Page 61 of My Pucking Family

“Wh-what is it?” I whisper in case there's an attacker behind me.

He points at Khaos. “His arm,” is all he says.

I look down, also gasping and jumping away from Khaos. “What's happening to him?!” I cry even harder, clasping my hands against my face, trying to hold in the pain.

There's a silver light barely glowing from his hand, slowly creeping up his arm to his shoulder.

The light continues across his shoulder, growing larger to cover his head and his chest. Spreading to his other arm and down the remainder of his body.

“This isn't possible.” Everywhere the light travels, it...“This isn’t possible,” I say again, shaking my head.

Everywhere the light travels across his body, it leaves healthy, unmarred skin in its path.

Khaos is now able to open his eyes as the light from his head has gone out, and he's watching it consume his legs.

All of us stand in shock and awe at what's happening.

When the light goes out, no one says anything for a moment. We just stare at Khaos and glance at each other. The others are beginning to arrive behind us, and I still can't move.

“R-roman, what was that?”

But he's still stunned when Khaos responds, “Leera. It was...do you truly not know?”

“Me? Know what? What MORE don't I know?” I scream-sob.

“It was you. I don't know how or why, but you just...you just healed me,” Khaos says with far too much seriousness, though still shocked himself.

I can't help but outright laugh at him. “I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. I'm a wolf. I met her. My par... the people who raised me were witches. Not me.” I shake my head and cross my arms around myself.

Roman finally finds his voice. “Last night was your first shift,” is all he says, mostly to himself. He lifts his eyes to mine. “Your shift. Sometimes, when a wolf shifts for the first time, they unlock something within themselves. Little things like having premonition-like feelings, being able to feel other wolves' energies, an even more heightened sense of smell, but I've neverseen anything like this. You healed him. You can smell your scent all over him from your gift.”

If the real world were like the cartoons, where jaws can fall until they literally hit the ground, that would be me right now.

I want to deny it. This is crazy. But as I go to say something, my wolf snorts at me like I've offended her.

This was you...er us?

She huffs in response.

I stare at my hands in disbelief. “It was me, us. My wolf...she confirmed it.” I turn to look at Roman. “How?”

He shakes his head as his eyes change from shock to beaming with pride. “I don't know. The Goddess does everything with a reason.”

Khaos rises from the ground to stand beside us, just as the others approach. His clothes and hair are still covered in blood, and Lord knows what else, but he's whole. He wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear, “You saved me,” and squeezes me one more time before pulling away.

Everyone stands in shock for a moment, just staring at us.

“Later,” Roman says firmly. “We have plenty here that still need our attention.”

When the realization hits me, I shout, “Wait, where's India?”

Khaos spins on his heel and lurches over about ten feet, where a mangled body is leaned against a tree. “India, they're here,” is all he says as he shakes and tries to wake her.

Having completed my first shift, my hearing is now exponentially better than it was before, and when I lean towards her, I can barely hear her heart beating, and she’s struggling to breathe. I frantically turn to Khaos and say, “I don't know how I healed you. What do I do?”

Roman leans down with us and scoops a tear from my cheek that had just fallen. “Your tears are shimmering. They weren't doing this in the car or on the plane, but there wasn't anyone injured. It's the only thing that comes close to making sense right now.”

He wipes the tear on India's forehead, and the light shimmers but flickers instead of consuming her like it did for Khaos.

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