Page 12 of Happy Halloween, Omega

He takes a step closer, and I respond with a retreating step. I squeak in alarm as my back bumps into the rough bark of an ancient swaying tree. The first true sliver of potent fear creeps past my arousal and excitement. I’m trapped, just like I was in that alleyway. Just like I wasthat night.

His hand raises, and I flinch. He huffs in disapproval at my involuntary reaction before unceremoniously flipping his hood back.

My blood runs cold as recognition slams into me with all the force of a freight train. I swallow my gasp, instead making a withering sound animals make when they’re dying.

He’s gorgeous. Like all Alphas, he’s strong jawed with sharp features. He has neat stubble and a professional haircut. His eyes aren’t as dark as I originally thought. They’re a warm brown with flecks of gold glinting in the waning light, and there is a softening in the creases beside his eyes. He studies me like he knows where the tension cracks will show. Like he knows exactly how I’m feeling.

I know him.

How could I not? He was there for the single most traumatic night of my life. The incident that changed my world and shattered the very foundation of who I am.

He was there the night I almost died.

His face dances in and out of fear-laced memories like the ghost I’ve accused him of being. He was there when I held onto my mother and screamed hateful words at anyone who tried to drag me away from her. I remember digging my nails into his broad shoulders as he scooped me up, held me to his chest, and took me to the ambulance.

“You’re my Omega. I knew the moment I saw you that Halloween night, covered in blood and in pain, but still fighting like a hellcat.”

He moves so fast I barely register his movement. In the blink of an eye, his face is inches from mine. I can feel the heat radiating off his body, his scent washing over me like a tidal wave. I’m drowning in him, my head spinning. Still, he doesn’t touch me.

He peers down at me from his lofty height, and I watch with the same wide-eyed stare as when I watch horror movies with morbid fascination.

“I’ve been obsessed with you ever since. You just haven’t known it.”

8

Two years earlier

It’sHalloween,myfavoritenight of the year, and I’m dressed as the vampire warrior Selene played by Kate Beckinsale in the movie Underworld. The floor-length leather trench coat alone took an entire year of failed eBay bids to acquire. To ensure ultimate authenticity, I’ve even cut my black hair to shoulder length. I’m proud of my efforts and ready for a night of fright and mystery.

I say goodbye to my mother, who watches me leave with a disapproving purse on her lips. She hates when I go out on Halloween, yet she doesn’t stop me. After all, it’s the only night of the year I truly act my age and go out clubbing.

Except this year, I’m not heading to the club. I’m going somewhere much more thrilling. I’ve spent all of my spare time employing my budding sleuth skills in solving the ultimate mystery in my life. Who is my father and why did we leave?

I’ve finally found him. He’s not even that far away, only two towns over. During the year, my mother keeps careful tabs on me as she’s constantly worried my secret will be discovered. Tonight is my only opportunity to follow this lead.

I should feel frightened to be boarding a bus alone to a different town to hunt down my estranged Alpha father who is possibly violent. However, the magic of Halloween is flowing through me. Tonight, I’m not Celeste the hidden Omega frightened of the world. Tonight, I’m vampire warrior Selene, on a mission to uncover a decades-long mystery.

It takes an hour and a half on the bus with the constant stopping to collect more passengers. A zombie cheerleader passionately makes out with a surprisingly convincing Freddy Mercury in the seats across from me.

Finally, I step out into a normal looking suburban street. The houses are mid-sized, with topiaries carefully trimmed into perfect spheres. I blink. This is not the kind of place I imagined my wicked father to live. I remember the house I watched disappear as we drove away that Halloween night as a menacing ancient building filled with horrors, and expected something equally sinister.

Glancing down at the scrap of paper I scribbled the address on, I amble up the driveway of a nondescript home.

I don’t let myself consider the consequences, too enshrouded by the thrill of the hunt. My need to solve this mystery, to reach the final crescendo, has blinded me to the real implications of what I’m about to do. All I see is the goal.

I push the doorbell.

My shoulders deflate as a middle-aged Alpha answers the door with a questioning expression. Just like his house, there is nothing remarkable about him. Sure, he has the typical massive Alpha body, his height close to at least seven foot, and his face is carved from granite with the occasional wrinkle and sunspot. But he’s normal. Not an eyepatch or wicked glint in his eye to speak of.

I gape at him for a moment, like a fish, until I squeak a simple sentence that changes everything. “Hi, I’m Celeste, and I think I might be your daughter.”

I’ve never seen a person break before, especially an Alpha. I swear I see a fissure crack through him as he releases a guttural sob and tears well in his eyes. He leads me inside, offers me a cup of tea, and then he tells me the truth.

The actual truth of the fateful Halloween night my mother whisked me away from my home.

An hour later, I’m sitting on the couch, nursing the same lukewarm cup of tea and feeling equally broken as he is. I no longer want to solve the mystery. I just want to feel the ground under my feet again.

It was all a lie. My entire life. My whole existence is a fucking lie.