Page 1 of The Sad Omega

Prologue

The full moon smiled over the mountains, caressing the tall pines and slithering between the pine needles to bless her subjects below with her unearthly grace.

Two of those creatures were running together through the forest,oblivious to anything but each other and the call of the moon, the dappled moonlight sparkling like stars on their coats. They raced side by side, tongues lolling, sides heaving, one large dark grey wolf and a smaller golden-brown one, matching strides until they reached a clearing near the top of the mountain. The clearing wasn't a natural phenomenon - humans had felled the trees, leaving behind only stumps and a few discarded branches. It was, however, the perfect playground.

The two wolves raced and played, exuberant in their joy, the quickening of their blood caused by the moon's peak. The smaller wolf danced away, crouching behind a cluster of stumps. His companion stalked towards his hiding place, rushing forwards at the last. The golden wolf twisted and leaped away, stopping only to tease the other, and the two wolves leaped and chased and danced around the clearing, reveling in the full moon.

Concealed in the shadows beyond the clearing where the two wolves frolicked, a small solitary wolf observed their joyful play. He stayed well back from the edge of the clearing, lest the moonlight catch on his silver-grey coat, revealing his presence. These wolves were not from his pack and they were clearly mates.

His own pack had long forgotten its traditions. They no longer remembered the Goddess. Instead of running with the full moon tonight, the alphas and betas of his pack were somewhere getting drunk or indulging themselves in other ways. The omegas - few that there were - were... occupied.

He'd heeded the call of the moon, but he had no-one to run with.

Suddenly the golden-brown wolf took off, fleeing the clearing, dashing away at full speed through the trees. Recovering from his surprise, the larger wolf raced after, chasing down his mate.

The silver wolf understood their game, knew how it would end. He had no desire to intrude on their privacy, so he turned away and slunk back down the mountain, alone again except for the moon and a cold wind that blew restlessly through the trees.

Chapter 01

IRIAN

The saddest guy I have ever seen sat slumped on the window ledge near the supermarket exit. Bags of groceries waited patiently at his feet, as he also waited. He had every appearance of not expecting that wait to end any time soon and he didn’t look like he cared about that either. To be honest, he looked as if he didn’t care about anything, as if he felt there was no point in caring.

As if it were all hopeless, so why bother?

He was about my age.

I had a million things to do today, I really didn’t have time to get involved.

Sigh. It wasn’t in my nature to walk past someone in that state.

“Hey,” I said, coming to stand in front of him.

The guy startled and quickly looked up at me, eyes shifting away almost immediately. I stifled a gasp. His eyes were a luminous golden-brown but what struck me most was the utter misery I read in them. An empathetic shiver ran through me. I was an omega. I hated seeing someone in such pain. You know, it actually hurt me.

“Are you new here?” I asked when the guy didn’t return my greeting. “I haven’t seen you around.”

He didn’t answer, just flicked quick glances towards me as if I might bite, hunching in on himself and making himself smaller. He seemed nervous.

“I come here a lot,” I added. Duh, I thought, where else is there to shop around here?

I was starting to feel awkward standing there with the guy pretty much ignoring me and staring away from me with his hopeless eyes. People flowed past on the way in and out of the supermarket, paying us no attention at all. Maybe I should go.

“Yes, I just moved here,” he said very quietly, his voice soft and melodic. Such a gentle voice.

“Oh, that’s cool. Where did you come from?”

“Higher up in the mountains.” He shivered.

Noting the shiver, I asked, “Was it too cold? Is that why you moved?”

“No.” There was a finality to his tone which told me not to pursue this line of conversation.

“Um... so, where do you live now?”

“Up in the forest.” He made a vague gesture towards the mountain range beyond the outskirts of town. It was heavily forested and there were only a few properties in there. Mostly it was natural forest, wild and untamed.

“I live at the base of the mountains, on a farm,” I told him, though he hadn’t asked.

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