Damaged Omega

Cat-and-Mouse

SHE has been standing under the tree for two hours but she never saw the woman passed by.

Basha was in the service road when she last saw the woman.

For the last two weeks, she went to the market every day. She hoped that she will have a glimpse of the mysterious woman but she always come home empty-handed.

She heaved a sigh of disappointment.

She pulled the string of her hoodie to cover her face. She inserted her hands in the pockets of the navy-blue jacket she wore. She started walking the distance to the Kalayaan market.

It’s an hour before noon. At this time of the day, the flock of people in the market already diminished. What remains there were mostly the dry products and clothing stalls.

Frustration on her shoulder, she approached the sentinel assigned to her by her alpha brother. The warrior was taken aback when he saw her drew near on her own accord.

“Let’s go.”

She rode on his back when he started the engine of the motorbike. Without conversation between them, they reached the pack house in ten minutes.

She clapped his shoulder before marching inside the pack house. She smiled at the pack members she came across with.

Basha is a member of the Brave Heart pack. She was the only daughter of the previous alpha of the pack, Quentin Wood. At the moment, it was her eldest brother, Derick, who ascend the alpha position when he came to age. He made their other brother, Charlie, his beta.

She chose to become the pack’s accountant after she graduates from college. She always wanted to be of use rather than wait for her mate to claim her.

For werewolves, meeting their mate has always been a big deal. Everyone is looking forward to meeting their mate when they reach seventeen. Basha was not one of them.

She would love to meet her mate but she never wanted an immediate meeting in her teenage years. She wanted to explore life first. She wanted to know her place under the sun before she ventured into the life of being a mated werewolf.

Another and more pressing reason was, she was more attracted to women than men. The moon goddess wanted to ensure the future generation of the werewolves in general, a same-s*x mating contradicts that.

Her parents were worried when she has not run into her mate after college. Her father made sure that she was always with her alpha brother whenever he went to an alpha summit or a visit to an allied pack.

At twenty-six years old, she did not have an encounter with her mate. Meetings with the egoistic male alphas have no use.

She prayed very hard to the moon goddess that she blessed her with a woman mate. There is a possibility that she would reject a male mate. She did not see herself living or fornicating with a man.

The prayers she vented to the mother of all werewolves have been answered. Two weeks ago, she met a mysterious woman. She met the destined mate that the moon goddess has been made for her.

The mate that has been given to her was right under her nose. She has been going to the Kalayaan market for years whenever she has spare time. Who would have thought that the person that has been fated for her is just around the corner?

“Oh, hey!”

Basha nodded at her brother. They came across each other at the stairs for the second floor of the pack house.

The Brave heart pack house has three floors. The first floor was the cafeteria, coffee shop, and a living area. The second floor housed the offices of the alpha, beta, gamma, accounting, Tech room, and war room.

The third floor was a rooftop. The stairs to the rooftop were located in the backside of the pack house but the alpha and beta’s office has an access to it. The rooftop is a prohibited area. There were warriors posted in its four sides that serve as looked out for the people coming and going to the pack house.

“Derick has been looking for you.”

“I’ll go to his office.”

“Are you alright? You don’t answer our mind links.”

“I’m good.”

She sent him a smile before continuing her ascend to the second floor.

The werewolves have the ability to communicate through telepathy. They called it mind linking. However, just like the mobile networks, it can only be accessed at a short distance. Roughly around five to eight miles. And, the exchange can only be done with werewolves in the same pack.

The alpha’s office was located on the extreme left of the second floor while hers, the accounting room, was on the extreme right.

Basha made a warning knock before opening the door of the alpha’s office.  

Derick has been managing the Brave Heart pack at the age of twenty-two, two months after his mating with the Luna. Eight years later, he did not disappoint. Not only he continued their father’s legacy but also made the pack prospered than it used to be.

When her brother saw her, he closed the folder that he has been reading.

Basha looked away from Derick’s scrutiny.

“You asked for me?”

“I need the financial report from last year.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She left his office before he could say anything. She went to the other end.

Juliana was on her desk when she entered the accounting room. The woman gave her a smile before turning her eyes back to the monitor.

