Page 15 of Chosen Omega

“See, it's fun to let your wolf out and let go of your worries for a while. Take off your dress, I promise we aren’t looking.” I do as he says and he keeps his eyes locked firmly with mine. The noise the other wolves were making is all silent now. I can feel their eyes on me, but I ignore it in favor of keeping Charles' gaze. “Very good, Little Wolf. Now close your eyes and call on your wolf. I can feel her there just under your skin. Just take a deep breath and relax your body as you ask her to come out.”

My eyes shut tight and I look into myself, trying to find the wolf inside of me. I can feel her there, watching me. I can hear Charles still speaking to me, coaching me on what I need to do, but I tune him out. This is my journey and I must take it alone. I breathe steadily as I reach out for her. She flinches back and I mentally drop my hand. I can see us in my mind. We’re standing in a meadow of soft light green grass, purple flowers are blooming all around us and the silver moonlight is shining like a spot light. Going down to my knees I look at her in her beautiful electric green eyes.

“Hello. You’re so beautiful.” Her coat is the same orange red as my hair, and her paws are white as Mandy’s fur. She is so small, like a pup, but just as sleekly muscled as James and August. I can feel the power emanating from her, but it doesn’t feel dominating like James and August. “I’m Rebecca. I know that you must be confused, but the Gods sent you to be with me. We are one, or at least I hope we can be. I need a friend.”

Slowly, she walks closer to me, her step light but steady. She drops her head but keeps her eyes on me the whole time. When she is mere feet away from me, she freezes and sniffs the air. Cinnamon and lavender surround us, mixing together so peacefully. I know that this is what I’ll smell like to other wolves when we join together. I can feel it now, how well we will fit together. She is a piece of my soul I never knew I was missing. Tears roll softly down my face and she steps closer. Her sandpaper tongue gently wipes up the tears and she rests her forehead against mine. I weave my fingers into the soft fur at her neck and breathe in her cinnamon scent. A whisper floats across my mind and I open myself completely to her.

“Welcome home, Rebecca. I’ve been waiting for you. We are finally complete.”

The wolf presses herself against me completely and I can feel her merging with me. Her body melts into my skin and a warmth starts to grow in my belly. The fainter she grows in my arms, the more the spot of heat grows in my belly. When she has faded completely, my whole body is radiating heat. I close my eyes and smile. I feel whole again. Complete.

Opening my eyes, I’m looking up at Charles. Everything looks completely different. Most of the colors have faded to gray, but his blue eyes stand out. I can smell others around me, but I know their scents and feel comfortable with them. I don’t want to take my eyes off the Alpha in front of me. I’m standing on my four feet and I can feel the wind rustling my fur. I don’t have to look down at my legs to know what I look like. I saw her in my mind as I shifted. The moonlight outside the doors is the same as it was in our meadow. My mind wants to look at everything around me, but I know, somehow, that it is important to keep my focus on the wolf in front of me. My belly feels warm, and I’m still craving something. A whine slips from my chest and I lay on my belly in front of Charles. My front legs cross over my nose, hiding from his dominant gaze. I respect him because he is family, but he isn’t the dominant force I want. But I do want something.

“Holy shit, this is impossible.” His words are soft, but in the silent night they ring out around us.

He sounds shocked and a bit scared and a lot awed. That combination terrifies me, so I whine again. Something is wrong. The other wolves are circling me, sniffing the air around me. James and August sniff close to my neck then quickly step back, yelps of surprise fall from their chest as they circle around Charles. At this point, even my wolf is worried about their reactions. A steady stream of whimpers, whines, and gentle growls are slipping from my throat. I want to ask them what is wrong, but I’m scared. A soft body rubs against my side, then another one does the same on the other side. Honey and Rose scent surround me as the two wolves lay against either side of me, creating a puppy pile and calming my nerves.

Charles kneels down in front of me, but his eyes are locked on Mandy. She is softly purring beside me, Abby doing the same thing as she watches the other Alphas pace behind Charles. Their tails are flicking in what I perceive to be agitation. Charles breaks eye contact with Mandy and looks down at me. I shrink back a bit at the intensity in his blue gaze. Whatever is about to come out of his mouth isn’t good, I can feel it in my bones, taste it in the atmosphere.

“Little Wolf, I need to tell you something. It may be a shock, but you need to understand that no one here is mad or upset with you. We are all a bit shocked and happy, and maybe a bit confused, but not upset or angry in the slightest.” He pauses, quickly glancing at the others in the room. James and August sit on their rumps behind Charles and wait, watching for my reaction. “Rebecca, you’ve manifested. That is a wonderful thing, but it isn’t what we expected. You aren’t a beta, you’re an Omega.”

