Finding the Power Within

by C. C. Masters

  “What makes a white wolf have magic though?” Jason asked with a frown. “What makes them different from us?”

  I just shrugged, and Gemma gave him a strange look. “That’s just the way it is.”

  I gave Jason a look. It didn’t seem like Gemma was the type to question the status quo or ask questions, but we were. Austin or Cody would probably have more answers for us. I glanced down at my phone, I had texted Cody a couple times since this morning, but he hadn’t responded to me at all. That was really not like him.

  The last time I saw Cody was last night after the pack meeting, he had been on his way out to work with some of our other pack members. I was going to talk to Austin once we got back, I had a feeling in my gut that something was off.

  Chapter 19

  Anna

  Today, the prince had decided to conduct our lesson outside in the courtyard. That meant that Cody and about a dozen of the prince’s guards were watching us, making me feel even more awkward than usual.

  Cody was trying to chat up some of the guards along with Caylee, but he very obviously was keeping me in sight. Which was good, because I wanted to keep him in sight, too.

  The prince had already tried taunting Cody, but had given up when he didn’t get the reaction he was looking for. Cody was playing it cool, he already knew how to handle a guy like the prince.

  Right now, the prince and I were standing three feet apart, facing each other. “Today we are going to focus on increasing your elemental strength,” the prince told me seriously. “I want to see just how much magic you can handle.”

  I took a deep breath. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  The prince laughed. “Not while I’m here. If it gets to be too much, I can just siphon the magic off you. Let’s start with water. There’s plenty of snow around here, see if you can gather some up and melt it.”

  I frowned. That was a complicated order. I was going to have to gather up the snow somehow – with air? Or water? And then create a heat source to melt it. I closed my eyes so that I could focus and tried to forget about all the people who were staring at me, waiting for me to do something impressive. At least this didn’t involve using precise little bits of magic like compulsion or healing did.

  I had created little snow tornadoes the other day to chase Cody around the courtyard, maybe I could make a bigger one to gather up some snow? I delved into the magic inside of me and made a little snow tornado, trying to sweep up snow with it.

  The prince laughed. “It’s going to take you all day to clean the courtyard with that puny little thing.”

  My hackles rose. I’ll show him puny.

  I spread my arms out wide and tried to sense the world around me like Froston had attempted to show me. My eyes were closed in concentration so that I could focus on everything around me. I dipped into my pool of magic to create a much larger wind to sweep around the entire courtyard, but I remembered what Froston had told me. I should have a connection with the elements around me. I shouldn’t need to use my magic like a giant pair of hands, I should be able to simply connect with the elements themselves.

  I switched from using my magic to create wind to move the snow, to simply trying to move the snow itself. I felt the difference when I switched my focus; I could feel all the tiny snowflakes around me like little pinpoints. I decided I was going to go big and see just how much of it I could move. I cast my awareness all the way around the rather large courtyard and raised my arms as I lifted the snow.

  I staggered as I struggled to lift the heavy weight, but Cody wrapped his arms around me from behind. His presence gave me the boost I needed and I used the wind to form a swirling mass of snow above the courtyard. There were shouts from the guards as the wind and snow whipped through them and they ran to take shelter. I created a barrier around Cody and myself, so we stood unaffected in the middle of the giant snow tornado I was creating.

  The weight of keeping tons of snow up in the air as well as the strain of keeping the wind moving was quickly draining my strength. The assignment had been to clean the courtyard of snow, which I had done. But if I let go, all my work would be undone. I wanted to melt the snow, and hopefully drench the prince in the downpour.

  I swallowed nervously. I had used fire in very small amounts, but nothing like the night when James was injured. I needed to repeat that feat now. I needed to get over the emotions that came along with this and just do it. I couldn’t let anything cripple me.

  I gathered all of my hate, anger, and frustration that I had felt since being kidnapped and held here against my will. My anger that I was taken from my pack, my frustration at not being able to contact them, my hate for the prince when he casually manipulates humans as if they were nothing, my hate for Morpheus for plaguing me with nightmares and siphoning my magic. All of that went into the heat that was building inside of me.

  I turned to hold Cody protectively, the way that I had held James that night. Squeezing him tightly, I stoked the flames burning inside me to almost unbearable heights before letting all of my rage out in the form of a massive inferno. The fire exploded out of me and went skyward towards the snow tornado. It blossomed out like a mushroom cloud, melting the snow as it was sucked into the wind keeping the tornado moving. I felt a moment of panic when I realized that this could go horribly wrong if I lost control of the wind and the fire.

  I let go of the force I was using to hold the now-melted snow in the air and it pelted the barrier in a thunderous downpour. The fire had petered out as it was pelted by rain and I slowed the wind back down to the slight breeze it had been blowing at naturally before I had taken control.

  I opened my eyes to see the prince laughing maniacally. I was disappointed to see that he had been completely unaffected by the fire, snow, and water behind a barrier of his creation. I had been hoping to have singed or at least splashed him. Further back, in the archway that led back into the castle, I saw Froston looking at me with horror etched on his face. He quickly hid it when he realized I was looking in his direction and pasted his usual pleasant mask on.

