20. The Alpha’s Gift

twenty

The Alpha’s Gift

*ELDEN*

I hurry to meet with Flora for lunch between my classes, both to spend some time with her and to get some much-needed rest. Jace and Janice have taken it upon themselves to help Vincent with his studies, so he can graduate this year, which I am eternally thankful for. I know Jace wants to spend more time with Janice, and helping Vincent gives him the opportunity to do so. At the same time, it’s also a great help for me, so it’s a win-win for everyone. Calvin has offered his help also, and to my surprise Vincent accepted. I believe he wants to get to know Calvin better, as they are supposed to work together in the future.

I have worked tirelessly this year, and Geneva used her contacts to get school to allow some exceptions for me, so I will be able to wrap up school earlier than the others. My eighteenth birthday is approaching, and by then I want to be done with my schoolwork. I am already swamped with work as it is now, and it will only get worse after my birthday.

I pause in my tracks, sensing a familiar pain creeping up into my skull again. Not now, please. I had some much-needed peace from my awful headaches for the last week, and hoped I would have been done with it. For a moment, I contemplate ignoring it and hoping it won’t be that bad, but obviously, that would be stupid, especially here in school. So, I do the only thing I can think of and hurry to my mate.

Flora is already waiting for me at the side entrance of the school, smiling first before her gaze gets serious.

“Flora,” I groan, pressing my palm against my forehead.

“Oh fuck,” she curses, grabbing my hand. She reacts fast. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

A rush of pain floods me, so intense that it blinds all my senses. I only remotely feel Flora taking my hand and dragging me somewhere. There are voices around me, but it hurts to focus.

“Elden,” someone says, grabbing my shoulder. “Can you hear me?”

“He is not responding at all,” Flora says. Hers is the only voice I can clearly recognize. “Vince, this hasn’t happened before! Not to this extent.”

I groan at the pain yet try to force my eyes open. It’s a battle against my mind to do so, but eventually, I succeed, my eyes falling on to Flora and Vincent. We seem to be in an empty classroom. Behind them are Jace and Janice, and-

A sudden surge of pictures floods my mind. It’s like a hundred threads are spinning from Janice and Jace, leading from their bodies in various directions and projecting images to me. More threads are moving from said images to new ones.

What the fuck is happening?

Only when I look at Flora and Vincent do my senses seem to calm down. “I am seeing things,” I blurt out.

“What do you mean?” Flora asks gently.

“When I look at someone who is not you or Vincent,” I mutter as a new wave of pain overcomes me.

“This is not good,” Jace urges. “We need to get him out of here and back to Silverlake. He might need help.”

“Stay with him, Flora,” Vincent says. “I am heading to the secretary to make a few calls. The packhouse has a phone, right?”

“Yes, I will give you the number,” Flora mutters.

“I’ll come with you,” Janice says. “The secretary knows and likes me, and won’t ask too many questions.”

I close my eyes again, hearing footsteps as my two friends rush out of the room. Flora stays with me, her hand on my forehead. My headache comes and goes; for a few minutes it allows me to breathe before hitting again. And every time, when I open my eyes, I see these images again, making Regis growl and howl, which makes the pain worse.

I drift in and out of consciousness, sometimes completely caught in my mind with Regis, and other times aware of my surroundings. Eventually, I hear footsteps again.

“You are back, Vince,” Flora says, sounding relieved.

“And with help,” Janice adds.

“It’s been over an hour now.” That’s Vincent. Whatever he did, he must have been successful.

“Obviously, it’s his gift,” another calm voice can be heard. “Probably, a really strong one. That’s why it knocks him out for so long.”

“You really think so, Calvin?” Vincent asks.

“Is it normal for that to happen?” Janice asks. “I thought a gift was just there at one point.”

“For most, it’s that simple,” Calvin explains. “But, Elden is an heir to a royal pack and throne, with all the blessings from the Goddess you can receive. One of a kind. A powerful alpha like him, definitely has a special gift as well. Probably a mental one, which is why it’s such a struggle.”

“We’ll get you out of here now,” Flora whispers towards me.

“Yes, buddy,” Vincent says. “I talked to Elder Samuel. He immediately sent Calvin and someone else to pick us up.”

