The Omega’s Hidden Revenge

CHAPTER 5: THE GAME BEGINS

Lira’s POV

I no longer pretended that survival was sufficient.

During the days I had been following the Nightfall Pack. I was informed about the person who stole food that was destined for omegas. I was informed about which warriors misused power in the absence of the Alpha. I found out who the elders were lying behind closed doors and being fake loyalists.

The men of the old would have fought in the open.

The woman I now was made knew better.

Revenge was better done in silence.

On the morning, I was on my knees in front of the storage room, sorting herbs with the rest of the omegas. My head was still bent, my pose feeble, my breath deep. Any observer would have thought he saw no more than an omega quietly attempting to pass unnoticed.

But my ears listened to everything.

“Another supply,” said one of the warriors, has been forgotten.

“That makes three this week,” another replied. Somebody is robbing the pack.

I hid my smile.

The previous evening, I had stolen records out of the supply ledger and placed them where Beta Ryker was to find them. Enough to make the truth come out full-blown--enough to cast doubt.

A seed planted.

Small truths always gave rise to chaos.

Later in the afternoon, Ryker burst into the courtyard with parchment. “Who gave these transfers?” he questioned.

The elders quarrelled at once.

Voices rose.

Accusations followed.

I kept sweeping the floor as though none of it were.

The shadow queen did not need a throne. All she had to do was wait.

And gradually something started to turn the pack against itself.

The air was altered before anybody said he had come.

Every wolf felt it.

Power was coming like a storm.

Soldiers were posted in the courtyard. Old people were bowing. Even Alpha Kael straightened herself up.

A black carriage halted at the pack entrance, and about it were armored guards, whose eyes shone a little silver.

My heart skipped.

Lycan royalty.

The carriage door was opened, and Prince Valen came out.

He did it with easy command, straight and composed, his silver eyes sweeping all this with silent wisdom. Mute obedience followed him like a shadow.

I bowed my head and hid my face under my hair.

Lycan princes did not go to simple packs with no purpose.

Something was wrong.

Kael stepped forward. “Prince Valen. Nightfall Pack welcomes you.”

Valen bowed gracefully, and he lost track.

Searching.

Hunting.

Then his eyes betrayed me.

Time froze.

I knew it when his eyes fell on me--the realization keen enough to take the breath out of me.

He advanced gradually.

Warriors parted without an order.

I maintained my position in submission until he got by.

Instead, Prince Valen halted before me.

And then…

He bowed his head.

Not deeply.

Just enough.

There were gasps in the courtyard.

The royalty of Lycans was only submissive to equals.

Only to royalty.

Only to a person worthy of reverence.

My pulse thundered.

I did not look up.

I could not.

Kael’s voice hardened. “Your Highness, is something wrong?”

Valen straightened smoothly. “Nothing,” he replied placidly. I only recognized. possible.

Everyone was baffled by his words.

But his eyes lingered on me one second too long before he walked away.

Fear was clenching my heart.

He knew something.

Something dangerous.

Later that day, training was resumed, but tension was in the air.

I came over the field, taking water buckets in my hands, and going on as if I were a ghost, and observed Kael at work with his warriors.

He struck violently, strength radiating from him with each blow.

Then abruptly he made a pause.

His head turned.

Toward me.

We were looking at each other over the field.

My body was suddenly hit by heat.

Kael roused his wolf--and I felt it through the air. His eyes grew dark and confused, possessive.

He missed a strike.

He was struck by a warrior.

Kael growled and stepped back as though it was something shaking him.

Luna Selene observed at a glance.

Her keen eyes trailed his gaze. right to me.

Her face flushed with jealousy.

She walked briskly up to Kael. “Alpha, is something wrong with you?”

“I am all right,” I replied, though my voice was not natural.

The face of Selene turned on me like a knife.

I lowered my head instantly, hiding my reaction.

Peril crept round me.

Kael could not figure out why he was watching me.

Selene neither knew why she was afraid of me.

And both affections left me a mark.

Night was still silent, yet I seemed to be followed.

One of the servants came up to me. “The Lycan prince requests your presence.”

My hands froze.

What could be an omega, desired by royalty?

All instincts cried danger.

Nonetheless, to say no was not possible.

I trailed the servant to a personal garden in the back of the Alpha house. Moonlight lay silver-shadows on the stone walks.

Prince Valen was standing alone by the fountain.

He turned with a calm face, and there was something in it--a sort of emotion.

He waved away the servant with a movement.

We were alone.

My head remained bowed. “Your Highness called me? Yousaid?”

For a long time, he just looked at me.

Then he said in a low voice.

“You hide well.”

My breath caught.

“I do not know,” I said to myself.

Valen stepped closer.

Too close.

His voice got low and was directed to me as a whisper.

“I watched you die.”

The world stopped.

Shivers ran along my veins.

My head jerked up, and I could not restrain myself.

There was certainty in his silver eyes.

No doubt.

No confusion.

Recognition.

Impossible recognition.

“You are confusing me,” I said hastily, pulling myself together.

Valen shook his head slowly.

“No,” he murmured. “I never forget a queen condemned unjustly.”

Queen.

The name was a thunderbolt.

My hands trembled.

“How…?” I whispered.

His eyes had a little lightened. “I was among those who witnessed the ritual the night you were executed. I was there, I could see the betrayal.”

My heart sank in my breast.

There was someone who was aware of the truth.

Someone powerful.

Someone dangerous.

Valen leaned forward, and his voice was scarcely audible.

“You shall not have come back yet,” he said. “They are not over with hunting you.”

Terror hung round my lungs.

“Who?” I asked.

Before he could answer, footsteps echoed nearby.

Kael’s voice rang out from the garden entrance. “Prince Valen?”

Valen stepped back instantly, his expression turning neutral again.

The moment was shattered.

Kael entered, his gaze moving between us, suspicion darkening his features.

“What business does royalty have with an omega?” Kael asked.

Valen smiled faintly. “Curiosity.”

Kael’s eyes lingered on me longer than necessary.

Protective.

Conflicted.

Dangerous.

I lowered my head again, hiding the storm inside me.

Because now I understood something terrifying.

Kael was drawn to me without knowing why.

Valen knew exactly who I was.

And somewhere inside Nightfall Pack… someone had already tried to poison me.

As I turned to leave, Valen’s voice reached me one last time.

“Be careful, Lira,” he said quietly. “Death failed once. It rarely fails twice.”

My blood ran cold.

How many people knew?

Who brought me back?

And why did fate push three powerful wolves toward me at the same time?

Behind me, I felt Kael’s gaze burning into my back.

Ahead of me waited enemies hiding behind familiar faces.

And deep inside my soul…

Something ancient began waking fully.

Not an omega.

Not a victim.

Something far more dangerous.

If Prince Valen witnessed my execution… then who was the hooded figure that ordered my death—and why is my return threatening the entire wolf kingdom now?