Chapter 60
974 Words
The morning air was sharp against my skin as I stepped out into the training grounds with Devon by my side. Joey was already waiting, twirling a staff in her hands like she had been born with it. Her grin widened when she saw me, though her eyes flickered with that quiet worry she tried so hard to hide.
“Finally,” Joey said, planting the staff in the ground. “I was starting to think you’d never get out of bed.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, not just from her words but from the way Devon smirked down at me like he knew exactly why I’d been slow to move this morning. My body still hummed from the bond, every nerve awake, my skin too sensitive to even the brush of the wind.
“Behave,” I muttered at him under my breath, though I couldn’t hide the small smile tugging at my lips.
He leaned close enough that only I could hear. “Not a chance.”
I shoved his chest lightly, and Joey rolled her eyes, though I didn’t miss the small smirk tugging her mouth.
“Alright,” Devon said, his Alpha voice filling the air. “We’ll start simple today. Addy, I want you to focus on control, not strength. The power inside you is already stronger than most of the pack. What you need is to keep it from spilling out when you don’t want it to.”
His words made my stomach knot. I nodded anyway, planting my feet on the dirt as Joey squared off against me. She didn’t hold back. Within moments, she was charging, her staff swinging low toward my legs.
I dodged clumsily, almost tripping, and heard Joey laugh. “Come on, Luna, you’ll have to do better than that.”
Something inside me snapped at the word Luna. It was like the fire wanted to prove itself. Heat shot through my chest and down my arms, sparks licking at my fingertips. The staff Joey swung toward me never landed, because the wood burst into flame before it touched me.
She dropped it with a sharp curse, hopping back as the fire ate the wood in seconds. My heart pounded, my breath ragged.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered, staring at my hands glowing faintly with embers.
Devon was there in an instant, his hands gripping my shoulders firmly. His touch was grounding, cooling. “Breathe, Addy. Don’t fight it, guide it.”
I tried to focus on him, on his steady eyes, but the whispers from the night still clawed at the back of my mind. The fire inside me pulsed, wanting to burn, wanting to consume.
Joey bent to scoop dirt onto the smoking remains of her staff. “Well… that was dramatic.” Her voice was light, but I saw the tremor in her hands.
“Again,” Devon ordered softly, his thumb brushing over my arm. “We’ll keep going until you can call it and put it away on purpose.”
The next hour blurred into sweat and sparks. Every time Joey lunged, I reacted with too much force, flames flaring in bursts I couldn’t fully stop. Devon kept his hands on me more often than not, guiding my breathing, grounding me when I slipped. By the time Joey called for a break, my body was trembling, the fire inside still restless.
“Enough for today,” Joey said, wiping sweat from her brow. “Any more and you’ll both burn down the grounds.”
Devon didn’t argue. Instead, he slid his hand into mine and pulled me away from the center of the yard. We walked in silence until the sound of training faded behind us. Only then did he stop, turning to face me fully.
“You did better than you think,” he said.
I laughed bitterly. “I nearly roasted Joey alive.”
His hand cupped my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You protected yourself. That’s what your power is. It doesn’t answer to fear, it answers to you. And you, Addy, are stronger than you believe.”
The way he said it, low and certain, made my chest ache. My doubts felt smaller in his presence, like they didn’t stand a chance. But the fire still simmered, restless, as though it wanted something more.
Devon must have felt it because his hand slid lower, over my neck, down to the curve of my waist, pulling me closer until our bodies pressed flush. My breath hitched. The world stilled.
“Still restless?” he asked, voice rougher now.
“Yes,” I whispered before I could stop myself.
His lips crashed down on mine, hard and hungry. The fire inside me didn’t rage this time, it melted, folding into the heat between us. My fingers fisted in his shirt as he backed me against the wall of the nearest building, his mouth devouring mine like he couldn’t get enough.
Every brush of his hands was grounding and electrifying all at once. His grip on my hips was possessive, his kiss demanding, and my body answered without hesitation. I gasped into his mouth when his thigh slid between mine, sparks shooting through me that had nothing to do with fire.
He pulled back only enough to growl against my lips, “That’s how you control it. You let it flow through you. Through us.”
My laugh was breathless. “This doesn’t feel like control.”
His smirk was wicked. “It’s the best kind.”
The training field, Joey, even my lingering fears, they all slipped away under the weight of his touch. And for the first time in days, the fire inside me didn’t feel like a threat. It felt like part of me. Part of us.
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