The Omega’s Hidden Revenge

CHAPTER 2: THE OMEGA WHO WATCHES

Lira’s POV

The day had arrived too soon.

I did not get up to work; I got up because sleep would not abide with me. Whenever I shut my eyes, I would flash back to the execution--the blade, the mob, the silence of Kael.

The omega quarters were damp wood and fatigue. Thin blankets covered bodies curled tightly together on the floor. There were omegas asleep in the cold, who had likely beentoo exhausted to rouse themselves. Some were getting ready to serve wolves on another day who hardly realized they were there.

That was the life of Lira before I possessed her body.

Invisible. Unwanted. Forgotten.

I arose slowly and looked about the room. There were no guards around. No warriors were attentive enough to keep an eye on omegas.

Perfect.

A poor omega was free to move; she was not considered to be important.

I dropped my eyes and made my shoulders stoop the same as the other had. Weak posture. Soft steps. Quiet breathing. I had to do this role to the full extent.

And, had I seemed a strong man, I should perish once more.

I could ruin them in the shadows should I remain unseen.

One of the girls sitting next to me said, You are early.

I turned toward her. She was younger than I was, with weary,kind eyes.

“Yes,” I said to myself. “I couldn’t sleep.”

She gave a small nod. “Do not attract attention to yourself. Omegas that shine are more victimized.”

The irony almost caused me to laugh.

Had she known, once, that I had been at the head of this pack.

There was a knock on the door, and all the omegas immediately crouched.

Terror was circulating through the room like a chill.

I trailed their response in feigning obedience.

But there was a feeling. wrong.

I felt a weird prickling on my skin.

Someone was watching me.

I lifted my eyes slightly.

The entrance was vacant.

But the emotion did not go away.

Whatever it was was well concealed.

I had a hunch it was dangerous.

Towards the end of the morning, the kitchen was in commotion. Orders shouted, and servants went flying between fires and tables.

I held a basket of bread in my arms and walked slowly to keep up the impression of frailty.

“Lira.”

The voice stopped me instantly.

My stomach contracted before I even swiveled.

Beta Ryker Voss leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed. His keen gray eyes followed me and did not miss a thing.

I recalled those eyes.

He had been by the side of Kael on the day of my execution.

He had not said anything.

I said to myself, “C-Commander,” I said, and I lowered my head.

He came nearer round, like a hunter that scouts the game.

“You have come new,” he said.

“I have been here all the time,” I said to myself.

“Hm.” His eyes lingered on my position. “You do not act like other omegas.”

My heart beat overrode, and I made my hands shake a little.

I try not to get into trouble.

“And that is the very problem,” he said.

I glanced up and feigned perplexity.

He dropped down and spoke in a low voice. You observe others. Omegas do not observe. They do not stare at you.

A dangerous man.

Too observant.

“I am nothing but afraid,” I said.

Ryker gazed at me for a long time, like a man in a hunt after something hidden in my flesh.

There was a dreadful moment when I believed he knew me.

Then he withdrew.

“Careful, careful, take care,” he thought to himself. “Nightfall Pack destroys wolves who pretend to be something they are not.”

The alarm was rather intimate.

He went off, leaving an ill feeling.

Peril had overtaken me sooner than I had thought.

It was not until later in the afternoon that I was called to the main courtyard.

Omegas assembled in a row with heads downwards as Luna Selene came. She was perfect in her beauty and kind enough to make people think she smiled. I recalled the ambition lurking in her placid eyes.

She stopped directly in front of me.

Interesting.

Lift your head, she said.

I obeyed slowly.

It was as though she were attempting to unravel a puzzle, her glance tightening on my face.

“What is your name?”

“Lira, my Luna.”

Once round, she circled me. You were the one in the Alpha who was there yesterday.

Rumors were flying among the servants.

I maintained a noncommittal expression. “It was an accident.”

Selene caught my chin, and I was looking at her.

You must not forget your place; you should remember your place, but her fingers drew together in pain. Some wolves losethe memory of their position and start fantasies higher than their status.

It was not just a correction, but her words had a meaning.

“Was she threatened?”

By an omega?

Unthinkable. unless her instincts told her something that she herself did not know.

“Yeah, my Luna,” I said meekly.

She sent me off with apparent irritation.

“Wash the training grounds tonight,” she said in a very loud voice. “Alone.”

Punishment covered with duty.

And when she walked away, I thought she was looking at my back a little longer than was necessary.

She feared me.

But she did not know why.

Yet.

The night came down in silence over the Nightfall Pack.

I had completed the cleaning process long after everybody was back inside. I felt sore, but fatigue was not able to quench the weird attraction growing within me.

Then I heard it.

A howl.

Deep. Powerful. Calling.

Another followed.

And another.

The wolves were assembling towards the forest.

I felt my chest tightening, and something within me reacted instinctively.

Go.

The phrase reverberated in my head.

I attempted to resist, yet my feet acted by themselves. I crept through the gates without being noticed and entered the forest in the moonlight.

The trees were filled with silver light.

The instant it touched my skin, I felt warm.

I gasped.

The moonlight was flashing around my hands like life-giving energy.

My wolf stirred.

Not weak.

Not broken.

Ancient.

Powerful.

A wave of power flew along my veins, causing me to fall on my knees. The pounding of my heart was deafening, as I was spectating at the flickering of the memories--wolves bowing, symbols glowing, voices whispering my name in some other existence. What. Is that happening to me?

“What… is happening to me?” I whispered.

The air vibrated.

There was rustling of leaves but no wind.

The moon overhead was even clearer, and it almost seemed to be staring at me.

My wolf has at last opened its eyes, inside my chest.

And when it came, I had a sort of wakefulness, which had been slumbering centuries.

Something old.

Something dangerous.

Something that should never have returned.

I lifted my head slowly, trembling as power hummed beneath my skin.

Because deep down, I understood one terrifying truth.

My rebirth was not an accident.

Something ancient had awakened inside me under the full moon… and it was only beginning.