Emmaline
I finished work at 7 today instead of 6. Big orders were getting delivered before 6 to the pack house, but at the last minute one last big extra order of turkey sandwiches was added, so we all had to stay for the extra hour. I helped Mila and Marco prepare the rest of the order, while Joe and Greg loaded the last batch to be delivered quickly into the pick-up truck. Once done, Greg gave me a ride to the pack house, and I helped him set the last table with sandwiches and mini meat loafs before he went his way. I finally got to my room 20 minutes before the official gathering at 8 p.m. I had to shower quickly and put on clean clothes before our Alphas and Elders started.
My room was on the ground floor, at the very back right next to the back door that takes to the wood warehouse. I open my door quickly. My room was a very small minimalist square that contained only the necessities. One single bed to the left, with two covers; one light blanket for the summer, and another ticker one for the winter. A single pillow on top. On the right side directly opposite the door, a single window overlooking the forest, below it a small desk with my pet Lavender plant, my drawings and some scattered painting tubes and brushes that have seen better days. A wooden chair that was as hard as rocks with wobbly rear legs that needed fixing as soon as possible. Not so comfortable for someone who enjoyed long hours painting or reading books, but it's still useful.
I close the door and rush to the small bathroom on the left. The bathroom was even smaller, a merger between a single shower head that spills directly on the combined flooring of the toilet, and a small sink on the side. I turn the shower head immediately and get rid of my clothes, then I throw them outside the bathroom door to not get them wet. It doesn't take a lot of time for the hot water to flow, one of the perks of living on the ground floor. I make quick work of cleaning myself and I start with my brown hair and apply the "special shampoo" Mila got me.
I originally have brown hair, stricken with gold and light brown streaks all over it; but I don't want anything to bring extra attention to me. I'm already famous for all the wrong reasons, so I dye it with this shampoo constantly. Even if my hair was unique, plain old brown hair was better for my case. I lather it carefully all over to cover the odd lighter streaks that appeared today to unify the color into one dark brown mass, and then rinse it quickly. I clean myself to get rid of today's sweat, flour, and the sweet smell of the bakery. I might be shunned by the pack, but I don't want to be also labeled as smelly right?!
I cut the water off and dry myself quickly with my pink towel. I get out of my bathroom, peeking before to make sure that my curtains are still closed. My sole window directly overlooks a part of the forest and wood warehouse, so I wouldn't like some wolf seeing me naked from the shadows of the back forest as he is passing by. My small two door wardrobe was right next to the bathroom, so I open it and grab a grey T-shirt and black jeans. One thing you will find in all my drawings and never in my wardrobe? Colors.
Vivid colors are not for me to wear. Not because I don't like them, but for the simple reason that I never, ever want to draw attention to me. I put my underwear and clothes in record time. I reach next for my equally black socks and put them on, followed by my old converse. These sneakers never die. I'm sure even going to war in them wouldn't destroy them! I think I've had this pair for 3 years now and counting. A tear here and there, but they are still wearable.
I have no time to dry my hair, so I grab my hairbrush quickly and comb through the knots as fast as I can. I put the short parts of my hair behind my ears, and the rest goes into a ponytail. No attention OOTD completed. I'm ready 5 minutes to 8, so I exhale with relief. I get out quickly and lock my door, and I proceed through the hallway in quick steps to reach the house's main Hall. From my room It takes four minutes to reach the hall and the main gates. The pack house is that big, yes, and I live at the far back.
As I emerge from the hallway, I'm greeted with the backs of werewolves, and some other species who resided in the pack house for some reason or another. I spot a clear place at the very back of the hall, left side in the last row, away from the main center staircase and I stand there. As if on the dot, one minute later I spot behind the many broad backs in front of me our two Alphas descending. Followed by Alpha Levi, behind them stands our current Beta Emmitt and his son and future Beta Xander. The three Elders follow suit with our House Master Sevvia. I frown a little.
Usually for any new changes in the house, like if the Alphas wanted us to build or work on something new, it didn't need more than one Elder to be present at the Hall.
