Page 28 of Rome's Mate: Hunted Omegas

“You expect them to be dead. Surprise!” Amelia was bitter. She took a seat on the bench and turned to face her nemesis. The goddess wanted her dead for no other reason than she was born an omega.

“It’s nothing personal. When I cursed the warrior and his group, it was to make sure they understood that my creations were off limits. A lesson they have only partially learned through the centuries. Then Luna decided to modify my curse and bless each of them with one of you.” She sneered, looking at Amelia as if she was a dead animal dragged into the house by a feral cat.

Amelia placed her hand on her chest and gasped. “I’m sorry. Don’t I meet your expectations of an omega, or have I superseded them?”

“Cocky, I like that. You may want to stow the snark and listen to what I have to say. You may be harder to kill, but you’re not immortal yet. Didn’t know that, did you? There’s still a… let’s call it a test you must pass. One that your precious Luna cannot reveal to you.” Dark Night smiled at her, looking like a shark about to eat her whole.

“What are you planning?” That sense of dread crawled over Amelia’s spine, feeling like a thousand ants. She contorted to make sure nothing was crawling on her.

Dark Night laughed as she watched her. “I told you it was nothing personal, and it isn’t. Your death is just something that must occur. Every living thing dies.”

“That’s not true anymore, is it? You changed the natural order of things. Bringing an everlasting end to the end.” She didn’t know what she was talking about or if she was saying it right. Ever since Luna spoke about an end with no end, her mind worried over it, picking it apart and rephrasing.

Dark Night hissed. “You’re an insolent piece of trash.”

“Does that refer to the twelve, or does it refer to me and all the other omegas? If there is one, then there must be two and three and four etc. Omega means the end. Are we the end that no longer ends? Everlasting as we meet and mate with the other half of our souls?”

Could Rome be the half of her soul that she was missing? Was his soul cleaved in half when he was cursed? Did Luna retrieve what Dark Night threw away and give it to the twelve females who would be omegas? It didn’t make sense, right? In a way, it did. She looked back over her short life and could see when she would stop and reach for something or someone she couldn’t touch. It felt like there was someone right beyond her fingertips.

“What aren’t you telling me? What is the real reason you want me dead?” It didn’t track that more than a thousand years later, she was still holding a grudge for an animal that sprang to life when she touched it. “Rome told me about the past. The animal he and the others killed lived when you touched it. You may have been upset, but why so much energy a thousand years later? It makes no sense. What don’t you want to happen?”

That was it. It had to be. There was something she set in motion when she cursed Rome, and Luna sealed the deal when she created omegas for her immortal wolves. Why omegas? They could have had regular wolves as mates. The goddess of the Dark Night couldn’t kill every female wolf shifter.

“You should consider how you’re going to survive and not what I’m doing. Your mind is too limited to comprehend what a goddess is about.” Dark Night disappeared like she had never been there.

“She’s a joy to be around.” Amelia turned to see Luna walking toward her.

“I wasn’t expecting her.” Amelia stood and bowed before Luna in reverence and respect. “Please forgive me for not knowing who you were.”

“Don’t bow, child, I don’t need it. I know what’s in your heart.” She sat down, extending a hand for Amelia to sit.

“Dark Night is right. Immortality is yours, but there is always a price. One that you will have to decide to pay.”

Amelia’s stomach clenched as she thought of classic fairy tales where the firstborn was the price of riches and life eternal.

“I won’t give you or her my child.” She said it with fierce determination. When she woke, she’d fill Rome in on it, too. If the choice to live with him forever was the cost of her child, she couldn’t, wouldn’t do it.

“Dark Night is right. You’re cocky and I love it. You’ll know when the time is right.”

“Will I pass the test?”

“I have faith in you, but I planned your creation. Why wouldn’t I have faith?”

Amelia buried her fingers around the edge of the bench. Luna’s words weren’t giving her the assurance she needed. ‘You got this.’ Those were the words she wanted to hear.

“Why is Dark Night still holding a grudge? There is more at play here than anyone is saying.”

“Leave it to a woman to see what the males do not.” Beams of moonlight filtered through the sky to highlight Amelia’s face.

“The world is like an onion. There’s always something under the first layer,” Luna said before leaving.

Chapter Sixteen

A young wolf slippedout of the house, where he was for all intents and purposes being kept hostage. He ran quickly, knowing better than to change into his wolf form. The minute he did, they would know he was missing. Running swiftly, he came to the barrier. It was opaque, and no one knew how wide it was or how tall. They simply knew that it had never been breached before. It was a shield that kept them from interacting with the world beyond. The royals said it was for their safety. He snorted. No one was concerned with their safety. They wanted to keep them away from others so the so-called plague they brought to their kind wouldn’t spread. One day, he and the others would be free.

A hand laid firmly on his shoulder. He spun around swiftly to find his older brother.

“What are you doing out here?”

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