Chapter 39

Chapter 39
After all the madness of the last few days, I didn’t think I’d get any help, but there they were: Grandma Blanca, Agnes, and Alice.
Some ancestors were there too, but judging by their faces, I doubted they were there to help. It seemed more like they were watching to make sure I could control my powers.
Quanah was there, even though it was a Wednesday morning and he probably had a ton of things to deal with, since the closed club was costing him a fortune.
But he’d insisted on watching my first training session.
Peta, Seth, and Flora were there too, along with other werewolves I didn’t know well.
“Let’s go, Bridget. Try using one of the elements. We’ll start with something small,” Grandma Blanca said, keeping a safe distance.
“No pressure,” Quanah muttered.
Right, no pressure with everyone staring at me expectantly.
But I focused and forced myself to use the air, trying to make a stronger breeze shake the trees. Nothing happened. No matter how hard I thought, nothing came. I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate, but the whispers around me filled my ears, distracting me. I tried again to summon the wind, but suddenly I was thinking about fire, water.
“I can’t. Nothing’s happening.”
“You have to focus. Your powers aren’t conjured with spells like other witches’. We’ve seen that,” Blanca said.
“Focus, Bri. You’ve got this!” Alice shouted from a distance, and I smiled at her.
It had taken so long to finally see her. My friend had been in the infirmary twice, and it was all my fault.
Thank God she was okay and wasn’t mad at me. Alice believed in me more than I did myself, and that alone made her see something good in my outburst.
I took a deep breath and gathered all my strength, focusing every thought on the breeze around me, willing it to grow, to become something bigger.
“Concentrate, Bridget!” I heard Blanca’s voice in the back of my mind.
“This is pointless. We’ll waste the whole day here, and nothing will happen…”
“Quanah!” Peta interrupted his brother, but it didn’t stop my heart from sinking in my chest.
“I’m just telling the truth,” he whispered. “It’s obvious she has no clue what her powers are. The best thing for her is to stay locked in that room, trapped in the tower like the little princess she is!”
“What the hell are you talking about? You were the first to gather everyone so she could train, or did you forget everything we talked about yesterday?”
I lost all focus. My eyes stayed closed, but I was only paying attention to their conversation.
“That was before this circus. Her best chance is to stay locked up.”
“And then what?” Peta cut in again. “Have your kid, keep being your concubine until her father forgets she exists?”
Quanah laughed, and my blood boiled in my veins, fire spreading like liquid inside me.
He was showing, once again, how fake he was.
“Concubine? Sometimes you sound like an old man,” he said, stopping his laughter, and I nearly gave in to the temptation to open my eyes. “You really think we’ll stay together for long?”
“What do you mean by that? Are you using the girl?”
“Using is a strong word. Let’s say we’re mutually distracting ourselves while we’re forced to survive.”
I couldn’t stay indifferent when those words hit me. The wind whistled, and the ground trembled. I opened my eyes and aimed at Quanah, raising my hand in his direction at the same moment.
A gust of wind sliced through the clearing, hitting him and throwing him against a tree.
“Bridget!” I heard some shout my name, others gasped and covered their mouths.
Of everyone there, the only one smiling was Quanah. He got up, staggering, needing to hold onto the tree he’d crashed into, and laughed, coming toward me.
My fingers trembled in the air, and I was tempted to send him back, this time with more force, maybe enough to knock him out for two days, to make him think about what he’d said.
“I know you want to kill me, but don’t do it. Hold onto that anger and feel your power expanding.” He was right; I could feel it coursing through my veins, urging me to put him in his place. “Tell me what you feel.”
I raised an eyebrow. The last thing I wanted was to look at his face so closely after the crap he’d said.
What was he thinking? Mutually distracting? And all those things he’d said while we were together, all the confidences we shared?
“I should kill you. That’s what my power wants—to throw you against the farthest tree or suck the air out of you until you turn purple and drop dead.”
His smile widened, and I wanted to ask if he was that crazy or if the impact had messed with his head.
“That’s what I was talking about. Your power showed up when you were furious, feeling betrayed. That means your power is tied to your emotions.”
“So I’ll only be able to use them when I’m pissed off?”
“No, no. The air, earth, fire, and water come to serve you, to protect and defend you.” Grandma Blanca stepped closer.
“How does it talk to you? None of us have ever heard the power speak. We just summon it through spells.”
“I can feel it running through me, like fire spreading, taking over my body, and I can hear it whispering what I should do, how I should take down whoever hurts me.”
Some of the elders whispered, but they were too far for me to make out what they said.
“Something inside you makes all the elements bend to your will!” Quanah said, stepping closer, his finger catching a strand of my hair. “I’m sure it’s related to your father. That’s why, in your dream, the other witch told you to go after your past.”
I slapped his hand away, pushing him back. I didn’t care what they’d figured out; he still had to explain the words he’d said.
He smiled, and his arm wrapped around my waist. With a firm grip, Quanah pulled me against his chest.
“You’re incredible, and you’re even better when you’re this angry.” I shook myself hard, trying to escape his touch. “I’d love to drag you out of here and see what all this fire could do between four walls.” My cheeks flushed; even though he spoke softly, everyone around us could hear. “But I think we have things to do here, so just to be clear before you throw me into a fire, I said that to piss you off, and it got the result we needed.” He took my lips, catching me off guard. His kiss was quick but firm, and I melted in his arms. “You’re mine, and nothing will change that!”
I pushed his body away, but I couldn’t hide the stupid smile he put on my face.
“Let’s get on with this. We don’t have all day!” Grandma Blanca shouted, and I took a deep breath, this time focusing on what they’d said.
The elements bent to my will, obeying the power within me. I just needed to focus and desire it with all my heart.