by Chris Savage
Omega - Secret Desire
Chris Savage
Copyright © 2019 by Chris Savage
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Thank You From the Author
Chapter 1
The heaviness of the evening downpour went unnoticed by the lanky young man in the long brown coat as he strode down the walkway with nothing but a black hat covering his head, which did nothing to protect him from the rain. His gait was slow and comfortable, lacking haste, nor any intention to get out of the rain as soon as he could. He walked towards the vending machine and fumbled for some coins in the inner pocket of his coat. On the other side of the empty road, a red sedan pulled over, the driver calling out to him amidst the noisy rain.
“Hey young man! You alright? Need a ride? It’s pretty cold out there,” said the old woman on the wheels, raising her voice to overcome the noise of the rain.
Turning to her, the young man smiled and moved towards the car. She was astonished by how young his face looked. She’d initially thought of him as a mid-thirties man on his way from work without an umbrella, until he faced her. She felt more sympathetic now.
“Oh dear, are you alright? Come on in, where are you headed?” The force of the heavy downpour was hard for anyone, let alone a lean looking young man. Although, he walked unfazed and appeared comfortable.
Still smiling, he bent towards the car window and gently spoke to the woman.
“Thank you, ma’am, but my house is just down the road,” he said as he stared at her with his grey, milky eyes. “I’ll be fine, thank you for your kind gesture.”
He could feel the empathy she felt for him, which was a little odd. He understood the fact that she felt sorry for him, being in the rain all drenched, but he could feel her empathy as though he could read her mind, and that was the point where it got a bit confusing. But he kept on smiling and assured her that he would be fine. He knew she would most likely fail to understand why he was so calm amidst the storm, quite literally, but it was what it was. He felt no cold despite the weather, and he was perfectly fine, only drenched. He’d never fully understood it, but he was used to it, among other things.
“Okay, young man, just be careful,” she replied. “What’s your name, by the way?”
“Casper. Casper Jackson, ma’am.”
“Nice to meet you, Casper. Have a good night and be careful,” she said before she drove off down the road, going slowly in the rain.
Casper felt her empathy less and less as she drove away, like a fading radio signal. This never made sense to him, but he’d come to terms with feelings like this a long time ago.
Casper Jackson never struggled with trying to understand the complicated aspects of life, even and especially when they affected him personally. He easily came to terms with things he never understood first hand, and settled with the understanding that it was meant to be such a way, especially with regard to things he failed to understand about his personality.
His house was actually not around the corner as he’d said to the nice woman offering him a ride. He walked three miles further from that point in the rain till he got to his house, the first on 5th Avenue in the town of Lone Wolf. The redbrick mansion remained the most familiar thing to Casper, more than anything or even anyone.
He was raised in the Jackson House, as it was referred to by his uncle, Avery Jackson. Avery told him little or nothing about his parents as he grew older. Being who he was, Casper never thought of pestering the old man for answers as he grew and became more inquisitive, until the death of his uncle, just when he began college to pursue a degree in biology.
Avery Jackson’s death had had unexplainable circumstances surrounding it, as his body was never found. He was allegedly attacked while taking a walk in the woods, at least that was what Casper thought.
The Lone Wolf Sheriff Department had tried to uncover the mystery behind the man’s disappearance to no avail. Only a bloodied shoe was recovered in the woods. As time passed the authorities eventually abandoned the case, as did Casper himself.
There had been some stability in his life since he’d completed his college degree, save the weird periodic feelings he had grown used to. Now he was focused on beginning his first job with Dr. Jeffery Hagen the next day, which he believed would add more stability to his life and routine.
He turned the key to the front door and pushed it open, removing his rain soaked boots at the entrance. He hung his brown coat by the fireplace and wiped his long blond hair with a small towel before totally undressing himself, getting rid of the wet clothes.
He stared at his athletic figure in the mirror and ran his hand through his hair, feeling a bit of heightened nervousness at thoughts of the next day. Dr. Hagen was reputed in Lone Wolf as an extremely skilled medical doctor who mostly kept to himself. He ran the Hagen Medical Center, which was easily the most well respected private hospital in the entire town.
Casper settled in bed, still living in his thoughts. He decided not to take a shower before going to bed as the rain had helped enough with that. He instead dried himself of the rain and went to bed.
He attempted to prepare his mind for the next day, imagining the most he could. Although, the silence of the night, save the whistling of palm trees as tall as his bedroom window, ushered in a sudden sharp feeling which the young man felt by way of a cold shiver suddenly running down his spine.
He felt a presence.
Casper suddenly jumped out of bed to confirm if his heightened imagination was at work again, or whether his suspicions were true, as he was always alone in the house.
