Alpha, Beta, Omega

Chapter One

It was raining when Kali woke up.

The soft pitter patter of it hitting the bedroom window was almost enough to lure her back to sleep. But then she heard the familiar sound of high heels on the hallway floor just outside her bedroom door. The scent of bubblegum perfume drifting through the wood of the door and further confirming who was heading downstairs. Her elder sister, Chloe.

Grumbling faintly she pulled a pillow over her head, wondering what on earth had Chloe up and out of bed at...she peeked at her alarm clock...seven in the morning. Chloe was not known as a morning person. Then again Kali wasn't exactly a morning person herself but at least she had a reason to be up. Which meant she couldn't just roll over and go back to sleep. With a soft sigh she pushed the pillow off her head and sat up, kicking the blanket away before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

She yawned sleepily as she stretched, her muscles shifting and settling before she stood, crossing the room to her dresser, sitting in the desk chair that should really have been in the corner at her desk, grabbing up her brush before attempting to tame the wildness that was her wavy and curly hair. It would never lie completely straight, not like Chloe's, but once it was brushed out it did hang rather nicely around her pale, heart shaped face. Looking in the mirror, studying her reflection she tried to see what everyone else in the pack saw.

The oddball. The girl who didn't fit in.

Too docile, they said when they thought she couldn't hear them. Too calm for a she-wolf. Especially for a daughter of a Beta.

She couldn't help it if she was more passive than other wolves.

She couldn't help it if she would submit instead of fight.

It was just who she was.

Her mother tried to reassure her that there was nothing wrong with her, that the gods didn't make everyone the same and they had made her just the way she was meant to be. Too bad that the rest of the pack, her sister included, didn't share that view. They were all certain that there was something wrong with her. Chloe had even started calling her a freak when they were kids.

Sighing softly she quickly pinned her hair up in a ponytail, putting on the mask she wore, just in order to get through the day. Standing once more she hurriedly got dressed, black sneakers, dark jeans and a white t-shirt, pretty standard clothing for working at the town's only bookstore. Glancing back at the mirror as she picked up her jacket and shoulder bag she saw someone who didn't stand out. Someone who blended into the background. Better than standing out and drawing attention to herself.

She'd learned in junior high school just how bad that was.

Sighing again she left her room and slipped as quietly as she could down the hallway and stairs, entering the kitchen just in time to hear Chloe's loud complaint.

"But daddy! The purse only costs, like, three hundred dollars."

Apparently their father had said no to some new designer handbag. Surprising. Since he usually always gave into Chloe's demands. For her sixteenth birthday their father had purchased her a car. A little silver Audi convertible that Chloe had gushed and gushed about for months. When Kali turned sixteen, just two years after Chloe, their father had purchased her a bicycle. With a basket. "It suits you, honey." Their father had said as she'd stood and stared at the dark red bicycle, all while Chloe snickered in the background.

"Chloe, for the last time," their father, Martin, snapped from where he sat at the kitchen table, flipping through the local paper. "I'm not giving you six hundred dollars for a purse when you just got a new one last month."

Chloe made a low sound, growling faintly, storming from the kitchen, shoving Kali aside as she went, giving her a nasty look before disappearing down the hall. Kali watched her sister go before she quickly crossed the kitchen, snagging an apple from the bowl on the table.

"Working, Kali?"

Her father didn't look up from the paper as he spoke.

"It's my day to open," she said softly, setting her purse down long enough to shrug into her jacket and pull her hood up, tucking the apple into her shoulder bag as she slung the strap over her head, letting the bag rest against her side. "And to close. So I'll probably be home late."

A low hum of acknowledgment followed by a simple statement of "It's a full moon tonight."

She paused by the door to the garage, looking back at her father, who still hadn't looked up from the paper. "I know," she said calmly, though part of her was freaking out. She hated full moons. She absolutely hated them. Three nights every month when the pack would run together. And she always had to run alone. "I'll be home before the meeting. I promise."

Another hum of acknowledgment but nothing else.

She didn't say goodbye as she slipped out, grabbing her bicycle from where she left it leaning against the garage wall, sliding silently and carefully by Chloe's car. Stepping out into the rain she found it was falling fairly steadily, meaning it probably wouldn't let up as the day progressed. Sighing softly she climbed onto her bicycle and headed off down the street towards the bookstore.

She had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.