“Beta Charlie was looking for you. He was here yesterday, too.”

“I saw him a while ago.”

Juliana is her accounting assistant. They were only the two of them in this department.

They started working two years ago when the job started to overwhelm her. They worked well together.

At twenty-two, Juliana has not met her mate. From their conversation before, her assistant has been wanting to meet her mate. Apparently, the young woman saw the mating as the unicorns and rainbows.

She waved at the other woman when she found the files that she was looking for. She crossed the short distance back to the alpha’s office.

Basha found Derick standing behind his chair. She was looking out the glass window.

Outside the glass window were the training ground and large expanse of the oval where most of the trainees run in the morning. Beyond the training ground is the forested part of the territory.

The forested area is shared with the Kalayaan Village which is still part of the Brave Heart territory. The village is still under the protection of the pack through the occupants were not members of the pack.

She placed the folders on top of the table. She also occupied the chair in front of the table.

She knew that Derick will discuss something with her. He often did it whenever he wanted to acquire or venture into an investment.

The alpha went back to his chair. His eyes on his youngest sibling.

“Is there anything that you wanted to tell me?”

“Not at this moment.”

“Are you sure?”

She met her brother’s eyes. There was no judgment in his eyes. There was nothing but understanding laced in his orbs as gray as hers.

Between Derick and Charlie, she was closer to the alpha. Possibly because she saw him as an older brother and a hero than Charlie. Their four-year gap was enough to make him her defender when they were younger, unlike Charlie who loved to tease her until she bawled her eyes out.

“I’m sorry that I have been neglecting my duty. I’ll make it up to you.”

“What’s wrong?”

She exhaled. She stared into his eyes. “I found my mate.” She stated, decided to come clean.

A smile formed in his lips. “Finally.”

“Yeah,” She uttered in a sad voice. “Thanks.”

“What happened?”

“I haven’t seen her again after the first time I saw her in Kalayaan Village.”

Her eyes remained on Derick. She saw no surprise in her brother’s eyes.

“That’s where you were these days?”

She nodded. “I went to the places where I saw her but I haven’t seen her again. I might have scared her.” She expressed sadly.

“What did you do?”

“I sort of followed her. She was fine at first but she suddenly left me after hitting me a few times.”

Disbelief was on brother’s face. Amusement marked his face.

“I will do the same if I were her. What you did was stalking.”

“I know.”

“She’s human, I presumed?”

“I don’t know. I sense a trace of the werewolf in her but it’s very faint. And she doesn’t seem to know that we're mates.” She said in confusion.

It has been on her mind every day. She always replayed the scenes in her head.

The way she smiled and laughed, it all imprinted on Basha’s head even when panic plastered on her mate’s face.

“So, you got yourself a possibly human mate in Kalayaan village?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Let’s get this done so that you will be on your way to finding your elusive mate.” Derick said before grabbing the folders she brought.

Basha sent her brother a grateful smile when their eyes met.

“I’m planning to acquire additional security cameras. It will be installed in the Kalayaan market. We can never be too relaxed when it comes to the safety of the people under our protection.” The alpha finally disclosed the reason for this meeting.

He continued when she nodded. “I already get in touch with the Krieger pack. They have a great security advisor. They have laid out a plan for the territory. They even sent me that possible updates we need.”

“That’s good. The alpha of that pack is very private.”

Derick nodded. “Winona is a young alpha. She might be your age but she’s very good. She raised her pack from bankruptcy to a flourishing one.” It was obvious that the male alpha adored the other alpha.

“I met her once. She never kiss-ass with anyone.” She stated, remembering their meeting.

“That’s Winona for you. I heard she met her mate.”

“I’m happy for her. I hope her mate is not an ass.”

Her older brother glanced at her with a smirk on his face. “Her Luna is a good-looking human doctor.”

“Luna?”

Derick nodded. “I have a meeting with her in the city. You want to come?”

She grinned. “I have a lot of time in hand, alpha.”

Derick’s laugh echoed inside his office.

She chuckled, too. The short conversation with her brother made her a lot better. However, she hoped that she found her mate soon.