Her Second Chance Alpha

No More Secrets

Cassie made her way back to the Omega house far past the time she was expected. Cassie hoped she would be able to sneak in unnoticed. She quietly headed to the back door, taking care to step on the wooden planks lining the side of the building, stepping locations for when the spring floods would otherwise have them trudging through ponds.

Cassie and June had memorized the best stepping locations. Whenever a plank was replaced, they tested and retested it to ensure they knew exactly where to step to avoid the loudest sounds. While they didn't tend to sneak out under the radar anymore, the knowledge was still quite handy. It was how Cassie left every morning without Melissa catching her when she went to see Delian. Every step took focus. Plank by plank, Cassie maneuvered her way to the back door. As she reached to open it, the door flew open, crushing her against the back wall.

Trying not to make any more sounds than her

"Cassie??" June whispered into the dark.

A small gurgle of pain escaped Cassie, "eurgumm." June eased up on the door and glanced to the other side where Cassie was slowly unsticking from the wall.

"Goddess," June breathed, "sorry, Cass."

She offered Cassie her hand, pulling her swiftly into the covers of darkness the Omega house offered. They quietly picked their way to the stairs leading up to the rooms upon rooms in which the Omegas performed their duties. There were large kitchens for the Omegas to cook, several workshops where those quick with their hands would stitch new evening wear for the ranked wolves - anything the pack needed the Omegas had to fulfill. But here, downstairs in the darkness, long past when the rest of her lowly ranked family had settled in, there was a sense of peace. June pulled her into a long forgotten closet that housed some old, discarded cleaning equipment. June and Cassie had used it as long as she could remember to find a moment of silence, a moment where they wouldn't be spotted and sent to do some small task or another. As long as they were quiet, they were unlikely to be found.

They sat there for a moment in silence. Cassie fumbled for the small string that turned on the dull lamp, the one source of light in the space.

"I was worried." June deadpanned.

Cassie continued to search for the light. "I'm sorry."

What else could she say? Her heart raced and filled her mind with all the ways she could tell her friend that she was marked, that she found her mate. But all of those required herself and Delian to be ready to go public, and that needed a conversation.

"Cassie... I know that you're not ready to tell me but please, give me something. You're running yourself ragged, you blew off Beta Melissa like you don't care how she retaliates - it feels like you're days away from passing out your measly belongings and jumping off a cliff."

June continued, barely taking a breath, "if there's literally anything you can tell me, anything that will give me the chance to at least understand what you're going through. Even a crumb, a small flake off the edge of a croissant of knowledge. I can't predict what you're going to do next. It's like trying to determine which way the wind is blowing when you're in the sewers unclogging a pipe.

"June - "

"And I know you're gonna tell me you just need more time, but dammit Cass. I'm worried sick - WHAT IS THAT."

Cassie's heart leapt into her throat as June all but shouted. She whipped around, staring behind her. "What the fuck, June!" Cassie turned back to her best friend who was staring at her, jaw as close to the floor as anyone's could get. The dim light of the lamp flickered.

"What." June fought to control herself, "the fuck. Is that."

Cassie followed the accusatory finger's trajectory. She threw a hand to her neck and blanched and quickly pulled the light off again. The fucking mark. How was she so stupid.

With a click, the light turned on again. June had snatched it out of her hands and turned it on. Cassie lunged to turn it back off and the two wrestled over the little lamp, their shadows dancing in the inconsistent lamplight.

"Enough!" June snarled and pulled the thread off of the lamp with a snap. "Cassie, what the hell? You're mated?"

Cassie felt the hurt rolling off of her friend in waves. "I - it's -" she searched for the right word. "Complicated?"

"Complicated?"

"Complicated..."

"You're gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than complicated."

Cassie opened her mouth to spit out a quick retort but June was right. If she wanted to keep her friendship, she couldn't keep hiding. And besides, everyone would know soon. "Ok," she admitted, "you're right."

"I am?" June said, surprised. "I am." She affirmed.

"You are," Cassie agreed. She hesitated another moment, searching for the right words, knowing the short little firecracker would be losing patience rapidly. "Well, I couldn't really tell you before, because I didn't even know what we were, or what was going on. But you're right, I've been marked."

A comically loud gasp interrupted her as June threw a hand over her mouth. "Go on," she murmured, eyes wide.

"I met him the night of the banquet," Cassie said, her eyes warming at the memory.

"Ooo so he's ranked!" June all but bounced. "Go onnnn!'

Oh dear, how would she handle the news. "Yes, he is. In fact, rather highly.. Um, and we've been getting to know each other since."

"Since, so he's around? Is he a part of the pack?"

"Well, kinda? And I wasn't really sure I was ready for everyone to know. But then today, it just kinda... happened? And I think this means I have to be ready, right? Because everyone will know because he's, well, Alpha Delian."

June's eyes bugged. "Alpha. Alpha Delian. Chiseled jaw, tall, gorgeous - ALPHA Delian. We talking about the same guy here?"

Cassie let out a light, quiet laugh. "That Alpha Delian." She ran her fingers over the mark, feeling sparks fly lightly from the contact. "And I think we might be ready to come forward, you know?"

"Oh my GODDESS. Cassie I'm so... so..." June punched her in the arm.

"Ow!"

"MAD."

"Mad?!"

"How could you keep this from me?" June starting landing small punches over any part of Cassie she could reach.

"Ow! I didn't know - ow - what I wanted to - ow - do. But no - ow - I think I want to - ow - become his Luna."

She flinched, ready for another blow from the shrimp like figure across from her, but none came. June's eyes welled in tears. "You're leaving me?"

"Oh my goddess, of course not you silly!" Cassie pulled June in for a hug and her arms wrapped fiercely around Cassie. "If I go you come too! There's so much room, and you're pretty much my sister. And I would need to see you all the time! And my parents - I can't be away from, well, my family."

Cassie began to cry and June bawled harder. "I'm still mad at you for not telling me!" She sobbed into Cassie's shirt. They sat there in the cramped closet, the light bulb, almost burnt out, illuminating a halo of light around the two wolves. They held each other, almost keenly aware that the world moved faster than they ever wanted it to. They were growing up.

"Sisters," Cassie smiled through the tears, holding her pinky finger out to June.

"Forever," June hiccuped, curving her pinky around Cassie's. A pinky promise. The most sacred of promises.

"No matter where life takes us," Cassie insisted, "we will always find each other. We will always have time for each other."

June nodded and smiled, wiping her snotty nose. "And no more secrets!" June poked Cassie.

"Ok ok. No secrets." She grinned, "wanna hear everything?"