“They’re coming.”
Silence befell the pack of females immediately. Total silence. Frightened silence. The kind of silence that sliced through even the youngest of their group. They did not need to be shushed. Living in fear gave them a very good awareness of when to be absolutely quiet. Absolutely still.
An old, grey female stepped forward. One of their unspoken elders. Her head was slouched down, but all omegas walked like that.
And they were all omegas here. Heads bowed towards the ground, clustered in a circle as if whispering secrets to one another.
“How long?” she rasped.
“A few hours maybe,” Astraya answered, thinking back on what she had seen. She shook her head. “There had to be at least a hundred. Elder I…I want to say we should fight but I don’t think we can this time.”
Siku, her friend and scouting partner, entered the conversation with a small whine and a nod. “They’re not omega. The pack has changed.”
“Not omega?” a strong, black female asked. Her voice was deep, her body honed. She was older, but Astraya knew that kind of female was a prime target. If a male could get ahold of her, she would bear strong pups. For an omega, she was a prime specimen.
And yet, no one wanted to be like her.
No female omega wanted to be strong, if it meant being forced to mate.
Siku continued hurriedly. “Their pack’s power has grown somehow. I sensed no omegas. Only Betas.”
The pack of females burst into worried whines and quiet rumbled. Astraya knew it made little sense – no it went beyond that – it was impossible.
“How could this have happened?” The black female asked. “You’re saying a whole pack of omegas – one we’ve matched in strength for years – has transformed overnight? Into Betas?” She looked appalled but not mistrustful.
“It was not overnight,” the elder said. “The red moon caused this. You remember the one?”
“I do,” Astraya answered quietly.
A month ago, on the night of the full moon, she and her patchwork pack had seen the most astonishing sight. A red moon hung in their sky, like a drop of fresh blood had landed on the dome of their world. So beautiful and so, so terrifying. They had been unsure then if it was a good or bad omen.
Well, it looked like they had their answer.
“How is it the moon’s fault?” Siku asked, tilting her head.
The elder looked at the ground. “It matters not. We’ve no time for these questions now. You must get yourselves to safety. If what you say it true, we cannot hope to match them.”
“Leave?” The black growled. “We cannot. What of the old? What of the young? We should fight. We must fight.”
The elder lifted her head a little in silent warning, pinning them each with her wise, old stare one by one. “No. You will run from here, and then you will run some more. Scatter yourselves to the wind. Those who have not yet tipped,” She looked pointedly at Astraya and Siku, “may yet find peaceful years of solitude ahead of them.”
“I don’t ever want to tip,” Siku said, looking at Astraya. Astraya nodded her head in agreement.
For a female Omega, tipping into heat was without a doubt the worst coming-of-age gift Mother Nature could have bestowed upon them. It meant constant stalking, and eventual rape. Whether it be by a male Omega who was only marginally stronger, a Simple, or a Beta with low standards.
“I don’t want to leave!” someone wailed. A chorus of agreement rose weakly up.
“Hush!” the elder demanded, swiveling and raising her head to its fullest height. It was a hard thing for an omega to do. It must have gone against the old wolf’s very instincts. She must have cared very deeply for them.
Or she must have been very afraid for them.
“You must go!” she yelled. “We’ve lived peacefully together all these years, but as your pack mother and friend, I order everyone here to leave immediately – especially those in heat. We do not have time to mourn our circumstances, we do not have time to wish things were the same or different. The truth is that a pack of rogues – a pack of males – we’ve fought off every time is coming here to claim you.”
She lumbered slowly out into the crowd of females. “They will not stop this time. If what Astraya and Siku said is true, then their intent is to form packs of their own. They will mate you without consent, and in a few years, when you’ve given up on yourselves, you will find your small, weak packs pit against one another. If this is what you want, then by all means stay. Be claimed by a male you neither know nor respect.”
She circled, her tail level with her back. Level with her mind. “Or go, and hope for a future where we are reunited again.”
A distant howl signaled that their time to decide was now. Astraya felt her heart begin to beat wildly in her chest, and looked worriedly at her friend. They had not tipped. They could run. They could live peacefully for another two, maybe even three years.
But to leave the pack. Gods, it was the only pack they had ever known. The only pack where the promise of safety in numbers actually seemed almost believable. Believable enough that they could sleep fitfully at night, believable enough that only one or two omegas a year got raped when they wandered too far away.
“Go!” the black suddenly barked. “Run, you goddamn fools! Run while you can still think straight! If you’ve tipped, if you’re in heat, the moment you smell those males you’ll be useless to yourselves!”
This seemed to kick-start the females. They backed away, unsure. Hoping for a miracle.
“Astraya. Siku.”
The two friends looked warily at the black female. For all of her talk of swift departure, her eyes were still and focused.
Astraya realized she was not going to run. She was going to stay and be raped. She was going to sacrifice herself for the good of the pack.
“The pack needs you two. You have not yet tipped.”
“How can we help?” Siku asked. “They won’t pay any attention to us if we haven’t tipped.”
“They might, if they see you from afar.”
Astraya lifted her head a little. “You want us to distract them.”
The black wolf nodded stiffly. “You can use the wind. If you run down-wind from them, they will be able to see you but not smell you. If you can seduce even a few males away, it would help the others immensely. You are too young to be mated, if they catch you there is little they can do about that.”
“Um, except kill us,” Siku offered. “Brutally.”
“Then…then we just won’t get caught,” Astraya said. She stared at the ground. More in desperation than calculation. “We’re scouts. We’re fast…enough.”
Siku flicked her tail but said nothing. She didn’t have to. Astraya knew what it meant.
Fast. But not faster than a Beta.
“Thank you,” the elder said, obviously hearing their conversation. “You’ve grown into wonderful young wolves. Perhaps we will meet again in the future, under more fair circumstances.”
“Elder…” Siku growled quietly, bowing her head. Astraya did the same, so suddenly unprepared for this moment. So wildly outraged that the red moon had tipped the balance so unfairly out of their favor. It had shredded their peace.
Shredded their pack.
She tried not to growl in frustration.
Something like thunder began rumbling in the near distance. The four wolves jerked their heads up. The thunder didn’t stop, and Astraya knew it wouldn’t.
Footfalls didn’t cease mid-hunt.
“Let’s go,” Astraya whispered. She quickly turned towards the elder, rubbing herself under the wise, old wolf’s chin in respect, touched noses to the black she-wolf in farewell, and took off towards the thunder with Siku close on her heels.
“Are you sure about this?” Siku asked.
Astraya kept her eyes forward. “Are omegas ever sure about anything?”
“But, like, can you pretend?”
Astraya managed a shaky bark. “You were dropped on your head as a pup, I swear.”
Their half-hearted growls died away as the thundering of paws grew louder. Astraya could feel heat prickling around the fur of her shoulders. Nervous heat. She met Siku’s dark eyes as they ran, and the friends exchanged silent words of good luck.
In case things went wrong.
In case someone didn’t make it out alive.
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