Page 11 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

Nathan stares at the air. “Pretty.”

“Sophia?” Alex sounds concerned, but I shake my head.

“I’m okay.” I glance at him. “I just don’t know what I did.”

“I’ve never seen something like that happen.” Lily looks uncertain. “The whole clearing filled with orbs of light. Either you don’t know how to control your power at all, or you just did some weird mojo.”

I glare at her. “Just teach me how you were taught.”

“I’m trying to,” she protests. “You just don’t seem to understand it.”

“You can’t expect to get it on the first try, Sophia,” Alex reassures me. “But it’s not impossible. You just have to keep trying.”

Lily agrees. “That’s right. Witches are taught magic from a young age. But it isn’t a walk in the park for us, either. Until you are able to link to the magical core within you, you can’t really do anything. You need to find that core. Maybe try meditation.”

She expects me to meditate? When am I supposed to do that when we’re on the run?

This is turning out to be harder than I anticipated.

Chapter 3

Sophia

I thought magic would be easy.

I don’t know why I thought that.

By the time we cross the border between the South and the North, I have still not managed to find my “magical core.” Each time I try to focus on nature and take some of its power, those strange, golden orbs keep appearing. Everybody has stopped freaking out over them, but it’s still not something that should be happening.

By the third day, I’m ready to toss in the towel.

Now that we’re in the Northern territory, we are much safer and no longer have to travel at the speed of light. We are taking multiple rests per day, during which Lily tries to teach me how to reach my core. Unfortunately, I still can’t seem to do anything right.

After a particularly frustrating session with her, I storm off on a walk to clear my head. I need to get away from Lily. I can see that she is judging me for not being able to do something that she considers simple.

I know Alex is going to be right behind me. I can’t stop him from following me, but I really want to be alone for a while.

“Alex!” I burst out, hearing his feet treading behind me. “Go back!”

“You know I can’t do that,” he responds calmly.

I grind my teeth and walk faster. He waits a few steps to give me some space, but I can still hear him.

I feel stupid. That’s the whole problem.

I feel incapable. And useless.

I should be able to do this! I don’t know why it’s so hard for me!

I kick a stone out of the way, trying to control my emotions. My wolf can sense my tension, and it shares my feelings. It doesn’t like being defeated by something that should be natural to us.

When I kick the second stone, Alex catches up to me. “That isn’t going to help, Sophia.”

“And I’m sure you know what will help,” I say sarcastically.

“No, I don’t,” he replies simply before cupping my face and forcing me to look at him with my angry eyes. “I know this is hard. I’m sorry for making you go through this.”

“I was going to have to learn magic anyway, wasn’t I?”

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