My Brother’s Mate
Chapter 40

Emily's

POV

After we all agreed to head to Millerborg, everyone made a plan to leave as soon as the camp can be packed up.

Liam and I went to bed. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until my head hit the pillow. Liam and I fell asleep in each other's arms for the first time in several months. It was the best sleep I've gotten in years. The next morning I woke up to an empty bed. I wanted to get up and look for him, but every part of my body was sore. I felt like I had gone through a super intense full body workout. It was difficult for me to even sit up. I sat there for a moment trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me.

"Miranda, I think there is something wrong with me." I reach out to her through our magical connection.

"What is wrong? Do you need help?"

"I do, but can it just be you. I don't need the whole calvary."

"I'm on my way." A moment later Miranda is at my door.

"Come in." I say and she walks in and over the the bed side.

"What's wrong Emily?"

"My whole body feels like I have been hit by a car. Every muscle is tight. I don't know why." I say.

Miranda smiles.

"You over exerted yourself yesterday with magic. Your body isn't used to using it just yet. Angela told me you used an invisibility spell?"

I take a second to recall who Angela is, OH YEAH, it's mom.

"I'll get you something for that. When you're feeling better, come see me. We'll do some training."

"Where is everyone?" I ask.

"You slept in dear. It's almost mid day. We thought it would best to let you sleep. The guys are all out helping pack things up. I will be right back. Just lay back and rest."

Miranda stands and leaves the room. I lay back in bed and wait. I hear a lot of movement outside the cabin. I guess people are packing things up. I can't believe I slept in so late. Miranda comes back shortly with a cup.

"Sit up." She says. I strain but manage to make it to a sitting position.

"Take this." She hands me the cup, but there's no liquid inside. There's a crystal. I reach in and grab it.

"Now I want you to focus on the energy and movement within the crystal." Miranda instructs.

I close my eyes and focus on the crystal. I focus on the weight of it in my hand. I focus on the vibrations emanating from it's core, and reverberating through my hand. I feel the energy and power in the crystal.

"Good, now pull the energy from the crystal and into your center." Miranda says as she touches right above my belly button. I pull the energy out of the crystal and into my hand then I move it up my arm and down towards the spot Miranda touched, my center. When it reaches my center I feel it shrink smaller for a second, then it explodes out through the rest of my body. Instantly all my muscles relax, and my body doesn't feel as heavy. The aches and pains are gone. I move my arm without strain. I open my eyes and smile. "It worked!" I exclaim.

"Good. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. I put a new toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom for you." Miranda says and with that she leaves the room. I get up and change my clothes. I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth and my hair. I head downstairs to meet Miranda.

"Here, eat something. You need your strength." Miranda puts a plate of food in front of me. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I started eating. After completely inhaling my breakfast, I clean up and meet Miranda outside.

"Follow me. I want to show you something." Miranda says.

I follow her out into the woods to a small clearing with stones sticking up out of the ground.

These are graves. I stand next to Miranda quietly as we look out over the headstones.

"They were my coven," Miranda answers the question I had been wondering, "They were my family. I have stayed with them everyday since we buried them." Miranda walks towards one of the stones, the name carved on it reads 'Hazel Mae Walters'. I remember Hazel from Hiroen's memories.

"She taught Hiroen all about magic. She was like a baby sister to me."

"I know, from Hiroen's memories."

She nods at me.

"Their deaths are why it took me a while to agree to train you. I was afraid to lose anyone else. I only had a few people left in my life. I hid myself in my cabin for many years after they died." She looks back in the direction of the cabin.

You can almost make out the outline of the cabin through the thick trees.

"I was in denial of the truth. I wanted to believe I could protect them by staying out of it. But you helped me see the truth." She looks at me and smiles. "Me? What did I do?"

"There are three people by your side that have lied to you or have kept the truth from you. But yet, you forgave them, embraced them even. You have a gracious heart Emily. But I also brought you out here to show you a glimpse of what is to come. I lost my whole family. Everyone here and in Millerborg is willing to lay their life down to protect you. You need to understand, lives will be lost, but you have to keep going. Or it would have been for nothing. I know this is a lot to take in. But this is bigger than all of us put together. You are generation after generation after generation in the making. You are going to change the world." She places her hands on my shoulders.

"I know people want to protect you, and they will all try, but you need to learn how to protect yourself. You have great power, you just need to learn to use it."

"I want to learn."

Miranda smiles at me.

"I know you do. So let's get started. Let's talk about what happened to you this morning." We walk away from the graves and back to the cabin.

"You are a Oracle Emily. You draw your power from within yourself. But you are not and unlimited power source. However with some tricks you can have as much power as you want."

"How?"

"Every witch favors a type of magic. Potions, Casting, Elemental and Internal. You are special. You aren't just an internal witch, you are all of them. So I will teach you a trick to create endless power. When an internal witch runs out of power she needs to replenish. She can do so by drawing power from another source, plants, animals, the sun, or moon. Or she could just rest and let it naturally replenish on its own. The talisman I gave you was full of energy from the sun."

"But why can't I just use the sun directly." I ask.

"You would be burning energy at the same speed you are pulling it into you. The talisman acts as an enhancer. It stores up the energy, the earth material magnifies it, and then you draw it back into your body." She explains. "That's pretty cool."

"It is. Let me show you." She spends the next few hours showing me different magic techniques and ways to access my magical abilities.

I learned so much in just a short amount of time. She told me my body still needs time to get used to magic and that I should try to use it daily. So that is what I will do.

As night falls people slowly trickle inside the cabin and clean themselves up for dinner. Mom and some other witches made a huge pot of stew, and baked some bread for us and the journey.

I can tell how tired everyone was at dinner, there was little conversation, although Hiroen said that he thinks we'll be ready to leave tomorrow.

No wonder everyone is so tired.

I offer to clean up the mess afterward so everyone can go to bed early and recover their strength for our journey. My mom helps me.

"How is it being back with Liam?" She asks as we dry dishes.

"Good, I mean. It feels like we are starting all over, instead of picking up where we left off."

"Did you tell him everything?" She asks.

"Yes, he was so accepting, I love him so much mom, I can't wait until we mark each other, I just want to get it over with, to avoid any other scares like what happened yesterday.."

"Well you might want to hold off on marking each other just yet." my mom says matter of factly.

"Wait what? Why!?" I ask. Usually people are always pushing mates to mark each other quickly. They say it deepens the connection and seals the mate bond.

"Sweetheart. Think about what will happen to Liam if you two are marked when you have to die to become the Tribrid."

Oh goddess, I didn't even think about that, I was hospitalized when Liam got hurt and we weren't even marked yet. I can't even imagine how bad it would be if we had been.

"It might kill him." I say in realization, my mom nods.

"And if it doesn't it will surely take him down long enough and then someone else would do it."

My heart pings at the thought.

"But can we mark each other after?"

"I don't see why not. You'll still be a werewolf." She tells me.

I really need to talk to Liam about this. I sort of casually mentioned it to him yesterday, but I don't think what I said fully sunk in, or maybe he thought it would happen when I was an old woman or something. Oh man I really should clarify.

Mom and I finish the dishes, then I go to replace Liam. I walk into our room and replace him asleep in his clothes on the bed. It looks like he passed out from working all day helping to pack up the village. I pull his socks off him, then his pants. I ponder pulling off one more layer.. but I decide against it. Liam needs to rest, and so do I.

I pull the blanket over him and turn off the lights. I crawl in next to him. And wrap my arm around his waist. I will tell him tomorrow.