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.

my hand as Selene tosses a bomb

little one. I hear

head

to our ranks, I protest.

so strong I can almost feel it in the room with me. Child, there is too much history to go through. Yes, the weak wolves of today's shifters have accepted this, as this is how your packs

the entire history of shifters

It is.

know I don't want

is why I didn't tell you anything

take a deep breath. Explain it to me from the

* * *

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 magicians. They worked together, each benefiting

beings that they were, grew tired of the constant bloodshed waged in their names.

wisdom and loyalty, agreed to be sacrificed to ensure the gods' safe departure. Their souls were to guide and protect the gods

up one's life,

some among the human magicians were not content with this. They delved into forbidden magic, seeking to

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

hold my breath, dreading what

Lycan souls, enraged by the betrayal, consumed them. Over time, these souls developed their own identity, working in harmony with the souls they

history I've been taught. Shifters, cursed? It goes against everything I know. We are blessed

simply known as wolf shifters. They formed their own packs, their own traditions and values, based on their unique history. And that, little one, is the true origin of our kind. Two souls cursed

voice fades, leaving me in a stunned silence. It's a lot to take in, this alternate history. Part of me wants to reject

But—

does this have

you. You are not an omega. You are a

that mean

Of course.

to elaborate,