The Rejected Omega’s Destiny

8. Sharp tongued Omega

***ALARICK’S POV***

Tension grows thicker even after the front door closes behind the four that just left.

Morrighan remains in the doorframe of the room, her whole body stiff. If looks could kill, I was certain someone would be on the verge of death right now. She had never been an open book, but her opalescent eyes spoke of resentment that tangled with fear and borderline spite. I could not bring myself to think she was capable of such feelings. Not the Morrighan I knew, at least. Her eyes have always been unsettling, with a strange unnatural iridescence that reminded me of moonstones, but right now, they were even more unsettling.

Something had changed in these past years, and I could not tell what. She still cowered, she still flinched, and she still avoided direct confrontation, but the way she did it all was different. I could smell fear in her. Delightful fear that made my d**k go hard each time she trembled. Not anymore. Fenris was no help at all with deciphering her. Ever since we caught the scent of her, he had gone completely silent.

Her hair was longer, reaching past the curve of her back, dyed a gentle ginger, two thick strands that framed her face still the same milky white color I remembered. Her body was still thin and wispy, but she didn't look anything similar to how I remembered her. Her cheeks were not sunken in, and her eyes were not surrounded by harsh shadows. The pallor of her skin was not unhealthy, and her lips were not rough, dry, or bitten.

Stained red from the blood that Darius drew, they were plump and healthy, which made me uneasy. Uneasy that I wanted to lick it off of her lips and taste it.

On her own, discarded and forgotten, she thrived, while surrounded by the pack she was born into, she wilted.

When her eyes shift focus, and she turns to look at Nora, I realise I have been holding my breath, and I slowly breathe out, while eyeing Nora’s mother. The woman hesitates, but after giving Morrighan another welcoming hug, she walks out.

“She needs mender roots.” The words leave my mouth without me giving them much thought.

Morrighan flinches at the sound of my voice breaking the silence much too early. For a while she remains silent, her eyes pinned on her friend. My unease grows with each breath I take and, despite the fact that I was now alpha of the pack, I felt nothing like it. As if power and authority had been drained from me, everything lay at her feet. Guilt.

I felt guilty. Above everything else, I couldn’t forgive myself for abandoning a member of my pack. Even one as despised and useless as Morrighan was. No pack should abandon their kind. I wanted to be different from my father. I wanted every member to have a place in my pack. Or so I kept telling myself.

“Why are you here?” Her voice stops my train of thought, and I find myself startled.

It was a soft tune, her voice. Nothing harsh, nothing accusatory. Barely a whisper, choked by her own timidity. Yet, it made my brain stop processing its own thoughts as if The Goddess herself had spoken. But to me, it sounds like a vile accusation, loud and clear, echoing vividly into my head as I repeat the words. It was not the way she spoke to me, but the words themselves that made my anger burst.

*** MORRIGHAN’S POV ***

It feels as if the man has been reduced to silence all of a sudden.

“Who do you think you are?” the words tumble down my lips, as a sliver of courage picks up and tears well up in my eyes, clouding the image of my sleeping friend. “Lingering around and tainting everything I love with your presence?”

There is so much more behind my words. So much more besides resentment and hate. So much more besides anger and defeat.

“You have no right to be in this room!” I bark, the sound of my own voice surprising me. Filled with anger and rough on the edges, like a broken piece of glass, ready to jab and cut.

“You have no right to be here! To watch over her as if you cared!” I continue, adamant to get a reaction fit for him out of him. A reaction that would remind me who he really was!

But Alarick remains silent, while I remain completely oblivious to his anger, while tears drop down my cheek and stain the clothes I wear as they keep pouring. Anger made my body shake and tremble while Aisi begged to be let out and tear into him the way he deserved it.

“Nora is my beta. She’s my right hand.” Alarick eventually spoke, his voice low, his tune holding a silent threat, breaking the silence of the room once more, making the hair on the back of my neck stand. “She had told me she was onto something. A deeply buried secret that she couldn’t quite piece together. She told me she will-”

“Enough!” I demand and rush to get up, wiping my tears with the back of my hands and staring at him over my brows.

“I don’t want to hear another word coming out of your mouth.” I find myself commanding him, my whole body shaking with the thrill of finally being able to stand up for myself. But it was short-lived.

