Fake It Till You Mate It

Belldona double-checked the tray. Good, she nodded, everything was as it should be. She allowed herself an eye roll while no one was looking. They would wring her neck if anything was even slightly off. They might still for the fun of it. She dreaded the thought of having to go and serve Rodney and his cronies. They were known for treating Omegas, like herself, badly. Abusive is what she would have said, if she knew that she wouldn’t get in trouble for it.

But it was her turn to serve their table. Bell may be an Omega, but she always did her job to the best of her abilities. She would never shirk her duties.

At last week’s pack warrior meeting, she’d been really lucky and got to serve Alpha Adrian and his Beta. Alpha James was the best thing to ever happen to the Bloodfang Pack.

James had become the Alpha some twenty-odd years ago when she was still a pup. From the almost mythical way her mom had told her the story, James had started out as just a regular warrior, but under the tyranny of Alpha Peter, he’d been forced to do things that went against his moral code and like some sort of avenging god, he stood up and challenged Alpha Peter.

Bell’s mom refused to tell of the fight, but she knew that that had to be the reason for his scars and missing eye. But even with his missing eye and scarred face, Bell still thought that Alpha James was without a doubt the best werewolf to walk the earth.

The reason was simple. Where most werewolves treat Omegas like they’re invisible or were no more than simple dogs; James took time to know them and show them kindness that no previous Alpha had.

The other thing he did that earned Bell’s eternal respect was abolished the sick practise of branding that Alpha Peter had. Her parents and the mark of the Bloodfangs burned into their wrists. She never understood the purpose of the branding. Was it meant to promote loyalty? Or was it just to ensure that no one leave?

It didn’t matter. Alpha James was a good man and a good leader. She nodded at her self-conclusion.

“Oi, Runt!” A whack across the head accompanied the voice that broke her rumination. “Stop your faffing and go do your job!”

Mavis was the manager of the Omegas, though she, herself wasn’t one. Bell didn’t think they needed a manager, but apparently, even the submissive Omegas needed someone to keep them in line. MVIS was also a mean-spirited shrew. Bell wasn’t sure if it was because she thought that she deserved better than to be a minder to lesser wolves or if she just liked throwing her weight around.

Oh, how she longed to yell at Mavis not to call her Runt, but she knew that that would earn another whack and Bell just wasn’t a masochist. So, she held her tongue and nodded hurriedly. She grabbed the plates and moved as gracefully as swiftness would allow.

She hated that name, Runt, even if it was apt. She was smaller than most werewolves. Standing at 5’, she could pass for an average human. She never had that growth spurt her parents had promised and somehow at twenty-four, she doubted she ever would.

“Get in trouble with Malicious Mavis already?” Bell’s friend, Lisa, appeared at her side, taking one of the trays.

Bright, cornflower blue eyes, naturally dusty pink cupid bow lips, and blond curly hair. Lisa was the prettiest Omega the pack had ever seen, without a doubt. As a teen, Bell often found herself trying to curl her straight hair to see if it would suit her the way it suited Lisa. However, her hair was stubborn and went straight after a few minutes of pretending to do what Belldona wanted. She had accepted that curly hair would never be hers and instead focused on bringing out the shine in her straight hair. She liked how the layered cut she’d learned in her last year of high school brought focus onto the almond shape of her dark eyes and made her wide mouth look friendly and even charming. She would never be held in awe, but she was pretty and she wouldn’t allow anyone to tell her otherwise.

“Mmmhmm,” She nodded. “This time only took her two minutes to find me.”

“Wow, two minutes? That’s a new record!”

“I know. I’m beginning to think that she’s a demon in disguise as a wolf.” Bell grinned.

“Oh, so a Nightstar wolf?” Lisa quipped.

The hatred that ran between the two packs was deeper and older than the woods that surrounded their lands. Belldona had been told that the dispute between the two packs had started hundreds of years ago over the land and its resources. The Nightstars were greedy and selfish, while the Bloodfangs had being more than willing to share within reason. The war had lasted several years, both sides losing far more than they gained. Eventually, a tentative truce had been made between the packs. The Bloodfangs kept the majority of the land while Nightstars got the majority of the resources and remainder of the land. In high school, they used to tell rumours that any Bloodfang that crossed into Nightstar territory was killed on site.

“Even that’s too kind for Mavis!” Bell joked back.

They swallowed their giggles as they entered the dining room in the pack house. They kept their gazes down. Omegas were not to be seen or heard.

It was a point of pride for Bell that despite or maybe because of her small stature, she was able to be essentially a ghost. She could get in, serve, clean, and get out of a room jammed packed with people without anyone the wiser.

She prayed to the Moon Goddess that her powers of almost invisibility would be at full force tonight as she served Rodney and his gang. Bell could never and would never like Rodney. He was obsessed with the “old, traditional” values of the pack. And that included treating Omegas as though they were the scum of the earth.

She took a breath and raised her hand to knock on the door of Rodney’s private room. He insisted on privacy for himself and his friends. Bell couldn’t pretend to understand why Alpha James let him have his way, but that wasn’t her place to question him. She thought it was probably because Rodney was Peter’s nephew and he felt bad for him.

Her hand froze a hair width away from the door when she heard the glass breaking. Great, she was going to have to stay even longer to clean that up. She raised her fist again only to stop as she heard Rodney yell out.

“Idiot! Of course, we can’t hide the body!”