“Hello? Hello? Anyone there?” he asked. His voice was neither shaky nor did he sound frightened as he slipped his footwear on and walked down the stairs. “Anyone there?”
He could still feel the presence, which was odd. He didn’t see nor hear anything moving. Hairs on his arm stood upright as though they were reacting to the presence.
“I’m serious. Is anyone there?”
No reply. He turned to go upstairs when he suddenly heard the doorbell ring. His heart skipped a beat as he turned around to face the door. He took a deep breath before making his way to answer the mysterious knock.
The man at the door was middle-aged and of average height with a package in hand, smiling unwarrantedly as Casper opened the door and their eyes met. His presence still did not justify the feeling Casper had had just before.
“Good evening Mr. Jackson,” said the smiling man. Casper continued looking at him with his piercing eyes, suspicious of the entire situation. The presence he felt earlier was not that of this man. Besides, this man was grinning too wide for Casper to raise any eyebrows. His accent was British, and he stretched the hand containing the parcel to Casper.
“What’s this?” Casper asked, still unsure of the situation.
“It’s from Dr. Hagen. You start tomorrow and we’re all ready to have you at the medical center.” Casper collected the parcel and looked into it i
n the man’s presence. In the bag was a laboratory coat with Jackson written on the breast pocket area.
“We all expect good things from you tomorrow, Casper,” the man said before walking away.
Two things did not seem right with Casper at that point. The first was the fact that his laboratory coat was being delivered to him the night before he resumed work, as he had no personal connection with Dr. Hagen or anyone at the Medical Center. Second was the fact that the man said they were all expecting him, while grinning about it.
Nevertheless, he was going to begin work the next day as a laboratory scientist in the Medical Center. Dr. Hagen had personally reviewed his application when he applied and sounded very impressed on that day, as he offered Casper a job. He told him he’d start the following week, which was already upon him now.
He shrugged off the strange meeting and decided to retire to bed for the night. The presence he felt in his house had strangely faded away, shortly after the man left. It was as though the mysterious presence was there to supervise the delivery of the package by the man, as it had disappeared along with him.
Casper lay awake looking at the ceiling that night, as a million possibilities of the next day unfolded in his head, and with every single one he was overwhelmed at the prospects. Tomorrow cannot be hurried enough, he thought to himself, as the night gradually morphed to morning.
The road leading to the Hagen Medical Center portrayed a haunted outlook, which Casper noticed the day he was invited for his job interview. Here it was again, and he still had not gotten used to the feel. The assistant sitting in the waiting room smiled at him as he stepped in, dressed in black pants and a tucked in black shirt. His laboratory coat remained in the bag from the previous night, held in his hand.
“Good morning Casper,” she said, still with the smile.
“Hello, I’m supposed to resume today, I’m to see Dr. …”
“Yes Dr. Hagen has been expecting you. We’re all excited that you’re joining us. We’ve heard so many good things about you.”
What exactly was the fuss was about? Why was this doctor so eager to see him to the extent of publicizing him to all staff? Unless this was how all new recruits were treated, he was not exactly comfortable with the exaggerated hospitality.
“You’ll find his office upstairs, last one on your right,” the smiling lady said.
Casper took the long stairs up the tall white building, which was called the “Administrative Block”, among other buildings in the compound. He hesitated for a bit upon getting to the door labelled “J. Hagen, MD”. He was beginning to develop an uneasy feeling standing at the entrance.
“Come in, Casper!” he heard the doctor shout from inside the office, which totally threw him off. Even if he had been notified of his arrival, how did he know of his presence outside? He was confused as to whether he should slightly knock before going in or just open the door. Before he could decide, the doctor opened the door already, smiling with too much excitement like the middle-aged man of the previous night.
Jeffery Hagen shook his hand tenderly as he stepped into the office, an extremely warm welcome which Casper did not see coming. The office was large, with two long sofas and a working refrigerator. There was a coat rack right beside his official chair and a pack of biscuits on his office table. On the wall were posters as well as paintings of wolves, wolf anatomy, and wolves in their predatory nature. Hagen noticed that the pictures made the young man uneasy so he decided to switch the gear a little.
“Don’t be surprised, Casper.” For some reason, Casper hoped he would switch to Mr. Jackson. “I’m really into wildlife,” the doctor continued.
No kidding, thought Casper. One would wonder if he’d studied veterinary medicine and specialized in wolves.
“Sit down, Casper, feel at home, it’s your first day,” said the doctor as he gestured towards one of the sofas. Casper complied.
“How did you like the lab coat we sent you last night?” asked Hagen as he joined Casper on the sofa, sitting awfully close to the blond recruit. He was looking straight into his eyes as he spoke to him. Apart from the fact that Casper was uncomfortable with the lack of space between them, he felt a strange aura of familiarity between them, as though they had met before. This left him with no choice but to look into the doctor’s eyes, looking for a clue.