Alpha Damion stops at the center of the stairs. He was holding Alpha Olwyn's hand. He suddenly kisses his cheek as he let goes of his hand, and advances alone one step down. His Alpha mate and his son look at each other as they stand side by side just behind him. Betas Emmitt & Xander, The Elders and House Master Sevvia mimic the same form and stand behind the two in a row of six. This was a form known to all werewolves.
The Head Alpha at the front, his Luna, and his Alpha successor behind his back; The Betas and Elders backing them at the very end, forming a sort of triangle from this point of view. This form shows that behind our Alpha, there are strong people who are going to protect him, respect and accept his decisions no matter what. Others just must follow suite no matter what the decision is. The alpha might give commands, but any kind of decision that was announced and put into action for the pack was probably carefully thought through and planned with the Elders' blessings. Drastic decisions usually came in agreement with all Elders who represented the four Lykn fractions, or any other Elders representing other species like mages in our packs who fell under the protection of the Raven Moon pack. Which is tonight's case as I guess.
Well, the four fractions are gathering below them as you see now, waiting right to hear whatever bomb they are throwing our way tonight. Politics! Even at the Night Lore world were not easily depicted! No wonder humans try to kill any politician they don't agree with, only if it was easier in our world!
"Good evening, everyone!" Alpha Damion's voice booms throughout all the Hall. Shivers run through my whole body at his natural commending tone. this was not due to him being our Alpha; my Omega wolf and I guess any omega present tonight felt the same thing. I wanted to immediately lower my head in submission, but I keep looking through the crowd directly at him. I don't think a mere Omega looking directly at the head Alpha from this hidden corner is of any importance to him right now.
"I gathered the pack house residents tonight for a very specific reason, because this decision only concerns a fraction that is living under Master Sevvia's house..." he proceeds, and I can literally see the Selsas Warrior straightening their backs and raising their heads from my position. Most of the pack house residents were warriors, so it was evident that most Lykns gatherings in here tonight were the Alpha and Beta warriors. I think they felt something from Alpha Damion that made them guarded. New orders? Is it something so serious? Don't tell me we are being challenged. A war? with who? who would dare? is it the vampires again? Who is stupid enough to challenge the great McCabes...
"This House will no longer house the Deltas and Omegas going forward. The House of Master Sevvia will only accept and house warriors from now on, effective as of next week!"
My eyes literally go as wide as the moon once he finishes his statement. A cold sweat breaks instantly on my forehead and back. I can't stay here anymore. Am I getting kicked out of the house? Are they disowning us, the unmated and unwanted Deltas and Omegas of the pack? where the hell am I going to go?
As if my internal turmoil is mirrored outside of my body, the warriors are stunned too with this declaration, so they start looking around at us. The Deltas and Omegas around the hall start mumbling in shock, some turning around with different unanswered question in their eyes to their surroundings. A young Omegas to my right started to cry. Me? I start getting numb from the head down...
"Without you going yet into full blown unnecessary panic, we are not kicking you out of the house. So let me continue and explain what is going to go down..." Alpha Damion talks above all in a loud sure voice, and everyone goes silent in an instant. I can still hear some muffled cries in the distance as my mind and body hums with a dormant panic attack waiting to explode.
"The Pack House in the Original Lycan land will turn with time into a warriors' house, and I think the other existing fractions in the house would appreciate this even more when I explain how we are going to deal with Deltas and Omegas who resides in pack houses if they don't have a family, or any next of kin to live with" He puts his hands behind his back, a sign of authority. He starts pacing the step back and forth in sure strides while looking all over us in turn. This makes the Deltas and Omegas lower their heads briefly to show submission before he continues with his speech.
"Deltas and Omegas were always the lower fraction in pack houses; and in the Lycan society for decades now until the low fraction bill was passed 19 years ago. If they were not living in their accepting families' homes, or if they were unmated for very long, they choose to live in solitude away in pack houses. Performing your duties as an active member of their pack, content with the limited choices they were presented with...Your only road ahead, was the option of getting a small room in the pack house" He stops again in the middle. "or go rogue". Everyone shudders at how he said the word. I can even taste on my tongue how much he hates the word. I swallow my saliva and pretend that it doesn't sting, coming from a rogue myself. I bet he will think I'm an abomination if he knows of my existence.
