Chasing the Omega (Small Town #1)

Chapter 4

The last thing I wanted to do right now was to be alone with Ryder. I couldn't help but wonder if he was here to beat me up after what I called him at school today. What can I say? I hated people staring at me.

"Are you hurt?" Ryder asked, stroking my cheek gently.

I spluttered. "Look, I'm sorry that I called you an asshole today in class. It kind of slipped out."

He's taken aback for a few seconds then shrugged. "Why apologise for something that's true?"

I leaned out of his touch, stood and took a step backwards. "Even so, I didn't mean anything by it, I swear. So please, don't beat me up."

He frowned, then bursted out laughing. "Beat you up? Why would I do that?"

"Isn't that what you do to people that piss you off or insult you?"

He nodded. "Sometimes, but I don't hurt little girls like you. Anyone who does lay a hand on the opposite sex in a harmful way is a pathetic excuse for a human being."

I should have moved when I had the chance because right now, my boobs were getting to know his chest very well.

"Okay, then. So if you're not here to beat me up, what do you want?" I asked.

His face suddenly became serious. "I want you to tell me what happened here last night. Something happened to you, and I want to know everything there is to know."

I froze.

How did he know that something happened to me?

"Nothing. Nothing happened last night." I lied.

Ryder caged me in with both of his hands on either side of my head and leaned forward into my chest. "Your heart tells me that you're lying."

My heart?

I ignored his words and leaned back further against the door. "Why do you want to know what happened last night?"

He stared intently at my shoulder, then back at my eyes. "I think you know why."

I ducked underneath his arm, and started walking. " I told you. Nothing happened."

"You need to listen to me!"

"Leave me alone." I uttered without looking back at him.

Before I knew it, Ryder grabbed my wrist and turned me around to face him. "You may not believe me, but I'm trying to help you."

"Help me? With what?" I asked.

"You were bitten by a wolf, yes? On a full moon?"

I ripped my hand aggressively from his hold. "How do you know that?"

He refused to answer.

"I asked you how you knew that!?" I demanded.

He stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke quietly. "In a few days, you'll go through the change."

I frowned. "The change?"

He nodded. "Very soon, you'll experience the change. The change of becoming a wolf."

A what?

I looked at him in confusion, then bursted out laughing.

He frowned, his nostrils flaring "This is not a joke."

I chuckled. "A wolf? Seriously? You're hilarious."

"I don't joke about things like this."

I rolled my eyes. "Just leave me alone."

"You're going to need me because what you're about to go through is one of the worst pains in the whole world. I can help you. With my help you're guaranteed to survive."

I study his face and gasp. "You're serious."

"I don't joke about what I am."

"And what are you exactly? A wolf?" I asked sarcastically

Ryder merely shrugged. "We all are."

"We?"

Ryder didn't answer. He only gave me this knowing look that gave me the realisation that I needed to know what he meant by his expression.

"You're saying that Bane, Silver and Kellan are wolves?" I scoffed. "Come on, be serious."

"You think I'd be helping you if you weren't becoming one of us? We heard what you said in the diner, and saw the milkshake incident. Not only that, but I can smell the venom already flowing inside your body." He inhaled the air and exhaled. "Silver was right. You're changing fast."

I scoffed and pointed to the left. "You need help...The mental asylum is in that direction."

He cuts me off. "Alice..."

"No! Enough! This kind of thing just doesn't happen to people!" I shrieked. "You're delusional and I think you need help."

"You want to know what happened to Mr. Daniels!? How his body was found ripped to shreds in his own home!?" Ryder spat.

I couldn't take it anymore. So, I do the only thing I could think of to block Ryder's voice. I covered my ears and prayed that he just stopped.

"You think a human can do that!?"

"Stop it!" I begged and begged for him to stop, but he only carried on.

"What's going on out here?"

Not only had Ryder stopped shouting, but his whole body stiffened when he noticed Terry standing with a flashlight pointing right at him. "He giving you trouble, Alice?"

I took my hands away from my ears and shook my head. "No, he was just leaving."

Ryder looked back at me with desperation in his eyes, but I couldn't listen to another word he had to say.

"Goodnight Terry." I walked away, leaving both men standing alone in the dark.

The walk to my home was surprisingly peaceful. There were no run-ins with Ryder nor an encounter with a wolf. Just me and the sounds of nature.

I took the shortcut home and came across the clearing of the forest that stood between me and my home. I believed that many secrets were in this forest, but I felt no threat nor was I afraid to know what hid inside it.

As I stood at the clearing, I felt nothing but power. For some reason, I felt more alive than ever.

I ran through the forest and leapt over the thin winding creeks and the slippery rocks. I dodged and zipped past rotting oak trees and lowered branches. Bugs zipped in and out of my ears, humming and buzzing their little song. Green leaves, yellow leaves and red leaves scattered on the ground like a rainbow of rich, autumnal colours.

