Chapter Sixteen

I waited for the reality of what I said to sink in. “What? You said it yourself. I can’t command you to hurt yourself. Fine, let’s go with something else. What if I commanded you to give me all of your money?” I stared down at the girl and she looked away. “Something you’ve done I see,” I snarled. My eyes flashed. “What’s your name?”

“Stephanie.”

I slammed my aura out, and Nix took control as I raged. “Do jumping jacks until I tell you to stop.” Stephanie’s eyes widened, but I turned away to reel in my wolf. She started bouncing up and down, and some girls chuckled, and I snarled. “You think this is funny? Do you want to join Stephanie? Being made to do something and not being able to stop yourself is a horrible feeling.” I whipped back to the girls, and Nix snarled again. My power struck out again, dropping everyone to their knees. “Everyone here will do jumping jacks until I say stop.” Everyone started, even Tina and Lynn, but I commanded them to stop. “What are you planning?” Lynn turned to me.

“The three of us will go around and command each girl here to tell us if they wielded any power against another. If they say no, they can stop. If the answer is yes, leave them jumping.”

Tina nodded. “For how long?”

“I’ll tell them to stop.” I curled my lip and started for Cas. “Have you ever used your power to command another person to do something against their will?”

Cas huffed out a breath. “No.” Her face was rosy from the exertion, and I smiled.

“You can stop.” I let out a little power to release her from the command and then I clapped her on the shoulder. “It will get better.” I moved on.

Tina and Lynn walked through the crowd with me and released more and more women, until we had a small group of girls that Amanda and Aurora were surrounded by. This didn’t surprise us.

I walked back to the front and turned to face everyone. Forty women were standing around; some had their hands on their knees and some looked to be catching their breath. The remaining eight girls were huffing and puffing, still doing jumping jacks.

“Everyone else can leave for the day. Tomorrow we will do this again. So more protein at all meals, and I will see you tomorrow.” I called back and the women all left except for the ones still jumping.

“Did you need us to stay?” Lynn turned to me and I nodded.

“Yeah. I need you here for when these girls drop.” I watched over them and waited, their legs and arms shaking with their movements.

“Stop this,” Aurora called out, and I laughed.

“Or what?” I called back.

“Please,” Amanda called out in a tired voice.

I stalked back to the group of girls and snarled again, getting in Amanda’s face. “You tired? You weak? You don’t want to do jumping jacks anymore?”

“Yes,” Amanda panted.

“Do you think the girls you made do things want to do them?” I tossed back. “Did they want to give you their money? Did they want to do your work? Your bidding? Did they not have their own shit to do?”

Amanda started to tear up. “No.” Her lip trembled.

“So why should I stop this if you all never did?” I snarled again. “Why is the council good enough to save you from us, but not good enough to follow for the other rules?”

“I don’t know.” She sobbed.

“So you are above the laws of our kind.”

“No!” She screamed.

“Then what gave you the right to demand anything from anyone?”

“Nothing gave me the right.” She shook harder.

“Then why did you do it?” I waited, but she stayed silent. “Why did any of you think it was a good idea to command others?”

“It was—”

“Shut up,” Aurora called out, and I glared at her.

“You don’t give the commands here.” She snarled at me but it was weak. “Actually,” A thought just popped into my head and I decided to give it a try. I let my power slam into the women in front of me and they screamed, but kept jumping. “Stop jumping.” They all collapsed onto the ground, catching their breaths. One girl crawled away and started to vomit. “Pay attention. I command you all to never command another wolf again.”

Aurora screamed. “That’s not fair. I’m going to be Luna.”

“You will never be Luna. And if by the smallest chance you ever do become a Luna somewhere, you won’t be able to command your wolves, because you have proven you are not to be trusted with that power.” I walked to Tina and Lynn. “Get these girls home, if they need medical, contact the pack doctor. But everyone here needs to be back tomorrow.” They nodded, and I walked away.

Thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you stay with Amy and her journey.