I force my eyes open again, noticing once more that the images aren’t as vivid when I look at Vincent, Flora or even Calvin. Somewhere, in a far-away corner of my mind, I realize it’s probably due to my bond with them.

“You two, stay here,” I tell Vince and Flora.

“No way,” Flora argues.

Vincent frowns. “She is right, I-“

“Calvin and the warrior Samuel sent are enough to take me home,” I mutter. “You need to stay here. School isn’t over yet, and you can’t miss any more lessons.” I take a shaky breath, trying to make my voice sound strong and confident, although I’m still trembling in pain. “You both need to graduate.”

“I am going to be with him,” Calvin reassures them. “I know we don’t know each other well yet, and I’m not Prince Elden’s choice, but I am his beta too, and I take my job seriously. My loyalty lies with him and with no one else. Allow me to prove myself.”

“Man, if you put it like that,” Vincent mutters.

“Is this really what you want?” Flora whispers to me.

I nod, hoping she will trust me.

“Alright, then we’ll do it like Elden wants,” she says to my relief. “Calvin, I trust you to take care of him and bring him to Elder Samuel safely. If something happens to him, I will come for your head!”

“Don’t worry, Luna,” Calvin says politely. “I will make sure we reach Silverlake safely.”

I feel relief settle around me, as my mind zooms out of what’s going on around me once more and pulls me into a downward spiral again. I don’t know what happened or how Calvin did it, but when I come to me the next time, I am in the safety of Silverlake’s infirmary, and Samuel is with me.

“How did I get home?” I groan, trying to blink my eyes open.

“Calvin and one of your warriors took you home. I don’t know how Calvin did it, but no one in school even spotted you or noticed what was going on. I thought I’d need to cover certain traces and make a few calls, but nothing.”

“His gift is camouflage,” I mutter. “If he can’t do such a simple task, then he would probably feel pretty embarrassed.”

I finally manage to open my eyes, looking at Samuel, only to feel my mind being flooded by images again. It gets even worse when I spot two nurses who just entered the room. “Fuck,” I curse. “Why doesn’t it stop!?”

Samuel carefully takes my arm and helps me to a sitting position. “This is your gift,” he says quietly. “It’s part of you. It just hit you with full force which makes this so awful. You were probably too stressed the last couple of days. But it’s here now, and we’ll need to work with it. Try to focus on one person, just on me, and allow it to happen. Don’t fight it.”

That’s easier said than done, and for minutes I have to battle it out with my lycan to have the upper hand. Regis is not happy to have to succumb to me, he is a very dominant lycan and whenever there is danger or tension around us, he tries to push forward and take control. However, I manage to fight him back this time and keep the upper hand, probably because he is tired from this whole ordeal.

“Now look at me,” Samuel says. “Don’t be scared and allow it to happen. Tell me, what do you see?”

“You,” I say. “But around you there are all kinds of… images. Like a movie or, rather, a glimpse of a movie. Better even; a lot of glimpses of many movies. It’s like a flowchart. There are several main images, and each of them has their own branch of threads and further images.”

“Interesting,” Samuel muses. “Tell me about one of these movies.”

“Well, there is a recurring one,” I say. “You are talking to Beta Oliver.”

Samuel looks surprised. “That’s weirdly random. I had a meeting with him yesterday.”

“But you are wearing different clothes today,” I mutter. “And in that image, I see you are wearing today’s clothes.”

“I… I have a meeting scheduled with him for later,” he says.

I focus on the image of his talk with Oliver, noting how it branches out to different possibilities. One has Oliver talking to our guards, changing their schedules. One of the men isn’t there because his mate is in labor. Instead, one of the elites spontaneously takes his shift. I follow the thread, noticing how said elite heads away from his duty. I know this man; he is around my father’s age and a loyal pack member. What’s he doing? I follow his thread further. It leads him out of the pack and down the road which leads to town, where he finds his teenage daughter. Her clothes are torn, and it looks like she was assaulted or beaten up.

What is this?

I tear my gaze away and focus on Samuel’s talk with Oliver again, this time seeking out a different thread. Oliver doesn’t change the schedule of the guards, but the other warrior misses the birth of his child.

“Uncle Samuel,” I say, my heart beating faster. If I’m understanding this correctly, then- “You are going to talk about the schedules for the guards today, am I right?”

