Chapter 3

            Tia sat next to the Omega house door at dawn in her wolf form while Niku, Faolan, Bart, Tomaw, Cougar, Jet, and Vooko surrounded it in their own wolf forms. She grabbed the doorknob in her teeth and turned it open, surprised to find the door unlocked. She slid into the living room and jumped onto the couch while she watched the others stream in after her.

            Faolan, Tia, and Niku led Bart and Cougar upstairs to where Tia remembered seeing Alex in a window when Mora explained he was putting up the beds. It was easy enough to put two and two together. She just couldn’t think straight because of the smell of blood in the house! It was thrice as strong in her wolf form, which didn’t help.

            Faolan slid up to the open door with Tia quickly at his side, gazing into the room filled with three beds instead of two, and loud snoring from Mora in the far corner. Tia slipped in first while Faolan and Niku came in next, soon followed by Cougar and Bart. She quietly padded over to Alex while Faolan and Cougar went next to tom, and Niku and Bart went over to Mora.

            Once Tia was sure everyone was ready, she let out a long growl directly in Alex’s left ear as loudly as she could without hurting his eardrum. His eyelids flipped open and absolute terror crossed his face. At the same time Tom let out a shrill scream of fright when he saw Faolan and Cougar towering over his mattress. Mora just froze when she saw the two wolves next to her with ‘evil eyes’ as Tia heard her squeak in a tiny voice.

            All of a sudden, all three of them were tearing down the stairs and screaming again when they came upon the ground floor where Tomaw, Jet, and Vooko were guarding the open door. Out of blind fear Alex and Tom climbed to the top of the table and Mora just ran away from any place there was a wolf. Tia jumped onto the four foot tall counter easily and leaped over to the kitchen table.

            What happened was completely unexpected, Alex jumped into Tia and tried to wrestle her to the ground. When he managed to get her off the table and pin her head and paws down, Tia waved her tail which signaled for the advancing wolves to halt.

            Tia let a growl escape her lips and she slipped out from under Alex with ease and instead held him to the ground. She let her fiery amber gaze bear into his icy-blue ones and ignored the fact that he had completely black hair. If a wolf had black fur it meant they were part dog…freaky.

            Alex suddenly smiled seconds before Tom jumped onto Tia’s back and started tugging on her ears. Faolan knocked him off and pinned the little eight year-old to the ground nearby. Cougar pulled Mora to the ground and pinned her down while the other werewolves sat back and watched, wondering if Tia’s plans would change because of Alex’s determination.

            The white, gray, black, and brown she-wolf sank her four claws into his left arm and walked out the door with the others following slowly behind. The plans for this to be a simple prank would remain the same. Whether or not Alex had tried to make himself above the plans wouldn’t change the fact that Tia and the wolves are the ones with a secret.

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            Tia stretched her arms and legs as she sat in her bed watching Mora and Tom running around with Alex in a chair with wheels on it. They didn’t even think he could walk on his own with those scratches that Tia gave him. At least that meant it had affected them in a pleasant way to the werewolves. But, honestly, it was his arm. Mora was way too overprotective.

            From here Tia could faintly see them wheeling Alex over to the butcher’s and she smiled at the thought of how Niku would be pretending to be shocked about the pack of wolves in the Omega house that morning. It was practically impossible to keep a straight face after that! But Tia couldn’t help to acknowledge Alex’s desperation to save his brother. It was like he thought they were going to kill them…what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

            Tia jumped from the windowsill to the ground twenty feet below and landed on all fours to have equal pressure on each leg. She pulled herself up and jogged over to Niku’s, pushing the door open and stepping to the corner unnoticed.

            Mora reluctantly let Alex stand up and they all walked out the door with some venison, no doubt part of the deer that Tia brought back. When they were gone she slipped up to the counter to see Niku let a sly smile cross her lips.

            “Did you hear they were attacked by wolves this morning!?” Niku said in fake amazement. Tia let her jaw drop dramatically, “No, really?”

            Niku nodded and they both smiled. Tia rolled her eyes as she heard Alex ‘silently’ sneaking through the door. Obviously he guessed they could either see or hear him at this point so he stepped up to the counter.

            “Either of you want to come hunting moose with me?” He asked the werewolves.

            Tia could barely suppress a laugh as she asked, “With what?” in reply. A smile crossed her face as she saw him pull a dagger from a sheath to his right and another from the left. Each one had a blade about a foot long and was no doubt sharp when she looked at the edge.

            Alex caught the look in her eyes that meant she in no way thought he could protect himself from  even a newborn moose alone. Tia watched him storm out into the street toward the forest alone.

            “Buster wouldn’t be happy if one of the humans died because of a bunny attack,” Niku said with a half smile. Tia knew she was right. If Alex happened to run into real trouble out there and died, the alphas would take away her beta rank in the very least, if they found out she could have prevented it.

            She sighed, “Fine, but I may or may not save him, maybe make it seem like I couldn’t make it in time?” Tia left before Niku could reply.

            Tia ran behind Alex at a great distance throughout the forest. It wasn’t very long before they came to a clearing beside the monstrous lake, know to the wolves as Talon Lake. Alex looked out across the water until he was lucky enough to see one of the few moose that lived within fifty miles of Otsana. The human crept through the forest at least fifty yards until he was about thirty feet from it.

            A fierce roar rang through the trees and made Tia cover her sensitive ears as a bear flew out of the brush. In mere seconds the moose had disappeared into the forest and the bear was right in front of Alex. The bear’s eyes locked on his new target, the human.

