Tangled

Ava: Challenging Common Knowledge

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?”

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38 Ava: Challenging Common Knowledge

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.

I groan, resting my forehead on my hand as Selene

tomson a homb on the antiro ranking hiararahu of

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Ava: Challenging Common

shifters.

little one. I hear your skepticism.

gives me no

even our wolves refer to our ranks, I protest.

they?

the room with me. Child, there is too much history to go through. Yes,

Selene’s telling me the

It is.

know I

Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters

I didn’t tell you anything

any of

it to me from

***

humans lived

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Ava: Challenging Common

The Great Wolves, Lycans, were respected and revered by human magicians.

tired of the constant bloodshed waged in their names. They decided to flee this world,

realm.

Lycans, in their wisdom and loyalty, agreed to be sacrificed to ensure the gods‘ safe departure. Their souls were

To give up one’s life, even for a

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

shifters were born, weakened Lycan souls merging

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Challenging Common

could

my breath, dreading what comes

tale.

returned Lycan souls, enraged by the betrayal, consumed them. Over time, these souls developed their

frown, trying to reconcile this with the history I’ve been taught. Shifters, cursed? It goes against everything I know. We are blessed by the moon goddess, and

became 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

voice fades, leaving me in a stunned silence. It’s a lot to take in, this alternate history. Part of me wants to reject it, to cling to the familiar stories I’ve grown up with

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Challenging

But-

this have to do with me?”

not an omega. You are a descendant of the