The Last Omega

Chapter 5: First Shift

Leticia’s POV

I stayed awake all the time. I felt that if I closed my eyes, I would wake up in another cage.

Cirrus tried to talk to me at least three times, but I was too busy watching the buzzing city as we crossed and buried ourselves once again in another forest.

“Kayden, it’s almost midnight,” Cirrus informed as he looked at his cellphone.

I took a peek and realized it was one of those fancy phones I’ve seen the Alpha use.

Kayden nodded, parked the car, and killed the engine.

“Let’s go, Leticia. You should take this,” Kayden threw a huge shirt at me.

It was black, with a V-neck, and so big that I’m sure it will look more like a dress than a shirt.

My eyes narrowed. I’m sure this is his shirt, that scent I can’t decipher, but right now, it made my head ache.

“Why do—“

“Wear it or not,” he cut me off. “I was looking out for your clothes, since you didn’t bring a bag. Once you shift, you won’t have any.”

I blushed. The thought of being bare before these two was too much to handle.

“Don’t be so hard on her, Kayden. Perhaps she doesn’t like the scent,” Cirrus argued in my favor.

He scoffed. “She doesn’t have her wolf yet. She can even tell if it has a scent or not.”

Not true.

I could argue, but time is running out, and I want them out of the car.

“Thanks, now please let me change,” I said, raising my voice to stop their bickering.

Kayden and Cirrus did as I asked. I thought they were going to tease or order me to do it in front of them, but it looks like I was wrong.

Anyways, once I was done, I stepped out, the cold bit against my bare skin, making me shiver.

The pine scent enveloped me; this forest was different from the one at Black Fang. Purer, fresher.

As my mind wandered back to the pack, I couldn’t help but wonder if Miranda was okay.

Once I escape, I will get her back.

“Okay, Letty, since it is your first shift, let me give you some advice,” Cirrus said excitedly, pulling his shirt up, revealing all those muscles I didn’t expect to see up close.

A broad chest, with toned pecs, abs so defined he looked like a white chocolate bar, biceps as big as my freaking head, and a deep V, I had to turn my head to avoid staring.

“Like what you see?” He teased.

“Stop it, Cirrus,” Kayden grumbled. “She will start shifting soon.”

There was a glint in his eyes, a flash, a change of color.

Was that his wolf?

“You’re acting like a jealous boyfriend, Kayden,” Cirrus kept teasing.

It looked like he was having the time of his life, while Kayden was ready to punch him in the face.

“Leticia, take your necklace off,” he ordered.

My hand instantly went to the piece of jewelry hanging on my neck. “No.”

“For the—“ Kayden exhaled sharply. “It will break once you shift. You must take it off.”

What he said made sense, but that woman, the one in my dream, told me to never, ever take it off.

So I won’t.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to.”

“Let her wear it, Kayden. We can—“

“No,” he cut Cirrus off. “She has to take it off.”

Cirrus rolled his eyes, part of his playful aura dimming. “I don’t see the problem, she is…”

I couldn’t listen further because my bones started breaking.

I couldn't listen further—my bones cracked, fire ripping through my limbs. I collapsed to the dirt, biting back a scream as waves of agony pulsed from my core. The necklace burned against my chest, hotter than before, like it was fighting whatever clawed inside me. Kayden's scent, I could finally tell what it was, and it hit me hard, twisting the pain into something almost… needy.

Not now, I begged silently, tears stinging my eyes.

If they had helped me, this would have ended sooner.

I swear... I wanted to smack them both. Their voices blurred into the haze as darkness edged my vision.

———————————————————————

Third Person POV

Unbeknownst to the two Lycans, Letty had already begun her shift.

Without their help, it was

excruciating-bones grinding, skin stretching like it might tear. She gritted her teeth, shivering as tears soaked the soil.

"For f***s sake, Kayden. If she breaks it, you can fix it!" Cirrus argued, feeling like he was talking to a wall.

Kayden didn’t have the best of tempers, but he was never this… difficult to deal with.

He wondered what had possessed his friend to act so irrationally.

Kayden, on the other hand, was having the worst headache he had experienced in years. And Cirrus was making things worse.

“I don’t understand why she has to be so stubborn,” Kayden huffed. The she-wolf he had rescued, per his father's request, had a way of getting under his skin that nobody else did.

Look who’s talking. Cirrus thought, but didn’t voice it to avoid a fight.

“Ah—” a scream cut through their argument, and their attention finally shifted back to the petite she-wolf, crawling in pain, tears slipping away until they hit the ground, dampening the soil.

“s**t,” Cirrus whispered, forgetting everything he was discussing with Kayden, and ran to the woman’s side.

Kayden, on the other hand, felt a painful tug in his chest. The omium is getting worse. He thought to himself.

Even if he was only 26, his health was rapidly deteriorating.

Or so he thought, until he saw Cirrus, almost naked, trying to touch Leticia, and that made something inside him snap.

A growl ripped from Kayden's throat as he closed the distance in a blur, grabbing Cirrus's arm and yanking him back with enough force to make the air whistle. Purple eyes flashed gold for a heartbeat—his wolf surfacing.

When Kayden realized what he'd done, he blinked, releasing Cirrus.

The omium headache throbbed, but this felt... different.

“The hell?! I’m trying to help her, Kay!” Cirrus yelled, already getting tired of his friend’s childish behavior.

He already suspected Kayden had some attraction toward Leticia, but at the same time, he knew how much he hated all the people his father had asked him to save.

Especially after that incident when he was almost killed by one she-wolf, his father brought him back home to be like a sister to Kayden.

“Put some clothes on,” he ordered.

Cirrus was dumbfounded. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought Leticia was Kayden’s mate by the way he is reacting.

“For the love of—“

Before he could finish his sentence, the animals started running in one direction. Squirrels, owls, and others, and that… could only mean one thing.

“The hell is he going here?” Kayden growled lowly.

He wasn’t exactly a friend, nor was he a foe, but it made that squeezing sensation in his chest hurt even more.

“You two still act like kids,” A man with deep blue eyes, tanned skin, and chocolate hair, appeared from the tree line.

Kayden was immediately on edge, his eyes darting to Leticia, who was still mid-shift.

“There is a poor she-wolf in pain, and you two are bickering.”

Kayden scoffed. Cirrus let out a deep breath.

"What are you doing here, Kartein?" Cirrus asked, bracing for a fight.

Kartein's blue eyes flicked to Letty.

That was not a good sign.

"Saving her from you two idiots," Kartein replied coolly.

Kayden snarled, not liking his tone.

The newcomer stepped closer, shadows clinging to his tanned skin. "I caught an interest scent, couldn’t believe it was her.”

Kayden was immediately on edge, eyes darting between Kartein and the still-shifting Letty.

Kartein Valmonte-one of the five great houses-never interfered unless something (or someone) truly caught his interest.

And now he was defending her.

What the hell did this girl have that drew three powerful Lycans like moths to flame?