His mate, Alpha Olwyn, smiles a little at the back while their future Alpha son scans every corner of the house with his sharp eyes, mirroring his father Alpha Damion's confidence. What bomb are you going to throw at us now Alpha Damion? I question defeatedly inside my head.
Maybe what's coming is for the better kiddo, let's hear him first...- Zafira shims in a low voice.
Yes...yes, Let's hear him out first - I respond. This is new territory for all of us, nothing in the history books ever divided pack houses by fractions...
I start going over every possibility, every law and changes that were mentioned in the books, the rumors, the hopes of some fractions who made it a habit to voice their wishful thinking...anything that I might know of...and then Alpha stops my mind in his track in one go.
"We are going to start allowing Deltas and Omegas to build their own houses across the Original Lykn land starting today!" Alpha Damion says in one breath, as a slow smile starts forming on his lips.
The crowd was stunned into silence. The numbness that started earlier reaches my toes in light speed.
Suddenly everyone was talking at the same time, Deltas and Omegas who were crying moments ago for a reason started crying again for an entirely different one. I on the other hand, was just...stunned speechless, then my thoughts started running a mile an hour. We can build our own houses now? We can have a house, not a room? I can...
"Yes!" He cuts my thoughts as if he was reading my mind. The wolfs around quiet instantly.
"Deltas who are unmated but dating other fractions or species with no middle point to live or meet. sounds familiar right? Sometimes even secretly having sex in the pack house under House Master Sevvia Office?" The Alpha wiggles his eyebrows at us while his mate chuckles and his son rolling his eyes at the back. This earns mixed reactions from the elders as Master Sevvia frowns with his wrinkly mouth and some Elders smile discreetly; but the crowd below starts laughing at our Alpha's usual playful jokes.
He lets the laughs roll out for a few seconds, then he sobers up and stops pacing again. He looks at us seriously this time.
"Omegas who go through heats while they need privacy, help, and comfort; in a house full of unmated Alphas and Betas is not a good experience to my knowledge, is it?"
I flinch at his mention of our Heat. Besides my origins, the Heat is my second most hated thing on my list of my mediocre existence in this life. I can still remember my very first Heat at 18 until this very day. It was not a very...easy experience to say the least, considering how I felt. But above all else, I can never forget how I was treated once the pack house knew I'm experiencing my first Heat. Considering it was "ME"; I was immediately thrown by the hallway clerk into a bare cabane behind the wood warehouse with nothing but a blanket, 2 bottles of water and maybe two days' worth of food. My first Heat lasted 7 days.
I heard later from my room neighbor Delta, that Master Sevvia brought down heat and hell fire on the hallway clerk, curtesy of an anonymous note left under his door, that in fact I was left alone, in heat, in that cold bare room for six days. Maybe it was another Omega in the house who felt exactly what it was like to be an Omega in Heat. I never knew who it was, but even late into my Heat cycle, I will always be thankful to the one who went above and beyond the hallway clerk power and reached out to the House Master to report this.
Master Sevvia exiled that clerk instantly into a faraway pack once he knew I was there for a whole week, without intervention or care. The clerk broke the law in general, so he couldn't even protest to the Alpha. I'm sure he knew this was better than whatever verdict he would have received from Alpha Damion. Not tending to an Omega in heat appropriately, Master Sevvia knew it was the wrong move coming from his house, and so he was afraid the Alphas will punish him if they get a whiff of this. And of course, I couldn't complain even if I wanted to, beggars not choosers.
To make amends, and even taking into consideration who I was, He was kind enough to place me at a cleaner new cabin with enough food, water and some repressive anti-pheromone pills to ease my pain. By the seventh day I already was past the worst, and my body and womb already felt shredded to pieces, but I wouldn't dare say anything.
