Free Web NovelChapter 68: Chapter 68
I didn’t sleep that night.
Not because I couldn’t—Christian’s arms around me should have been enough to drag me under. But something was different. There was this constant hum at the back of my mind, like someone had turned up the volume on a frequency I’d never noticed before.
It felt like the pack.
By the time the sun came up, I was hyper-aware of everything. Christian’s lingering worry about my emotional state was a warm knot in my chest. Marcus’s concern from his morning patrol hit me like a wave from miles away at the pack house. Connor’s frustration with a delayed shipment at Knight Industries felt almost like my irritation.
I sat up slowly, and Christian’s arms tightened around me.
"You’re awake," he said, his voice rough with sleep. "I can feel you thinking."
"Something’s different," I said quietly.
I didn’t have time to explain what before my phone buzzed. Diana was texting about a morning training session with the female warriors that I’d completely forgotten about. I showered, dressed, and headed to the training grounds with this strange sensation pulsing through me—like I was connected to everyone at once.
The female warriors were already warmed up when I arrived. Elena was there, moving through drills with focused intensity. Jennifer was glowing with confidence, her movements sharper than they’d been a month ago. And Sarah—Sarah was moving carefully, favoring her right side in a way she tried to hide.
I’d never noticed it before.
But now I could feel her. Not just see her. Actually *feel* the inflammation in her lower back, the chronic pain she’d been managing without reporting. It was like I could sense the exact location and intensity of her injury.
We started running through combat sequences, and the sensation intensified. I could feel Elena’s determination—but underneath it, a knot of pressure from family expectations. I could feel Jennifer’s growing confidence like a light turning brighter. And Sarah’s pain was a constant ache that she was trying to ignore.
Something made me reach out to her.
Not physically. Through something else. Something supernatural. I concentrated on Sarah, visualizing the inflammation, and I felt myself reaching through some invisible thread that connected us. Pack energy flowed through me, and I directed it toward the injury, easing the swelling and accelerating healing.
Sarah gasped mid-move, her hand going to her lower back. "It’s gone," she whispered, straightening carefully. "The pain. It’s just... gone."
I felt dizzy.
Maria was suddenly beside me, her hand on my arm, gently steering me away from the group. "Come with me."
We went to the medical facility’s back office, and Maria closed the door before she said anything.
"You’re manifesting Luna abilities," Maria said simply. "I suspected it might happen when I first met you, but I wasn’t sure. Now I am."
"What?" I felt the ground tilt slightly.
"Lunas develop different supernatural abilities based on their unique strengths and their bond with their Alpha," Maria explained, pulling up a chair. "Some Lunas can sense danger to pack members. Others can track wolves across vast distances. Some can amplify healing, or strengthen pack bonds, or influence emotions through the supernatural connections."
"And me?"
"You can feel and influence the pack’s emotional and physical state," Maria said with certainty. "That’s why you sensed Sarah’s pain. That’s why you could ease it."
I sat down before my legs gave out. "Is this normal?"
"It’s intense," Maria warned. "These abilities can be overwhelming without proper control. You could find yourself drowning in hundreds of pack members’ emotions if you don’t learn to shield yourself. To filter the input."
Christian appeared at the medical facility within twenty minutes. I felt him coming through the bond—his immediate concern when he’d sensed my distress during the training session.
He took one look at my face and didn’t ask questions. "Come with me."
We ended up at the sacred grove—the place where we’d first made love under the full moon. The spiritual energy there was palpable, ancient, and strong enough that I could almost see it shimmering in the air.
"My mother taught me this before she died," Christian said, sitting me down on the moss-covered ground. "When Luna abilities started manifesting in her. She said the key is visualization. The pack bonds are threads. You don’t have to engage with all of them at once."
We spent hours there. Christian guided me through meditation techniques, teaching me how to visualize the pack bonds as individual threads that I could choose to engage with or temporarily mute. It was like learning to see for the first time. When I relaxed and let the meditation work, I could see them—glowing threads connecting me to every single member of Shadow Ridge. Hundreds of them. Thousands of emotional connections.
Gradually, with Christian’s patient guidance, I learned to filter them. To engage with the threads I chose. To mute the others when they became too overwhelming.
By the time the sun started setting, I could feel the difference. Control. The chaos had become manageable.
And with that control came clarity.
I could sense the pack’s emotional landscape with precision. I could feel who was genuinely loyal to Christian, who was wavering, and who was being influenced by traditionalist rhetoric. I could identify the approximately ten percent of the pack that had been swayed by Harold’s propaganda—their emotions a tangled mess of conflicting loyalties and family pressure.
"This changes everything," I whispered.
