The Clumsy Omega Gave a Bath to a Giant Black Wolf- Then the Alpha King Refused to Leave Her Cottage

Chapter 5

The trouble started because of a chicken.

Not a dangerous chicken. Not a rare chicken. Just an ordinary brown hen named Penny, who had an ego the size of a mountain and a fan club of exactly one. Elara was carrying a basket of feed across the yard when Penny came running toward her, wings flapping in wild enthusiasm.

“There you are,” Elara laughed, crouching down and scooping the hen into her arms. “I was looking for you.”

A few feet away, Shadow stopped walking. The giant black wolf watched as Elara smiled at the chicken, scratched it under its beak, and carried it toward the coop like it was the most precious creature in the world.

“You are definitely my favorite,” Elara told Penny.

Shadow’s ears twitched.

The hen made a happy noise. Elara laughed again. And for reasons Cassian could not explain, he immediately, unreasonably disliked the bird.

The problem grew worse over the next few days. Every morning, Elara greeted Penny before anyone else. Every afternoon, she checked on Penny. Every evening, she carried extra feed out to the coop. “Look how cute she is,” Elara would say, and Cassian would look at the chicken, and the chicken would look back at him, and neither of them appeared impressed by the other.

“You should try being friendlier,” Elara told the wolf one afternoon.

Penny pecked happily at the ground.

Shadow turned away.

Elara sighed dramatically. “Honestly, Shadow, you’re acting jealous.”

The wolf nearly stumbled. Jealous. Of a chicken. Ridiculous. He was King Cassian Vale, Alpha King of the Northern Territories. He commanded armies. He negotiated treaties. He ruled packs that spanned half the map. He was absolutely, categorically not jealous of a bird that weighed less than ten pounds.

Unfortunately, the evidence suggested otherwise.

The next morning, Elara sat on a small stool beside the coop with Penny perched comfortably in her lap. Shadow immediately positioned himself between Elara and the chicken.

“Shadow,” Elara said.

The wolf pretended not to hear her.

“You were sitting on Penny.”

Shadow remained exactly where he was.

“Move.”

Slowly, reluctantly, he stepped aside. Penny hopped back into Elara’s lap. A few minutes later, Shadow returned and sat even closer. Elara stared at him. “No,” she said flatly.

The wolf blinked innocently.

By afternoon, the entire village had begun noticing the strange rivalry. Maren Holt stood outside the bakery, watching Elara walk through town with a basket in one hand and Penny in the other while Shadow followed directly beside her. Every time Elara looked down at the chicken, the wolf moved closer. Every time she spoke to Penny, Shadow somehow inserted himself into the conversation despite being physically incapable of speaking.

“Am I imagining this?” Maren asked Emmett Shaw.

Emmett watched the wolf carefully. “No,” he said slowly. “Is that wolf jealous of a chicken?”

“I think he is.”

Neither of them knew what to do with that information.

Later that evening, Elara sat beside the fireplace with Penny resting peacefully in her lap. Snow drifted beyond the windows. The scent of lavender filled the room. Shadow lay nearby, pretending to sleep. Elara gently stroked the hen’s feathers. “You are such a sweet girl,” she murmured.

One silver eye immediately opened.

Elara noticed. Then she noticed the way Shadow was watching Penny. Then she noticed how he always appeared whenever Penny received attention. A slow smile spread across her face.

“Oh my goodness,” she breathed.

Shadow froze.

“Shadow,” Elara said, pointing at him. “Are you jealous of a chicken?”

Silence.

Elara burst into laughter so hard she nearly dropped the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. “You are! You are jealous of a chicken!”

Shadow stood up and walked toward the fireplace with as much dignity as he could muster, which — when being accused of competing with a hen for the affection of an omega — was not very much at all.

Elara kept laughing until tears filled her eyes.

Much later, as the fire crackled softly and Penny slept in her coop, Elara reached down and scratched behind one of Shadow’s ears. “Do not worry,” she whispered. “You are still my favorite.”

To his eternal, absolute embarrassment, that made him feel much better.