Alarick doesn’t seem thrilled though. His eyes darken as his brows draw into a deep frown and his lips press into a thin line. The arms on his chest untangle, and his whole body tenses as he breathes in slowly, clearly trying his best not to lurch forward and snap me in half. Yet, he was nothing but a raging storm, and I was definitely not caught in the eye of it.

"How f*****g dare you raise your voice when you talk to me?!" his voice booms, and my shoulders slouch as I instantly cower back into my seat.

Just the thought of him stepping in my direction terrified me.

“It’s that simple. Nora needs help." he continues after a short breath he took to moderate himself when Nora's mother showed up in the door frame, his voice dimming lightly, but still loud enough to make me eagerly avoid his eyes.

"You want her alive because of your attachment. I want her alive because she has important information!" he grunts, glaring at me, teeth grinding together, jaw stiff and fists clenched at his sides. "Bottom line makes it so that we are not that different right now. We need mender roots."

“And how can you possibly know what will help her?” I dare interrupt him, my voice low and shaky, my attention shifting to Nora again.

Alarick hesitates to answer for a few moments as he shifts into his spot and slowly starts closing the distance between us, the air around him heavy and thick with his anger.

“The scent of magic clings to her. I have smelled it before." he confesses plainly, and his words make me doubt his sanity.

“Mender roots are a witch’s herb.” Nora's mother intervenes, stepping closer slowly before Alarick can lay his hands on me.

“They are dead.” He admits as if it was common knowledge. “But so should you be, so maybe there is hope.” He comments, words dripping with disgust, and I am too tired to look into his words. "At least one of them should be useful if alive." he adds with bitterness.

Alarick sinks back into an uncomfortable silence, his indignation painted clearly on his face, not too far from us, and I lean forward, my forehead resting on the edge of the bed as I succumb to my sadness and unhealed wounds.

Minutes pass, my throat goes dry, and my chest is heavy.

"You're back. Just because you haven't been around for five years does not give you the right to disobey or be rude. Revise your behavior before you ever consider looking in my direction again, or else I will give you plenty of reasons to scream and yell until your throat is raw." Alarick growls through gritted teeth, walking towards the door. For a moment, I was certain he was going to close the distance between us and snap me in half, but he only huffed with disgust as he passed by.

I couldn’t understand why I was here. I couldn’t understand why he told me what he told me. I couldn’t understand why he even bothered talking with me. Why did he even bother looking my way? How he did not crumble with disgust just by being in the same room as me…

Mender roots were a rare herb, usually grown by witches in their gardens. They were almost mythical in our times. The books speak of an unbeatable healing power. Life saving. It could rid anyone of any sickness and break any curse or spell a malevolent being cast. Werewolves once grew this herb too, to counter the poison of wolfsbane.

It has been lost generations ago though. Only the Goddess knew.

A spark of hope ignites in my heart, and I suddenly perk up.

I give Nora one last look before I dash out of the house. I could do this! I could save my sister!

As I rush through the front door, a child’s voice distracts me and stops me dead in my tracks.

I turn my head to the side, and in front of the pack house, I see a child running this way. My heart skips a beat, and before I register that they are not running toward me, I have the sudden urge to step forward and catch them before they fall face first into the dirt.

But someone else does this for me. Alarick picks up the children as they throw themselves at him and cuddles them in his arms. On the porch of the pack house, a heavily pregnant figure stands and waits, watching Alarick and the kid.

I can taste bile on my tongue, and I have to use all my willpower to not throw up right now.

‘He’s moved on…’ Aisi shudders, unspoken hope shattering as we both watch the scene unravel in front of us.

Of course, he did. He had his whole life planned out. We were never part of it…

Just as I think this, Alarick stops, and he turns his head, our gaze meeting for a split second. I suck in a sharp breath and turn away, rushing to the forest, ignoring the pang of pain that makes my steps heavy.

"You are the one who walked away..." a low, masculine voice, rough, filled with remorse echoes in my head, stopping me in my tracks.

Everything inside of me pauses. I forget to breathe as I turn into a statue in my spot, eyes wide, burning with tears.

Aisi is just as silent, triggered, confused, and baffled.

I did not recognise the voice and when I dared to look around, I couldn't see anyone but Alarick who was standing on the porch, his back to me as he greeted the other figure.

What was that just now?