Omega Blues (Gay Romance)

Chapter Twelve: Chop and Rebel

Matt

Almost as soon as Chop and her girlfriend Rebel walked into the house, Rebel shifted into her half-human, half-wolf werewolf form.

We'd been part of a nationwide tour over the summer, a massive event aimed at getting more attention for small bands. Rebel was a solo musician, electric guitar and these creepy-cool vocals. She'd joined the tour later than us, and there were enough bands that our paths didn't cross until Chop bumped into her at a skate park.

Chop had brought Rebel back to meet us, and that's when we'd learned she was a werewolf. The moment she got close to Will and his alpha magic, it was like a switch flipped. Her long hair bristled into fur and her face stretched into the frothing jaw of a red-eyed black wolf.

Rebel was a feral werewolf, but Will hadn't told me much more about them than Bren had. I knew she'd lived mostly as a wolf before running away to join the tour, and I knew she had some kind of beef with Will's family, though Will had never met her before the tour.

Rebel nodded her hellos to us but focused her attention on Leaf Mold. The wolf was restless until Rebel dropped into a crouch and half-shifted to communicate in growly wolf language.

We took our turns hugging Chop.

"It hasn't been the same without you," Liv said. "We haven't even practiced."

"You're going to be rusty," Chop joked. "Maybe I should find a new band, one who actually practice."

"No!" I cried.

They both laughed.

Connor pulled her in for a hug. "Our fan club can't wait for us to get back together. We're still getting a lot of comments online, even though we haven't updated since the big tour."

"Me and Rebel have been working on some stuff," Chop said. "I can't wait to hear what you all think - especially what Liv can add to it."

Will held her the longest of all, saying something too quiet for me to hear. Chop leaned back and said, "Me too."

We couldn't all fit on the couch so I settled on the floor with my head on Chop's knee so she could ruffle my hair while we talked. Rebel was in her werewolf form, shiny black fur instead of skin. She seemed to have forgotten that the rest of us existed and was happy just hanging out with Leaf.

"We should practice as soon as possible," Chop said. "I've missed our music."

I craned my head to look up at her. "Are you a werewolf now?"

"No."

"You've been living with werewolves?"

She shook her head.

"What about Rebel's pack?"

"Rebel can't go back to her pack," Chop said. "She left them to join humanity, and that makes her an exile."

"Lone wolf," Liv said, her eyes fixed on Leaf.

"Yeah."

Chop's hand stilled in my hair. I turned around to look at her. She had been leaning on Will, but now she pulled back to meet his eyes.

"Rebel's never been able to travel, because her pack were in hiding - from people and from other werewolves - and because she was tied to her territory. So we've been traveling together, seeing the sights."

"You didn't get enough travel on tour?" Connor joked.

"We figured this was our only chance, so we should do as much as we could."