Ember

23. Burning beneath the surface

Remi

Spring is here. The smell of the leaves returning and the plants coming back to life, the warmth of the sun sinks into my skin and slightly chilly air feels like freedom. It had been so long since I was able to walk free and embrace nature. Each day is more healing, more control over myself. My soul is lighter than it has been, the grass between my toes and light in the sky brings me hope for my future as well as my children.

The healing has been painful. I will forever hate Zaden, but I can't let him ruin me or stop something amazing from happening. I'm finding as time goes on I feel myself wanting people around. I haven't spoken to many people about it, the former Luna has been amazing. She makes me want connections with others. I even find myself craving intimacy despite my trauma.

Alpha Sila's has invaded my dreams on more than one occasion, leaving me in need when I wake. It has been maddening and yet such a normal thing considering where I started.

I can't think about that now.

Taking advantage of the walk to my training session with former alpha Noren, to think about something else in the silence.

Jake has been sneaking off more and more lately, with my returning confidence I encourage him. I hold high hopes for him and his new mate. Jake has been loyal and went to great lengths to get us here, he deserves a mate and he will be a perfect one. Although Angel is skeptical of me and believes there is more to Jake and I, our situation is unusual. Once everything is settled and not so fragile I will have a conversation with her to ease her worry. I see him as a brother, he is my family and Beta.

These thoughts roll through my mind planning a strategy to handle it with care.

I come up to the training grounds on the estate, large enough to fit the entire pack in with no trees and packed down dirt with no greenery. I am sure they clear cut the space just for me and my unpredictable fire explosions. With training everyday with Noren for over a month now I have made progress. So much has changed. Emotional outbursts are not as damaging as before I have developed the earth ability, not like Aleric's. Plant growth mostly. There is less fear and more amazement with every bit of progress. We have worked on physical training that is no issue, I have been training since I was able to walk with guys much larger than myself. The brutal reality is in order to train properly you will get your ass kicked a lot in order to learn and I learned a lot! Now I'm sturdy on my feet and a worthy opponent.

Reaching the middle of the grounds Alpha Noren greets me with a small smile on his stern face. I smell the air, others are here. I can feel them and smell them.

"Welcome Remi. Are you ready to start?"

I nodd acknowledging him. He is a good teacher. Straight to the point. He pushes me to do better and more, in a fight there is no pausing. My abilities can kill an enemy and everyone else if I lose focus on what I am doing.

"Today we are going to pull each element out, you have done amazing at controlling once it is out, now we need to be able to choose between fire, water and the rest as needed."

I have struggled with this. I use the ability that come forward with ease now. The ability that shows however is at random, this is a problem that I am eager to solve.

Noren walks around me watching my reaction. "We will be using just your mind today to start"

Stopping in front of me he continues and points to a large metal target at the end.

"The target will come later First I want you to close your eyes. Block out all of the noise. Listen to your body tell you how your magic feels. Where it lives inside"