“Yes, how did you know that?”

“Clive,” I mutter. “He is one of our elites. He-“ I want to tell him that his daughter is going to get hurt, but something stops me, like a blockade that prevents me from talking. I can’t openly say what I am seeing!? How fucked up is that? I groan in annoyance.

“What is going on?” Samuel urges. “You are worrying me.”

“I am thinking,” I mutter. “Okay, how about this? Clive is not to be scheduled for tonight.”

“What?” Samuel blinks. “But we are short on guards tonight, and he is one of our best warriors.”

“That doesn’t matter.” I sit up, my eyes pinned on the images that swirl around in my mind now. It seems like they aren’t attached to Samuel’s body anymore, instead I only need to think of Samuel and touch on several possibilities to see them.

I shortly gaze at one of the nurses, when she enters my room, and for a moment it seems like the images want to push into my mind again, but this time I can block them.

I got the hang of it, Regis says. It’s just in our mind. I can block these images from flooding us.

Good job, I say.

But it’s on you to interpret and analyze what you are seeing, he grumbles.

Well, we are a team, I remind him. You help with my mental blocks, and I pick what we can see and try to read and analyze it.

“Elden?” Samuel asks.

“Sorry, I was discussing this whole issue with my lycan,” I explain. “I think we have more control over the situation now.” I look at him insistently. “Clive cannot be on guard today. Choose someone else.”

“Alright,” Samuel says. “You are the future alpha. It’s your call.”

I hold my breath, closing my eyes and focusing on Samuel again. I realize that there is a new branch opening up. One in which Clive makes it to his daughter in time and catches three teenage boys harassing her. The other warrior makes it in time to the birth of his child too.

“Fuck a duck,” I mutter.

“Excuse me?” Samuel frowns, sounding scandalized.

“I think I can look into the future,” I say.

Samuel stares at me. “What did you just say?”

“It’s complicated to explain, but I see things.”

“Like a vision?”

“No, not that spontaneous and momentary. When I focus on a person, like on you, I can see several of the potential decisions you are going to make. It’s not just a simple follow-up of actions and consequences. It’s much more complicated. As if there are hundreds of options, and depending on your decisions and actions one of them becomes the prominent path into the future.”

“Elden,” Samuel says seriously. “This is an incredibly rare gift. Up to now, I’ve only read of one other lycan who ever had it.”

“Then, you know more about it?” I ask.

While Samuel thinks, I try to focus on another person. Now that I know what to do, it’s so much easier. Let’s see what Dad is up to. To my surprise though, I don’t seem to be able to grasp what he is doing. “It doesn’t work on Dad.”

“From what I know, I could be trickier with people you share a bond with,” he explains. “Many powerful gifts come with a handicap. Yours is probably to ensure you don’t abuse your power and use it for your personal gain.”

He might be onto something because earlier in school, it didn’t work on Flora and Vincent either. “Isn’t it terrible that I have a gift but can’t protect my family with it?”

“You can protect your pack with it,” he says. “And I assume there are ways to use it on your family. They are not a blank-spot, are they? Let’s say, you want to focus on Flora, but you can’t because she is your mate.”

I nod.

“But you probably could focus on Hazel, and try to get glimpses of Flora’s decisions through her.”

I try what he said, focusing on Hazel, and indeed I can spot Flora in several strings into the future. The problem is just that it’s so much more difficult to grasp and to influence it. “It means, if I wanted to change Flora’s fate, I’d need to try to shift Hazel’s decisions and then try to spot how they influence Flora. That’s complicated.” I feel exhausted even exploring the several paths, and I’m not even diving very deep into it.

“It is,” Samuel says. “You need to train this gift of yours properly.”

He is right. Influencing Clive’s fate was easy to do, because I coincidentally spotted it as it was so obvious.

“Elden,” Samuel mutters. “This is not a gift you can use daily or for the fun of it. It’s not a circus act. You could train this to influence outcomes of a war or political decisions. That’s how powerful it is. Please don’t play around with it. Train it, polish it, but don’t use it as a gimmick.”

I rub over my head, feeling incredibly exhausted, as if my whole body is giving in. “You don’t need to remind me of that,” I say.

“I am just worried,” he admits.

“I know, but I promise I won’t abuse this gift.”