Another reason why he spared a poor unwanted Omega these expensive pills was to not attract any passing Alpha or Beta male. Always thinking about the big picture actually, and nothing to do with the concerned subject. But nonetheless, I will never forget how painful my first heat was, or how insignificant I felt during that time. Some things just imprint themselves forever into your soul and mind!
Since then, I'm always ready with the necessary equipment in case my heat is approaching, or if it hits suddenly without alarms! ALWAYS! I also have Mila now in my life. She usually makes sure I'm taken care of during my heat cycles, even if she lived quiet far from the pack house. Thank Goddess for the existence of a kind loyal friend Omega in my life!
The booming voice of our alpha zaps me again into the present.
"Omegas in specific are allowed now to score the Original Lycan lands for a spot. They are allowed to build houses and live in there if they desire, alone, or with their mates if they happen to find their destined one!" Alpha Damion continues.
"Which brings us all to another announcement by Elder Millen!" He looks back at the Elder in question as she starts descending the stairs and stands next to him, while she gives him a quick nod a smile. Alpha Damion retreats to a smiling mate, and a proud son.
I would have been also proud of the man if he was my sire! This is HUGE! a huge change for all of us! My Goddess, the possibility of having my own little house someday...
"Hello dear children..." Elder Millen starts, and everyone falls silent in a second. Elders are to be revered and respected at all costs. They were not Elders for nothing.
Besides being old- we are talking above 100 years old looking like a 40-year-old- Elder Millen in specific was a very famous Elder among werewolves, especially among the Omegas. She was herself an Omega. Elder Millen was a petite woman, maybe one head shorter than me and I'm 5ft 8 exactly. With a head that went silver from age, her hair was styled in a classic bun, and she adorned the Elders white and Golden robe. She had clear green eyes, and a small nose and lips that complimented her face. A true beautiful Omega. 100 or not, this woman exuded beautiful grace, power, and wisdom altogether. But this is not what she was famous for, this is not why she is the most respected and feared Omega Elder in the council. Elder Millen was...special.
Elder Millen had the ability to read...memories. Rumors says she can even see through the possibilities of your future. Things that still never happened but will someday, she can see it all! Or so I've heard. I don't know how that really works, but powers of that type are very coveted for a pure-blooded werewolf.
She was not a hybrid, not of mage decedents. She was what we call, The Blessed. These Lykns were blessed with talents and powers beyond the realm of the known, and the Goddess have powers that she only bestows on very few, very rare Lycans in centuries. Elder Millen was Blessed. She was born a true blooded real werewolf with abilities that can see through what happened, and what is going to happen with anybody. That was...scary in a sense. Albeit amazing, but still scary to me. Note to self: never cross paths with Elder Millen!
"As you all know, I was away for a couple of years from the original land. but I assure you, I was not far off, and I always had your best interest as my community at heart, which brings us to completing what our esteemed head Alpha started earlier..." She smiles a little. Elder Millen had a quiet and gentle face, so without being aware, I find myself smiling back...
"We have secured a new pack land under the Raven Moon's jurisdiction, about 150 miles away, but if you are a fast wolf, you can reach it in under 3 hours from here" She smiles down at us as laughs could be heard all throughout the Hall.
"This land" She continues "Is a very fertile land. Crops of all kinds, flowers, trees, you name it. We can explore and take advantage of it however we want, which brings me to my point. We are not only planning on populating it with the right number of wolves in the coming months, but we are looking for talented farmers, working hands, Crops and land managers, work supervisors..." she stops, and starts focusing on specific occupants of the hall. She doesn't spare a look at the warriors as they were a done deal already tonight, but she focuses instead on Deltas and more precisely, on Omegas. She looks in my direction suddenly and I feel the blood freeze in my veins. Surely, she can't spot me from there with all the walls of warriors and Deltas I'm hiding behind. I made extra sure to stand in the shadows today. She turns her head straight ahead and continues.
