Alarick sighed, reaching up to rub his temple. “Apparently we need to pay more attention to the pups’ powers,” he muttered. “I take it you have a form of manipulation, Owein.” The boy nodded jerkily.
“Owein, for my power to work, you have to use words, okay?” Pixie reminded him gently.
“Yes. It’s manipulation, I guess. But I don’t have to keep looking at a person to hold it, I just have to plant the idea,” he told us, squeezing Shannon’s hand tightly.
“Please tell me what idea you planted, pup.” Alarick’s voice was so tired, and I couldn’t blame him. Owein wasn’t even eight years old yet.
“It wasn’t supposed to be bad!” Owein cried out. “It wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone!”
“Shannon,” Alarick barked, and Owein calmed more, breathing deeply. “It’s okay, pup,” he rumbled. “I just need to know.”
“She just wanted to say she was sorry,” he said, his dark eyes huge in his pale face. “She missed me and wanted to be able to see us again. She thought if Borris would let her in, she could talk to him and he’d help her say sorry. Borris is good at helping us apologize, he says it’s important.” He looked at us pleadingly. “I just had to make it so Borris and the guards didn’t recognize how she looked or smelled so they couldn’t say no when she asked to see Alpha Raff. It only had to last for the week, she said, just to get through the convention because she wasn’t sure what day she’d be able to get there to talk to him.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing my hands to stay gentle on the boy in my arms. There was only one ‘she’ who fit that list. Pixie realized it at the same time I did and hissed. “You’re Rhiannon’s little brother.” Her eyes unfocused for a moment as she thought. “She was the sister you told me about before, the one who didn’t think I would run with the pack.”
“Yeah.”
“Owein, this is really important. When did you talk to her?” Fillian leaned down, catching the boy’s attention.
“At the party. Luna and I were playing. Her mom took us outside so she could talk to some guy.” He shrugged. “They took Luna with them, but he brought me to Rhiannon first.”
Alarick groaned. “The command only works one way,” he explained, looking up at us. “Rhiannon couldn’t go to her family, and we told the adults to keep the pups away, but we didn’t use command on the pups. Gwyar wasn’t under our command, so he could take Owein right to her, and the party was so full of people, no one noticed.”
His lips trembled slightly as he looked down. “When I heard about what happened, I knew she’d lied. She’d said she was sorry, that she wanted to make everything better. I knew she didn’t like humans, but I never thought she’d hurt our alpha.” The words were a whimper as he shook his head. “I just thought she wanted us back, I thought she was sorry.”
Goddess, this poor little pup. He’d spent the last day thinking he had killed at least one person because his sister had betrayed him. No seven-year-old could be expected to suspect their sister was plotting a murder and using them as a pawn. Hell, most of us barely had powers at seven, let alone powers strong enough to reach across a distance over multiple people.
“Owein?” Luna’s quivering voice had me squeezing my eyes shut and cursing my brother as she slipped through the door.
“Luna, honey, go back outside,” Pixie encouraged, but Luna just crawled up into my lap beside her friend.
“His heart hurts,” she told Pixie, focusing on Owein with a frown as she patted his hand. “What’s wrong, Owein?”
“I’m bad,” he whispered again, looking down. “Go play with the others, Luna, I don’t want you here.”
She cocked her head as if listening to something. “Nuh-uh.”
I went to shift her off my lap, and Pixie held up a hand. “Wait,” she murmured, her eyes focused on Luna. “Luna, what is it?”
“His heart’s crying,” she answered Pixie, tears filling her eyes. “Selene’s sad.” She turned back to hug Owein. “You’re not bad, Owein. I love you.” He clutched onto the little girl, burying his face in her hair.
“Owein,” I began, rubbing his back, “Luna’s right. None of us think you’re bad. We just have to find a way to be careful of your powers. You’re very strong for someone so young, and we have to make sure there aren’t any other accidents. That’s what this was, an accident. You thought you were helping someone, and it turned out someone got hurt. It happens.”
“I don’t want it to,” he whispered, his breath stirring the strands of Luna’s hair.
“I know,” I assured him. “All of us know. You have to deal with it a lot younger than most of us do, that’s all. It’s going to be scary, but we’ll be here with you.”
“No, I don’t want this power at all,” he sobbed. “It’s only for bad things!” He shifted to look at me, though he didn’t release Luna. “Why do I have to have it? You don’t have one, and you’re an omega. I don’t want it!”
“Owein, it’s part of you, just like their powers are part of them.”
“Their powers help, they don’t hurt.” His chin jutted out now as he shook his head. He turned to Alarick, nearly frantic. “Can you make it go away?”
Alarick sighed. “I can help you learn to control it. My power won’t take it away, but I can help to rein it in when you need me to.”
Owein shook his head. “What if I hurt someone before that?” He nuzzled Luna again. “I can’t stay if I might hurt someone.”
“I can take it away,” Luna told him sadly. “You’re not bad, Owein, but I can if you want me to.”
“Luna, what do you mean?” Shannon cupped the little girl’s cheek. “You can take it away?”
“His gift from Selene. Until he wants it again. That way he doesn’t have to be scared. It’s not a bad gift, but he shouldn’t be sad all the time.” Luna tucked her hair behind her ear as she studied Owein. “That’s not fair.”
Owein pulled back to stare at Luna, his mouth opening and closing. “Huh?”
“You can make it so he can’t use his power?” Pixie questioned, nearly breathless as she sank to the floor as though her knees gave out.
Luna shrugged like it was simple. “I don’t think he’ll want it gone forever. He’ll need it someday.”
“Owein, is this what you want?” I tilted his chin up to search his face. “Do you want to give up your power for now? It will mean you’ll have a lot to learn when you get it back, and it may never be as strong, I don’t know what will happen,” I warned him.
“Please take it,” Owein begged her, tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to be bad anymore.”
“Selene didn’t make you bad, silly,” she told him, her eyes beginning to glow as she grabbed his hands. “But she’ll keep it for now.” Heat washed over me from whatever Luna was doing, and Owein gasped before sagging against me, his eyes falling closed.