All Chapters of The Omega's Deception: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Answer, she growls.“No,” I hiss. My knuckles turn white from clutching my blanket so hard. A sheen of sweat gathers on my forehead as I struggle to hold her back.Stop fighting me! I tell her.My wolf thrashes inside me, furious at the fact that I refuse to answer.I sit upright and fling my blanket off me.Before I realize it, I'm on my feet. I walk softly across the room, careful not to wake the others up. I carefully open the door and close it softly behind me. I look to the other side of the field; warriors troop out of the pack house. They gather around, shift into their wolf forms, and howl in unison before bounding towards the forest.No one notices me as I also disappear into the forest. I've had years of practice of hiding, of keeping myself from being seen.Soon enough I'm at the border; the air is heavy with the scent of pine sap and damp earth. I hear the howl from before again; it's much louder this time and closer. My breath halts, and my wolf thrashes around in my mind

“You think she's one of them,” Caden says, his tone carrying an edge to it.“I know what I felt when I saw her in your pack kitchens,” Elder Eira’s eyes flash brighter for a second. Caden leans forward in his seat and focuses his gaze intensely on her, trying to see if she will give away that she's hiding anything else, but she only cocks her head at him. He wants to dismiss her as a relic too eager to chase phantoms. But the memory of Selene bloodied yet not bowing comes to mind. The way she looked at him, unafraid. The way her defiance felt like it was meant for him alone.Eira leans closer also. “You’ll either tame her.” She pauses. “…or unleash a curse.”Silence follows, and only the crackle of the candle flames can be heard.When she rises, her steps are slow but deliberate. She leaves without ceremony, but her presence lingers long after the door shuts behind her.Caden stands up to grab the whiskey bottle and glass from his shelf. He pours himself a generous amount and sips.

My brother is here.How did he manage to find me after all these years? This couldn’t be by chance.Nyra presses against my mind; she urges me to go to our brother. She isn't concerned about the betrayal; she can only recognize the bond that ties us together. She wants me to shift so she can press noses with his wolf.But me? I want to pull at my hair and scream. I wish to ask why he turned his back on me and let them do that to me. Instead I force myself to breathe slowly, but it does little to help calm me down.“Selene?” Mira's voice comes from behind me, her basket half-filled with herbs. I turn around; I hadn't noticed her walk past me, going back to the pack house.“Coming,” I quickly say before she can look too closely. My voice comes out even, but I'm trembling inside.I feel eyes on me, and I look behind. That's when I see them. Golden wolfish eyes like that of my wolf stare at me, watching from between the trees.They burn through the space between us, sharp and unblinking.

The soft crunch of footsteps reaches me before the scent does. It's the scent of something old and foreign. Elder Eira doesn't ask for permission before slowly lowering herself to sit on the grass beside me. She folds her hands in her lap and stares into nothing. For minutes we just sit quietly. She is relaxed while I remain tense, patiently waiting for her to state why she's here. When it seems like she intends to let the silence stretch for too long. I finally break the silence, my voice coming out rough, “You know, don't you?” Her gaze shifts to me, those glowing blue eyes eerie to look at. I heard her wolf never sleeps, a piece of an old tale, they said. When Elder Eira dies, the wolf spirit will transfer to the next Oracle, never following Eira into the afterlife. “I know,” she says simply. Her words dig into me, deeper than those of Caden. I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste iron, grounding myself in the pain. Eira tilts her head, studying me. “Do you wish fo

The pull of our bond draws me into the forest during dusk. The forest is still under the moonlight, and the air smells of pine and damp soil, but underneath it, I could still smell my brother. He steps out from between two oaks. His steps are silent, meant to unnerve me, and they do. The faint scars along his jaw glint silver in the dusk. The same brown hair we both inherited from our father and the blue eyes he got from our mom. His shoulders are broader now, his movement slower but sure, like a predator who never forgot how to stalk. For a heartbeat, all I can do is stare at the man who looks the same and nothing like the boy I once remembered. The boy who once carried me on his back through the river, who taught me most of my fighting skills until I grew into a better fighter than him. The boy who held me close, trying to be strong for us when our parent died. But that boy is gone now. A man stands before me wearing the same face but not his warmth. His gaze sweeps over me