Chapter 56 *

Chapter 56 Chapter 56
Silas’s POV
"Who ARE you?"
She took a sip of her drink, considering the question. "Someone you should've left alone."
Then she went back to chatting with her friend like I didn't exist.
"Come on," Kai said, pulling me toward the exit. "Let's get out of here."
We stumbled out into the parking lot. The cool night air hit my bare legs, making me shiver.
"So... that went well," Kai said.
"I'm never bowling again."
"Dude, you're gonna be a meme. 'Captain America Bowling Fail Guy.'"
I groaned. "Don't."
"It's already trending. Look." He showed me his phone. The video had 50k views in twenty minutes. The comments were brutal.
"When you think you're the main character but you're actually comic relief"
"Imagine getting destroyed this bad by a freshman"
"Those pizza socks though 🍕😂"
I pushed his phone away. "I hate everything."
Behind me, I heard someone laugh. "Captain America got wrecked!"
Another voice: "Future Beta my ass!"
My face burned. I'd been trying to just get to Kai's car and disappear, but those words hit me like a punch to the gut.
Future Beta.
That's what I was supposed to be. Dad's been training me since I was ten. Combat, strategy, pack dynamics—everything. And tonight, everyone watched me get trapped in a bowling ball return wearing nothing but my underwear.
I stopped walking.
"Silas, come on, let's just go—" Kai grabbed my arm.
I yanked away from him. My heart was pounding, but not from fear anymore. From pure rage.
I spun around to face the crowd still hanging around the entrance, all werewolves from the pack. This was supposed to be a pack bonding night—bowling with our own kind, no humans around.
And now they were all staring at me like I was some joke.
"You wanna see something actually impressive?" My voice came out louder than I expected, echoing across the parking lot.
The laughter died down. People looked curious now.
"Silas, what are you doing?" Kai hissed behind me.
I ignored him. "I'm not just some clown who gets stuck in bowling alleys!"
My chest was heaving. I could feel my wolf pushing against my skin, angry, ready.
"I already awakened!"
The silence was immediate. Complete.
Someone whispered: "Wait, what?"
"Silas, dude, you said you wanted to keep it secret—" Kai tried to grab my arm again.
I shoved him off. "I don't care anymore! I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm useless!"
I pointed at the crowd, my hand shaking with adrenaline. "I awakened two weeks ago! I'm fifteen!"
The whispers started immediately.
"Fifteen?"
"That's impossible—"
"Most people don't awaken until sixteen or seventeen—"
"Is he lying?"
"Maybe he hit his head in there—"
My jaw clenched. "You think I'm lying? I'll prove it right now!"
My right hand started to hurt. Not the bad kind of hurt—the good kind. The kind that meant my wolf was coming through.
I focused on my hand, like Wesley taught me. Control. Precision. Just the hand, nothing else.
The bones cracked and shifted. My fingers stretched longer, knuckles popping as they reformed. My nails pushed out, growing into sharp claws that caught the parking lot lights. Gray fur sprouted across my knuckles and the back of my hand.
It hurt. God, it hurt. My forehead was sweating, and I could feel the veins bulging in my neck from the effort. Partial shifting was way harder than full shifting—you had to hold your wolf back while letting just one part through.
But I did it.
I held up my transformed hand, claws gleaming. "See? This real enough for you?"
"Holy shit!"
"He actually awakened!"
"Look at that control—"
"My brother didn't learn partial shifting until he was nineteen!"
"This kid's fifteen and he can already do it?"
The voices washed over me, and for the first time tonight, I felt something other than humiliation.
I felt powerful.
I turned my clawed hand, letting everyone see it clearly. "This is real strength! Not whatever party tricks you guys thought were cool!"
My eyes found Aria in the crowd. She was standing near her car with Mia, looking completely unbothered. Like she couldn't care less about what I was doing.
That pissed me off even more.
"And that's not all," I said, staring right at her. "My wolf has a special ability. Spatial manipulation!"
The crowd went completely silent again.
"I can move objects without touching them. Watch."
I extended my clawed hand toward an empty Coke can sitting on the ground about fifteen feet away. I focused on it, feeling that weird tugging sensation in my chest that meant my power was working.
The can wobbled.
Then it shot toward me, flying through the air and landing in my palm.
I squeezed. The can crumpled like paper in my claws, metal screeching.
"Oh my God—"
"Spatial manipulation?!"
"That's like, super rare—"
"I heard there's only like fifty werewolves in the whole country with spatial abilities!"
"And he's fifteen?!"
People started clapping. Someone whistled.
I grinned, feeling the high of finally—finally—getting respect.
I pointed my clawed hand at Aria. "See that? That's real talent! Not your little bowling tricks!"
She raised an eyebrow. Didn't say anything.
That made me angrier. "Bowling's just what omegas are good at, right? Cute little party games?"
Mia gasped. "Excuse me?"
I ignored her, focusing on the shopping bag in her hand. Time for a real demonstration.
I reached out with my power, targeting the bag. I was gonna yank it away, make it fly across the parking lot. Show Aria what real power looked like.
The bag twitched.
But it didn't move.
I frowned, pushing harder. My claws tensed, and I could feel sweat dripping down my temple. The bag shook a little, but it was like trying to move a boulder.
"What the hell..." I muttered.