Ahead, the forest trees got thinner.

I was close to home.

As I drew closer, I saw the old worn bridge that led to the road opposite my home.

Home sweet home.

I lived with my mother in a quiet residential area in a beautiful detached house. It had been the only home I had ever lived in, and there nowhere in the world I'd rather be because of the silence and peacefulness the house provides.

I walked across the road and reached the wraparound porch in front of the house, and turned the handle to find that it was.

My mother should be home by now.

I tapped my knuckles on the pristine glass door, and waited for any sign of movement.

I tapped again and waited a few minutes longer.

Nothing.

I moved to check underneath the doormat and saw the lone silver key.

I guess she's not home.

I picked up the key and entered the house.

I double checked for any sign of her.

"Mother?Are you home?"

Silence.

Maybe she had a date tonight?

I took the stairs down into the kitchen, and noticed a piece of paper stuck on the refrigerator.

Alice,

Got called down to the hospital,

Probably won't be home till morning,

Supper is in the microwave

Love you, Mum x

I opened the microwave and groaned in satisfaction when I smelled the sweet aroma of the pepperoni pizza.

Before I changed out of my clothes and into my nightwear, I reheated the pizza and grabbed myself a can of Coke.

By the time I came down the stairs, I took the pizza and the can of Coke over to the sofa in front of the TV, and downloaded the season finale of Game of Thrones.

As I silently ate, I couldn't help but think about Ryder.

What if what he said was true? That I was going to transition into one of the most dangerous predators known to humans?

I shook my head and scoffed. "Whatever."

I come out of my trance to the opening theme of Game of Thrones when suddenly everything in the room starts to blur.

I couldn't see anything.

I wiped my eyes with the palm of my hands and felt my face. It was burning.

I heard my heart beating rapidly inside my chest, and I started to notice that I was struggling to breathe properly. I stood on my feet to work my way towards the bathroom when suddenly I felt this stabbing pain in my stomach. It was like my insides were being twisted and pulled from the inside.

I pulled the bathroom door open and balanced myself on the sink. I looked in the mirror to see myself completely drenched in sweat.

"What's happening to me?" I asked myself.

My head started to throb as the pain in my stomach became too excruciating to cope with. The more I tried to stop the agonising pain, I felt the most intense agony searing into my lower back, and all I could do was scream. The pain became worse whenever I tried to fight it, and straight away I felt nausea creeping up my throat. I doubled over and vomited violently to see black liquid coating the edges of the toilet.

I lost count of the amount of times I vomited

If this was the change then I refuse to stop fighting.

I refuse to change.

I don't care how long the pain took, I wouldn't give in to the change.

******************


After what felt like intense hours, I sighed in relief as I rested my cheekbone on the cold surface of the toilet. My vision was starting to clear ever so slowly. The pain in my stomach and lower back had subsided, and I could finally breathe again. My heart beat to its normal two-beat rhythm, and my head stopped throbbing.

With unsteady legs, I got up from the position on the toilet and cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom.

After I finished cleaning, I sat on the floor and promised myself to only rest my eyes for a couple of minutes.

I didn't hear the door open, nor did I hear my mother calling my name several times. She eventually found me exactly as I am sitting on the floor with my head resting on the toilet.

I opened my eyes and looked at her.

"Alice honey, what are you doing on the floor? She looked at me with worry in her eyes.

She stood by the bathroom door in her pink scrubs, holding her black knitted cardigan in her arms.

"I got sick."

My mother knelt down on the floor in front of me and placed her hand on my forehead.

"Did you catch a fever or something?"

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

"Right, well I think you should rest and drink plenty of water, and I'll call the doctor tomorrow if you want before I go to work, okay honey? No school for you tomorrow."

She kissed me on the forehead and helped me slowly off the floor.

"How was work?" I followed my mother into the kitchen, and sat on the bar stool as she turns off the TV.

I had missed Game of Thrones. Again.

"Work was a little hectic but I'm happy to be home. Everything okay in school?"′ She brought the half eaten pizza, and the unopened can of coke into the kitchen and sat them on the counter.

"School was okay I guess. We have a new English teacher."

"A new teacher? What happened to Mr. Daniels?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he quit?"

I didn't know why I didn't tell my mother about Mr. Daniels, but I didn't think telling her that he was supposedly found ripped to shreds in his home was a good idea.

Who knows? Maybe Ryder only told me that to scare me?

"Well that's a shame. He was such a good teacher and he adored you."

"I know, but." I shrugged my shoulders again and stood to give my mother a hug. "Goodnight mom."

She squeezed me tightly as she kissed the top of my head. "Goodnight honey. I love you."

"Love you too."

I walked up the stairs into my bedroom and leant my head against the door.

"A wolf?" I scoffed and laughed hysterically to myself.