To ruin an Omega

Chapter 290: By ommission

FIA

“Valentine?”

The name came from both of them at once, their voices overlapping in a way that made the hair on my arms stand up.

I looked between Morrigan and Maren, confusion pulling my brows together.

“Who is Valentine?”

They shared a glance. The kind that passed information without words, the kind that made my stomach tighten because I knew whatever came next would change something.

Morrigan reached for the paper and held it carefully, like it might burn her fingers.

“He is Madeline’s father.”

The words landed wrong. They did not make sense at first. My brain tried to arrange them into something logical, something that fit with what I already knew, but they kept slipping through my understanding like water through a sieve.

Then they clicked.

My gut twisted so hard I thought I might be sick.

“What?”

The girl on the bed watched me with those clear, impossible eyes.

“He is the one who tried to kill me?” I said, hearing my voice go thin and strange.

“I do not know that,” she said quickly. “I am not sure about that. But he was in the girl who tried to kill you’s past. So maybe he is.” She paused, her expression careful. “But Alpha Cian wanted to know this. And I have fulfilled that. Now his people do.”

My mind started moving too fast. Pieces of information I had been holding separately suddenly crashed together. The man from my dream. The one who had stood over Athena while she screamed. The one whose face had stayed with me even after I woke up, leaving that oily residue of horror on my skin.

He was Madeline’s father…

He was connected to the strange girl who had tried to kill me…

My skin started to itch. The feeling crawled up my arms and across my shoulders, and I took a few steps back without meaning to. The wall stopped me, solid against my spine.

How could people be this evil? How could someone do those things and then go home and have a daughter and live a normal life?

“I do not believe this.”

Morrigan’s voice cut through the spiral my thoughts had been falling into. I blinked and focused on her face. She was staring at the drawing, her jaw tight.

“You really do not know people until they reveal themselves,” she said.

Then she folded the paper in half, and then again, her movements quick and decisive.

“Cian cannot know about this.”

“What?”

The word came out sharper than I meant it to. I pushed off the wall and moved toward her.

“Why? Why can’t he know?”

She looked at me, and her expression held something I had only seen a few times before. Fear, maybe. Or the kind of certainty that came from knowing exactly how bad things could get.

“If anything, he needs to know immediately,” I said, my voice rising. “Because this is the same man I saw in my dreams.”

The volume felt wrong in the small room, too loud, too exposed. I dropped my voice to a whisper, leaning closer.

“This man is pure evil. You needed to see what he did to an Omega who was…” I stopped and swallowed. “Who was pregnant.”

“I know he is. I know you are right.”

Morrigan’s voice stayed steady, but her hands gripped the folded paper hard enough that her knuckles went white.

“But Cian tends to be rash. If he knows about this now, he’ll probably start a war with the Primrose coven that Valentine happens to be supreme of at the moment.”

My breath caught. Supreme? That meant power. That meant resources and people and magic I could not even begin to understand.

“We are a strong pack,” Luna Morrigan continued. “But going head first with a powerful cult of witches is not smart. And even if Cian holds back, his daughter is within our walls. Who knows if she is a spy at this point. She was brought here by Aldric, was she not?”

The question hung there, rhetorical but pointed.

“With what I know now, I wouldn’t put it past them to be working together.” She looked at me directly. “This has to be a secret for now.”

I wanted to argue. Every instinct I had screamed that keeping this from Cian was wrong, that he deserved to know, that we should not be making decisions like this without him.

“Cian already knows about Ronan,” I said. “He is highly suspicious about Aldric too. He can take this.”

“You know him too.”

Morrigan’s voice went softer, but somehow that made it worse.

“He is probably about to explode with all he knows now. We add something new to it and he’ll surely explode. His sworn brother and two father figures…” She stopped. Her throat worked. “I can barely take it. Cian will not.”

I hated that she was right. The truth of it settled over me like a weight I could not shake off. My shoulders slumped, and I felt something give way inside my chest.