Then I felt something weird. A lightness around my waist.
I looked down.
The hoodie was gone.
"WHAT?!"
Cold air hit my legs. I was standing in the parking lot in just my Captain America boxers and pizza socks.
Again.
"Oh my God, NO!" I yelped, my hands flying down to cover myself.
The parking lot erupted in laughter.
"HE DID IT AGAIN!"
"CAPTAIN AMERICA STRIKES BACK!"
But the laughter stopped pretty fast.
Because everyone saw where the hoodie was.
Aria was holding it. Casually draped over her shoulder like she'd been holding it the whole time.
"How did she—"
"When did she grab it?"
"I didn't even see her move!"
My claws started shaking. "You... when did you..."
Aria looked at me with those cold, dark eyes. "You mean this ability?"
She held up her other hand.
My iPhone appeared in her palm.
Then my car keys.
Then my wallet.
Then—oh God—my backup pants from Kai's back seat.
One by one, objects just materialized in her hands like magic. No movement. No reaching. They just appeared.
The parking lot went dead silent.
I tried to make my spatial power work, tried to yank the hoodie back. I focused every ounce of strength I had, reaching out with my ability—
Nothing.
The hoodie didn't even twitch.
It was like trying to steal candy from a UFC fighter. My power just... slid off hers.
"How..." My voice cracked. "How are you doing this? My wallet was in the hoodie pocket. The pants were in his car—"
"You're making this harder than it needs to be," Aria said, her voice flat and bored.
My claws were shaking so bad now that they started to retract. The fur pulled back into my skin, and my fingers shortened back to normal. I couldn't hold the partial shift anymore.
My hands were human again.
Someone in the crowd whispered: "Dude..."
"What?"
"She's definitely awakened."
"You're crazy. She's fifteen, and she's from an omega family—"
"Then how do you explain what she just did? That was spatial manipulation, and way stronger than his."
"But she's never shifted before—"
"Maybe she's been hiding it."
"An omega family kid awakening? With spatial abilities? That doesn't make sense—"
"Look at Silas's face. He got completely destroyed."
"And she didn't even shift. She's using spatial manipulation in human form—"
Kai leaned over and whispered to me: "Bro... that's not normal spatial manipulation."
I couldn't speak. My throat was too tight.
Aria tossed the hoodie back to me. It flew through the air in a perfect arc, landing right in my hands. Then the keys, wallet, phone, and pants—all of them landing exactly where I could catch them.
Not a single item dropped.
"Spatial manipulation isn't for showing off," she said. Her voice was calm. Almost bored. Like she was talking to a little kid who didn't know any better. "Go home. Practice more. Don't embarrass yourself in front of me again."
She turned around and walked toward her car with Mia.
Just like that.
No dramatic exit. No gloating. She just left.
I stood there in my Captain America boxers, holding my clothes, watching her taillights disappear.
The crowd was staring at me.
Nobody was laughing anymore.
I got dressed in silence. My hands were still shaking as I pulled on the pants and hoodie.
Kai didn't say anything. We just walked to his car and got in.
The engine started, but Kai didn't pull out of the parking spot. He just sat there, staring at the steering wheel.
"You okay?" I finally asked.
"Yeah. Just thinking."
Silence.
Then Kai said: "You think... I should try again?"
"Try what?"
"Asking Aria out. Like, actually apologizing for the love letter thing, and then maybe—"
"Kai." I cut him off. "Wake up."
"What?"
I looked at him. My best friend since kindergarten. Future Alpha of the Meadow Pack.
"You're not good enough for her."
The car went ice cold.
Kai's hands tightened on the steering wheel. His knuckles went white.
"What did you just say?" His voice was low. Dangerous.
"I'm the future Alpha. How am I not—"
"Wait, that came out wrong!" I held up my hands. "I didn't mean it like that!"
Kai's jaw was clenched so hard I could hear his teeth grinding.
"I mean—" I took a breath. "I can't get her either."
"What?"
"Nobody can get her, Kai. That's what I'm saying."
He stared at me.
I slumped back in my seat, exhausted. "Dude, I've been training with Wesley for two weeks. Two weeks of nothing but spatial manipulation practice."
"Okay?"
"I can barely move small objects within ten feet. And I have to partial shift just to use the ability at all."
Kai's expression shifted slightly. Less angry, more confused.
"She just pulled my phone from your car. That's at least twenty yards away. And she grabbed four or five different things at once—wallet, keys, pants, phone—all from different locations."
I rubbed my face. "And she did it without shifting. Not even partially. Just... did it."
"So?"
"So that's not possible for someone who just awakened, Kai. That level of control takes years of training. Or..."
"Or what?"
I looked at him. "Or her wolf's level is so much higher than mine that it's not even close."
We sat in silence.
"How much higher?" Kai asked quietly.
I thought about it. About the way my spatial power just slid off hers like water off glass. About how effortless it looked when she did it.
"A lot higher," I said. "Way higher than anything I've seen before."
Kai started the car for real this time. "So what now?"
"I'm gonna talk to Wesley tomorrow."
"The Delta warrior?"
"Yeah. He fought in the Pack Wars. He knows about werewolf abilities and power levels and all that stuff." I stared out the window as we pulled onto the street. "He'll know what's going on with Aria."