Chapter 395: Chapter 395

Lanie | hated putting up a permanent shield against my daughter, but Malachi had convinced me it was necessary. Of course, we both knew that if Stella really was in control of all the powers of the universe, she’d have no trouble blowing right through any shield little old me was able to put up, no matter whether or not |

had the blessing of the Moon Goddess.

The real key was acting like nothing was wrong. Not just for Stella’s sake, but for my other children. My mates. My mother-in-law, even if she’d been turning colder and colder to me every day.

Once things calmed down, | promised myself I’d have a real heart-to-heart with Gabricla. Get us back on the same page. | hated that | felt this growing distance between us.

Xander and Mason had included Zane in planning their updated safety protocols for me during the testing of my own, still fully unknown abilities. | thought they were all being way overprotective, but | didn’t fight them about it. My mates were strong and knew what they were doing. So long as they weren't actively trying to stop me from learning more about myself, | was willing to honor their simple requests for my safety.

Or what they perceived it to be, anyway.

This morning | was in my grandfather’s quarters. Not in the breakfast room with its fake windows this time, but a smaller gym. He had lined it with wrestling mats.

room.

“Do you think I’m going to fly off and hit the ceiling or what?” | asked him with a laugh as | came into the It was only me, Charlotte, Greyson, Braden, and Malachi. We wanted to make sure nobody could walk in on us during activities my grandfather had promised might be “intense.” | felt better knowing | didn’t have an audience, for one, but also all the people around me would take care of me to the best of their abilities.

“Let's start with the most basic and move up,” Malachi said. “The first thing | want you to do is shift, Lanie.”

| hesitated, not sure | understood him right. “You mean let my wolf take over?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not even a skill,” | said, balking. “That's just my nature. Who | am. Me and my wolf are inseparable He smiled. “So it should be no hardship to allow her some freedom, then.”

“It's not a hardship,” | agreed. | stripped naked, folding my clothes neatly.

There was no reason to be shy about it. Charlotte and Greyson were shifters, too, and understood the need to not shred my clothes. Malachi was my freaking granddad. But Braden...

Heat painted my cheeks as | slowly turned away from the four people watching me. Braden and | were never going to be together like that, but there’d been a time when we’d flirted. | didn’t think my mates would be thrilled about me being naked in front of him no matter what. On the other hand, as | let Lily rise to the surface, being naked and changing into my wolf felt so free that | really didn’t care what Braden was looking at.

“Very nice,” Malachi said, clapping his hands together.

Lily was happy to be out. She sniffed at the outstretched hands of my grandfather, wrinkling her nose and growling a bit at his vampire scent. She had her freedom for a few more minutes before | called her back. | returned to my human form, tasting sweat on my upper lip.

| put my hands on my hips. “Now what?”

Braden tossed me a towel and | wiped my face.

Charlotte handed me my clothes, and | dressed while my grandfather laid out the list of other skills | was going to run through.

Levitation.

Check.

| didn’t make it up very high, but | could get myself a few inches off the floor, anyway. | was glad it wasn’t much higher, because even with the soft mats to land on, | still ended up on my a ss.

Super speed?

That one was harder. No matter how | tried, the space was too small. Malachi coached me, but | couldn’t quite get it right.

“| run into the wall,” | complained, rubbing my nose from the bump I'd given it.

“You're thinking too hard,” he said. “You don’t need to get up to speed. You simply are the speed. Try it again.”

| did, getting frustrated, especially when Charlotte demonstrated along with him how easy it was.

“For vampires,” | muttered.

“For hybrids, too. You can do this,” Charlotte encouraged. “Take that first step and imagine the ne already done. It’s mind over matter.”

“If you can’t master this,” Malachi said, rolling his eyes, “I doubt you'll be able to take the next steps, s might as well just stop right now.”

| took a step...and then | was a blur, darting back and forth in the small room, until | skidded to a stop in front of the Ancient vampire.

“There!” | cried. “I did it!”

“Very nice. Now let’s give you something hard to try.”