My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 16

Caitlyn POV

"Impossible..." The Gamma's daughter wore an expression of utter disbelief on her face as we stood among a large group of females. I couldn't tell her the news earlier, but I made sure to personally bring her to the town square where the Alpha had summoned all of the pack's she-wolves between the ages sixteen and thirty. The crowd broke up as soon as Dario left the small stage designated specifically for his public speeches, and Sasha's gaze fell on me. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Well, I suggested the idea, but I doubt the Alpha would have paid any mind to it if James hadn't supported it from the beginning." I shrugged. "He was really impressed by Topaz's performance during the tournament. You convinced him yourself, and now your dream to become a warrior can finally turn into reality. Congratulations!"

Without warning aside from the huge grin on her face, Sasha wrapped me in a tight hug. Being much taller than me - and a lot bulkier as well - she had no trouble lifting me in the air as she howled in excitement.

Once we left the town square, we met the boys at the cafeteria for breakfast. Dario's speech happened during training, so the warriors didn't catch it - but the Gamma's daughter wasted no time to tell them everything. She went on talking about how she would spend the day preparing for the tryouts in the evening, as well as her plans to take extra training sessions once she landed the warrior position so she could make up for the time she lost. The way she couldn't stop smiling throughout the entire meal warmed my heart; it was beautiful to see her embrace her passion, starting to believe after so many years of hopelessness.

"It was only possible because of you," Faye observed. I rarely disagreed with her, but this time, I had to.

"All I did was make a suggestion, which would certainly be overlooked if I didn't have proof of its efficacy," I recalled. "Sasha conquered this on her own; I was merely the messenger."

"You can keep denying it all you want. Deep down, you know the impact your actions had," she stated adamantly. "You stood up against the Alpha. You had the courage to speak your mind even after he told you to stay quiet. It was your insistence and your arguments that accomplished this change. Your abilities - not your friend's."

Once she made her point, I felt her retreat to the depths of my mind, and I just let her - both because there was no use arguing with her, a mirror of my own soul, and because I could see some truth behind her words. Unwilling to dwell on the matter for longer, I just shook my head. It was only natural for my counterpart to always want to lift up my spirit, but it was pretentious of me to believe I could have been able to abolish a traditional law on my own. It was too surreal.

As usual, I spent my day in Dario's office, helping him organize all of the details following the recent change. He made sure to keep my hands full; I assumed it was his way of punishing me for my audacity of speaking during a formal emergency meeting, but to be honest, I actually enjoyed it. As foolish as it was, working to make sure the new law would thrive made me feel as if I had truly been part of an important change.

Although I hadn't been able to catch a break after lunch with the amount of papers I had to write and organize, the Alpha dismissed me an hour earlier than usual. He would be joining the Gamma at the borders to inspect the new security measure, and he saw no point in asking me to tag along. According to him, it would be more useful if I went home to rest so I could prepare myself for another busy day. I thought about inviting Sasha to hang out around the common area of the pack house, but I quickly dismissed the idea when I remembered she was probably training for the tryouts, which would happen in an hour. So, I decided to follow Dario's advice and went home.

It felt uncanny to be inside the house while Lance was away. I had only been alone here for a few minutes during my first day in Diamond Tempest, which seemed like ages ago. As I walked through the living room towards the bedroom, it felt as if the whole place had grown larger and emptier. It made me realize that without my mate here, this wasn't a home - it was just a house.

As I sat on the bed, I pondered over my options to kill time until Lance arrived from work. It felt too lonely to lay on the couch and watch some random TV show, and my mate would be upset if I started cooking dinner without him. My eyes scoured through the room in search for options, until they landed on the small picture frame over the chest of drawers. The portrait, showing Megan and I smiling with the ninebark garden in the background, had been taken just a few days before I turned eighteen. Not even a week before I left for my new pack.

Instinctively, I stood up to better analyze the image, holding it close to my chest. With each day that went by, I felt more and more as if I had always belonged in Diamond Tempest. I would always remember Ninebark fondly as my first home, but I knew it in my heart that my place was here - with Dario, Luke, Jasper, Sasha, and Lance. Still, I couldn't help but wish Megan was part of my new life. We had been like sisters since we were pups, and it was awkward not to have her with me anymore.

"If she had seen the way you fought for girls to have a chance to prove their strength, she would have definitely opened up a bottle of tequila to celebrate." I smiled in agreement at Faye's observation. "Then, she would hide away and finish it on her own when you were too drunk to notice." I had to laugh - it definitely sounded like something my best friend would do.

