Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 38 Ava: Challenging Common Knowledge

What do you mean?

Selene sighs in my mind, a little huff that brings a picture to my mind's eye of her resting her chin on her front paws. I miss her.

You are not an omega, she finally says. Omegas don't exist.

I tilt my head. It isn't that I don't believe Selene, it's just that… well, I mean, how do omegas not exist? All shifters have ranks, once they come into adulthood.

Well—I never got a rank, because I didn't have a rank. But everyone else has one.

Selene growls. Omegas were created for the pleasure of the alphas of old, who wanted nothing more than to breed and dominate. It was a different time.

I talk out loud, because I'm giving myself a headache by thinking too hard at her. "What about the 'true omegas' they're talking about?"

There is no true omega. There are only shifters with powerful heat cycles. Some of them were known to breed strong alpha pups. Wolves and humans both tend toward the superstitious.

Powerful heat cycles come to powerful she-wolves. It has nothing to do with their arbitrary rankings.

I rub my eyes in frustration. It isn't that I'm not understanding the words she's saying; it's just that nothing is making sense in my head, like we're speaking of a foreign land.

"So they just made up this entire thing, because some strong wolf got really horny during heat?"

Yes.

"How does that even make sense?"

All of these ranks are for human ego. Alphas have always existed, though we did not have a word for them. Even strong betas can be alphas. It isn't a birthright, but a matter of strength and leadership. Strong wolves lead the pack. Weak wolves follow.

It isn't rocket science.

as Selene tosses a bomb on the entire ranking

little one. I

head gives me no privacy at

our wolves refer to our

this time is so strong I can almost feel it in the room with me. Child, there is too much history to go through. Yes,

telling me the entire

It is.

know I don't want

why I didn't tell

deep breath. Explain it to me

* * *

ago, wolves and humans lived in harmony, Selene begins, her voice a soothing rumble in my mind. The Great Wolves, Lycans, were respected and revered by human

as with all things human, war eventually came. The gods, fickle beings that they were, grew tired of the constant bloodshed waged in their names. They decided to

be sacrificed to ensure the gods' safe departure. Their souls were

in my mind. To give up one's life, even for

the human magicians were not content with this. They delved into forbidden magic, seeking to bring the Lycan souls back from the realm between life and

so the first shifters were born, weakened Lycan souls merging with human bodies. But such a violation of the natural order

my breath, dreading what comes next

by the betrayal, consumed them. Over time,

cursed? It goes against everything I know. We are blessed by the moon goddess, and given

packs, their own traditions and values, based on their unique history. And that, little one, is the

alternate history. Part of me

But—

have to do

what they've told you. You are not an omega. You are a descendant of the original magicians,

that mean

Of course.

to elaborate,