Chasing the Omega

by Jessica Edwards

  After what feels like intense hours, I sigh in relief as I rest my cheekbone on the cold surface of the toilet, and realize my vision is starting to clear ever so slowly. The pain in my stomach and lower back have subsided, and I can finally breathe again. My heart beats to its normal two beat rhythm and my head stops throbbing.

  With unsteady legs, I get up from the my position on the toilet and clean the bathroom from top to bottom.

  After I finish cleaning, I sit myself on the floor and promise myself to only rest my eyes for a couple of minutes.

  I don't hear the door open, nor do I hear my mother calling my name several times. She finds me exactly as I am sitting on the floor with my head resting on the toilet. I open my eyes and look at her.

  'Alice honey, what are you doing on the floor?' She looks at me with worry in her eyes.

  She stands by the bathroom door in her pink scrubs holding her black knitted cardigan in her arms.

  'I got sick.' My mother kneels down on the floor in front of me, and places her hand on my forehead.

  'Did you catch a fever or something?'

  'Yeah, maybe.'

  'Right, well I think you should rest and drink plenty of water, and I'll call the doctor tomorrow if you want before I go to work, okay honey? No school for you tomorrow.' She kisses me on the forehead and helps me slowly off the floor.

  'How was work?' I follow my mother into the kitchen and sit on the bar stool as she turns off the TV.

  I've missed Game of Thrones..again.

  'Work was a little hectic but I'm happy to be home. Everything okay in school?' She brings into the kitchen the uneaten pizza, and the unopened can of coke and sets them on the counter.

  'School was okay I guess, we have a new English teacher.'

  'A new teacher? What happened to Mr. Daniels?'

  'I don't know, maybe he quit?'

  I don't know why I didn't tell my mother about Mr. Daniels, but I don't think telling her that he was supposedly found ripped to shreds in his home a good idea. Who knows? Maybe Ryder only told me that to scare me?

  'Well that's a shame, he was such a good teacher and he adored you.'

  'I know...but.' I shrug my shoulders and stand to give my mother a hug. 'Goodnight mom.'

  She squeezes me tightly as she kisses the top of my head. 'Goodnight honey, I love you.'

  'Love you too.'

  I walk up the stairs into my bedroom and lean my head against the door.

  I actually did it, I did not change into a wolf.

  I laugh hysterically to myself and feel a great amount of triumph.

  I did it!

  My body feels incredibly weak and drained after the events of last night and tonight, but at least the vomiting has stopped.

  A part of me feels relieved that I won't have to face Ryder tomorrow, but the other part of me wants to tell him what happened here tonight.

  He did tell me though that if I fought the change the first time, I'm less likely to survive the next change.

  Chapter 5

  Early the next morning, I wake up to my mother asking me if she needs to phone the doctor for me, but I decide to go back to sleep when I told her that I was fine. She kissed me goodbye and left for work soon after.

  I don't wake up till late afternoon and when I do, I wake up to see five missed calls from Sam.

  Great...

  I sit up and dial her phone number, she answers immediately.

  'Finally! She's alive!' I hear her laughing on the other end.

  'Very funny Sam,' I get up from the bed and walk downstairs into the kitchen to prepare myself breakfast.

  'I'm sorry, I just wanted to know where my partner in crime was.'

  'I'm at home, didn't feel well last night.' I open the cupboard, grab the loaf of bread and put one in the toaster.

  'Did you get sick or something?'

  'Yeah and guess what, mum found me on the edge of the toilet seat. She told me to stay home and sleep it off.'

  'Okay your mum sucks for telling you that but I guess if you aren't feeling well, then the best place for you to be is at home.'

  'I guess, but I'm totally feeling fine right now. How's school?'

  I hear nothing but silence on the other end, 'Sam?' I warm up the kettle, take the toast out of the toaster and start spreading the butter.

  I look to see if she accidentally pressed the end button, but call her name again when I see that she hasn't, 'Sam?'

