Higher Than The Alpha (#Wattys2014) »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-ONE – Omega [Victoria]

Everyone had gone silent after Christopher had said that I was an Omega.

"Only the wolves have Omega's," Caine spoke up in the silence.

Christopher shook his head. "Years before any of you were born. Before the wolves started warring for territory. We werecats had a werelion Omega. He was killed by a mad werewolf when I was young. All were's have an Omega, but because our numbers are shrinking every year, and Omega's are rare already..."

"But she was human," Caine said.

It was Ink who replied. "Fate put her with Lex for a reason. Fate put her with a weretiger and then changed her."

"The wolves?" JJ asked.

Layke grinned. "Fate's always had good timing."

A couple of them snorted at Layke's words.

Ignoring Layke, Christopher responded to JJ. "Maybe. I heard earlier that a nearby pride was attacked by wolves for territory yesterday..."

I blanked the rest of whatever they were saying. Omega? My mind ran through all it knew about Omega's. All I knew was what the wolf had told me. That Omega's had all the rank yet none of it. They weren't really apart of the pack, yet they were. But that didn't help me understand anything that they were saying.

"Why do you think I'm an Omega?" I blurted out in the middle of their conversation.

They stopped and suddenly, I had all eyes on me.

It was Christopher who responded. "You remember when the wolves attacked us in the clearing?"

I nodded.

"How you mind-linked us? We can talk to one-another, but you pulled us all together, making us a unit, you let us see everything around us. Only an Alpha's and Omega's can do that. Alpha's only with their pack or pride, and Omega can link across packs and prides. They're like a bridge.

"And we all seem to have an extreme instinct to protect you first before anyone else, including ourselves," Christopher continued, ignoring the growl Lex gave. "You also wanted to protect us, like an Alpha, or that is what I saw when you mind-linked us, yet you don't have a dominating Alpha presence."

"So?" I asked. "How does that make me an Omega?"

Seeing the confusion on my face, and hearing it in my words, it was Ink who spoke up. "Lusan cares for no-one but himself, but he's the one that waits outside your school to make sure your safe all day with Layke.

"And Layke didn't shut up once when you were in pain to distract you. And he blew the building where the wolves were keeping you into nothing so that they couldn't take you back there into that damn room.

"JJ hasn't gone into town once for a hook-up. He and I have been tracking wolves instead.

"Caine has checked his medical supplies I-don't-know-how-many-times to make sure he would have enough in case of an emergency involving you.

"And our father hasn't kicked us out yet, knowing that more of us here would help protect you if the wolves came again.

"And before you feel bad about "changing us", don't. We just want to keep you safe."

I blinked as Ink came to an end. Lusan had nodded to Ink's words, as had Layke. It was Caine and JJ who looked slightly embarrassed that they'd been caught acting differently. Christopher was still sitting there, grinning ear to ear. Lex had grumbled a little, but other than that, I could see that he understood, and the only reason he wasn't snapping was because he knew that they only did it because I was Omega.

"Don't worry about it, Victoria," Christopher said to me, standing. "Let the information settle, then we'll talk some more if you wish. Okay?"

I nodded. That sounded like a great idea at the moment. Then I frowned, suddenly remembering the Alpha wolf. "If you say that you want to protect me, do you mean only the cats?"

Christopher shook his head. "All species. Except the humans, they don't listen to their instincts as much as we do. But if they do hurt you, they'll hate themselves."

I could tell Lex had been watching my mind work, because it was he who asked the question. "So why did the Alpha wolf throw her into the room with me, knowing that it would hurt her?"

"Maybe he's mad?" JJ wondered.

Caine spoke. "Can't be. His wolf left after Victoria growled at him."

Lusan suddenly moved, making several swivel to look where he was in surprise. I wanted to laugh at how well Lusan became an easily forgotten background piece, until he moved. "A few decades ago, I was sent to track a werebird whose bird was healthy, yet whose human mind was sick. The only reason they were still living was because the bird wanted to survive."

"I hadn't thought that was possible," Caine whispered.

"It's rare," Christopher told them. "We only hear about the mad ones when it's both halves. But they usually start with their animal mind becoming sick, and then the human mind catches onto it. I've only seen one, where the human mind was sick first."

"So we have a mad human who can turn into a sane wolf?" JJ asked.

Christopher, Lusan, and Layke nodded.

"Oh, joys."

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Oh, and one more thing....

The Watty's are nearly here! Should I enter this story if I manage to complete it on time? :)