CHAPTER 2: Vera's Persistence

Vera showed up at closing time with wine and determination.

"I am not taking no for an answer." She pushed past me into the bakery, holding up a bottle. "We are drinking this, you are going to tell me why you look like you want to burn the world down, and then you are agreeing to come to the eclipse tomorrow."

I locked the door behind her and flipped the sign to closed.

"I have known you for nine years, Lila. I can read you like a medical chart." She headed upstairs to my apartment above the bakery without waiting for permission. That was Vera she decided things and the world adjusted.

My apartment was small. One main room that served as kitchen and living space. A bathroom barely big enough to turn around in. A bedroom with a mattress on the floor.

Vera opened cabinets until she found glasses. She poured generous amounts of wine into both and pass one to me. "Drink. Then talk."

"i drank' not bad.

"Sienna came by today," I said finally.

Vera's expression darkened. "What did that bitch do now?"

"Just her usual, Made it clear I am worthless. Ordered three dozen pastries with four hours notice. Told me to stay in the back tomorrow night so I do not ruin anyone's view." I took another drink. "Normal stuff."

"That is not normal. That is abuse." Vera sat on my couch, patting the space beside her. I sat. "Why do you let her talk to you like that?"

"What am I supposed to do? Challenge her to a fight? She would kill me in three second. "I am an omega, Vera. This is how things are."

"That is bullshit and you know it." Vera's voice was sharp. "Being omega does not mean you deserve to be treated like garbage. Omegas keep this place running."

"That is a nice thought. But the reality is I am at the bottom and I will always be at the bottom." I finished my wine in one long swallow. "That is just how it is."

Vera poured me more without asking. "Do you remember when we met?"

"Of course." It had been at the pack home. Vera was fifteen, newly arrived after her entire pack was destroyed. I was also fifteen, trying to make myself as small as possible. "You punched Marcus Lowe for trying to steal my dinner."

"He was twice your size and you just sat there while he took your food." Vera shook her head. "I could not stand it. So I hit him."

"You got in trouble for a week."

"Worth it. Because after that, we were friends." She bumped my shoulder with hers. "And you were not alone anymore."

"I just do not understand why you want me at this ceremony so badly," I said quietly. "It will be hundreds of wolves, all of them more important than me.

Vera was quiet for a moment, "My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old packs, before the hierarchies became so rigid. She said omegas used to be valued differently. They were not warriors, but they were pack hearts. Emotional centers. The wolves who kept everyone connected."

"That sounds like a fairy tale."

"Maybe. But fairy tales usually have some truth buried in them." She looked at me seriously. "What if you are more than what Shadowpine has decided you are? What if there is something in you that this pack needs.

I wanted to believe her that i had value beyond baking bread and staying out of the way. But years of being invisible taught me not to hope for things that would never happen.

"Even if that was true," I said slowly, "what would change? I would still be omega. The pack would still see me as less than."

"Unless something happened to make them see differently. This eclipse Lila, something feels different about it. The elders have been acting strange all week. Nervous. Excited. Like they know something is coming."

"You think an eclipse is going to magically fix my life?"

"I think hiding in your bakery forever is not going to fix anything either." Vera grabbed my hand. "Come with me tomorrow night. Just for an hour. If it is horrible, we will leave and I will never ask you to do pack stuff again.

"One hour," I said finally. "And we stay in the back."

"yesss" Vera scream in happiness.

We finished the wine while Vera caught me up on pack gossip.

"Oh, Beta Darius broke Kyle Brennan's nose during sparring yesterday," Vera said,

My stomach did a weird flip at the mention of the Beta. I had seen him maybe three times in my entire life, always from a distance.

"Why?" I asked.

"Kyle made a joke about Darius needing to get laid. Apparently the Beta did not find it funny." Vera laughed. "Kyle says it was worth it though. He claims Darius smiled for like half a second before punching him."

"The man is like a walking ice sculpture." Vera's expression turned thoughtful. "He has not taken a lover in years. Does not attend any social events. Just works constantly. Kyle says he is still messed up over what happened with Maya."

I knew that story. Ten years ago, Darius was engaged to a warrior named Maya. During a rogue attack, she was killed. People said he went feral with grief, killed every rogue involved, and then just shut down emotionally.

"That is sad," I said quietly.

" Vera stretched, Tomorrow night, you and me, eclipse ceremony, making memories."

After Vera left, I cleaned up the wine glasses and got ready for bed.

I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about what Vera said. About being more than what Shadowpine decided I was.

But some small part of me, the part that survived twelve years of being invisible, whispered that maybe Vera was right.

I fell asleep with that thought, not knowing I was absolutely correct.