Seeing that Talia settled down, Axel extended his hand toward Talia, palm up. "First, I want to hold your hand."
Talia felt silly holding his hand like that, but it didn't last long.
"Now what?", she asked.
"Write down your favorite food.", Axel instructed. "Then write what you do first thing in the morning. What's your favorite song?..."
Talia finished writing down the fifth item and asked, "Should I show you this?"
"No. But I want you to follow it as I speak.", Axel explained. "Your favorite food is dark chocolate. The first thing you do in the morning is inhale the scent of the forest…"
Talia's eyebrows were rising questionably as Axel got it all right like he could read answers that were on the notepad she was hiding from his gaze.
Axel looked at her smugly. "Was I right?"
Talia turned the notepad for him to see her answers.
"Is your ability to see what I see?", Talia guessed. Sharing mental images and memories seemed like a good guess. She could do it with Damon, and Liseli said that they can force their way into other minds also.
"Not quite.", he said mysteriously.
"How did you do it, then?"
Axel extended his hand toward Talia again, silently asking for her hand, and she put it there.
"OK", Axel said while standing up. "Now, I want you to draw something."
"What should I draw?"
Axel shrugged. "Anything you feel like but keep it simple."
Talia watched as Axel walked to his desk and got a paper, and he started scribbling on it.
Unsure where this was going, Talia started drawing. It was an ugly bird that reminded her of the bird she drew on Damon's arm when the silly Alpha was obsessed with getting tattoos. Talia hoped that leading a pack doesn't require artistic skills because she had none.
Should she take some art lessons? She would love to, only if she had time. Lack of time seemed to be an unnecessary concern considering her identity and location, but the truth was that since she met Damon, Talia was always busy and since she became the Alpha (and Luna), things only got busier.
A minute later, Axel stood up with a folded paper in his hand.
Talia finished her bird and looked at Axel who looked at her with amusement.
Without a word, Axel opened the paper to show her an identical bird to the one she had on her notepad. Talia put both drawings on the table side-by-side to confirm that even an unsightly curve in the right wing was present on both copies... or was it on both originals?
Talia gaped at Axel. She thought that it was an ability to see from another angle or through her eyes, but he obviously drew that bird before she did.
"How did you know I will draw this?" Talia asked. "And how did you make it the same?" Even if he just said that it will be a bird, she would be impressed, but he actually got the details right.
"It's my ability", Axel said and made a dramatic pause. "I can see things that are about to happen. For the first round of questions, I saw the scene of you writing down your answers. And for these", he gestured toward two drawings on the coffee table. "I saw you drawing it. This wing wouldn't be so crooked if you didn't draw it first."
"Woah!", Talia said under her breath while thinking how handy that was. He can see what will happen and fix it if he doesn't like it. Or can he fix it? "What happens if you act differently from what's expected?" What if he saw her drawing that bird, but then he changed his instructions so that she draws something else?
Axel shook his head, indicating that he was not sure. "I can't see everything. It's almost like some things are certain that will happen. I tried impacting others to get a different outcome, but no matter what I did, what I saw, came true."
That was a bummer, Talia thought. Wasn't this like a curse? Axel could see bad things, and he was unable to prevent them from happening.
On the other side, a future that can't be changed can be taken advantage of.
"You can earn a lot of money by gambling. There is a city called Las Vegas, and you could be the money-king there."
Axel stifled a laugh. She had some good ideas, but… "It comes with limitations. I can see the future of the person I touch directly, and it goes only a few minutes in the future."
That explained the awkward hand-holding, Talia thought.
"Can you see your future?", she asked.
Axel nodded, and his expression told Talia it was not pleasant. "At first, I had so many déjà vu moments that I thought I was going crazy. It was like my world was stuttering, and I knew what will happen before it happened. It took me a while to realize what was going on and to figure out a way to turn it off."
Talia felt sorry for Axel. By knowing what was coming, he was robbed of enjoying the present. He was set on anticipating good things and dreading the bad ones, and the only thing he could do was wait for them to happen.
"Are you worried about me?" Axel asked, and Talia realized that her expression fell.
"Don't worry. It's not bad.", he assured her. "Yasmin said that with practice, my ability can evolve. Maybe I get to see the parts that can be changed, further into the future, and I don't need to touch people."
Axel seemed to be excited about this, and he looked at her like a puppy who was expecting praise.
"Don't worry about others. Think of it as a way that can help you prepare for the things that are coming.", Talia said. "It's a very useful ability to have. Congratulations, Axel. And thank you for sharing this with me."
Axel puffed his chest proudly. This was the first time for Talia to appreciate him openly. He felt like a big brother that his little sister admired.
"I will keep practicing, and I hope it will come in handy.", he said.
Axel really wanted to be useful to Talia. Since he found out that his parents were the ones who gave Talia away when she was a baby, the guilt was eating him alive, like he was the one who did it.
Axel spent many sleepless nights wondering how could Sophia and Isaac be such devoted parents after giving away Valerian's child. Maybe Isaac didn't feel much because Valerian was a stranger to him. However, to Sophia, Valerian was her older brother, Talia was her niece, Natalia Moonrider was an innocent baby, a member of the Midnight Guardians pack, with the blood of the Alpha in her veins, yet they abandoned her while justifying how the life of one was not important compared to the safety of the pack.
The twisted thing was that their pack was not in danger at all; it was all because of Cassandra's prophecy. Anyone with half a brain would know how prophecies were not reliable, and at most they spoke about things that MIGHT happen.
What other despicable acts did his parents do and brush off like they were nothing?
Axel was touched that even after knowing the truth, Talia still wanted him to be her proxy. The truth was that if she dismissed him, he wouldn't object.
As the only daughter of the Valerian Moonrider, Talia was the rightful Alpha of the Midnight Guardians pack, and she had no obligation to share that position with Axel nor to give him any benefits. She could put Sophia and Isaac in the dungeon (or execute them) and imprison Axel also because he might retaliate against Talia for punishing his parents. Instead of doing any of that, Talia was treating him as equal and allowing him to lead the pack and stay in the main house with Yasmin and... Axel finally saw what a graceful Alpha is, and he hoped that he won't disappoint her.
Unaware of Axel's turbulent emotions, Talia was imagining Axel standing by her side in meetings with other Alphas, and he would mind-link her about what others were scheming. She completely forgot her initial thoughts about not using the abilities of her pack members because Axel's power was too handy to have.
If Axel was with her at the Council of the Alphas, she would avoid several nasty situations, like the one when Alpha Edward kissed her hand. Even after all this time, it still felt slimy, and Talia had an urge to wash her hands.