Chapter Seventeen

An Omega

Hiswordsseemtoreach my mind one at a time. Each one hits a bit harder than the last. I understand the words he is saying, but they don’t make sense. There is no way I’m an Omega. I’m a Chosen wolf, I am only supposed to be able to Manifest as a Beta. They must be mistaken, but even as I think the words, I know in my heart they aren’t true. The signs have been there ever since I woke up and found out I was a wolf now. The kids at the mall, the sensitivity to smell, all the emotions that have been flooding my body, even my strange attraction to CJ and his pack. All the evidence proves I’m an Omega, but my mind is having trouble wrapping itself around it. I’m whimpering and whining again, I’m so confused and I’m looking around at everyone, hoping someone will say something, jump out and yell ‘gotcha!’. No one does though. James and August are laying in the puppy pile now, their Alpha energy doing its best to calm me down while Mandy and Abby purr louder and scoot even closer. They are practically laying on me now, but none of it is helping.

Charles takes my head between his hands and makes me focus on him, he shushes me, murmuring softly while petting the fur on my face and neck. “It’s okay Becca. You’re going to be fine. We’ll help you through this, I swear it. We won’t tell the Alpha council for now, we’ll just take a few weeks to get you settled and see if we can figure out why you manifested differently from other Chosen. Either way,” He stares into my eyes, really making sure I’m listening to his words. “You’re our daughter and we will protect you. You’re safe with us, and with CJ and his pack. It’s all going to be alright.”

The rest of the night is mostly spent in a puppy pile. When I finally calm down and accept that I am actually an Omega, we go for a short run around the yard before they help me shift back into skin. I don’t say a word to anyone. It's not that I’m upset about being an Omega, quite the opposite actually. I love that I get the chance to change a pack for the better. But it's obvious that my manifestation is going to cause problems, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I also don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about the pack. I thought that manifesting as an Omega would cure this reaction I have towards them. Now that I’m an Omega instead of a Beta, I haven’t got a clue what will happen. I’m already feeling something for them, and now, my hormones are likely going to go crazy because they are Alphas.

I don't really want to think about it right now. So when we get inside after our run, I head straight up the stairs. I’m standing in my room, looking for something soothing, but the only place I want to be is in my little room cuddled in the soft cushions and burritoed in the softest blanket I can find. I want to shut everything out and take time to absorb everything that happened today. So I do. I go to my little room, ignore the fact that I feel like it’s not quite right, and close my eyes. I fall asleep quickly after the day I’ve had, but I'm not alone anymore, even when I’m the only one in the room. My wolf is there, for hours, we lay beside each other in our meadow and talk. She tells me about growing up in the Moonlands with the other spirit wolves. She tells story after story about her mates that are now with their humans, waiting for her to join them. I tell her about my boring life before becoming a wolf and the crazy ride that it's been now that I’m Chosen. I tell her my fears about being a Chosen Omega and my confusion about all the feelings building inside of me. Then, when there are no more words to say, we rest quietly together. I always thought peace was sitting in the moonlight watching the ocean or the woodland creatures play, but I was wrong. This is true peace. Sitting alone in the meadow with the other half of my soul.

I don't leave my room for the rest of the weekend, even though everyone tries to convince me to come down. Leaving the little room when I wake up, not wanting anyone to find me there, but after a shower, I crawl under the blankets on my bed and I don’t move again. The boys each come to my door to talk, but I never say a word to them. Their scents are stronger now, enticing and confusing all at once. All of them smell like a delicious dessert that I want to gorge myself with, but something about the scents soothe me, and I don’t know what to do about it or how to feel about it.

Mandy comes to the door more than once, for about an hour, she sits outside my room. She tells me about the boys’ run with the football team and about the first time she shifted and manifested as an Omega. Apparently, her mom died giving birth to her. She has six older brothers, and none of them are Alphas. Her father assumed she was a Beta too and gave her away. He was obsessed with having a ‘special child’. And Mandy was a surprise that neither of her parents were ready for. The foster family she was placed with had a daughter her age, Abby. They adopted her before she was even a year old and raised her as if she were their own child.

Abby and Mandy manifested on the same moon. They had made plans for over a year about what they would do when they Manifested. In Lupin Law, a manifested wolf is a legal adult and the two were determined to take advantage of that law by traveling all around the Communities. Their parents supported the dream and had already arranged for a Community tour. But then, Mandy manifested as an Omega. The two of them were devastated. As an Omega, she couldn’t visit any Community with unmated Alphas unless she was chaperoned. At sixteen, the girls thought it was the end of the world.

