I just found your blog and I'm absolutely obsessed with pack noctifer. Specifically how Asher reflects on the near end of his tenure as omega? How he feels about the whole thing before Pike is introduced is sooo fascinating to me. He's unable to fully shift, he is loved regardless, what if the next omega turns out more connected to his wolf than him...? And what the others think about Asher's role and issues of reliance!
It scratches my brain, love your stories :)
Hi there! I'm so glad you're enjoying Pack Noc. They're my guys, and I've missed writing them so much. Pike's exploration of his powers is going to be interesting, and it's going to be a great chance to spend more time with Asher and his particular situation, powers-wise.
The fun thing about werewolves and their ability to access their powers is it varies soooo widely from wolf to wolf: sometimes it IS a purely psychological thing (Kase's very fluid form vs Avery's much more static one) and sometimes it's rooted in some aspect of their overall health (Asher who was chronically sick in life and now finds the physical effort of changing difficult vs Jasper who sometimes shifts without meaning too when experiencing extreme pain or stress) but then it turns into this chicken and egg cycle:
Asher struggles to shift and resents his lackluster healing and the fact that even when he dies fully shift, he's still small and weak compared to his pack (until Pike, and the cycle of bullshit hazing begins anew), so he struggles to really put effort into understanding the spiritual aspect of his wolf. He feels cheated, and still remembers being human, and unlike Avery and Kase, he did not choose this. And even putting that effort in...it only helps so much. Some werewolves are, to put it plainly, disabled or ill or "failing to thrive" in adulthood. Their society does its best to account for this, to varied success. The werewolves affected by this have to find their own ways of making peace with it.