My chest ached as I realized how much I missed her, and I finally decided to call her. At this time, she would probably be done with her tasks for the day - she usually sneaked out earlier from work when no one else was looking. "Cait?" The sound of her voice on the other side of the line made me smile brighter. "I was starting to think you had forgotten about me," she scoffed. "What's up, babe?"

"As if you would ever let me forget you." I rolled my eyes. "Nothing much. I mean, I do have to update you on a few things, but I wanted to hear from you first."

"Did you and Lance mark each other?!"

"No." I laughed at her excitement.

"Always such a freaking saint! How did you mate with him, but not mark him?" I could feel her frown even though I couldn't see her face. "Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. I have been going to your mother's house almost every day for dinner. To keep her company, you know."

"Uh-huh." Megan loved my mom's food, and she never missed an opportunity to taste it.

"I think she's starting to like me. She even said I'm like her second daughter." "What?"

"Well, it was something along the lines of 'since Cait left, it feels like I have gotten a second daughter! Then, she kicked me out and told me to cook my own food. It was the most interaction we've had so far."

"And I was starting to believe you," I chuckled. "What about warrior training? Have you been kicking a lot of butts lately?"

"Girl, do you not know me at all? I'm undefeated for more than a month! Beta Lyall said if I keep it up, I could start heading one of the divisions soon."

"That's awesome, Meg! I'm proud of you."

It was relieving to know everything was going well in my old pack, especially for my best friend and my mother, the only family I had left. However, there was someone else I wanted to know about. It felt so wrong to even care about it; my heart raced, and I could feel Faye's hesitation as she understood my thoughts. It made me feel like a fool, but I needed to know. The day I ran away, I left an open door I hadn't yet been able to close. It allowed my past to come back and haunt me.

So, after gathering my courage, I finally asked, "And Caleb?"

For a long moment, there was silence. "What about him?"

"H-how is he doing?"

"Why the hell would you want to know that? Are you out of your f*****g mind, Cait?!"

"Please, Meg. I just need to know." I knew she didn't approve of my feelings, but I couldn't help them. Eventually, I heard her sigh.

"Fine. The jerk is still alive, unfortunately." The hatred in her voice was palpable. "He doesn't seem to be with basic-Lacey anymore, and he has been going back to working as a half-decent Gamma. Cedar is doing what he can to keep him in line, putting him to clean bathrooms and stuff. The Alpha said since he was so obsessed with undermining the Omegas, he should become more familiar with the kind of work they do. He hasn't been showing up for training though. Thank the Goddess I don't have to see his ugly face every day." I stayed silent for a moment, processing the information. For some reason, it brought me peace to know he was going back to being the person he was before he found out he was mated to me. Maybe I truly was a rock in his shoes. "Are you happy now?" Megan scoffed.

"Yeah. Thank you. I just needed to..." My sentence was cut short when I noticed something from the corner of my eyes.

When I turned around, I found Lance standing at the entrance, a painful look on his face. As soon as our eyes locked, he ran away without uttering a word. I didn't know for how long he had been standing there, but his unusual behavior led me to believe he had heard me asking about my first mate, and it obviously hurt him. Was I so absorbed in the conversation I didn't even hear him walk in? My heart started racing as I realized how stupid I had been.

"Cait? You there?" I heard my best friend ask, but I had no time to reply. I just jumped up to my feet and ran after Lance as fast as I could.

***

Lancaster POV

After a long day of work, I was ready to spend the rest of the evening in my mate's arms. With the intention of surprising her, I snuck in through the front door, being as silent as I could. But the moment I walked in, my ears immediately caught the sound of another man's name coming out of her mouth - Caleb.

A million questions popped up in my mind as I stood there, completely frozen. Why was she asking about her first mate? Did she still have feelings for him? We never talked about the dickhead ever since she moved here; as the days went by, I assumed she was healing and slowly forgetting about him. Now, I knew that certainly wasn't the case. I noticed the relief in her face when she found out Caleb was doing okay, and the horror when she saw me. I felt my heart break as my wolf whimpered inside my head. Out of instinct, I ran away.

My pain was so overwhelming it caused me to let my guard down, offering Atlas an opening to take control. In wolf form, we crossed the territory in search of shelter - animals who had been hurt would usually hide to stay safe and protect themselves. A mess of emotions, I didn't realize where my paws were taking me until I arrived at the small cave I had shown my mate on our first day off together. Atlas' thoughts were as loud as mine as he hid near a boulder in the corner.

