flicking between her and Caspian as if confirming what fate had already declared.
“They look right together,” an elder said.
“Yes,” another agreed. “Balanced.”
Astrid focused on her plate, trying not to let the attention overwhelm her. She wasn’t used to being seen like this, not as an individual, but as a symbol.
The Luna-to-be.
A sudden small voice cut through the hum.
“Auntie Astrid!”
Astrid looked up just in time to see two children racing toward her with tinny feet’s, they were so cute, one barely above the table, the other younger but just as excited. Caspian’s niece and nephew skidded to a stop beside her chair.
“You’re even prettier than Uncle Caspian said,” the girl declared solemnly.
The boy whose name was Kael, He was Mira and Nolan’s first son nodded fiercely. “You glow.”
Astrid laughed despite herself, surprise breaking through her nerves. “I do?”
“Yes!” the girl said. She was Maya, Elara and Easton‘s daughter. “Mama says you’re moon-pretty.”
“And star-soft,” the boy added, as if that settled everything.
Astrid felt her face grow warm. “Those are the nicest things anyone’s ever called me.”
The children grinned, pleased, before climbing onto chairs beside her as if they belonged there which, apparently, they did.
Caspian watched the exchange with quiet satisfaction, pride evident in his eyes.
Around them, the hall slowly relaxed. The whispers softened. Some envy remained, Astrid could feel it like a faint edge in the air but so did acceptance.
This was the pack.
Not united in feeling, but honest in it.
And as Astrid reached for Caspian’s hand beneath the table, she realized something important.
She wasn’t just being welcomed.
She was being tested.
And tonight, simply by being herself, she was passing.
- Writer
