Page 32 of Cursed (Blood Moon Pack #1)

N ori jerks upright the next morning, chest heaving, as she sucks in big gulps of air. Her heart hammers loudly in her ears; her wide eyes dart around the room.

Aylin’s voice softly floats through her mind. “ You are alright, Nori. We are in Ryland’s rooms…in his bed. ”

A shiver rolls down her spine, and she whispers, “I’m OK. I’m OK. I’m in Ryland’s room.”

She falls back onto the fluffy pillows, running her hands along the soft sheets to ground herself while her breathing returns to normal.

“ Are you OK, now? Which one was it this time? ”

“ Oh, you know. The one where Draven pinned me to the wall, slashing his claws across my face when I dropped the vase, ” Nori says, frowning and still trying to catch her breath. “ It felt so damn real. I swear I can still smell his awful breath. ”

Aylin’s voice is full of sympathy for her human. “ I am all for Beta Garek’s suggestion that we learn how to fight. Maybe if you are able to properly defend yourself, you’ll feel more powerful, and the nightmares will subside. ”

“ I agree. I’ll talk to Ryland about it when he returns.

Today is day three; maybe he’ll be back tomorrow.

” Nori rolls over, pushing her hair behind her, breathing in Ryland’s scent on the pillow.

“ I’m going to have to tell him about the nightmares, though.

I can’t keep making up excuses. He’ll figure it out eventually, anyway.

Luckily, they don’t happen every night anymore. ”

Nori suddenly senses the excitement coming from her wolf. “ Let’s order breakfast and shower and then practice with the powers again this morning. ”

Smiling, she climbs out of the comfortable bed and makes it up, having fully recovered from the horrible nightmare. “ Sounds like a great plan, Aylin. ”

After the amazing shower, Nori dresses quickly and walks to the phone and orders a hearty breakfast—eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, a cinnamon roll, and juice.

When the food arrives, she stays out of the way while the kitchen staff sets out the food.

The staff is not rude, exactly, but they do give her odd glances on their way out.

When she’s finished eating, Nori works with her wolf, spending the rest of the morning practicing turning their powers on and off, one, then the other. Nori and Aylin are getting faster at accessing each power.

Adele bursts in just before lunch with a big grin on her face, startling Nori.

“Come with me; I have an idea!” Adele shifts her weight back and forth from one foot to the other. She’s so excited, the ponytail in her hair bounces up and down.

“Ok, hold on. Let me get my shoes.”

Adele frowns at the plain white canvas tennis shoes Nori slides her feet into. “I can’t wait until Amara is finished with your new wardrobe. I never want to see those things on your feet again!”

Mildly irritated by her comment, Nori frowns. “Hey, now. These are nicer than what I had, and they are pretty comfortable.”

Adele wraps her arm around Nori’s, dragging her into the hallway. “I’m sorry. I am a total clothes snob.” Then she smiles at Nori again, her excitement returning. “This is going to be great! Come on!”

Nori follows Adele to the clinic within the hospital wing.

Adele has thought of a way for Nori to practice her healing power.

Because wolf shifters heal almost immediately, there will hardly ever be a need for a healer.

However, shifters cannot fully heal when silver is used on them, as Nori well knows.

When they walk into the clinic, ten empty patient stalls line the far wall. Each one is separated by a white, cotton curtain. The clinic is pristine; each station is fully stocked with sealed medical supplies, waiting for an injured pack member to arrive.

Nori notices one stall is set up with two stools and a stainless-steel tray table containing gauze, bandages, and a silver knife.

“What exactly are you thinking, Adele?” Nori asks, wringing her hands.

“You are going to practice on me! I am going to slice my palm with that silver knife, and you are going to heal it.” She’s so pleased about her idea that she doesn’t notice Nori backing away from her.

“No way! I am not ready for this. You could be scarred for life!”

Adele turns around and moves behind Nori, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her toward the medical station. “It will be fine. I’ll make a shallow cut. If you can’t heal it, I’ll have a tiny scar on my palm. No big deal!”

Adele sits Nori on a stool. She walks around the steel tray table and takes a seat on the other stool facing Nori. “OK. You access your power first. Then I’ll slice my hand. ”

Nori shakes her head violently and moves to get up from the stool. “This is a bad idea. I don’t even know what to do with this power. How do you know it will do anything? What if that Seer is wrong, and I’m not a healer?”

Adele grasps Nori’s nervous hands. “If Lyra says you are a healer, then you are a healer, Nori. Now, as powerful as my brother is, it took him weeks to access his power. You found yours in only hours, Nori. I know you can do this.”

Adele waits. When Nori reluctantly agrees, a huge grin slides over Adele’s face. “Great! I have complete faith in you. Besides, how are you supposed to learn to use this power if you can’t practice?”

She smiles at Nori, waving the knife around. “Now, I am doing this, so do your thing.”

Adele holds the silver blade against her left palm and waits. Nori settles herself with a few steadying breaths, then turns on her healing power. Soft, golden, sparkling light quickly surrounds her hands. Seeing Adele’s eyes widen, Nori says, “We were practicing again this morning.”

Adele grins and slices a large, deep gash into her palm. Her blood drips all over the steel tray.

The golden light around Nori’s hands suddenly vanishes. “Holy shit! You said a tiny cut!” Nori shouts, her breathing sharp and panicky.

“Nori, you better get to healing this; otherwise, I will have a terrible scar on my hand,” she says, grinning .

“Dammit Adele; you are nuts!” Nori quickly calls her power again and takes Adele’s bleeding hand, surrounding the wound with her healing light.

“Oh! Weird!” Nori says in surprise.

Adele tries to jerk her hand back in a moment of panic, but Nori holds her still. “No. It’s OK,” Nori assures her. “It feels weird the way the power flows. I’m not quite sure how to knit up your palm, though.”

Nori stares at Adele’s hand in disbelief. “Oh! After I thought about your palm knitting up, the power got warmer. I can feel your wound closing. Maybe I need to know what I want to happen before the healing power will work.”

It takes only a minute to completely heal Adele’s hand.

When Nori releases her, Adele holds her hand out, inspecting it from all angles.

She sucks in a surprised breath. “It’s like nothing ever happened.

This is incredible, Nori! Let’s do it again!

After that, we’ll move on to some more severe injuries. ”

“Why don’t we take it slow today until I am more confident? Tomorrow, we can move to more severe injuries.”

Adele grins slyly and says, “OK, Nori.”