Then James showed up. His parents moved to the community to be closer to the council when he Manifested. The three of them became instant friends. Mandy says that Abby insisted that James was the Alpha for Mandy almost as soon as she saw him. But Mandy was reluctant. He was going to move in a bit to meet his pack in another community and even though Mandy was drawn to him, she couldn’t go with him. When he left, Mandy was devastated and Abby was upset that she was so hurt. So, Abby set it up to become an Omega Chaperone and took Mandy to see James. When she met the Lead Alpha, Charles, the Mate Bond kicked in and the rest is history. Abby moved to the Alpha Falls Community to be close to Mandy and James and when Charles took over the Community, he appointed her as the liaison for new Wolves joining the Community.

When the story was over, Mandy asks me to come out and have dinner with them, but I just can’t face the world yet. And I certainly don’t want to see the boys. They make me feel things that I don’t understand. I want to ask Mandy about it, but I’m embarrassed so I keep my mouth shut and let her request go unanswered. When she sighs, she sounds so disappointed and upset. My heart cracks and silent tears roll down my cheeks as I fall asleep. This is too much, all of it. Being an Omega and disappointing Mandy, it's all just more than I was mentally prepared to deal with. So for tonight, I’ll be by myself and wrestle with my emotions alone. Tomorrow… Tomorrow I’ll do the right thing and talk to Mandy and her Pack. I’ll find out what I need to know about being an Omega and what we are going to do from here.

Sunday morning, I’m feeling much better about everything. I’ve had time to calm down and really accept everything that happened Friday. Camden is a fucking dick who could take a long walk off a short bridge for all I care. When I see him again tomorrow, I’ll make sure that he knows exactly what I think about him. Until then, I need to get up, shower, get dressed and face the Omega problem head on. It’s not going away and the longer I put off talking about it, the less time we have to figure it out before the Council finds out. I’m terrified of what they will do when they learn that a Chosen Wolf manifested as an Omega, but theywillfind out eventually. We need to be ready for it when it happens.

I don’t take long getting dressed. I’m not planning on going anywhere, so after my shower, I put on leggings and a slouchy, too big sweatshirt and put my hair up in a messy bun. I don’t put on any makeup or shoes. Instead, I slip into some purple fuzzy socks and grab my phone as I head to the kitchen for breakfast. I knew that at least one of Mandy’s mates would be in the kitchen. This past week, I’ve learned that they all like to cook and make sure Mandy is taken care of. James is the worst cook, but he makes the best sweets, and he always makes sure to sneak me an extra cookie when Charles puts the cookie jar on the top shelf of the pantry. August makes sure that the house stays stocked with anything we could need and handles all the shopping. He offered to take me shopping this weekend for my birthday, but after everything that happened, I didn’t feel like going out. He stopped by my room yesterday to tell me that the trip is postponed until next weekend and asked if I needed anything particular from the store.

Walking into the kitchen I’m a bit taken aback to see CJ and his pack in there making breakfast. Mandy and her pack are sitting at the table with cups of coffee laughing at something James said, but I can barely focus on them with the scents of the guys floating around the room making me light headed. I want to act like I’m not entranced by them, but that isn’t possible. For one, Erik hasn’t stopped staring at me since I walked into the room, and for two, Mandy is already making her way to my side.

“Becca!” She wraps me in a hug as everyone else turns towards us. Charles, James, and August all smile, but CJ, Skylar, and Hutch are all looking at me as if I’m a ghost. “I’m so glad you came down to have breakfast with us. I know that Friday was really overwhelming but it’ll get better I promise.”

She keeps her arms around me as she leads me to the table, sitting me between her and James, who throws an arm around my shoulders. A growl sounds behind us, but before I can turn to see who it is or ask what's wrong, it cuts off again. The boys are whispering to each other as they finish breakfast and the Pack and Mandy are talking a mile a minute. Charles says he has to report to the Council by the end of the week and the thought is terrifying. I don’t want the council to know I’m an Omega, but Charles insists it is necessary. August is saying that he would love to get genetic samples from me and my parents to see if there are any signs of Lycan heritage. I don’t really know what to think about any of it. My mind is spinning in circles.

Chapter Eighteen

Breakfast with the Packs

CJandSkylarwalkup to the table, each of them have plates lined up on both arms as if they are professional waiters. CJ goes to Charles and August, who reach up and grab plates off their arms, and set them down on the table. Erick brings a tray of cups full of juice and Hutch is carrying a carafe that I’m assuming is full of coffee. Skylar lets James and Mandy both grab a plate, then he sits down a plate in front of two empty spots, but he is still holding a plate. Mandy reaches for it, but he pulls it out of her reach.

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