Mag-log inChapter 372SHAWN"Grandma and Grandpa set fires all the time during the territorial wars," Riley pointed out. "Shawn setting one fire during power training is actually demonstrating restraint by comparison.""The wars were different circumstances," Lumina said."Were they though?" Riley asked. "Because from my research, at least forty percent of territorial war tactics involved strategic arson. Shawn's forest fire was accidental, which makes it less concerning than deliberate burning of enemy strongholds.""You're five," I said. "How do you know about territorial war tactics?""I read," Riley said simply. "Grandpa has excellent archives.""I'm regretting those archives," Xenois muttered."Knowledge is power," Riley quoted. "You tell us that all the time.""I tell you that about schoolwork," Xenois corrected. "Not about researching historical war crimes.""They weren't crimes if they were during sanctioned territorial conflicts," Riley argued."Riley," Lumina said firmly. "Enough."Th
Chapter 371SHAWN"Plus you're useful," Ollie added. "The plasma blasts were really cool.""Ollie," Lumina said warningly."What? They were cool! Uncle Shawn can blow up trees!""I'm not your uncle yet," I said automatically."But you will be," Ollie insisted. "Once the adoption is official. Then you'll be Uncle Shawn and you can teach us cool stuff.""I'm not teaching you plasma blasts," I said immediately."Not plasma blasts," Riley clarified. "But perhaps survival techniques? Strategic thinking? You've been living independently for six months. That requires significant practical knowledge that could be educational.""You want me to teach you how to shoplift and sleep in abandoned buildings?" I asked incredulously."Situational awareness and resource acquisition in hostile environments," Riley corrected. "Which are valuable skills.""No," Xenois said flatly. "Nobody is teaching my children how to be homeless.""But—" Riley started."No.""It's practical—""Riley."The five-year-old
Chapter 370SHAWNLunch was possibly the most chaotic meal I'd ever experienced, and I'd eaten with traveling merchants who juggled knives for entertainment.The dining table was packed. Xenois sat at the head with Lumina beside him, looking exhausted but content. Zade and Lyn were there, engaged in what appeared to be an ongoing debate about magical theory. Lynn was arguing with Rivers about something medical. Carol was trying to coordinate food distribution while Marcus and Thorne discussed security rotations.And the kids—god, the kids were everywhere. Ollie was explaining to anyone who would listen about the "super cool forest fire" he'd witnessed. Riley was taking notes on his tablet about plasma blast trajectories. Lake kept opening tiny portals to steal food from other people's plates when they weren't looking.It was loud and messy and completely overwhelming.I sat between Samuel and one of the empty chairs, trying to make myself as small as possible while simultaneously fill
Chapter 369SHAWNThese five-year-olds were the strangest children I'd ever met."Why did you come out here alone?" Samuel asked, his voice gentler now. "Without telling anyone where you were going or what you were planning?"I hesitated, not sure how to explain the tangle of fears and doubts that had driven me into the woods."I didn't want to hurt anyone," I said finally. "My power—it's not like Lake's portals or Lyn's gravity manipulation. It's not controllable or reversible. When I hit someone, they're just... gone. Completely. And I was scared that if I lost control, if something startled me or I got angry, I might accidentally hit one of the kids. Or you. Or anyone else in the house."Silvia and Samuel exchanged a look I couldn't quite interpret."So you came out here to practice," Silvia said. "To figure out your limits and learn control. Without asking for help or supervision because you didn't want to risk hurting anyone.""Yes," I said, feeling defensive. "Is that wrong?""I
Chapter 368SHAWNI kept going. Forty-seven. Forty-eight. Fifty.Still no fatigue. No sense that I was depleting reserves or using up some finite resource.Was this sustainable? Could I do this indefinitely? Or was there a wall I'd hit eventually, some point where my body would give out or the magic would fail?I needed to know. Needed to understand this power that had manifested so suddenly, that had changed everything about what I thought I was capable of.Fifty-five. Sixty. Sixty-five.The forest around me was starting to look like a war zone. Trees reduced to stumps, craters dotting the landscape, the smell of ozone and burned wood thick in the air.Seventy. Seventy-five.A small part of my brain registered that this was probably not great for the local ecosystem. But the larger part was too focused on testing limits, on pushing myself to see where the breaking point was.Eighty.That's when I noticed the smoke.Not from the individual trees I'd been targeting, but from a spreadin
Chapter 367SHAWNI stood at the edge of the forest behind Alpha Xenois's house, trying to process the fact that my entire life had changed in less than seventy-two hours.Three days ago, I'd been a runaway werewitch with no home, no family, and no future. A kid who'd spent his entire life hiding what he was, suppressing his magic, pretending to be a normal werewolf just to survive.Now I was apparently being adopted by legendary territorial war veterans who'd decided I was worth keeping.I'd overheard Silvia and Samuel talking that morning—not on purpose, I just happened to be passing by the office when I heard my name mentioned. They were discussing lawyers, paperwork, making it official. Making me officially their son.Which meant I'd be Xenois's stepbrother.Stepbrother. At seventeen years old, I'd suddenly have a twenty-six-year-old stepbrother who was also an alpha, who'd lost his sister five years ago, who probably had feelings about his parents adopting a random werewitch teen