  I let go of Cody and took a step back, watching his face nervously. I shouldn’t have worried, because he gave me a huge grin before leaning forward for a kiss. His lips met mine in a brief touch before he pulled back and laughed. “Damn, Anna. That was crazy awesome.”

  I gave a faint laugh. Cody might have trusted me completely, but I didn’t trust myself. So many things could have gone wrong with that, I was lucky that I hadn’t hurt anyone.

  The prince finally stopped laughing and I shot him a glare as I pulled away from Cody. I was still a little shaky from all the magic that I had used, so Cody steadied me with an arm around my waist.

  The prince stalked over to us with a gleam in his eyes. “I think you’re almost ready,” he told me as he circled around us. “The king is going to be pleased.” He rubbed his hands together in glee which caused a pit of nervousness to form in my stomach. From my time with the prince, I had learned that he was usually most pleased when causing someone else distress.

  “Froston!” the prince shouted and I winced.

  Froston stepped out into the courtyard and walked in our direction. “We need to head back to court,” the prince told him with bright eyes. “I have work to do.”

  Froston walked over to me and Cody. “Take the rest of the day off.” He murmured to me before turning to Cody. “She needs to rest after that.”

  Cody gave me a squeeze and a kiss on the forehead. “No problem.”

  I was surprised when Froston narrowed his eyes slightly but didn’t say a word about Cody’s affection towards me. The prince ignored us completely, shouting orders at his guards.

  Cody took my hand and we walked back inside as Froston created a portal for the prince and his guards. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other so that I wouldn’t stumble or fall as we made our way back to my room. Caylee caught up to us, but Cody asked her to bring some food back to our room. She skipped off and promised to meet us in
a few minutes.

  As soon as we got back to the room I plopped down on the bed and snuggled up to one of the pillows. Cody sat next to me and stroked my hair gently. “Snuggle with me?” I asked with a yawn.

  “I’m going to use the bathroom.” Cody gave me a kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

  I squeezed my pillow tighter and waited for him to come back. It was only a few minutes before I heard a crash. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, shouting for Cody.

  There was no answer, so I burst in the door. Cody was lying crumpled on the floor. It looked like he had been washing his hands at the sink but lost his balance and fell. I knelt next to him, panicking. What had happened?

  I tapped Cody on the cheek, calling his name. After what seemed like an eternity, he started to respond. “Anna…” he said groggily. “What happened?

  I nervously smoothed his hair back, my hand shaking. “I’m not sure, big guy. I heard a crash and ran in to find you on the floor, out cold.”

  He grunted and I helped him sit up. “This is serious, Cody. Something is not right here.”

  Had I made a mistake while healing him? Had I damaged him by trying something completely out of my depth? Let’s be honest, when it came to magic, I was clueless. Tears came to my eyes, I just knew this was my fault.

  “Hey,” Cody said softly, brushing a piece of my hair back. “This is not your fault.”

  I smiled through the tears that were threatening to fall. “How do you know that’s what I was thinking?”

  He grinned. “Because I know you.”

  I helped him stand up and watched him cautiously as he stretched his back. “Anna, I’m fine,” he said as he rolled his head, stretching his neck.

  “You’re not fine.” I said firmly. “We need Airmed.”

  He groaned but let me take his arm and help him to the bed. That’s when I knew that things were really not okay. There’s no way Cody would lean on me unless he was hurting bad.

  I sat down on the bed next to him. “Cody, tell me what’s wrong.” I demanded in a no nonsense voice.

  He tried to shrug it off, but I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. “I’m serious, Cody.”

  He sighed. “I haven’t been feeling 100percent lately. At first, I just thought I was still sore from the ass-kicking that I got. But I started getting these dizzy spells…”

  “And you didn’t think that was important to mention?” I asked incredulously.

  Cody gave me an embarrassed shrug. “You’re already under a lot of pressure right now. I didn’t want to put more crap on you if I was just being a pussy.”

  I rolled my eyes. Marines. “Cody, telling me that you are having dizzy spells and passing out is not being a pussy.”

  “That was the first time I passed out,” he said defensively.

  “It’s been getting worse?” I asked, trying not to let my panic show.

  He sighed. “Yeah.”

  I stood up and paced. “This is what we are going to do. Caylee should be here in a few minutes. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself, so I’ll ask her to go get Airmed while I stay with you.”

  He put an arm over his eyes. “I’m not even hungry anymore.”

  My stomach sank. Cody didn’t want to eat? This was not looking good. Maybe when the food got here, the scent would spike his hunger.

  I started pacing again and rubbed my hands over my face. A dainty knock sounded on the door and I ran to open it for a surprised Caylee. I took the tray of food from her. “Caylee, would you be able to find Airmed? Cody’s not feeling well.”

  “Of course, my lady,” Caylee said, glancing worriedly at Cody. “I’ll go right away.”

  Chapter 20

  James

  I trudged into the little house and stomped my feet, trying to get the majority of the snow off my boots on the mat in the mudroom before going further in. I was fucking tired of the snow and the cold, but I wasn’t giving up. Ragnar had sent us to the outpost closest to the gateway that the fae used to get in and out of our world. I patrolled the area with my snowshoes daily, desperate to catch a scent or sign that would indicate Anna had been here. So far, I had found nothing.

