OMEGA'S PROMISE

MIRIAM’S POV

It was just past dinner time. Jason and I were in the sitting room, curled against each other while the television hummed softly in front of us. Thirteen years had passed since we said our vows, yet his touch still had the power to steady me. We had been blessed with two wonderful children…one ten, the other seven…and together they made our home feel alive. The walls of our house were warm with laughter and memories, the faint smell of last night’s dinner lingering in the air. Sometimes I marveled at how quickly the years had flown, how being a wife and mother had become the very heartbeat of my existence.

Thirteen years ago, everything had been different. I had been alone, abandoned by the man I thought I would spend forever with, broken in a way that left scars on my soul. Then Jason found me, steady and calm, unshaken by the fragments of my past. Looking back, I could say without hesitation that Jason had given me a kind of happiness I never imagined I deserved. He had restored my faith in love, in trust, in life itself.

Tonight, we had chosen a lighthearted high school romance. The kids were tucked into bed, their soft snores drifting down the hallway, and the house settled into a serene quiet. Jason’s arm draped lazily over my shoulders, his fingers tracing gentle, absent-minded patterns on my skin. His eyes were fixed on the screen, but I could feel his thoughts lingering on me. That was how we had built our marriage: not on grand gestures or sweeping declarations, but on small, quiet moments like this. Laughter, closeness, and a love that deepened every day without fanfare.

On screen, the young couple shared their first kiss in front of a cheering football crowd. Jason’s lips curved into a smile, and he turned to me. I smiled back, letting the warmth of his gaze fill me. For a brief, suspended moment, it felt as though the rest of the world had vanished, leaving just the two of us.

“I love you, Miriam. Don’t ever leave me,” he said softly, voice low and steady.

“I would never,” I whispered back.

“Promise?”

“Let’s seal it with a kiss.”

He leaned closer, our lips meeting. The kiss deepened, carrying heat and promise, and I melted into him, letting the world fall away.

Then, the growl came. Low at first, almost imperceptible, but it rolled through the air like distant thunder. At first, we ignored it, assuming it was some neighbor’s late-night motorcycle. But then came the pounding, heavy, insistent knocks against the door that shattered the quiet of the night.

We broke apart instinctively, glancing at the clock. 10:49 p.m.

“Who could be out there this late?” I whispered.

“I’ll check,” Jason replied, standing. A flicker of red flashed through his eyes before dimming, almost unnoticed, and my stomach tightened.

Oh, right. I should explain. Jason wasn’t just my husband. He was an Alpha. A werewolf. To the outside world, he was a man of strength, discipline, and quiet authority. The human community would never believe how many of their so-called leaders and protectors were wolves in disguise. I had grown accustomed to keeping the secret, even as a human, even as a wife living in their world.

Wolves had always found me, even before Jason. My ex-boyfriend Eli had been one of them. He had left me years ago, swearing he would return. He had promised forever, sworn he would claim me as his mate. That fateful birthday night, after a single phone call, he vanished. I never saw him again. I forced myself to erase every trace of him… every memory… just to survive.

“Wait… your eyes, Jason. They flickered,” I murmured, gripping his arm as he moved toward the door.

“Do not worry, wife. I’ll behave,” he reassured me, his voice calm, though the tension radiating from him made my heart race.

The pounding came again, louder this time, and a heavy kick rattled the door frame.

“D*mn it, Miriam! I know you’re in there! Come out!”

The voice froze me. My breath caught. That voice… impossible. Unless… I was losing my mind.

I rose quickly, heart hammering. Jason reached for my wrist.

“Stop, Miriam. I’ll handle this.”

“No,” I said, breathless. “That’s Eli. Let me open it.”

I tore free of his grasp, my pulse a wild drum in my ears, and moved toward the door. Why now? Why after all these years? Why return when my life was finally whole, when I had built a family, a sanctuary, a home?

I pulled the door open. The night air hit my face, cool but carrying a strange, metallic tang. There he stood. Eli.

He was caked in mud, his clothes torn and ragged, the faint outline of a scar running across his throat as if it had only just begun to heal. His eyes, once warm and familiar, were haunted, sunken, and wild.

“Eli?” I whispered, disbelief thick in my throat.

He moved toward me, closing the distance in a few hurried steps, and crushed me in a muddy embrace. Shock and disbelief paralyzed me. My arms wouldn’t rise to meet him. I just stood there, trembling as his chest pressed against mine, the scent of earth and fire and danger clinging to him. Finally, he pulled back slightly, holding my hands as if I might vanish if he loosened his grip.

“Miriam… I’ve come to take you away… as I promised,” he said, voice urgent, almost desperate.

I stared at him, stunned. Fifteen years gone. Thirteen years of marriage behind me. He thought he could simply walk back into my life?

I yanked my hands free, anger rising like heat in my chest.

“No, Eli. I’m married now. I have children. You left me fifteen years ago. You don’t belong here.”

“Happily married?” His voice sharpened, accusatory. “Miriam, you’re married to a murderer! Do you know where I’ve been all this time?”

My breath hitched, and my grip on the door tightened.

“How dare you speak of my husband that way?” I snapped, voice trembling with a mixture of rage and disbelief.

“Then ask him yourself,” Eli shot back, eyes blazing.

The words sank into me like ice. Slowly, I turned to Jason, who stood behind me, tension radiating from every line of his body. His eyes blazed crimson, every muscle taut, every nerve alert. The calm man I knew was gone, replaced by something ancient, predatory. And in that moment, I realized there were truths I still did not know about the man I loved.

I swallowed, my heart caught between two worlds: the life I had built and the past that had never truly let me go. My hands trembled as I looked back at Eli, then at Jason, then down at my children sleeping peacefully upstairs.

I knew I had to face this. I had to demand answers, even if the truth threatened to shatter everything.

“Come in, Eli,” I said quietly, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. “Tonight… I need answers.”

MIRIAM’S POV

Eli smiled the moment I asked him to step inside. Behind me, I felt the low rumble of Jason’s growl, fierce but restrained. He was furious, of that I had no doubt, though he managed to control himself since I was standing between them. Jason would not dare strike Eli while I was there…not with me watching, not with the fragile threads of civility still holding the room together.

“Long time no see, Jason,” Eli said, peeling off his mud-soaked leather jacket, letting it fall to the floor in a wet, thudding heap.

Every inch of him was a mess. His clothes were torn and stained with mud, sweat, and what I could only guess was blood. His hair clung damply to his forehead, and his eyes were hollow, heavy with exhaustion. Despite it all, he still carried that familiar weight, the one that had always pulled me toward him long ago. I didn’t know if I was making a mistake letting him in, but the truth could not come from one side alone. Bo