Lost in his reading, Eden hadn't noticed that the little omega next to him was staring unobtrusively at the same place as he was. Attracted by the color, Sora had turned her head as soon as Eden had displayed the screen of his system. She had been watching silently to try to figure out what this luminous blue thing was.
When the screen changed once and then a second time, the omega girl stared, fascinated. Unable to hold it any longer, she shook Eden who, lowering his head, saw Sora's hand rise and her finger point to where the dashboard was.
"What is it?"
Convinced that it was a coincidence, the werewolf looked at whatever, behind the screen, had caught the attention of the little omega. Sora who noticed that Eden was looking elsewhere, squirmed to get closer and repeated her question. To make sure the blond understand her, she touched the screen with her finger.
"What is that?!"
Eden stared at the tip of the finger which was pressed to the screen as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"What the f…"
Several throat clearings prevented him from finishing his sentence and the word, inappropriate for ears as young as Sora's, died in his throat. Because of this reaction, the little werewolf had withdrawn her finger and she was convinced she had done something stupid.
"Oh, no! Sora, I'm sorry for yelling." Eden stirred on his seat. "Can you describe to me what you are talking about please?"
The sad pout disappeared from the little werewolf's face to be replaced by a puzzled expression. She had never seen anything like it before. Besides, it was floating in the air. Sora couldn't help wondering how it was possible.
She looked at Eden with a slight apprehension then tried to remember the names of the shapes she had learned with Greg. She looked at the four sides of the shape that had unequal length and squeezed her brain to search for the correct answer.
"A rectangle?" she said, watching for the reaction of the older omega.
When Eden nodded with a smile, she gained a little confidence and her voice grew stronger.
"A blue rectangle?" Eden's hand ruffled Sora's blond hair with an affectionate gesture.
"Yes! Very good Sora!"
Intrigued, Cliff, who was sitting on the other side of his protegee, interrupted them.
"What are you doing?"
Eden shook his head to make Sora understand that she shouldn't talk and winked at her. She, then, turned to Cliff, a mischievous expression on her face, and answered his question.
"Nothing at all!"
Disappointed by the answer that he knew far from the truth, Cliff pursed his lips and turned his head to the window. They hadn't started moving yet as the driver and his co-pilot were still discussing which route to take.
In his head, Eden heard his mate's voice. The alpha was sitting alone in the third row of seats
[A blue rectangle?]
Glen hadn't seen the entire exchange because his position didn't allow him to see properly what was going on in front of him. However, he was sure of one thing. Sora was talking about the system's screen.
Eden's reaction was too intense for it to be anything else. He stared at the cherubic blond hair that moved in front of his eyes with every slight movement of his owner's head.
[Yes. She can see the system's screen. She even managed to touch it. I'm more and more curious to learn about Sora. I wonder what role she will have to play.]
[None, I hope] Glen replied gravely. [She is too young to have a role in a story where the other side is an unstable and sadistic witch out for revenge.]
[You're right. Unfortunately, with her title of Priestess of the Moon Goddess, I think she won't have a say.]
A sigh escaped Glen's mouth and the car drove off. They had only been on the road for a few minutes when all the passengers noticed that they weren't driving in the direction of Green Lake as they should but in the direction of Black Moon.
"What are you doing?" Cliff asked. "This is the wrong road!"
"I know but Sora needs a child seat."
In the car, no one would have dared to protest or dispute the statement as true as it was obvious, even if it meant an extension of at least an hour and a half of driving.
Eden and Cliff lowered their heads on the little werewolf whose feet barely exceeded the seat where she was sitting. The seat belt didn't secure her at all. The strap supposed to pass over her shoulder was flattened against the seat because the omega wasn't tall enough to reach the minimum height.
"You're tiny," Eden commented.
The little omega's head snapped at him and her eyes narrowed in what must have been a glare, but the blond wasn't sure.
"I'm not tiny, I'm growing!"
"Yeah, sure!" Eden snorted because of the correction.
"She reminds me of someone, right Connor?" Glen chuckled from the back of the car.
The light brown-haired man looked into the vanity mirror and narrowed his eyes in a glare the alpha could easily see.
"No, not at all!"
______
Sitting in her seat, Sora beamed. She was almost the same height as Eden and she recognized the road that led to her pack. She only knew how to count to ten. The numbers got a bit confusing after, so she wasn't sure how long it had been since she had seen her mother. She was over the moon when she saw the curve after which was the entrance to the village.
Although Green Lake was a traditional pack, the natural resources of their territory didn't provide them with something like Bloodhood's extraordinary network of caverns that spanned tens of thousands of square yards. The village that housed the pack was a large collection of houses built of wood and other natural elements.
Greg started to feel nervous and checked one last time with the Soul Healer.
"You made it clear to the Green Lake's Alpha that there were two humans in addition to the two werewolves from Bloodhood?"
"For the umpteenth time, there is no problem! The alpha is fully aware of that fact and what you are." His gaze fell on the seat in front of him where Connor was sitting, and he corrected in a lower voice. "More or less."
