To ruin an Omega

Chapter 336: Brand new person 1

VALENTINE

I couldn’t reach her.

Aldric’s threats still rang in my ears from the last call. The way his voice had climbed higher with each word, the way he had spat venom through the phone like it could poison me through the speaker alone. He was an unhinged man. But now, he seemed even more unhinged. And when Aldric lost control, it was a given that people died.

But Madeline wasn’t answering.

My hand tightened around the phone. I had called three times already. Four. The number didn’t matter. Each time it rang and rang until her voicemail kicked in. That same recorded message in her voice, calm and polite, telling me to leave my name and number. Like everything was normal. Like she wasn’t radio silent in the middle of a nightmare that threatened to swallow our entire family whole.

I was grateful my wife wasn’t here to see this.

She had left yesterday after our fight. The argument had been bitter and sharp, the kind that left wounds that would take time to heal. After our fight, she had still wanted to know everything. Every secret. But that would mean revealing all of my sins. Every move I made. Every deal I struck with Aldric. So I had refused her. I had to. Some things were too dangerous to speak aloud, even to the person I loved most in this world.

So she had packed a bag and gone to her family’s estate. To punish me. To make me feel the weight of keeping her in the dark.

I had been angry then. Frustrated. But now I was relieved.

Because if she were here now, if she could see the panic crawling up my spine and threatening to choke me, I wouldn’t be able to hide it. I wouldn’t be able to keep calm. And she would know. She would know something had gone catastrophically wrong.

I pressed redial again.

But these was still nothing.

“Fuck.” The word came out quiet. Too quiet. I cleared my throat and then called out louder. “Wilhelm!”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Quick and purposeful. My son appeared in the doorway seconds later, his expression already tight with concern. The burns that had covered half his body not too long ago were gone now and healed completely. The skin was smooth and unblemished, like white fire had never touched him at all.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I can’t get a hold of your sister.”

Wilhelm’s eyes narrowed. He pulled his own phone from his pocket and dialed without a word. I watched him wait. Watched the seconds tick by. Watched his jaw tighten when the call went unanswered.

He lowered the phone. “That’s fucking weird.”

“Yeah.”

“She always picks up for me.” Wilhelm looked at his screen like it had betrayed him. “Always.”

“Something’s wrong with her,” I said. The words tasted like ash. “Something has to be wrong.”

That was when my phone buzzed in my hand.

I looked down. It was a new message and it was from Madeline.

It was just one word too.

’Help.’

The world tilted.

“Fuck no.” I barely recognized my own voice. It sounded hollow. Distant. Like someone else was speaking through me.

Wilhelm crossed the room in two strides and grabbed the phone from my hand. His eyes scanned the message I and then a second time. Only after did he look up at me. Then and there, I saw the fear in them. Real fear. The kind I hadn’t seen in him since he was a child.

“Sister’s in danger,” he said.

“How?” My mind was racing, scrambling for answers that wouldn’t come. “She’s supposed to be safe in Skollrend. With Cian. She’s supposed to be protected there.”

“I have to find her.” Wilhelm was already moving, already closing his eyes. I recognized the signs. He was reaching for his unique gift. The ability to connect with lower life forms. To see through their eyes. To feel what they felt.

I reached out and tapped his shoulder. “Isn’t distance a risk with that gift of yours?”

He opened one eye and looked at me. “I’ve been practicing. It’s not my first rodeo.”

“Wilhelm.”

“It’s easier when we’re connected by blood.” He closed his eyes again. “I can do this.”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him it was too dangerous. But I had no other options. No other way to find her.

“Okay,” I said. “Do it.”

He took a breath. His face went still. I watched him concentrate, watched the tension build in his shoulders.

Then his eyes snapped open.

“Something’s wrong.”

My stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t connect.” Wilhelm’s voice was strained. Confused. “I can’t link to any lower life form by connecting to her. It feels like she doesn’t exist.”

“Fuck that.” The panic was clawing at my throat now. “It must be a cloaking spell.”

But even as I said it, my mind was working. Turning over the possibilities. Cloaking spells this powerful were rare. It would require the kind of magic, skill and resources most witches didn’t have.

And more importantly, why was Aldric so taken aback by Madeline’s absence if it was looking more like she was kidnapped instead of eloping.

He had been furious. Desperate. But he has also been genuinely shocked that she wasn’t responding.

Almost like he didn’t know Madeline could have been kidnapped.

Which meant…. someone else had taken her.

Someone who could pull off a kid oa with ease. Someone with access to powerful magic. Someone who knew how to hide her from even the most skilled warlock in my arsenal.

But who? Which enemies did I have?

The thoughts settled in my chest like a stone.

I didn’t have an answer. And with no answer….I settled for the next best option.

I grabbed Wilhelm’s hand. “Use me as a conduit.”

He looked at me. “Father, I don’t know. This cloaking spell seems powerful. It will drain you.”

“I don’t care. Do it. It will help. You will be faster.”

Wilhelm hesitated for only a second. Then he gripped my hand tighter and closed his eyes again.

I felt the pull immediately.

It started as a trickle. A gentle draw on the well of mana that lived inside me. The reserves I had access to because I was Supreme. Because I was connected to every member of my coven, every witch who had sworn fealty to me. Their combined power was mine to draw on when I needed it.

But this wasn’t a trickle for long.

It became a flood. A torrent. Wilhelm pulled and pulled, drinking from me like I was an endless source. I could feel my strength draining. Could feel the mana being siphoned away faster than I had ever experienced.

Was this how strong the cloaking spell was? To require this much power just to pierce through it?

“You’re right,” Wilhelm said. His voice was tight. Strained. “I can sense her. I think I can connect.”

“Do it quick.”

He pushed harder. The pull on my mana became agony. I felt my knees weaken. Felt the edges of my vision start to blur.

And then Wilhelm spat blood.

It sprayed across my chest, hot and dark. He let go of my hand and crumpled to the ground, both hands pressed to his chest like something had struck him.

“There are protective runes there, Father.” His voice was ragged and pained. “What’s going on?”