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.

on my hand as Selene

little one. I hear

my head gives

refer to our ranks, I protest. Don't

there is too much history to go through. Yes, the weak wolves of today's shifters have accepted this, as this is how your

sounds like Selene's telling me the entire history of

It is.

groan. Somehow, I know I don't want to

I didn't tell you

I take a deep breath. Explain it

* * *

wolves and humans lived in harmony, Selene begins, her voice a soothing rumble in my mind. The Great

grew tired of the constant bloodshed

ensure the gods' safe departure. Their souls were to guide and protect the gods

mind. To give up one's life, even for a god—that's

seeking to bring the Lycan souls back from the realm between

merging with human bodies. But such a violation of the natural

breath, dreading what comes next in Selene's

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

taught. Shifters, cursed? It goes against everything I know. We are blessed by the

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

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

But—

this have to do

more than what they've told you. You are not an omega. You are a descendant of the original magicians, a being of magic and power in your

mean

Of course.

wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn't. "But I'm