"I can feel your gaze you know?" The man said. "And you didn't lie about me, I'm human."
"A human who can turn into a wolf."
"It never happened and it probably never will! Such useless information didn't need to be mentioned, so that's perfect! The Skinwalkers have yet to reveal their existence to the Werewolves besides Bloodhood anyway. Might as well avoid problems if we can do it."
At the back, Eden was disappointed. He had hoped that once the man got used to his status update, he would agree to transform. The male omega was curious to know what Connor's wolf form looks like and if his stats are different from his normal form.
"Won't you ever transform?"
"Why should I? I'm only a Skinwalker in the name. I don't need or want to transform."
After what had happened with Greg and the Blue Moon tribe, Connor rejected his origins more than ever. Even though he used his powers to deal with Elias and Wyatt, he only did so out of necessity. Now that the threat was gone, the fact that he could manipulate the energy around him and his aura, but especially the fact that he could transform, wasn't his concern.
Greg averted his eyes from the road for a second to look at his fiancé. The doctor had his opinion on the matter, but he didn't want to rush or antagonize the man who had fought to save his life.
They finished the drive in silence and when the car stopped in front of a wooden palisade guarded by several sentries, everyone in the car hoped that the Soul Healer had done everything as he said.
Greg opened his window and let the werewolf approach to ask for his pass. As the guard checked that everything was in order, Sora who was excited and happy to smell the scents of his pack cried out in a perky voice.
"Hello!"
Startled by the small voice that came from the back of the car, the guard leaned down to look at the small omega just like his colleague behind him. As the sentry smiled back at the omega, the werewolf behind him swore under his breath.
"Crap! It's the freak! Why is she back?"
Everyone in the car tensed, each of them exuding hostility. The guard who noticed the behavior change smiled then turned to glower at his packmate. The werewolf, unfazed, shrugged and mumbled.
"What? That's what everybody says. She scares all the other kids at school because she talks about things only she can see. My Willow doesn't want to play with her and you know she's a nice werewolf!"
The men inside immediately understood what kind of daily life the little omega had to live in her pack because of her powers. Greg snatched the papers from the sentry's hands and asked him in an icy voice.
"Can we go?"
"Y-yes! Please do. Leave the car in front of the shed at the entrance. Someone will come to take you to the Alpha."
The car drove away and Eden looked down at Sora whose smile had faded, but who didn't look sad. Her almost normal state after being called a 'freak' brought back bad memories.
"Are you okay, Sora?"
"It's ok. I'm used to it. The other kids tell me that all the time." The tone of her voice betrayed her true emotions.
"No, it's not okay, Sora," Greg said. "You have the right to be upset, okay? When you are told something that hurts you, you have the right to be upset."
"But when I'm upset and I react, they said I'm a bad omega and don't follow the pack's rules so I get scolded."
"It depends on how you react," continues the doctor.
"I lock them in a bubble until they cry. Since no one believes them because they can't see the bubble, they say I'm hitting them, but it's wrong. I never hit them!"
Silence greeted the unexpected response. Cliff heard the tale of Sora's life in her pack for the first time and decided to speak his mind.
"You may not have to go so far as to put them in a bubble, but you have the right to tell them not to talk to you like that because it's not nice what they say. Fight for you, with your words not your fists or your magic."
Sora nodded without saying anything more and the car parked near the place the sentry had told them. A werewolf in his human form waved his hand when he saw them.
After closing in on the group, the werewolf didn't turn to Cliff or Sora like everyone was expecting. His sparkling eyes were fixed on Glen who looked at him, puzzled, ready to ask him what his problem was. Instead of doing so, the dominant frowned and wrinkled his nose, uncomfortable.
"I saw your fight, the dead-end! It was awesome! And when Grey Wolf's werewolves invaded the field and you knocked them all down with just your pheromones…"
"Back off!" Eden said.
Connor and Greg turned to him, shocked by his sudden aggressive behavior. Before they could react, the blond got between Glen and the werewolf. "I advise you to keep your pheromones in check, I don't think your Alpha would be happy to hear that the omega he sent to greet the Bloodhood's heir and his mate, has started spreading his seduction pheromones around the said mate."
"N-no. It's... I guess I was just...I didn't..." The man let out an embarrassed laugh and swallowed hard. He walked away and quickened his pace, muttering to follow him.
"Did he really…?"
With a 'hm', Glen and Cliff confirmed to Connor what Eden had just said and Cliff explained.
"Some omegas don't care about the promise's mark. As long as the dominant isn't bonded, they believe they still have a chance. Still, he has quite the nerve to do that right in front of the marked omega."
"He can be grateful that I didn't bea…" The male omega glanced at the tiny one next to him.
"Let's just not dwell on bad things and take you to your Mommy, okay?"
As the group finally got going, Glen turned slightly to eye his mate, a smile on his lips. In Eden's head, a voice echoed.