Page 118 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

I held tight with my legs and arms as she rose to the sky with a second cry that sounded more eagle than lion.

You’ve…

Yes, Two-Legs. I’ve hoped for this for so very long. From the beginning.

From the minute you insulted me and called me an 'insolent two-legged creature who stinks of rotten venison and refuse'?

Ran snorted, billowing smoke into the skies.Maybe it was a bit after that,she admitted.

A laugh bubbled from my lips. Tears fell and washed off her scales, falling far below as I thought of all I could have lost. Gratitude didn’t begin to describe the depth of the joy bursting in my chest.

Ran straightened out from our steep climb and her wings leveled as she rode a draft of wind. It was quiet up here in the oddest ways that I hadn’t taken the time to admire last time. There was sound—the rushing of wind and the gentle brush of air against feather, but no animals squawking, no werewolves howling, no people talking.

Rise, my rider, and see,Ran whispered in my mind, her voice soft with nostalgia and a passion so deep she wanted to share it with anyone she loved.

I slowly uncoiled my arms from around her neck and sat up. It took another few seconds to convince my eyes to open.

The sun blinded me. I blinked quickly and then I nearly fell off my dragon.

What I saw… what I was experiencing… it was indescribable. It was the first breath of air a babe sucks into parched lungs. It was the first sip of water after a drought. It was the heartbeat of all living things.

There was nothing up here. Yet everything could be seen.

Forests teeming with life, animals bounding within the shimmering boughs and birds rustling from branch to branch. Grasslands weaving as if the wind were taking her gentle fingers and rolling it over the grassy plains. Blue and brown rivers bubbling with white foam streamed over cliffs to land in deep pools far below. Snaking waterways, all leading to the massive ocean. The ocean looked as if someone had set a mirror beneath the sky so vast that it stretched as far as the eye could see.

Then there were the cities. So tiny they looked like the little dollhouses my father built for the children. Tiny people leading horses and carts to and fro. Werewolves frolicking along the streets, playing capture the stick. Mages within their schools practicing magic behind their walls, growing plants and levitating items. Elves growing their houses right outside the city gates in their own mini city because they preferred being closer to nature.

It was different from up here. It put life into perspective.

All those people, all with their own hopes and dreams and desires. All living their lives as best they knew how.

We weren’t so different.

Sometimes it just took a different perspective to see everything in a new light.

I brushed my hand down Ran’s glorious, scaled neck. “Thank you, my sister,” I whispered.

She turned so one eye was toward me and winked.

When we landed,Shen was waiting with a massive bucket of water for Ran and food for me. It was my mom’s shepherd’s pie and freshly picked blueberries.

I dove into the pie and stuck a few blueberries in my mouth, relishing the pop of sweet and tangy fruit mixed with the buttery flavor of the pie.

I settled back on my log and grabbed another bite. We hadn’t yettalked.Not about my grandpa andthatnight. We needed to. “Do you mind a prying question?” I asked, my voice hesitant. We were having a good time. I didn’t want to break the peaceful day Shen had given me, but Ineededto. I wouldn’t run from hard things.

He nodded, a hint of a smile gracing his face. He was standing so still I could’ve mistaken him for a statue. I took a deep breath and quickly said, “I haven’t heard of Alpha Command in a long time. The lore around it is spotty at best. Do you mind me asking why your mother had that power over you?”

Shen glanced away, rubbing his thumb on a blade poking from his belt. “There are two ways an Alpha may use Command. A true Alpha of the royal bloodline may use it, but each time takes energy from their werewolf. How often they may use it depends on their own power.”

“And the other way?”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his gaze set far into the distance. “An Alpha may use it when a shifter has sold their wolf or done something so despicable they would have went rogue except for the Alpha containing the wolf to remain within the human.” He gritted his teeth, his jaw nearly cracking from the strain. “Mine was the latter. It was my first target. An innocent man. I killed him before his granddaughter. Lycus was nearly torn from me, but Mother stopped him. He stayed for the sake of the pack, not me. Over the years, I have tried to protect him, to earn back his trust…”

Unconsciously, I leaned away from him. He looked up, pain stark in his eyes. “I am the one who killed your grandfather, Alia. And I was not under Alpha Command when I did so.”

My heart froze in my chest. I lost moments, minutes. I didn’t know how long. I just knew I suddenly came to being wrapped in Ran’s warmth and pine scent, my eyes so dry they ached and my mind replaying the scene from so long ago.

I saw my grandpa’s throat ripped out. Over and over again, it played in my mind. I saw the werewolf who did it, a flash of a white heart on his flank so incongruous with the gory scene. His eyes were alight with fear and pain, his mouth painted red. Hisneedpounded against me, part of it for freedom, but most for his father. Aneedthat I often felt right after a loved one had passed.

---