"Deltas, and specifically the low fraction of Omegas...This is an opportunity for you to dream and work beyond your usual limited pool of jobs that were trust upon you just because of your nature. I'm talking Managers, Supervisors, Head farmers...Responsibilities that are usually given to Betas, even Alphas sometimes." She lets a moment of silence roll through the crowd, so this new declaration sinks more within us. A once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us...
"I'm talking a new sanctuary...Where your work and life will start having more value, more impact. All your neighboring packs, including the Original Land will benefit from your hard labor. Your produce will be valued as the best of the Lykn lands. You will have your separate income, your own house, or shared house in a land that you can call yours. Mated or not." She turns again addressing the other sides of the room.
"I will not promise that it will be all green and easy at the beginning, we are starting from scratch. But with time and effort, I believe..." She turns to the Alpha family who smile towards her.
"WE believe, that with time, this Sanctuary will benefit you, our pack and our future as a whole." She finishes her statement that left all of us silent for a moment before there was a sudden explode of murmurs and intense hushed discussions among the house residents. The opportunity! The possibilities! At last, a sanctuary designed specifically for Omegas, the lowest of the Lykn fractions...
"Sit on it. Think about it for a week, and we will open for pack members transfers at the Alphas Office starting next Friday. You have 7 days in total to decide If you want to set roots in this new land, or as Our dear alpha said, build a house and stay in our original Lands!" She nods one last time and raises her hand to silence the voices going around. Once everyone's attention is back to her, she continues.
"But please, keep in mind: we are giving an amazing opportunity to you all, but we are also asking for an equal counterpart in hard work, loyalty, and perseverance. Running away into another land just to run away is not acceptable, and you will soon find yourself regretting your decision. If your heart is not in it, it won't work for either of us! This a new land and a new experience that was designed to give you a sanctuary, but also for us to exploit its hidden treasures for the future of our economy, wealth, and prosperity!" She lowers her hand and finishes her shocking new amazing speech.
"Thank you all, and may the Goddess bless all of you!"
She then nods at the Alpha family one by one. She retreats to her original place, and Alpha Olwyn is the one to talk this time.
"I think this brings us to the end of our many announcements today. Please know that this decision was transmitted to all our neighboring packs who fall under our jurisdiction and they are holding as we speak the same hall meetings. Coming Friday, if you are willing to proceed with the migration as our respected Elder just explained, you will find me along with an army of clerks waiting for your registration and transfer. Further details on how your transfer will proceed will be announced individually on the spot, depending on your capabilities and future duty! Understood?"
He questions the Hall in a very clear voice, his authority unmistakable. As usual, true to his Luna/Alpha nature.
"Yes, Alpha Olwyn!" We answer immediately in a loud voice to indicate that all was understood. All was...indeed understood.
"Please feel free to eat whatever you want from the buffets on the sides. Warriors who are on border patrol tonight, go easy on the food and no Rum, we don't want drunk wolfs at the borders tonight, right? My mate will tear your throat, so be content with some water and sodas please!"
Alpha Olwyn finishes with a joke that the warrior started laughing at, but all the other fractions were neither interested in the joke, nor the food. Everyone was now excitedly talking about building houses, new jobs, living legally with their chosen mates under one roof. The sanctuary! A new land, a new opportunity!
I immediately retreat to my room amid the chaos. I open my door and go inside making sure to lock it as I go and site on my desk. The legs are very wobbly, I need to fix them tomorrow afterwork. I lightly touch the Lavender stems I have been growing since last year in a small pot on my desk. As I look out the window into the night sky adorned with a half moon and so many stars, I start thinking, dreaming!
Maybe I too can dream of a small house of my own away from the crowded pack house? Maybe with the right plans, I can save little by little, apply for a small piece of land at the Alpha's office and build my own house. My personal sanctuary!
A new law, a new decision! An opportunity, finally, for the likes of me in this world!
I keep staring outside for hours it seems. I only wake up from my daze when my back goes stiff from the rigid wooden chair, millions of ideas going 100 miles an hour through my head! Is it midnight already?
Maybe...I can finally have my own home.