Chapter 128 Kaelen suspects 1

Chapter 128: Chapter 128 Kaelen suspects 1

Talia’s POV

Several days passed, and my wounds healed faster than anyone expected.

Elena checked on me one last time, unwrapped the bandages, and stared at my skin like she was seeing a ghost.

"There is barely a scar," she said. "I have been a healer for thirty years, and I have never seen anything like this."

I did not tell her why. I just thanked her and watched her leave.

The pack had stopped treating me like a stranger and an outsider completely. Wolves no longer whispered when I walked past, instead, they bowed, they smiled, and they called me Luna like they meant it.

But Kaelen was still watching me closely and protectively, like I might get hurt.

His eyes followed me everywhere when we were in the room; to the desk, to the window, to the bathroom, and to the door. I could feel his gaze on my back like a hand, not threatening, just... watching, and waiting, maybe to catch me.

Even when we were outside, he did not say anything. He just watched, and his gray eyes followed me across the gathering halls, across the private training grounds, and across the dinner table. There was always something in his gaze that looked like fear, and a bit of suspicion, mixed up with curiosity.

Sometimes, he kept looking at me like he knew something, or like he could see something that I was hiding. I could see it in the way his jaw tightened when I looked away too fast, and in the way his questions stopped before he asked them.

He was giving me space, but he was also waiting. And I did not know which one scared me the most.

The first time I went outside with a decision in mind to go beyond the pack house, and across the field, the sun was warm on my face and the wind was soft in my hair.

I walked through the pack house, into the courtyard, and past the open field training grounds. Wolves nodded at me, and I nodded back, but I did not stop to talk to anyone. I just kept walking, past the gardens, past the training dummies, and past the last line of buildings.

Until I reached the forest.

The same forest where I had fought the rogues, and the same forest where I had almost died.

I stood at the edge of the trees and looked into the shadows, as my heart pounded, and my hands trembled. I could still hear the screaming, still feel the claws on my back, and still smell the blood on the ground.

But I was determined that I would not let fear win. So I stepped into the forest.

I found a clearing hidden from view, and surrounded by thick trees and low bushes.

It was perfect, isolated, and quiet.

I looked around, and made sure that no one could see me here, and no one would find me.

I was being careful, because I did not want anyone to see what I wanted to do. I had to be extremely careful too, because of the hunters, and the wolves who had killed my mother’s people.

They could not know I existed yet. Not until I was ready. And I knew that they could be anywhere too, which is why I was being cautious.

After making sure that I was alone, I stood in the center of the clearing and closed my eyes.

Then I reached for the power in my chest. It was there, warm and waiting, like a sleeping animal that knew it was time to wake up.

I opened my mouth, and spoke. "Fall," I whispered.

Leaves detached from the branches above me. They spiraled down through the air, spinning and dancing, and they landed on the grass at my feet.

I smiled.

I practiced for hours over the next few days. I made leaves fall from trees, I made the wind change direction with a single word, and I made a rabbit freeze in the grass, with its body still, and its eyes wide, and its heart pounding visibly beneath my command.

The power flowed from me like water, like breathing, and like it had been waiting for me to wake it up.

I was getting stronger, and at the same time, I was getting careless.

The power was like a drug.

Every time I used it, I wanted more of everything. More leaves to fall, more birds to freeze, and more control over everything. I told myself I was practicing, preparing, and getting ready for the trial, and anything that might come my way.

But deep down, I knew the truth, that I liked it.

I liked the way it felt, the way the world listened, and the way I did not have to be invisible anymore. And I also knew that it was dangerous, but I did not stop.

One afternoon, I was practicing in the clearing.

I had just frozen a bird in mid-flight. Its wings were outstretched, and its body was completely still, and hanging in the air like a painting. I was watching it, and marveling at what I could do, when I heard a branch snap behind me.

I spun around as fear gripped me, and saw that Kaelen was standing at the edge of the clearing.

His gray eyes were fixed on the bird frozen above me. His jaw was tight, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

He looked at the bird, then he looked at me.

"That was you," he said.

My heart stopped, and my blood ran cold. I opened my mouth to deny it, to lie, and to say anything that would make him look away.

"No," I said. "It... was... not me. And how... did you... know that I... was here?"

"We are mates, Talia, so I can sense you, and also track you through your scent. So tell me, if you did not do that, then who did?" he asked.

I had no answer.