Page 3 of An Omega for the Lycan Prince

“Later,” I tell him. “Ella will be interested in this too. But his name is Finn Alcott. He is the Iron Alpha’s third oldest son.”

“I feel I should gasp and gape at that revelation,” Dave mutters. “So, I apologize for my lackluster reaction.”

I chuckle softly. After all, I can’t blame him for not knowing anything about our pack’s history and politics. I throw one last glance at Finn before I tug Dave along and away from the crowd.

Chapter two

Chapter 2 Friends before mates

*ANNALISE*

“Youarefreakingkiddingme!?” Ella almost spits half of her drink across the table. “I can’t believe I missed that!”

“So, care to finally fill me in?” Dave pouts. He makes pitiful puppy eyes, looking at me with his light blue eyes. “I feel like the odd one out.”

“Oh no, you precious little thing. Do we make you feel left out?” I ask cheekily, tousling his hair softly.

“Yeah, what if you two were secretly hooking up and leaving me behind, huh?”

“Wow,” Ella states dryly. “Where did you pull out that kindergarten-level argument?”

I giggle slightly while Dave smiles proudly at having made me laugh.

Ella nudges me to stop laughing, pointing at the waiter approaching us. Finally, food. Ham and cheese pizza for me, salami for Ella… and a veggie one for Dave, who is currently in his vegetarian phase.

“I didn’t know one of the Iron Alpha’s sons would enroll this year,” Ella muses. “Did your parents mention it? Or your pack?”

“My parents most likely didn’t know. As for my pack, I don’t know. I am fairly sure Alpha Cedric knew, but why would he bother telling me?”

Ella nods her agreement while Dave looks at us with surprise. “Why?” He bites into a piece of his pizza, sighing happily. “Heaven, really.” He points at me with his piece of pizza. “So, why wouldn’t you know, darling?”

I look at him for a while. “Dave, I am only an Omega.”

“And?”

“That’s pretty much the lowest ranking wolf out there,” I explain. There was a time I hated being born an Omega. Both my siblings were born Betas, and I am the only Omega in my family. But no one in my family made me feel different. In fact, my father would get furious if someone from our pack belittled me. He is a strong pack warrior, so he successfully protected me from getting bullied. The last dude who tried to get into my pants against my will ended up with a broken nose and a twisted arm and got thrown into a cell. He also trained me a bit to be able to land a hit in case one of the wolves would try to harass me.”

Dave blinks in confusion. “Is that important?”

“In our world, yes.”

“But why you, Annie? I thought you guys said Ella… well…”

“Yeah, I am even more worthless than any Omega could ever be,” Ella helps him, her tone bland. Both I and Dave frown at her words. She just shrugs. “Let’s not pretend it’s anything else.”

“Ella is a she-wolf of Beta blood,” I explain carefully. “Which would technically put her higher than me. Omegas are born without special gifts, you know. We just have our wolves but lack any other abilities. I was just lucky to be born into my pack because they don’t kick around Omegas just for existing.”

Dave nods thoughtfully. “Stupid,” he says. “Sounds like a caste system.”

“In a way, it is,” I say cautiously. “But our hierarchy exists for a reason. And not every pack abuses it. It’s not that simple.”

“So, what about Ella? How come you rank higher than her?”

“Annie’s pack is decent,” Ella explains. “And her father is a strong warrior there. Also, their Alpha is not a bad guy.”

I nod. “Yeah, mom told me how difficult it was around their old Alpha. All Omegas were forced to work as maids or cooks. They had close to zero rights. Alpha Cedric really changed the whole pack, though.” I smile proudly. I had a crush on him while growing up because he was so calm, collected, and handsome. And he treated everyone with respect. “We all became so much stronger. Now Omegas can also join trainings and become warriors themselves.”

Ella nods, shifting her gaze towards Dave. “In my pack, my parents were traitors and were killed,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone like it doesn’t affect her. I know it does, and Dave can probably tell it too. I don’t know how Ella grew up and how she was treated. I only got to know her in middle school. She had major anger issues back then, probably from all the bullying. Dave doesn’t know. Ella never told him. “I was too young to be made a rogue, so they put me in one of the orphanages. Such a great time there. Suffice to say that you two are literally my only friends. You are all I need.”