Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“What exactly did you think about when you threw your hands up?” Grant asked him.
“Just that I wanted to send that arrow away from me.”
“Let’s try it again.” Grant told him.
“I don’t want to be burned if I can’t do it again.” I heard the desperation in his voice.
“We will throw something else at you, it will be safer.” Vincent nodded at Grant and went with him to practice.
I decided to watch on for a little while as the others trained. Shawn and Dietrich worked together, David and Lucas were practicing hand to hand combat, and Shane was practicing with Nick all while Vincent was practicing deflecting items that Grant threw at him. That last one was kind of funny to watch.
Grant was throwing different sized rocks and chunks of wood at Vincent. He wasn’t having much luck summoning the power he had used before, but he was trying. I watched him close his eyes to think for a moment before nodding at Grant. Grant then threw the rock in his hand and Vincent did his best to fling it away. Unfortunately the rock just flew straight and hit him in the head.
“Ouch.” Vincent seemed mad. “Dammit, how did I do it before?”
“You were in real danger.” I told him. “You need to think about that. Imagine that the rocks are something else.”
“Like what?” He wondered aloud.
“Like these.” I grinned and summoned another arrow. At the same time I winked at Grant who understood what I wanted him to do. I concentrated on the arrow and started it moving forward and Grant threw another rock.
Vincent saw the arrow coming toward him and closed his eyes, flinging his hand like he did before. I dissolved the arrow and heard the rock that Grant threw smack against the far wall. Vincent had successfully managed to block it.
“You did it.” I smirked at him.
“You tricked me.” He looked at me like he was upset for a minute.
“Would you rather I had kept the arrow and risked you not blocking it?”
“NO!” He yelled in response. “But how did you know that I would do it this time?”
“You managed it the first time because you were in danger and, admit it, you were scared. I had to invoke that same feeling.”
“I was not scared.” He snapped back at me. “I just didn’t want to be set on fire.”
“Fine, whatever the reason, you did it. And for what it’s worth, I know you’re a strong, capable, and very brave warrior.”
“I wasn’t scared.” He insisted again.
“I know.”
I left Vincent and Grant to continue practicing, Vincent was getting better at his blocking. And, we found out later, that wasn’t all he could do. His new ability was a sort of wave length manipulation, so he had moved the air around the rocks and arrow to send them flying. He could also use that ability to attack an enemy too.
When I saw David and Lucas training, they were practicing martial arts. David was way better than I had ever thought. He was landing hit after hit, moving so fast his hands were a blur. His ability was speed so the blurring was not surprising but he seemed like a master with each move he made.
“Where did you study martial arts, David?” I asked him, impressed by his skill.
“I haven’t.” He responded without even looking away, he just swept a foot out under Lucas knocking his feet out from under him.
“What do you mean you haven’t? You’re clearly an expert.” I was shocked by his answer.
“My only training came from you, Sir. I never studied martial arts anywhere.”
“What is going on here?” I wondered.
“I don’t know, but it’s like my body just knows how to move. It feels like I’m lighter and more limber and I just know what to do.”
“Hmm. It looks like you got an upgrade too.” I smiled at him. “Keep practicing.”
When I made my way to where Shawn and Dietrich were, I noticed they too were doing something new. Shawn was controlling a practice dummy with his mind, making it move as if it were alive. While avoiding the moving dummy Dietrich was shooting what looked like silk threads toward Shawn, trying to ensnare him. The thread almost looked like spider silk, but I saw that when it finally wrapped around Shawn it acted like the thread for a marionette. Puppet thread.
Shawn was forced to do whatever Dietrich wanted him to do, physically anyway. It seemed Shawn was still in control mentally and was trying to break the control with the dummy he was controlling. But just before he managed to knock the strings away with the dummy’s large arm, Dietrich had forced Shawn to walk to him. When Shawn was close enough, Dietrich planted a kiss on his cheek and laughed merrily.
“I win, Liebling.” Shawn looked upset, but on closer inspection I saw that it was all just a show, he was actually grinning.
Shane was the last for me to observe. He had his lightning sword out and was practicing sword techniques with Nick. They were attacking another set of dummies, and despite having the superior weapon it was clear that Nick was the better swordsman. In frustration Shane pointed his hand at the dummy and yelled.
“Why are you not falling apart.” With his words a bolt of lightning flew from his hands and landed in the middle of the dummy’s chest. The dummy exploded, unable to take the blast.
The shock was written on my face as well as Nick’s and Shane’s. But Shane was the first to recover and his face exploded with a huge grin.
“Yes!” He started jumping up and down. “Yes! I leveled up! I got a new skill. I got more XP!” He was acting a little childish as he and Nick were celebrating his new abilities.
I had to wonder, were they getting new abilities because of Riviana, or because I wanted us all to get better? As I thought about it all I started thinking what else I could use my fire for. I had the wolf form, the fireballs, the sword, the arrows, but I knew I could do more.
