Page 25 of Hidden Nature

“Yes.” Rath lifted his shirt to show there wasn’t even a mark left. “I’m healed to perfection and even some of my old wounds are as well.”

The guys gaped at me, eyes wide with amazement as they took in his meaning.

Clearing my throat, I told them the next part, “Not only can I heal wounds, I changed a vampire back into being a human.”

Zander shot to his feet, knocking the chair out from under him, hands planted on the table. “You did what? When the fuck were you attacked by vampires? Is it possibly the same one who came after you here? Why didn’t you tell us this sooner!”

“Zander,” Lane snapped. “Sit. Down.”

Zander flicked his gaze over to Lane and then back to me before taking a moment to right his chair and take a seat.

“I’m sure Finley will tell us what happened if you give her the chance,” Noah added, giving me a reassuring smile. “You know he acts like an idiot because he cares, right?”

“Clearly, he was dropped on his head as a child and doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions right,” Mason muttered, shoving a strip of bacon in his mouth.

“Anyway,” Lane interrupted, turning back to me. “As you were saying, sweetheart.”

“Once I healed Rath, we needed to get out of there and somewhere safe. Miami just so happened to be one of the places where I stashed particular items I needed. Florida was a state I worked in fairly often, so I knew places to hide out. When we got to the building where there used to be a safe house for the Organization, Rath and I discovered it was overrun by vampires. A coven had set up there, feeding off the homeless and druggies passed out in the streets. They knew I was a wolf, but they couldn’t tell what Rath was. They decided they didn’t care and attacked. Between us both, we managed to take out all four of them. While I was dealing with the last vampire, I lost my knife and couldn’t get a good hold on him. My magic ran wild, and so I used it to defend myself. In doing so, I changed him back to a human. I was in shock about the whole thing, but Rath kept his senses and finished him off,” I concluded.

Rath reached out and took my hand, pulling it to his lips. “There was no other option. We needed to make sure your secret is kept hidden. The Dark Ring is after you now because of being an omega and we don’t really understand the Senate’s involvement either. What I do know is, if the Senate found out you could reverse something like that with your healing powers, they would kill you. Or steal and lock you away to use you as they see fit for their own purposes.”

“Have you noticed anything else about your powers?” Zander asked, his voice betraying how he wasn’t as calm as he was trying to appear.

“According to what Rath has been telling me, they seem to be far stronger than most elves he’s seen. That’s why I was able to put you in a healing sleep last night without me even knowing it,” I added.

The guys just seemed to sit with that information for a moment, with no one saying anything. I could tell through their emotions that no one knew how to feel about this. A few of them were scared for me, while one or two of them felt unsettled. I didn’t know if that was because of me or if they felt uncomfortable with my powers.

Just like any other natural skill, my power was a part of who I am. I had magic that was innate to me. I didn’t need a spell or materials to be able to perform whatever magical feats I wanted to, unlike witches. Witches as a whole weren’t looked kindly on since they sold their potions and talismans to anyone willing to pay for them, no questions asked. This led to witches having been given the most rules on how they could practice their magic since it could be so easily misused by others.

Could this be why so many elves kept to themselves and didn’t talk about what they could do? So many of the simple feats that Rath had already shown he could pull off were amazing. He could manipulate anything to do with nature, or at least that’s what it seemed like. Granted, he did say healing wasn’t a gifted area for him, but he still understood the process and how the process should work.

“Rath,” Lane said, breaking the silence. “Is this a skill that you’ve ever heard or seen before? In my head, this sounds like a specialized skill. I just need to understand if what I’m assuming is correct or not.”

“I’ve heard stories of great healers who were sought after all across the world, but they never said what it was they did to garner that attention. It could be they were also gifted the way Finley is, but something tells me that this particular gift of hers is unique to her,” Rath mused. “Her becoming an omega, I think, influenced her magic, altering it to become more than would be natural. Clearly, she called so many of you to herself before she matured into her powers leading me to believe the fates knew she would be strong. It also makes me wonder if they knew that the world was going to need someone so pure of heart to deal with the Dark Ring and what the Senate has been turning into.”

This caught me completely off guard. I knew the basics of the Senate’s treachery, but Rath made it sound far more in-depth and twisted from what I knew. Letting my gaze land on Zander, I could tell from his face and emotions that something Rath implied hit a little too close to home.

“Zander?” I questioned, feeling anger building within him.

His silver eyes met mine, no longer bothering to hide his disgust at whatever he was thinking.

“Did you know Peggy played a part in helping them get to you here?” he bit out, surprising me with the abrupt change in topic.

“Yes, she was just leaving the meeting point when I arrived,” I answered. “How did you guys find out?”

Elias shifted, leaning back in his chair. “I found her out in the woods when I went chasing after the vampire. Something in my gut told me she was up to no good, and when I pressed her about what she was doing, she lied. It wasn’t until after finding her that I found out you were missing. Zander was the one who finally broke her and got her to spill what little information she could about what was going on.”

“Where is she now?” I asked, my wolf feeling mighty pleased that this woman who’d been so rude to us was being punished.

“She’s in a holding cell that we use for people like her or others that are newly shifted, and we can’t manage. Surprisingly, what we found out from her was that the Senate has been keeping a close eye on me and the pack as a whole. They hate to let other packs who might grow into a source of power and overthrow them, losing their place in life. Funny how those in power are so afraid of losing, they will destroy a pack before it gets the chance to try,” Zander said bitterly.

“You never said anything about that before.” Colt growled. “Are you saying that your mother is going to take us out and murder our whole pack? You’re her son. Why would she take your pack from you?”

Mason’s head snapped in Colt’s direction. “I’m sorry, his pack? Since when did boy-band here become part of our pack?”

“Really, Mason, you’re questioning that choice when he’s mated to the same woman the rest of us are? Of course, he is part of our pack and yes, an alpha. What other option is there in a situation like this? If Zander had been interested in helping lead our pack previously to this, I would have considered it with Lane,” Colt stated. “Last I checked, when it comes to leading the pack, it’s for Lane and me to worry about… beta.”

The last thing we needed right now was for them to be arguing among themselves when there were far more important matters to deal with. Mason started to growl and rise from his seat as Colt met his challenge head-on. Lane pushed back from the table like he was getting ready to intervene and Zander was doing nothing but watching the whole thing unravel. This might be how werewolves handled situations in their packs, but they could fucking well do it another time.