My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 54

Lancaster POV

The second most painful sensation a werewolf could experience was having wolfsbane pumping through our veins. Large doses could be lethal, but even the smallest ones could cause serious discomfort. First, the poison made our animal side scream and twist in agony until it was forcefully put to sleep. The worst part, however, begins as soon as our wolf passes out. The substance erodes our muscles and blood vessels, burning everything in our system while we are prevented from healing. It destroys our bodies from the inside for hours, causing an intense pain that makes us shut down entirely until it is successfully expelled. After undergoing such a stressful, excruciating experience, I hoped to have a serene awakening, which I certainly didn't have.

A hard blow to my face jolted me awake. As soon as I opened my mouth to gasp for air, I tasted something metallic on my tongue - blood. Although I was slightly numb, I could still feel the sharp pain from my broken nose.

"Nice, you're finally up! It's not as fun kicking you while you're asleep." The man laughed. My mind was hazy, but I could easily identify the masculine voice that I had only heard a few times in the past. If Atlas wasn't too weak to come to the surface, he definitely would have growled.

I opened my eyes slowly, still groggy. It was hard to tell for how long I had been out, and my surroundings didn't help. Apparently, I was in some kind of dungeon; the tall walls and ceiling were rudimentarily sculpted in rock. Was this a cave? The room was fairly large, but completely empty. It was just me and my capturer inside.

As I started to recover my senses, my gaze fell on the man in front of me. His blonde hair and fair skin were even dirtier than the last time I had seen him, but surprisingly enough, he was in a much better shape. He now resembled the Gamma he had once been, but there was no pride in his semblance. In his cold blue eyes, there was only the fire of revenge.

"You-" I snarled as I lifted my head up, but before I could finish, he instantly punched my stomach.

The sharp clanking sound I heard as I was sent backwards made me realize I had been chained. My arms were restrained by two silver chains hanging from the ceiling, while my feet were bound to the dirt floor. Whether it was my Alpha spirit or simply the hatred I had for this man, it infuriated me to be kneeling before him.

"Not so brave now, are you, stray?" Caleb growled through gritted teeth, crouching in front of me. When his eyes landed on mine, challenging me, I instinctively tried to lunge forward, only to feel my wrists burning as the chains locked me in place. However, a small smile lit up my face when I noticed the bastard flinch.

"Funny you say that when I'm tied up. If I recall correctly, you didn't stand a chance in a fair fight."

As soon as the words left my mouth, the fucker jolted up and kicked me in the head. My vision went black for a second, but I could still feel the warm liquid dripping down my face from the newly-opened wound.

"Fair?" He scoffed. "It was the first time my stupid wolf came out in months. Had he not been so stubborn, we would have beat you in the blink of an eye. A weak Omega could never be stronger than us." "Since you're so confident about that, why don't you free me so we can have a rematch?"

"Believe me, there's nothing I want more than to kill you with my own hands," he stated promptly. "However, my new Alpha has other plans for you."

"New Alpha?" I furrowed my brows in confusion, trying to understand what he meant. My eyes widened as I recalled what I was doing before he shot me.

The bear attack! The cave we were in must have been where the rest of them were hiding, maybe it was even the main base, considering there were more of them in the attack against Diamond Tempest than we found during our night of retaliation. A thousand questions started flooding my head, intensifying my headache. How did Caleb manage to get the bears' trust when he was a wolf himself? Had he been working with them all along? Was he behind everything, sending the warriors to the battlefield just so he could get to me? No. The attacks against our pack had been happening for almost a year now, and he didn't even know I existed before I met Caitlyn.

Caitlyn!

In a moment of clarity, my heart sank as I remembered my most precious treasure. Although we were winning the fight, I was taken away before the threat was exterminated. Was she safe? Was our pup safe? My pain worsened when I realized I had failed to keep the one promise I had made to her. I swore I would come back to her, yet here I was, unaware of what would even happen to me. Was she worried for me?

A sinister laugh broke my train of thought, and my attention fell on the person I hated the most. Caleb was smiling at the horror on my face, clearly amused by my despair.

I clenched my fists and squinted my eyes in anger as I turned to him. "I let you live!"

"No, she did." He smirked triumphantly. "She begged you to spare my life, which proves she still loves me. Even though you marked her, it didn't erase her feelings for me."

Perhaps in the past I would have believed his delusional thoughts, but I wasn't as insecure anymore. Not when it came to her. She loved me with all of her heart, and she would never betray me.

"She wanted you to live because, lucky for you, she's too kind to watch you die," I retorted, but he just shrugged.

"The reason doesn't really matter. Once they get rid of you, she'll forgive me. She will accept me and we will be happy, like the Goddess intended," he stated in a serious tone. "Why?" I barely whispered, staring at him with a quizzical expression.

"What?"

"Why are you so obsessed with her? You were the one who rejected her!" I yelled desperately, drowning in my fears and anger. "Why couldn't you just move on and let her be happy?"