  'Ryder keeps staring at me and it's really creepy.' She whispers into the phone.

  'What do you mean?' I grab myself a mug from the cupboard, make myself a cup of tea and sit down on the brown leather sofa.

  'Well I'm sitting next to Alex who sits at the back of the class because he knows all the answers, and I don't know why but Ryder keeps looking at me.'

  'Well maybe he fancies you?' I question her but I only mean it as a joke.

  'Cut the crap Alice, we both know that's not true.' Sam spits in disgust.

  'How would you know?'

  'Because he couldn't take his eyes off you at the diner.'

  Yeah for all the wrong reasons!

  'Look, just ask him why he's staring at you, it's not like he's going to bite.' I stifle a giggle. If only she knew.

  Sam groans. 'Yeah I'd rather not do that, look I gotta go. Mr Jackson just came in.'

  'Alright, have fun in Math.'

  'Screw you, I'll see you after school.'

  'Okay, see you soon.'

  When I end the call, I look around the house and wonder what to do in the spare time that I have before Sam comes over.

  I look up at the clock to see that it's 12:30; school finishes at 3:30.

  I decide to make Sam proud and watch the season finale of Game of Thrones. As the opening credits start, I can't help but feel sad that another season has come to its end, and it makes me think back to when me and Sam met when we started out as freshman. We were seated next to each in our English class when Mr. Daniels told us to introduce ourselves, and share to each other which one character in the whole world we wanted to be. When Sam told me who she wanted to be, she instantly became my best friend because she wanted to be Arya Stark. It was one of the happiest moments of my life because I wanted to be Daenerys Targaryen; The Mother of Dragons herself. We spent our first day as freshman talking about Game of Thrones, and we've been best friends ever since.

  As I watch the show and see Arya Stark training with The Waif in the House of Black and White, all I can see is Sam - a long stern face, grey eyes and short brown hair; skinny but athletic. Where Arya gets mistaken for looking like a boy, Sam ignores the attention from boys in the school. She can't think of anything worse than dating a guy from high school, she prefers college guys.

  When the end credits of the show roll on the black screen, all I can think about is how am I’m going to cope without having this show to watch every Sunday. Maybe I should start watching something like Prison Break or True Blood? True Blood has wolves in it so I'm not gonna watch that, and Prison Break? Maybe I'll consider it....

  I look again at the clock to see that it's 2:30.

  An hour till Sam gets here!

  I decide to put on a blue flannel shirt and some denim shorts leaving my feet bare. With only a few minutes to spare, I wash and dry the dishes, mop and hoover the floor and wipe down all the surfaces in the house.

  By the time I put the hoover and mop in the storage closet, I hear a knock on the door.

  I walk casually to it, open it to find Sam looking miserable at me.

  'What's with the long face?' She rushes past me and faceplants into the sofa, 'I just had to endure the whole day with creepy stares coming from Ryder and his stupid gang all day!'

  I laugh softly and move to sit in front of her on the coffee table.

  'Did you ask him why he was staring at you?'

  She turns her head to look at me, and shakes her head. 'Nope, he freaks me out, and it wasn't just him staring, it was all of them.'

 
I can only shrug. 'I don't know what to say.'

  Sam frowns, 'Do you think maybe they were trying to lip read me?'

  'What makes you think that?'

  'Well, when I was sitting in the cafeteria, they were all staring at me like they were waiting for something. And then again in Math, I was talking to you on the phone and Ryder would not stop looking at me..and he doesn't even have Math!'

  Maybe I should tell Sam about what happened last night at the diner. I want to involve her in on what goes on in my life.

  'Maybe they were staring because they ambushed me last night after work.'

  She shrieks. 'What!?'

  'I was ambushed by the four of them after work except for Kellan, he stayed out of the confrontation part, but the rest of them interrogated me about the night I was bitten.'

  Sam moves to lie on her side with a confused expression on her face. 'Why would they wanna know about what happened to you that night?'

  Before I can respond to her question, I hear a knock on the door and see Sam frowning at me.