            Without thinking, Tia burst out of the trees in her wolf form and latched her teeth on his left ear. As the bear whipped her off his back, her claws scraped deep into his pelt and the bear ran off with a roar.

            Tia fell into Alex and knocked him to the ground. As she stood up and shook her pelt to get rid of the dirt that was clinging to it, she found herself locked on Alex’s terrified gaze. She felt her muscles relax slightly and continued to stare at him for several long moments before letting out a quick, throaty growl and thundering off through the trees.

            What just happened? Tia thought to herself as she hauled herself into a tree and watched Alex cautiously stand up and make his way back to Otsana.

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            Tia made it back to town in human form a little ways behind Alex to find that she was growing hungry. At this point she was too tired and lazy to go back to the forest so she decided to visit Cougar and Jet at the bakery. She quickly made sure she had what money she needed and slowly made her way to the bakery. It was such a beautiful day!

            When have I ever thought any day was a beautiful day!? Tia thought as she quickened her pace. She slipped through the doors and walked up to the counter where Cougar, Jet, Faolan, and Rex were all talking. They were obviously trying to keep it from people who would happen to walk through the door while they were talking, as there voices were at a whisper.

            “I like whispering too,” Tia whispered to them. Rex and Cougar jumped in surprise but kept their voices low.

“We’re just talking about the effects of the humans on the pups.” Jet explained.

            Tia leaned forward to listen as Rex continued their conversation, “I saw that human, Tom, playing ‘tag’ with Akamauro and Seven.” Faolan and Jet gasped, “What the heck is that?”

            Rex shook his head and said, “Who knows? I just saw them running around the baseball field and poking each other and yelling that they’re it. But what is ‘it’?” Cougar looked worried as she whispered something under her breath that Tia couldn’t catch.

            “Can I get some bread?” Tia whispered as if adding to the conversation.

“Oh crap!” Cougar shouted as she raced into the kitchen and came back out with five loaves that were completely black and solid as a rock.

            “Can’t believe I didn’t smell it,” Tia said as she noticed the burnt smell that invaded her nostrils for the first time.

“I hope you’re selling those at a discount!” Faolan joked. Jet and Cougar just shot him a quick glare and the beta male instantly shut up before Jet disappeared into the kitchen to make more.

            “Speak of the devil, look who’s here,” Rex said as everyone turned around to see Tom and his mother Mora standing at the door. They apparently haven’t heard as they simply walked up to Cougar at the counter.

            Tia scooted out of the way and sat in a table next to Faolan and Rex while she watched the humans.

            “You’re Cougar, right?” Mora asked. Cougar smiled and nodded. The female human began digging around in a little pink bag that Tia noticed for the first time and pulled out a five dollar bill and placed it on the counter.

            “Can I get a cookie for Tom?” Mora asked. Again Cougar nodded and then disappeared behind the kitchen door. When she came out a few seconds later she held a chocolate chip cookie in her hand and walked up to the counter.

            Cougar grabbed a napkin and carefully wrapped the cookie in it and gave the powerful smelling treat to Tom. She snatched the money off of the counter and pulled four one dollar bills out of the register to give to Mora.

            Tia smiled slightly. The cookie itself was only about fifty cents, but the extra ten cents would be sent to the alphas that would split it evenly between themselves, the betas, the guardian, and what used to be the omegas. It was basically the tax system of Otsana that no longer included the omegas.

            Mora grabbed her son’s hand and quickly led him out the door and into the chilly breeze of fall. Tia turned back toward Cougar to find Jet with three loaves of bread in his hands. He dropped them onto a tray that Cougar set on the counter and they both pushed it out to Tia, Faolan, and Rex.

            Tia tossed a ten dollar bill on the counter next to the bakers and picked up one of the delicious loaves. “Keep the change,” she said before running out the door.

            As soon as she was outside the door, Tia couldn’t help but bite into the middle of the loaf. It just smelled so delicious! She easily decided that the smell couldn’t compare to the warm taste of it. She soon also decided that despite her hunger, she should have waited until she made it to the beta house and sliced off a piece.

            With slight reluctance she peeled the loaf from her sensitive nose and walked back to her and Faolan’s home. When she entered, Tia wasn’t surprised to see Faolan at the counter cutting pieces off of his own loaf. She walked up beside him and placed her loaf on the counter to find him smiling at it.

            “Couldn’t wait?” Faolan said as an even bigger smile crossed his face. Tia let a smile cross her own face.

“I haven’t eaten since yesterday!”

            Faolan’s smile grew bigger as he said, “And I remember the time you waited until you were actually growing hungry a week later.” It was true, werewolves didn’t really need to eat for days on end but it was still nice to stuff yourself right before the season that often went well under zero degrees.

            As soon as Tia had a piece cut off it was already down her throat and she began on the next one until the entire loaf was gone. Faolan was only halfway done with his and kept staring at her the entire time. Okay, maybe she did eat it a little too fast but he was acting like she swallowed the entire thing whole.

            “Do I stare at you when you’re eating?” Tia asked as the last bit slid down her throat. Faolan turned around and continued to slice the rest of his loaf and put it in a plastic bag for later. When he walked out the door, Tia just sat at the table. There was nothing to do!

            With a sigh she lugged herself up the stairs and flopped onto her bed. She ran her hand along the soft mattress until she fell asleep.