The Unwanted Omega: Claimed by the Shadow Alpha Chapter 11

The Unwanted Omega: Claimed by the Shadow Alpha Chapter 11

Ember POV: 

The flashbulbs were blinding. They popped like tiny supernovas, one after another. 

I stood on the podium, the microphone cold against my fingertips. 

“The Silver Cure is no longer a theory,” I said, my voice steady. “It is a reality. No wolf will ever have to die from silver poisoning again.” 

The room erupted. Applause crashed over me like a tidal 

wave. 

I felt a large, warm hand settle on the small of my back. 

Derek. 

His scent wrapped around me–dark pine, rain, and the ozone of a coming storm. It grounded me. It reminded me that I wasn’t the scared little girl who hid in the lab 

anymore. 

I was the Luna of the Shadow Pack. And I had just saved 

our race. 

“You did it,” Derek’s voice whispered in my mind, the link 

between us a solid, unbreakable gold thread. 

I looked at the crowd. I saw the Council members nodding 

in approval. I saw the reporters typing furiously. 

And then, I saw them. 

They were standing at the very back of the hall, near the exit signs. They looked out of place among the tailored 

suits and designer gowns. 

Ryker. And Axel. 

It had been fifteen years. 

Ryker looked… broken. The imposing Alpha who used to fill a room with his presence was gone. His shoulders 

were slumped. His hair was gray, thinning at the temples. He wore a suit that looked a size too big, as if he had 

shrunk inside his own skin. 

Axel was worse. He was leaning heavily on a cane. His 

face was gaunt, his cheekbones protruding sharply. His 

eyes were yellow and cloudy, lacking the vibrant spark of a healthy wolf. The severed bond had done this. Without 

the pack anchor, their wolves were withering, dragging 

their human bodies down with them. They weren’t just 

aging; they were fading. (1) 

Meanwhile, the cure I had developed bonded with my own 

blood, rendering the facility’s radiation harmless to me I 

hadn’t aged a day past my prime. 

They were staring at me. Their expressions were a mix of 

awe and devastating hunger. Like starving men looking at 

a feast they could never touch. 

I felt nothing. 

No anger. No fear. No longing. 

It was just… silence. The kind of silence you feel when looking at an old photograph of people you once knew, but whose names you struggle to recall. 

The press conference ended. Derek guided me down the 

stairs. 

“They are here,” Derek murmured, his body tense. His Alpha aura flared, a protective wall of heat rising around me. “Do you want me to have security remove them?” 

“No,” I said softly. “Let them come.” 

We walked toward the exit. The crowd parted for us, 

bowing their heads to the Luna. 

Ryker and Axel stepped forward. They moved hesitantly, 

like kicked dogs afraid of another blow. 

“Ember,” Ryker croaked. His voice was rough, damaged by 

years of cheap whiskey. 

I stopped. Derek stood slightly in front of me, a silent 

threat. 

“Alpha Ryker,” I said. My voice was polite. Distant. “And” 

Doctor Blackwood,” 

Axel flinched at the formal titles. He gripped his cane until 

his knuckles turned white. 

“You… you look beautiful,” Axel whispered/Teárs pooled 

in his cloudy eyes. “Like Mom.” 

“Thank you,” I said. I checked my watch. “Is there 

something you need? We have a schedule.” 

Ryker swallowed hard. He looked at Derek, then back at 

1. me. “We just… we wanted to see you. To say…” 

He choked on the words. 

“We kicked Willow out,” Ryker blurted out, desperate. “Years ago. She’s on the streets now. She has nothing. We 

made her pay.” 

He looked at me, waiting for approval. Waiting for me to 

smile and say, ‘Good job, big brother.‘ 

“I see,” I said simply. “That is your pack business. It has 

nothing to do with me.” 

The hope in Ryker’s eyes shattered. 

Axel stepped forward, his leg trembling. “Ember, please. 

Can we just… can we have dinner? Just once? We missed 

so much. We want to know you.” 

I looked at this broken man. I remembered the day he watched me bleed on the driveway and did nothing. 

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” said. “My family is waiting for me.” 

I placed my hand on my stomach, a subconscious gesture. 

I wasn’t pregnant, but I was thinking of my daughter at home. My real family. 

“Your family,” Axel repeated, his voice hollow. 

“Goodbye, gentlemen,” I said. 

I turned my back on them. 

I took Derek’s arm. We walked out into the cool night air. 

I didn’t look back. I didn’t need to. I knew they were still standing there, watching the only good thing in their lives walk away forever.