Caleb remained silent for a few seconds. "Because I made a mistake. I shouldn't have rejected her, and I would have realized it sooner if you hadn't come along," he hissed as he looked away. "Honestly, I don't care what happens to you; I just want her back. She will never be truly happy without her real mate." "I am her real mate!" I growled furiously, unable to control my rage any longer.

This bastard had been a rock in my shoe for too long. He made his choices and created this mess because he refused to accept the consequences of his own actions. Both Caitlyn and I showed him mercy ever after everything he had done, but he dismissed our kindness. He was the reason why I was here, breaking the promise I had made to her.

I couldn't take it any more.

A roar left my chest as I struggled to break free, ignoring the agonizing sensation of the silver burning my wrists. I didn't care that Atlas hadn't come back yet; my only desire was to punch Caleb's smug smile off his face and finally kill him, like I should have done a long time ago. However, I was still a wolf. No matter how dire my rage was, I couldn't break the chains that bound me.

"You're a stupid second chance!" he yelled back, hitting my face with his knee once again. "Plan B!" He kicked my stomach, forcing all of the air out of my lungs. "A mistake!"

Another blow to my head almost made me blackout, causing me to spit blood. Before I could catch my breath, he held my face tightly, forcing me to look at him as his fingers dug into my cheeks. I fought the urge to wince, unwilling to show him any signs of weakness; I would die before I gave him that satisfaction. Instead, I pushed through the pain and stared right back at him. "That's all you've ever been since the day you were born. A mistake," he spat.

As I was trying to collect my breath, the sound of a door opening caught my attention. When an intense light invaded the dark room, I was blinded for a moment. It took me a while to get my sight back, but when I did, my eyes fell on an unknown figure. The man who had just entered the dungeon was extremely tall, and his intimidating red eyes were locked on me. The most peculiar detail about it was that he had a hook instead of his right hand.

"Who told you that you could play with the Alpha's prisoner, wolfie?" His voice was hoarse and deep. Although he was talking to Caleb, he never took his gaze off me. The former Gamma opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the bear went on. "Wait... I know you!" The look of anger on his face only stayed for a second, soon being replaced by a sinister smile. "You're the mutt who ripped my paw off while I was busy slaying your pathetic Alpha. It seems you took his title and the credit for my kill." Flames of fury danced in my eyes as I realized what he was saying; the man in front of me was the black bear who caused Dario's death. After the m******e in the cave a week ago, I had ordered my trackers to search for a corpse missing a limb, but when they couldn't replace anyone who matched the description, I just assumed he must have died elsewhere. How wrong I was to have just let it go; I should have insisted on it, especially in face of my mate's concerns. Was he the Alpha Caleb had mentioned?

The man lowered himself to take a closer look at me as I continued struggling to break free. I only stayed still when he placed the sharp edge of his hook under my chin, preventing me from moving. "What should I do to you, fleabag?" he asked thoughtfully, and for the first time, a shiver ran down my spine.

Was he going to kill me? Caitlyn would be devastated. The thought of leaving the pup I hadn't even met yet, along with his mother, caused me greater pain than anything else.

"They won't... kill us..." My wolf's weak voice inside my head almost made me gasp in surprise. "If they wanted to, they would have done so by now. There must be... a bigger reason... why they need us alive."

"Maybe I should rip off your hand as well," the man went on with his empty threats, confirming Atlas' theory. "An eye for an eye. Or should I say a hand for a hand?" He chuckled. Goddess, what an awful sound.

I had to replace a way out of here quick so I could destroy these two filthy creatures and come back to my mate. Once my wolf was back at full strength, it should be easier. I wouldn't hesitate to murder everyone who stood in my way; I had made that mistake once, and I wouldn't make it again.

"What are you two doing here?" Another voice I couldn't recognize echoed through the walls, pulling me from my thoughts.

The werewolf and the werebear both straightened up as they turned to the third man standing at the entrance of the dungeon. His aura was even more powerful than that of

Dario's murderer, which made me realize that the black bear couldn't possibly be the leader of the sleuth. Maybe a second-in-command. The newcomer eyed me from head to toe before a frown appeared in his stern face.

"I have brought you the Original, Alpha," Caleb announced proudly. The what?!

"I said we were looking for an orphan wolf." After a long silence, the Alpha finally opened his mouth. His tone was one of pure disappointment.

"That's him!" the former Gamma insisted, pointing at me. "He is a stray who was taken in by Diamond Tempest Pack."

The leader scoffed as he patiently made his way towards me. As he did, I tried to decipher what they were talking about, with no such luck.

"You must truly be an i***t," he spat, not bothering to look at Caleb, whose face had fallen. "This boy might be an orphan, but obviously..." Without warning, he wrapped his hand around the back of my hair, pulling my hair to force me to look into his eyes. "He's not even a pure wolf."