Not Just an Omega

"Run!"

Chapter 11

   This is probably one of the stupidest things I'm going to do in my life. But I don't care. I think that's the worst part in all of this—that I don't care if I'm going to be caught, tortured, punished, or possibly killed. I feel the thrill of risk thrumming through my veins, and I find that I love this feeling. It feels so much better than the beating of your heart when you cower in the corner, scared.

   The dangers of risking your life is stupid, yes. But it also is very exhilarating. Or that might just be me. But I feel like Max feels the same way I do, by the way she grins maniacally, bouncing from foot to foot. She probably feels the thrill of risk as well, which causes her to be overly excited this. I don't blame her.

   "Okay, so here's the plan," Max begins, laying down an old sheet of paper with scribbled drawings on it. "You've already seen the inside of the Alpha's cave, haven't you? Did you remember any of the items?"

   "There wasn't a lot of stuff. Animal skins, mattresses, the smaller version of the Spirit Circle. Oh—an indoor waterfall," I say, sitting down and crossing my legs. Max stays standing and starts pacing, a thinking face on.

   "The Waters of the Elders," Max cuts in. "A very important object that the Alpha must drink from every morning before he wakes up, and every night before he goes to sleep."

   "Why?"

   "I have no clue," she shrugs. "I'm just remembered it from history lessons when I was a pup." I barely hold in a laugh and cover it up with a cough. Max looks at me critically.

   "Is that what you call your children? Even if they look like humans?" Max nods and brushes her hair out of her face.

   "We can't call them humans, because they're not. So 'pup' is just the best term. Unless we want to make up a word to call them something. Huh," Max grunts staring down at the paper.

   "What is it?" She sits and crosses her legs, leaning over the paper.

   "This map I drew is too out of date. Some of the buildings have been built on, there are more guards here, and now..." Max trails off, mumbling to herself and tracing the map with her index finger. "My plan won't work anymore. C'mon, let's go," Mad says abruptly, standing and grabbing what looks like a belt, and sets some of the daggers and the larger shards of glass into built in sheaths. She slings it over her head and wears it like a sash over her hoodie.

   "Where are we going?" I ask as Max opens and leads us out of the cave. She says nothing as we briskly walk down a trail, then veer left instead of right, the direction we usually go when walking down this path. We keep walking silently and quickly, going farther into the more densely forested areas. "Max?" I ask again. "Where are we going?"

   "We're going to see an old friend of mine. If we can't steal from the High Bloods, we'll steal from her," Max says simply, veering a left again.

   "Won't other people—wolves see us?" I frown, using the "wolf lexicon" as Max calls it. "Does the Alpha announce who becomes Omega, or is it a more 'I can smell that they have no wolf spirit with my wolf nose' sort of thing?"

   Max frowns and scratches her head. "I, uh, I don't know. They just dump us here and leave. Somehow the word gets out, and then the other wolves—mostly arrogant brats—know who to punch if they're angry. But we can't fight back."

   "Because they have higher rank?" Max nods, skipping over a small creek.

   "It's considered a grave offense if you attack someone of higher rank. The only exception is in war and battles, and you're mission is to kill a High Blood if you're a soldier or so on. Failure to follow the codes of the pack is punishable by death," Max describes. I notice this thing where Max's voice gets a tone higher when she's describing something—I'm calling it her Teacher Voice.