I smiled, shrugging. The truth was I didn’t know. I’d never tried concentrating my ability and wasn’t even sure I could do it again. Last night, I’d been operating on pure instinct.
“That’s a good question,” Alpha Leal replied. “I think we should test this. See if Shade can repeat last night’s miracle with Caelan or other wolves. We need to know to what extent this ability can be stretched.”
“Dad,” Caelan growled.
“I agree,” Luna Maty said. “I say we all meet on the training grounds in thirty minutes. Taffy, send out a mind-link askingeveryone to clear the area for a time. Let’s see if Shade can do whatever she did at the challenge again.”
“I don’t know,” Caelan hesitated. “I don’t want to push her too hard.”
“I’m not trying to force her to do anything she’s not comfortable with, son, but this could be profound for the pack’s protection,” Alpha Leal explained.
“And we’ll need to know with Alpha Huxley still in the mix,” Dillon mused. “If he was willing to take such a risk before he saw what she can do, he’s definitely willing to go to war now. He’ll make another attempt to take her, you can be sure of that.”
Caelan’s fingers tightened on my shoulder. “He can try.”
“You think he plans to use you as a weapon?” Alpha Leal questioned.
“Yes,” I replied. “My father did, and if Alpha Huxley wants to take over more packs, I’m his best chance at doing that without meeting much resistance.”
“He could use his alpha command to unlock her curse, and now that he’s seen what the amplification can do, he’ll be more eager to claim her for his own,” Caelan explained.
“That settles it,” Alpha Leal concluded. “We have no choice. We need to be ready for whatever he throws at us.”
He and Luna Maty rose, exiting the room as the rest of us stood.
“Are you all right with this, Shade?” Caelan questioned softly as the others began to leave.
“I think so,” I admitted. “I don’t want to ever see you fighting for your life like that again. And they’re right. Huxley is going tobe even more eager to get his filthy paws on me after what he witnessed last night.”
“Okay,” he replied, taking my hand. “Let’s go see what you can do.”
The Effects of the Change
CAELAN
“Oliver, spar with Dillon,” my father instructed as we all stepped out onto the training grounds a short time later. “Shade, try to enhance Oliver like you did for Caelan last night.”
Shade nodded, but I sensed her apprehension. I ran my thumb across her knuckles, making her look at me.
“It’s going to be all right,” I assured her. “No one will get hurt, and no one will blame you if this doesn’t work.”
Oliver and Dillon faced off against each other as Shade took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I could feel the push of her gift threatening to tangle with my emotions, but it shifted as she refocused on Oliver.
For several minutes, there was no change in Oliver, and Shade finally huffed in frustration.
“It’s not working,” she mumbled.
“Taffy, help Dillon,” my father ordered. “Perhaps the threat needs to be greater for it to react.”
Taffy ran onto the field to join her mate while Shade shook out her limbs and tried again. But the effect was the same. She couldn’t seem to focus her gift as she had with me.
“Caelan, join Taffy and Dillon against Oliver,” my father grunted.
I gave Shade’s hand one final squeeze before joining the three of them. We surrounded Oliver, attacking him from all sides, but Shade couldn’t seem to transform him as she had with me.
We repeated the experiment, trying different combinations where Shade tried to focus her ability on anyone but me, but nothing happened. No matter how hard she tried, the result was still the same.
“Maybe we should call it,” I panted, glancing around.
