Page 7 of Rome's Mate: Hunted Omegas

“I’m not a wolf.” This was her secret shame. While all the others changed in puberty, she didn’t.

“Not all wolves are the same.” They walked until they came across a bench that seemed to be set aside for wanderers to sit.

“This place is wonderful.” There was a sense of peace that flowed through it. As much as she loved the woods where she lived, to be in a forest that seemed to have no end or beginning appealed to her.

“Many call it the alpha and omega.” She turned to give the old woman her attention. “Alpha the beginning. Omega the end. It’s a blessing to be the omega who will stand for the unending end.”

“I don’t understand how the end cannot end.”

“It is a mystery that not even the world has come to grips with yet. Anger, even if felt justified, needs to be tempered by the tongue. Now we have a paradox that cannot change, for it was spoken. That is not your worry. Soon your twenty-fifth naming day will be upon you. Have you made your decision?”

“Will I run, or will I stay?” Amelia whispered the words. They had plagued her every day since the old woman gave her the boots. Then her father gifted her with a car that she ached to drive and a bank card she wanted to use.

To run meant to leave everything she knew and loved. It meant to leave her father and Nicole. To never see them again for a chance at life in a world she didn’t know much about.

“Yes,” the old woman said. It also sounded like she was saying yes, Amelia needed to run.

“I don’t know.” Her confusion was thick in her voice.

“Allow me to help you, little wolf.” The moon sought to highlight the older woman as if it were supporting her or drawing attention to her words. “If you stay with your pack, they will kill you. Will there be enough of you left to bury beside your mother? There is no answer to that until the rendering and shredding begin. To leave means you have a chance at life. It isnot guaranteed, no life is. A chance is all you’re ever given. Only you can decide what your future looks like.” The old woman walked away, disappearing in the moonlight.

Amelia woke and looked at the phone her father had updated for her last month. It was midnight, her naming day. She got up and dressed in the outfit she laid out. If she were honest with herself, she wasn’t going to march placidly like a lamb to her slaughter. The decision to run away took hold when she understood that if she stayed here, there was no future for her. She crept out of her room. The desire to look at her father’s face one more time and to hear his voice or to hug him almost overwhelmed her. She shook it off.

They had said their goodbyes before she retired for the night. She understood why it had to be that way. She crept up the stairs and out of the house. The small town they lived in was quiet, everyone was asleep. She got as far as the trees before someone called her name. It was quiet enough not to wake anyone.

“I knew you would leave before the others woke. Only a coward misses their rightful death.”

It wasn’t until that very second that she realized James was full of bullshit. He wanted a chance to prove he was alpha material by being the one who would take her down. Her death would be a feather in his cap.

She didn’t stop to plead or try to talk reason to him. She secured her backpack and took off running through the woods. He changed, going from human to wolf. His change wasn’t the fastest, and that gave her a head start. He was on four legs to her two and even with the head start; he cut her off.

He stood before her, growling. Saliva dripped out of the corner of his mouth while his eyes looked wild. He was a wolf who wanted to rend and tear.

“I was always sorry for the father the goddess gave you.” She moved backwards silently, drawing him away from their smalltown while not leading him to her car. “Any other father would love you for what you are and see the worthiness you bring to the town. Now no one sees it because you cannot see that you are enough.”

James couldn’t talk in his wolf form, but the low growls that vibrated through his chest got his message across. He jumped at her, she spun around on the heels of her boots and started running. He caught the backpack with his teeth, clinging on as he tried to bring his front paws close enough to tear through her neck. She swung around, hitting him against a tree and forcing him to let go. The backpack was going with her. The things like the picture of her parents that she cherished were in there.

She ran deeper into the woods, leaving a false trail before she climbed a tree. She stayed still as he came to sniff at the end of the trail. James looked into the canopy, but it was thick enough to hide her. When he backed off, she took off, using the tree tops to make it to her car.

He let out a howl that would wake the entire pack. She uncovered her car and slid in. When the pack howled together, she started the engine, knowing the howls of the wolves would hide the roar of the engine. She took off, vowing never to look back.

Chapter Four

The car cut throughthe woods. Amelia could hear the wolves howling and knew they would try to chase her down, but she wasn’t worried. Her father’s pack was fast, but as far as she knew, they’d never managed to chase a car down. Add that to the fact that Nicole and her father would be using misdirection and sleight of hand to give her a head start. She wasn’t sure about her uncle Henri, sad but true. It didn’t matter, she could count on her dad, even though he was alpha and Nicole. Why was she just realizing that Nicole was her ride or die? It was depressing, and she buried that thought. Now was not the time to think about it.

Although the body of the car looked like it needed work, underneath, it purred like a kitten. Now that she was away, the real questions began. Where would she live? Where would she work? She was trained as an accountant and could take online jobs to start her own business. It all seemed daunting now that she was alone.

Amelia drove until her car demanded to be fed. She wasn’t sure where she was or which direction she’d been going in.She pulled off the highway and stopped at the first gas station she saw. Filling her tank was the first order of business. Then, stopping the revolt going on in her stomach by eating, the second. It felt like it had been days since she had eaten. That may be the case. She’d been so worried about what she was going to do that food had little appeal. There was a cute diner about three lots down with a green awning that seemed to call to her. She drove down, parked the car, and walked in.

Should she have stopped by one of those machines the humans used to spit out money? Or would they take either of the cards her father handed her? She’d seen him pay for food more than once, using them. In her small town, they did a lot of trading even for food, and they sent the young wolves out to hunt for game to offset the price of meat. Her father often said that the pack lived with one foot in the past and the other in the here and now.

“Hi, take a seat wherever, and I’ll hand you a menu in a minute,” the woman passing by with her hands full, with a tray of food said.

This was one reason she liked humans. They didn’t look too far below the surface, and they were kind to her, always smiling and not sniffing like they smelled spoiled meat when she was around.

She took a seat at a table with only two chairs, but it allowed her to see both exits and the kitchen, and she was close to the side exit. Knowing she had a way out allowed her to breathe a little easier.

“Welcome to Jack’s roadside café. Here’s that menu I promised you. When you’re ready to order, just flag me down. Name’s Madison.” She pointed to the name tag on her uniform. “Everyone calls me Maddie. You can too.”

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