  Myself and the rest of the team had arrived here, ready to do battle with the wolves that Ragnar had spoken of. But after some surveillance and then an inspection, we had determined that no one had been here for close to a week before our arrival. We kept guard continuously, just in case they showed up unexpectantly, but none of us had seen a sign of anyone.

  Ragnar had been disappointed at the news, but suspicious that the wolves had gone into the fae realm. He was convinced that the fae were behind everything bad that had befallen his pack. We agreed to stay here for the time being, just in case they came back.

  Being in a small house with five other wolves, all of whom seemed to be in various stages of forming mating bonds, was driving me insane. I didn’t want to hear Sam giggle, Davis flirt, or see Mike make sad cow eyes at Sam. I wanted them all out of my sight and hearing. I was especially frustrated because normally Trevor would feel the same. But more than a few times, I caught him watching Sam with longing in his eyes.

  I took off my boots and the outer layers of clothing while still in the mudroom, slamming the door as I stomped into the house. This shit had gone on too long. I was staying outside as long as I could to patrol, but even with my superior abilities as a wolf, I couldn’t tolerate the extreme temperatures for long.

  Trevor met me in the great room with a frown. “We have news from home. Cody is missing.”

  I cursed. “Missing or taken?”

  Trevor grimaced. “Probably taken. Robbie’s body was delivered to the house along with Cody’s phone. Looks like Robbie lured him out to a country bar for a meeting.”

  “And during the meeting, Robbie ends up dead?”

  “With a hole in the head,” Trevor confirmed.

  “And Cody is nowhere to be found.”

  Trevor nodded. “We sent Henderson to the bar where they last met. He caught the scents of fae and wolves outside the bar. Cody and Robbie were definitely inside, along with the fae. The bar was boarded up and blood was found inside, but no sign of the owner or employees yet.”

  I cursed again. “The fucking fae again. Any sign of Anna?” I added, attempting to mask any emotion.

  Trevor looked sympathetic and shook his head. “Not yet.”

  I clenched my fists, trying to keep myself from punching the wall. Austin was right, random acts of violence weren’t going to help me get her back. Keeping my temper under control and thinking rationally would.

  “The witches?”

  “Not willing to come up here.”

  I nodded. I hadn’t expected they would, but it was worth a try.

  “The lamia?”

  “Austin’s working on it, but it doesn’t sound good.”

  “Satellites?”

  “Caleb has a few over the area, nothing is showing.”

  “So we have nothing?”

  Trevor hesitated. “Will you call me a fucker if I offer hope?”

  I just glared at him.

  “Right. Food’s in the kitchen.”

  Chapter 21

  Anna

  I hovered over Cody nervously as Airmed examined him for the fourth day in a row. Cody’s dizziness and fainting spells had been getting worse and more frequent. At first, he would be fine within minutes after an episode. But yesterday and today it had been lasting for much longer. Each time Airmed examined him, she claimed there was nothing wrong and that maybe his spells were due to weakness from being a ‘lesser creature.’

  Cody had been coming with me to all of my magic lessons and we hadn’t left each other’s side in days. We ate the same food, drank the same water, and slept in the same bed. If it were an illness, I should have been affected as well. Cody and I were closer than ever, but I was in a panic over his state today. He was almost unresponsive and it had been over an hour since he had a dizzy spell. He should have been
up by now and insisting that he was fine.

  Airmed’s eyes were closed and I could feel tendrils of magic extending over him and searching through his body. She had reluctantly agreed to see what she could do after Caylee brought her to the room to see me panicking. While I was waiting for Caylee to bring Airmed, Cody had gotten even more unresponsive, reverting almost to how he had been when the fae first brought him in.

  Airmed sighed and opened her eyes. “Physically, nothing is wrong with him.”

  “But something’s wrong with him,” I insisted. Airmed had ignored all of my pleas to the contrary in the last few days, but surely she could see that this was getting worse. This was something real.

  She nodded. Finally! She was willing to admit that he needed to be healed.

  “I’ve seen this a few times before…” she told me. I could see the hesitation on her face, she was debating on what to tell me.

  “Where have you see it before?” I asked aggressively. There was no way I was going to let her walk out of this room without getting some answers.

  She met my eyes and held them. “One of the fae is an expert in using compulsion and he’s able to invert his magic so that it can’t be detected. But it does have side effects like the ones Cody is exhibiting.”

  “Prince Mandrake,” I spat out. “Why would he do this?” I paced back and forth. The prince had reappeared the next day after his trip to court and been even more aggressive with our lessons. He had been pushing me as far as I could go every day. A part of me hated him for being such an asshole, but I couldn’t deny the results. I had made huge advances in the way that I was able to use my magic and the amount of magic that I was able to handle.

  I wouldn’t call he and Cody friends, but Drake had lost interest in trying to antagonize Cody after the first day and they had both kept their interactions professional. I hadn’t expected to hear that Drake was behind this, I should have known that was suspicious.