  'Are you expecting someone?'

  'No, just you.'

  We both look towards the door and wait.

  'Should I go answer it?' I ask. 'Maybe it's someone for my mum?'

  'Leave it,’ Sam grabs the remote off the coffee table and turn on the TV.

  'Sam, I can't just leave whoever's out there waiting, I'll be right back.'

  I hear Sam murmur something under her breath, but it's too quiet for me to hear what she said. I walk briskly to the front door and can't believe my eyes who I see on the other side. I stare at him open mouthed.

  'Didn't think I'd find you?' Ryder's hip leans against the door jamb.

  I step outside and shut the door behind me.

  'What the hell are you doing here!?' I spit. 'How did you find me!?'

  'I came over to apologize about last night.'

  'How did you find me!?' I repeat.

  'You know the answer to that question, but I had to check on you,' he frowns and shakes his head, 'Something's wrong with your scent.'

  'What do you mean?'

  'It's different, like it's receding'. He looks at me in confusion, 'Did something happen to you last night Alice?'

  I don't say a word.

  He backs me up against the wall next to the door and places his palm next to my face, 'I won't ask you again. If something happened to you then I need to know.'

  I bite my lip and look away from him. 'I think you better leave.'

  'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened?'

  'You what to know what happened? Fine, I fought the change.'

  A few seconds pass by when suddenly Ryder punches the wall right next to me. I shrink back against the wall.

  'I fought it because I didn't want to become a monster.' I move his arm to slip past, 'Like you and the others.'

  I walk back inside the house just as I hear Ryder's loud piercing roar coming from outside. Holy shit! A shiver runs down my spine.

  When I reach the living room, I see that Sam hasn't moved from her position on the sofa, but she soon hears my footsteps just as I sit in the armchair.

  'Who was it?'

  'None other than the creeper himself.'

  Sam's eyes shift to me in a heartbeat. 'Ryder's here?'

  'Yeah, I left him outside.'

  One minute Sam's lying on the sofa and the next she's out the door.

  By the time I get up from the chair and rush outside onto the porch, I notice five figures in total. I see Sam and Ryder at each other's throats spitting insults to each other, but then I notice three beautiful wolves standing behind Ryder in a protective stance.

  Is that Bane, Silver and Kellan? No...that's impossible

  I ignore Sam and Ryder arguing and turn to look at each wolf individually.

  The smaller one out of the three has icy, cold blue eyes and razor sharp teeth; Fur the colour of ash that looks soft and well kept. The hairs at the back of the neck are erect that clearly indicates that it's angry. It growls as it looks at Sam but does not strike once. Next to the grey wolf stands a much bigger wolf. Dark brown coats its body like a rough silk blanket with a speck of white running down its narrow chest - Its eyes the colour of the bright lit sky and razor sharp teeth. This wolf has moved to stand directly in front of Ryder like a protective shield waiting to attack. But the last wolf doesn't join in with the other wolves. It stares directly at me as I stand by the door, and I don't know why but something tells me that this wolf holds no threat. I have this feeling telling me exactly who it is. Kellan. His coat is so light it could appear as pure golden, but his eyes the colour yellow.

  That's odd...Why are the eyes different?

  I reach out with my hand towards Kellan. He slowly approaches me, inhales and nudges my hand with his head. His coat feels incredibly smooth as silk. As I stroke him, I feel completely mesmerized to think that a part of Kellan is somewhere inside this magnificent predator.

  I stare at the scene in front of me, Ryder and Sam stand inches away from each other, and it sounds to me like Sam's giving him complete hell after what happened last night.

  I do the only thing I can think of and grab Sam by the wrist and pull her back to where I stand by the door.

  'Alright that's enough from both of you!' The two wolves move to stand on either side of Ryder while Kellan stands beside me. Ryder gives the two wolves next to him a sign for them to stop growling, and they do instantly.

  'Who the hell do you think you are!? You had no right interrogating her like that! Sam shrieks.

