Chapter Three: The Stormborn Pack
903 Words
The Omega block was not what I expected.
I had prepared myself for squalor, thin walls, dirt floors, the particular grey misery of a space designed to remind its occupants of their position every day. I had grown up watching how packs treated their lowest ranked members and learned early that you could measure the character of an Alpha by the condition of his Omegas. Anyone could be generous with warriors. Generosity toward those who could offer nothing in return, that was the real measure.
So I walked into the Omega block ready to be disappointed and found instead a long stone building with wide windows, clean floors, and the smell of something warm drifting from a communal kitchen. Small and modest, certainly, but not degraded.
I filed that away without comment.
Caden walked beside me, hands in his pockets, pointing out doors as we went.
“Washroom. Storage. Kitchen. Your room is at the end.
We stopped outside a door with a small iron handle.
“It’s private,” he added. Most Omegas share, but Alexander said. He paused. You were assigned a private room.
I noticed the edit.
I opened the door.
The room was simple, a narrow bed, a washstand, a single window overlooking silver birch trees swaying in the wind. A hook for coats. A shelf above the bed. Nothing decorative. Nothing unnecessary.
But the bedding was clean.
Someone had left a folded towel on the mattress with a small wrapped bar of soap resting on top.
I set my bag down.
“Who else lives here?” I asked.
“Eight Omegas. Tomas is the eldest. Mira and her daughter, Pip. Four young males transferred from Ashwood after the pack dissolved. And Old Hessa.
“Old Hessa?”
“She’s seventy four and has opinions about everything. His mouth twitched. Get on her good side. She’s the real authority around here.
The corner of my mouth moved.
Noted.
Caden turned to leave, then paused.
“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “what you did in the hall, nobody does that. Not even visiting Alphas.
“Is that a warning?”
An observation. His amber eyes studied me. He doesn’t like being surprised.
He’ll have to get used to disappointment.
A genuine smile broke across his face.
Breakfast is at seven. Omegas eat separately from the main pack. He paused. For now.
Then he left.
I slept for three hours and woke to the sound of running feet in the corridor, followed by a loud whisper.
“Pip, I said quietly!”
I stared at the ceiling for a moment, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of an unfamiliar pack.
This was my life now.
For six months.
Maybe longer.
After washing and changing clothes, I followed the smell of food to the communal kitchen.
Conversation stopped when I entered.
Eight faces turned toward me.
Curiosity. Wariness. Caution.
A little girl with enormous dark eyes and uneven braids stared openly.
“You’re new,” she announced.
I am.
“What’s your name?”
Aurora.
She considered this seriously.
That’s a moon name.
It is.
I like moon names. She patted the bench beside her. Sit here.
An old woman at the end of the table made a sound that might have been a laugh.
I sat.
Something in the room loosened.
A bowl of porridge appeared in front of me. Then tea.
I ate quietly and let the room settle around me.
You talked back to him.
I looked up.
Old Hessa watched me with sharp grey eyes.
“The Alpha,” she clarified. Word travels fast. You talked back to him in the Great Hall.
The table went still.
Even Pip stopped chewing.
“I spoke plainly,” I said.
“Hmm Hessa studied me. “Plain speaking hasn’t historically gone well for people in this pack.
“Has it gone well for people who didn’t speak plainly?”
Silence stretched across the table.
Then Hessa’s mouth curved.
“Tomas,” she said, I believe I owe you three silver coins.
The broad, weathered Omega beside her held out his hand.
She dropped three coins into it.
I blinked.
“What was the bet?”
Whether the new collateral would still have her spine by morning. Hessa took a sip of tea. I said you’d leave it at the border gate. Tomas disagreed.
Tomas finally looked up.
Said she carried it too naturally to set it down.
A few smiles appeared around the table.
“I’m pleased to have been wrong,” Hessa said.
Pip patted my hand.
I would have bet on you.
“You’ve known me for ten minutes.
I know. She nodded solemnly. “But I still would have.
Warmth stirred unexpectedly in my chest.
Thank you, Pip.
You’re welcome, Aurora Moon. She grinned. I’m calling you that now.
I glanced toward the window.
Beyond it stretched the vast grey territory of the Stormborn Pack.
Somewhere inside the fortress at its center, Alexander Stormborn was almost certainly deciding how to make my day considerably worse.
I thought of the Great Hall.
Of storm grey eyes.
Of an Alpha who disliked surprises.
Then I looked back at the little girl beside me and the table full of Omegas watching with cautious curiosity.
“That's okay,” I told Pip.
She smiled triumphantly.
I picked up my spoon and finished my breakfast.
Let him try.
- Writer
