Rise Of The Mute Omega

Chapter3

The halls of Blackwood Manor buzzed with a strange, electric energy the morning of Kael’s return. Servants hurried past me with trays and baskets, their eyes darting nervously to the grand doors at the far end of the corridor. Whispers slipped between them like ghosts: Kael is coming. The Alpha’s son is back. He has grown taller. Stronger. Even more dangerous.

I kept my head bowed, pretending not to notice, pretending not to care. But my heart betrayed me with each clatter of hooves echoing in the distance. I could feel it in my bones: something was about to change.

Lyra, of course, thrived in the excitement. She glided through the manor like a flame, scarlet dress shimmering, gold embroidery catching the light. Her entourage followed, fawning over her every step. Wherever she went, people seemed to part like water, drawn to her charisma—or perhaps just fearful of her venomous temper.

When she passed me in the corridor, she paused, her emerald eyes narrowing with predatory precision. “Good morning, Elara,” she said, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. “I trust you’re busy cleaning the floors again? We wouldn’t want Kael to see a single speck of dust in his home, would we?”

I stiffened, my fingers tightening around the mop handle. I said nothing. I had learned long ago that words only gave Lyra power. Silence was safer.

She smiled cruelly. “Don’t look so glum. You may have a special role today too, little basement rat. Perhaps I’ll let you sweep my chambers after the ceremony. Wouldn’t that be delightful?”

The others giggled. I forced my eyes back to the floor.

Even though I tried to ignore her, I couldn’t. I had to watch her. She always made it impossible to forget the gap between her world and mine: wealth, status, beauty, and the power to bend everyone to her will. I had nothing—no voice, no family, no claim to place or respect. I was a shadow, slipping through stone halls unnoticed except when someone needed me to scrub floors or fetch water.

And yet, something thrummed beneath my ribs, faint but insistent, a warmth that didn’t belong to the morning sun. My pulse jumped, my hands tingled. I shook my head. It’s nothing. Just nerves.

The manor was a theater, and I was the invisible servant in the wings, unseen yet essential. The other wolves scurried, setting tables in the courtyard, polishing silver, preparing the feast for Kael’s homecoming. Even the Alpha and Luna—Kael’s parents—appeared unusually tense. The Alpha’s stern jaw clenched as he spoke to the pack council, while the Luna’s pale eyes scanned the courtyard, anxious, like she feared the unexpected.

I delivered linens to the kitchens, ears straining for every detail, every scrap of news. A soft-spoken cook muttered, “They say Kael has grown into a fierce warrior. Three rogues at once, they say. He’ll be the finest Alpha the pack has seen in decades.”

I blinked, heart hammering. Memories of Kael from years ago floated up—a boy with gray eyes, serious even then, who had once protected me from Lyra’s bullying. I had barely known him, yet I remembered the warmth, the brief kindness. I tried to push it down. He was returning now, a man grown, and nothing from our shared past mattered.

By noon, the pack gathered in the courtyard, the gates creaking as they opened. Lyra took her place front and center, head high, grin sharp as a knife. Her excitement was palpable, a spark she tried to force into the hearts of everyone around her.

“Kael,” she called as the hooves clattered closer, “look at me! Your Luna awaits.”

The horse appeared at last, a shadow on the sunlit cobblestones. Kael swung down with the effortless grace of a predator, long legs landing lightly on the ground. His gray eyes swept the crowd, assessing, calculating, until they fell on me.

I froze. My pulse leapt. A strange, electric sensation curled through my body. His gaze held me as if he recognized something—something more than the shadow the pack treated me as.

Lyra gasped and stepped forward, indignation flashing across her face. “Elara?!” Her voice cut through the murmuring pack. “How dare she—”

Kael’s hand lifted slightly, a gesture that silenced everyone. His wolf stirred behind his eyes, rippling with power, and the tension in the courtyard became almost tangible. I felt it too—a pull, a strange, insistent tug that made my chest ache.

“Elara,” he said, just my name, yet it resonated through me like thunder in my bones. Recognition, understanding, and something deeper stirred within me.

I turned my gaze away quickly, ashamed of the heat that rose in my cheeks, but I couldn’t stop the pounding of my heart. Something inside me whispered that nothing would ever be the same again.

Lyra, however, did not retreat. Fury twisted her face, and she advanced, voice shrill. “Kael, you can’t! She’s nothing! You’re meant for me!”

The Alpha’s voice cut through her words like steel. “Enough.” He stepped between Kael and Lyra. “Control yourself.”

Kael’s eyes flicked back to me, his expression unreadable, but the pull didn’t fade. Not for a single moment.

Even as the crowd continued to murmur and gossip, I felt a new awareness blooming in my chest. Something deep and dangerous, waiting, ready. The pulse inside me, faint this morning, grew stronger, syncing with the rhythm of my blood.

The world tilted slightly as the afternoon sun dropped, and the Blood Moon began to rise. Silver light spilled across the courtyard, bathing everyone in an eerie glow. My chest tightened with anticipation. Something was coming.

And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t just a shadow in the pack’s eyes. I felt… watched. I felt important. And it terrified me.