  Ryder looks at Sam with distaste. 'Everything she does concerns me!' He points at me. 'Did she tell you what happened to her last night?'

  'What are you talking about?' Sam frowns and looks at me. 'Alice?'

  'Tell her how you fought the change, and that you're most likely gonna die the next time.'

  'Alice is this true?'

  'Only because I didn't want to become a monster!' I seethe angrily towards Ryder and stand in front of him, both wolves start growling again.

  'I've asked you to leave once, I won't ask you again.'

  'Are you threatening me, Alice?' He smirks.

  'Yes.' I look into his eyes but freeze when I see that his eyes have turned bright red.

  He cups my cheek and whispers in my ear. 'You really shouldn't threaten an Alpha.'

  Chapter 6

  I stand there rooted to the ground , unable to look away from his eyes; the eyes of an Alpha. Everything around me doesn't exist as I stare into the eyes of a predator, and right now Ryder looks at me like a predator watching its prey.

  I pull his hand away from my cheek, walk tentatively to grab Sam's hand and pull her behind me.

  'Leave us alone.'

  Ryder shakes his head. 'I can't do that, I need you to tell me what happened last night because something has definitely changed. After you tell me what I need to know, then I'll leave.'

  I grit my teeth, 'I'm not telling you anything.'

  Before I have a chance to finish talking, the two wolves standing next to Ryder shift into human forms. Both Bane and Silver stand completely naked.

  'What the hell!?' I hear Sam gasp behind me.

  I turn around to see that Kellan has shifted too.

  Wow…

  I take in his whole appearance but blush when my eyes finally meet his. Shit! He totally caught me checking him out.

  I clear my throat and turn to face Ryder.

  'Why don't we just beat it out of her?' Bane growls.

  Silver curls her arm around Ryder's waist, pressing her chest seductively against his arm, 'I'll do it Ryder, I'll give you what you want.' She looks at me and smiles.

  Ryder pulls Silver's hand away and walks towards me in his black wife-beater and ripped jeans, he stands in front of me, 'Tell me everything and I'll leave.' His eyes are back to emerald green.

  I gently nod and turn to open the door only to be met with Sam's wide eyed stare, and her mouth wide open.
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  I look back to what she's staring at but only see that she's looking at Bane.

  I quietly giggle to myself and poke Sam in the ribs before she gets caught. She instantly closes her mouth and clears her throat; murmuring a quiet 'thank you' when she passes to enter the house. Silver soon follows after Ryder but not before she nudges me with her shoulder to pass. Bane says nothing as he follows with a sneer on his face.

  I turn to see that Kellan's stopped in front of me with a warm smile painted on his face.

  'That's where it bit you?' He points at my shoulder. On instinct I touch it, 'Yeah.'

  'I promise that whoever did this to you won't live to see another day.'

  'Thank you.' I sigh. 'I haven't really thought about that night.'

  'It's a lot to take in I know, but you'll realize with your new abilities what amazing things you can do.'

  I smile. 'You know, I never thanked you for last night.'

  He shrugs, 'Don't mention it, I only did what I thought was right.'

  'I know but thanks, it meant a lot to me.'

  As the both of us turn to enter the house, Ryder stands in the hall with his hands in his pockets, looking at the two of us curiously . He indicates with his head to the living room.

  When I enter the living room, I see that Bane and Silver have taken place on the sofa covered in afghans thanks to Sam who sits in the armchair, looking at Bane again with a huge grin on her face. Ryder takes place standing by the window while Kellan remains by my side.

  I leave the room to grab Kellan a spare blanket but when I return I notice that nobody has said a word.

  After what feels like hours of intense silence, Sam decides to break the ice.

  'Alright what the hell is going on?' When nobody answers, she looks at me questioningly. 'Alice?'

  Here goes nothing.

  'Everyone here knows that I was bitten on the night of the full moon. I got home, the marks were closed and by the time I got to work last night the marks were completely gone.' I look around the room to see that everyone's looking at me.