“Er, thank you for the coat, Dr. Hagen. It was really nice of you.”
“Oh, please call me Jeffery. Or Damion. My close friends call me Damion. It’s a name from way back.”
Casper began to feel really uneasy; he noticed from the doctor’s folded sleeves that the hair on Hagen’s arm was standing upright, which did feel familiar.
Standing up suddenly, he picked up his white coat, disappointing Hagen a bit.
“Thank you for this opportunity, Dr. Hagen. I’ll be on my way to the lab now.”
“Oh good, good,” said Hagen, straightening himself. “The admin assistant downstairs will show you around. It’s absolutely great to have you, Casper.”
In a jiffy, Casper was downstairs. It had become clear to him on his first day, he thought, that he had found something, apart from biology, to be curious about.
Chapter 2
Naltice Cabin.
The silence in the room was naturally louder than usual. The pack was not used to receiving bad news. William in particular, strongly disliked when any situation went against the interest of the pack. He could not believe what Shane had just told him.
“I need you to be sure about this, Shane. The consequences of whatever steps we take will be huge, and worse if we act on the wrong information. That’s why I need you to be…”
“You need to stop speaking like I’m a novice, William. I’m sure,” said the older man, interrupting William. He had delivered the news to the pack that evening, based on intel he’d received from chatter amongst smaller packs in town, before returning to the pack in the woods that evening.
“What you need to do, Shane, is remember that I am your alpha, and stop interrupting me! Now answer my question!” William bellowed, restating his position as alpha to Shane in the presence of Mark and other members of the pack.
“Which of your questions should I answer, William? Whether I’m sure of what I heard or whether I’m sure of the consequences of us taking action? Because either way I’m well aware of what we need to do and what the consequences are.”
“What we do Shane, is what I say we do. So I need more, Shane. We all need to know more. Who is planning this attack?”
William had always devoted his life to the pack, and for that reason had decided to stay in the wild, living in his cabin alongside other members of the Naltice Pack, who preferred life away from town, with more direct access to wildlife. Shane was the most experienced of the pack, and had the most balanced life, as he often altered between living in the woods and mingling with civilization. For that same reason, Shane was responsible for giving the pack protection. He made it a responsibility to guide William in being alpha of the pack.
Shane hesitated in telling William the identity of the attacker. He was sure of what the consequences would be. An all-out war between the packs, as most other distant packs looked to Naltice for guidance, and he knew William would take immediate action against this attacker upon finding out who he was.
“Who’s the attacker, Shane?” William asked again, his voice not sounding human any longer, containing a growl underneath.
“I’m worried about your actions if I reveal the name,” Shane admitted.
He had the best intentions for the pack as well as for William. He felt being careful was the right step, but did not trust William to be careful enough, having literally raised the man from a very tender age. He knew how best to handle William if things got out of hand, and trusted the alpha to take a lesson whenever he provided one, either cooperatively or otherwise.
“When, Shane. When you reveal the name. Not if. You will tell me who’s planning the attack and we’ll duly plan a cou
nter attack to save the pack. If the information you got is true, we cannot leave anything to chance here. We need to act and be proactive. You know I’m right.”
“Alright, William,” said Shane, giving up on the argument. The sun was already setting, directly reflecting on the lake in front of the cabin. Shane stared outside and heaved a deep sigh. “It’s Damion.”
“Damion? Damion?! Shane, we need to be prepared. We know what he’s capable of!”
“William—”
“We need to gather the entire Naltice and be smarter than him in our strategizing! Than his entire pack!”
“William—”
“They outnumber us. That’s why we need all the experienced members of the pack. Mark needs to go into town tonight—”
“WILLIAM!” Shane growled, almost shifting to his wolf form. He knew how much of an abomination it was to growl at the alpha or to silence William while speaking. But what he had to say was of importance.
William was stunned, staring at the older man in astonishment, wondering what the reason for silencing him could possibly be. He shot Shane a long and piercing look with his emerald eyes, the older man only calm enough to show that he still had something to say.
“Whatever it is Shane, I really hope—”
“That’s not all,” Shane said under his voice, more dejected sounding this time.
“What do you mean that’s not all, Shane? You know exactly when Damion plans to attack? Has he started an attack against any of our people?” The alpha’s eyes were wide open now. “Talk to me, Shane!”
“It’s the missing boy, William!” Shane snapped. “It’s the missing boy,” he said again, with a calmer tone. Silence fell upon the cabin once again. It had been an issue untouched for more than twenty years. William struggled to open his mouth as his jaw felt strangely heavy.