In the dark, my insecurities started to consume me, and it suddenly dawned on me. Of course she still cared about him; Caitlyn was a brilliant she-wolf who was initially meant to be a Gamma female. It explained why she was smarter than any other Omega I had ever met. A stray like me could never compete with a ranked member. I had been foolish to think I could satisfy her if I worked harder, when the truth was that I would never be able to give her the life she deserved. "It's not true," Atlas yelped in denial. "Mate loves us. She told us so herself. This has to be a misunderstanding..."

Before I could argue with him, the intoxicating fragrance I had grown to love invaded my nostrils; for the first time, it made me anxious. Of course she would replace me here; all she had to do was follow my scent. As soon as Atlas' eyes landed on Faye, he whimpered. When she took a step forward, we backed away until we hit the cold stone wall. She immediately dropped to the floor, her ears down as she showed she meant no harm. Was she here to reject me?

"I don't know how much you heard of my conversation with Megan..." I heard her sweet voice inside my head. "But I promise you, if you let me explain-"

"Why do you still care about him?" My voice was weak. "Am I not enough?"

"Of course you are, Lance! You're more than I could ever ask for." I could feel the pain in her tone. "It's just... my past with him is complicated." Faye's eyes never left mine as she laid on the ground, unmoving. I decided to give her a chance to talk. "I never told you about the bond Caleb and I shared before I found out we were mates, but I think you deserve to know. Can you just hear me out?"

Atlas nodded his head.

"The main reason why we instantly clicked when we met as pups was the fact that we had both lost one of our parents. His mother died while giving birth to him, and the former Gamma didn't take well to the loss of his mate. He was convinced she only passed away because she was an Omega. He often took his anger out on his son, saying Caleb was weak because of his mother's bloodline." She made a brief pause, studying my reaction. When I didn't say anything, she continued, "He was constantly under pressure, working hard to prove his father wrong. Nothing he did seemed to please his old man though. I don't know exactly what happened, but the former Alpha eventually banished Caleb's father from the pack when he was sixteen. Cedar took over a few months later, and made the decision to keep Caleb as his Gamma. I stayed with him all along, from his darker days, until he fully stepped in as Gamma."

"If you two were so close, why did he reject you?"

She took a deep breath. "At first, I couldn't understand either. He always portrayed himself as a strong wolf; I underestimated the damage his father had done. I believe when Caleb turned eighteen and figured out I was his mate, it triggered his trauma to resurface. Being mated to an Omega, he was probably scared history would repeat itself. So he rejected me." Pain flashed in her she-wolf's beautiful hazel eyes, and I felt slightly guilty for making her relive the moment. "I never told you how he did it though." T

I couldn't believe my ears as Caitlyn told me the story of her rejection. Suddenly, all of my sadness was gone, replaced by the sole desire to destroy the motherfucker who had been so cruel to my mate. He had already been stupid to reject her, but the way he did it... he wanted to make her suffer. And it filled me with rage.

"All of my romantic feelings for him disappeared at that moment, before our bond was even broken. There is no way I could love someone who betrayed me the way he did. I promise you, Lance, you are the only man in my life, and that will never change." Her words made me sigh with relief, making me realize how much I had overreacted. If I had just asked her about it, it would have been much easier. However, there was still one question on my mind. "Why did you ask about him then?"

"Honestly, I don't know," she replied sincerely. "I guess I just wanted to know so I could finally let go. After replaceing out he has been going back to being the person he used to be, I feel like I'm able to close that door for good." Faye had an ashamed expression on her face as she slowly inched closer. "I'm sorry, Lance. I never meant to hurt you. I truly love you. Can you forgive me?" Atlas' tail wagged shyly at her honesty. "Of course, beautiful."

The she-wolf's hazel eyes glistened with joy as she finally found the courage to tackle her mate, showering us with kisses. Once the issue was settled, I was a lot more at peace. I couldn't properly understand what my mate had gone through before, but after her explanation, I felt our bond grow even stronger. As our eyes locked, I realized how stupid I had been to doubt her devotion to me, even just for a second. She was always meant to belong to me - and she was happy about it.

Our wolves' need for each other grew, and their caresses became rougher. Atlas didn't hesitate to pounce on Faye when she laid down with her back against the ground, brushing his head against her chest and neck to cover her in our scent. After all, she was ours; I would never allow myself to forget that again. I could feel my wolf pushing me back to the depths of my mind, turning me into a spectator in my own body. However, I could still feel everything he was feeling.

And once our wolves were done taking care of each other, I only knew one thing - there was nothing better than make up s*x.