The Omega Who Burned

She was on the floor before she understood what had happened. The cold stone pressed against her cheek, familiar in the way only things that have hurt you repeatedly can be. She had been on this floor before. Different reason, same silence after. Twenty years of it. Above her, two voices cut through the ringing in her ears. "Don't tell me you actually did it?" Jeezzzz… "You must be crazy, Jack." Wait.. Are you serious? Eric's voice was low, his jaw was tight, and his eyes said everything his voice was trying not to. "You can't imagine how it feels when I enter her; she is a fuckin human. Why do you care so much about her like that?" Eric forgot about it; she couldn't remember because I compelled her." "She is human, Eric." "Why did you care so much about her? She has no wolf. No rank. No family. She is nobody." That was when the scream hit them. "Did you hear that?" "What is that?" Eric turned to Jack slowly, his voice dropping to something quieter, far more dangerous. "Just so we're clear, she is an orphan. That does not mean she has no one." He held Jack's gaze for a long moment. "Do not do that again. Or I will report you to Alpha myself. I am his Gamma, and I will not look the other way twice." Eric left without another word. # # # Mira lay still until their footsteps faded. Then she breathed. She had to deal with Jack. Everything he had done to her, every calculated cruelty, every reminder that she was nobody, every cold floor she had woken up on, she had to deal with all of it. Right now or never. She pressed her palms flat against the stone and tried to rise. That was when she felt it, something electric moving through her veins, sharp and sudden and entirely foreign. Not pain exactly. Something older than pain. Something that had been waiting inside her body for a long time and decided that now was the moment. She screamed. Not from fear, not from assault still ringing through her bones. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." The sound ripped out of her, rolled down the corridor, and kept going, spreading outward through stone and air, something beyond both, until the entire pack felt it land. "What was that?" "Who was that?" She did not hear them. She was too busy watching her own hands. Her eyes had changed, the shift from ash grey to burning blue. Her hair rose without wind. Her feet lifted from the ground. Her pain rushed through her all at once, twenty years of it, compressed into a single moment, burning clean through her chest and out the other side. She was not afraid. The thought was calm. Almost gentle. But certain. Whatever just happened, whoever felt it, you cannot be standing here when they come looking. She scanned the corridor. Empty. She moved fast, keeping close to the walls, her leg still unsteady beneath her. At the pack marketplace, a group of traders from another pack were loading goods through the main gate, their carrier cart large enough to slip behind unnoticed. She did not hesitate. She fell into step beside the cart, headed down, and walked through the gate without looking back. She did not stop until the pack house was completely out of sight. # # # Across the territory, Alpha Caden's mind linked to his Beta immediately. Robert. "Alpha?" " Was there an attack?" Caden was already moving toward the door. Beside him, his wolf Voss had gone rigid, not with aggression, but with something sharper. Something that did not have a clean name yet. Who is that? Voss Pressed Caden did not have an answer; his wolf called to him urgently; they had to find out before it was too late. # # # Elsewhere, in a room that smelled of smoke and old power, a figure stood at the edge of a circle drawn in ash and salt. "Her power has awakened; we have to kill her before she masters it." "Are you sure?" "We have to find a way to destroy her power before it fully awakens. She must not know what she is. A bloodline Wizard. A very powerful one that can destroy an entire pack." He turned sharply, "Judah calls every witch across the state. Tell them we have an emergency. Everyone returns tonight." "Noted. Judah left without another word. The figure turned back to the circle, jaw tight. How did she awaken on her own?" Who triggered her? He cursed under his breath and reached for the ancient book at the edge of the circle. His fingers found the page without searching. As though the book already knew when he needed it. Binding of power awakening. He began to read, his voice low and urgent, the old language moving through the room like smoke: "Κάτοχος κατέχω… Ερμῆ Κατόχῳ. Κατέχω αὐτοῦ τὴν γλῶσσαν, τὸν νοῦν, τὴν ψυχήν…" Fire surfaced from the circle. Glowing. Spreading. He repeated the spell. Then, without warning, the flares surged outward. The book caught first. Then the candles. Then everything inside the circle, consumed in a single violent breath of flame that left nothing behind. He staggered back, breathing hard. "This is too big for me. I cannot do this alone." The fire answered him with silence. # # # Down the hall, Clara's voice cut through the dark. "Alison, wake up." Alison's eyes open instantly. "What is it?" "Danger is around the corner. Your son is on his way to your room." Alison sat up slowly, her mind already moving. "It is time. Her power has emerged. We need to reach her before the witches do." Clare stepped closer… "You know we need her. Her bloodline is the only thing powerful enough to make Caden the Alpha king of all kings." "I know." Alison's voice was quiet but certain. "And I will not let anyone get to her first." She was still lost in thought with her wolf, turning the plan over in her mind: how to find the girl, how to identify her, how to reach her, how to reach her before the witches closed in. And wasn't aware when her son entered. "Mother" She was startled. "Sorry, son. I was lost in thought." Caden stepped inside, his eyes reading her the way they always did, too carefully. "Is everything fine?" "Yes." She looked at him steadily. "Caden, it is time. We need to move before the witches find her first." He frowned. "How will I identify her? What sign am I looking for?" You will know by her aura, Alison said. "She is more powerful than anything you have ever sensed. She can stop a man's heart without lifting a finger." She paused. "She is still within the pack. Find her before it is too late."