“You are not wrong.”

Morrigan turned to the girl on the bed.

“Until you cannot hide it anymore, pretend you are blind. This is for your safety too.”

The girl’s jaw tightened. “I made a promise to Alpha Cian. I told you people because I was sure you could be trusted enough to tell him.”

I moved to her bedside before I could think it through. My hand found the edge of the mattress, gripping it for balance.

“That is my mate,” I said. “And we are an extension of each other at this point. I know what you want to tell him and eventually, I promise you, he will know too. But my mother-in-law has a point and you need to be safe as well.”

She looked at me for a long moment. Something passed behind her eyes, some calculation I could not follow.

“Alright.”

Relief made my knees feel weak.

The girl paused, then spoke again, her voice dropping lower.

“You and the girl… You and the girl are similar in making. You are not exactly a wolf and neither is she.” She reached out and took my hand. Her fingers felt warm against my cold skin. “But you are so much more complex.”

Her grip tightened just slightly.

“When you touched me and I synced to you. I noticed… I realized… you have been kissed by divinity.”

Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. Heavy and in multiple sets.

Maren moved faster than I had seen her move all day. She grabbed the bandages and rushed to the girl’s side, her hands working quickly to wrap the cloth back over those clear, perfect eyes. Morrigan slid the folded paper into her hidden pocket, her movements smooth and practiced.

I stepped away from the bed. Morrigan moved to stand beside me. Maren finished tying off the bandages and backed up, putting distance between herself and the girl just as the door swung open.

The handler came in first. Ronan followed. Then Cian.

My heart jumped at the sight of him. I wanted to go to him, to press myself against his chest and let him hold me until the world made sense again. But I stayed where I was, keeping my expression neutral.

The handler walked straight to the bed.

“Time to go, diva.”

He bent and lifted the girl into his arms like she weighed nothing. She kept her head still, her covered eyes pointed forward.

Cian looked surprised to see me there. His gaze swept over me quickly, searching for injuries or problems, before he seemed to force himself to look away. He walked up to the girl instead.

“I am so sorry I couldn’t be of help to you.”

His voice carried genuine regret. It made my chest ache.

“But I have paid your handler a lot more to ensure that he gets you a witch to fix your sight. I would use the resources at my disposal. But most witches currently have it out for me because they think I murdered one of my own. I would be more of a hindrance to you than help.”

Guilt twisted through me, sharp and sudden. He felt responsible for this. For her blindness. For failing to help her. And he did not need to feel any of it anymore because she was fine, because she was healed, because the miracle had already happened.

I hated that I had to keep it from him. Hated that the bond between us now felt muted and distant because I had locked my side down, terrified he would sense the truth.

“It is fine,” the girl said.

Her voice stayed soft, weak, but convincing nonetheless.

“My job has risks and I am sorry I cannot help you now. But when I get my sight back, which I am certain I will… I will draw that image.”

Cian nodded. “I’ll wait for it. Thank you.”

The handler adjusted his grip and carried her toward the door. She did not look back. Did not give any sign that she could see perfectly, that she was lying to protect herself and us and whatever fragile balance we were trying to maintain.

The door closed behind them.

Cian crossed the room in three strides. He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could smell the faint scent of pine that always clung to him.

“Why are you here? Are you alright?”

I nodded.

“Are you sure?”

His eyes searched my face. I felt him trying to reach through the bond, trying to sense what I was feeling, but the wall I had built held firm.

He looked at Maren. Then at his mother. His expression shifted, confusion giving way to something sharper.

“Why are you shielding then?”

The question cut straight through me. Of course he noticed. Of course he felt the absence where our connection should be flowing freely.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My mind raced, trying to find an answer that would satisfy him without giving everything away.

Morrigan stepped forward slightly, drawing his attention.

“Well, I would not be surprised,” she said smoothly. “She came here because she was feeling weird only to find out you somehow blinded someone in her behalf.”

Cian’s jaw tightened immediately.