To ruin an Omega

Chapter 206: Us

MADELINE

I stayed there for a long time after the door closed behind Cian.

When I gathered myself, I went over to the dresser and that was when my phone buzzed.

I went over, picked it up and saw Aldric’s name flash across the screen.

Cian is suspicious of you. Watch your back. Delete everything. Texts. Call logs. All of it.

I stared at the message for a long moment, My thumb hovering over the screen.

Suspicious?

I replayed the conversation we just had. The way he looked at me. The careful distance he maintained. The slight hesitation before he offered me a place to stay.

But he hadn’t acted strange. Not really. He seemed concerned about my situation with the coven. About my father’s decision. About me.

Unless that was the point.

Unless concern was the mask and suspicion was what lay underneath.

But I still hadn’t done anything to warrant the suspicion.

Nonetheless, I deleted the text and watched the words disappear from the screen. Then I went through my call history and wiped those too. Every trace of communication between Aldric and me vanished with a few taps.

My phone buzzed again.

I’m at the gate, it said and this time it was from Wilhelm.

I walked back to the drawer and pulled it open. The small glass bottle filled with dark red liquid sat nestled in the corner. Fia’s blood.

I picked it up and held it up to the light. The color was even richer now.

What if Cian questioned this?

What if he asked Wilhelm what it was for and my brother fumbled the answer?

Wilhelm was many things but a good liar under pressure was not one of them.

I turned my phone back on and typed quickly.

If Cian or anyone asks why you have blood, tell them it’s to bind me from entering coven property. Say it’s part of the excommunication ritual.

The reply came fast.

It was a like emoji.

I stared at the emoji for a second. That was Wilhelm for you. Casual even when things were serious.

I slipped the bottle into a small cloth pouch and pulled the drawstring tight. Then I changed into jeans and a loose sweater and headed outside.

The parking area was empty when I arrived. The afternoon sun felt warm against my skin. I stood near the edge of the driveway and waited.

Footsteps approached from behind.

I turned and saw Cian walking toward me. His expression was unreadable.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I want to see how your brother can be okay with you being ostracized from your home.” His voice was calm. But now I was starting to read into what Aldric said.

“Please. Do not start.” I shifted the pouch from one hand to the other. “I just want to give him this and get my mind over it.”

“What is it?”

I hesitated. Was this genuine curiosity or was he scoping me out? Testing me?

Then I noticed the blood on his knuckles. It was fresh blood.

“Are you alright?” I asked. My eyes stayed on his hand.

“Yeah.” He flexed his fingers slightly. “I punched Ronan in the face.”

“What the fuck. Why?”

He looked away and I watched his jaw tighten. He was intentionally avoiding that question and the fact that he did so simply made me even more curious than I was.

“Cian. Why did you—”

“Oh look.” He cut me off smoothly. “Your brother is here.”

I followed his gaze and saw the car approaching.

It was a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. Cherry red with chrome bumpers that caught the sunlight and threw it back in sharp glints. The convertible top was down and I could see Wilhelm’s blond hair whipping in the wind as he drove up the long driveway.

The car rumbled low. The engine had that deep throaty sound that Wilhelm loved. It was why he got it in the first place.

That and the fact that it was a showgirl of a vehicle.

I tightened my hand over the pouch. My palm was sweating slightly.

Cian was here and thanks to Aldric’s warnings, I was sort of prepared. Not entirely though.

Wilhelm was an integral piece here as well. So I prayed to Hekate; Please let him handle this right.

The Impala pulled up in front of us and Wilhelm killed the engine. He draped one arm over the steering wheel and grinned widely.

“What’s up, lovebirds?”

“Please do not call us that,” Cian said immediately. He has a curt smile on his face but he was very uncomfortable.

“It seems you are here to cause chaos again,” I said in response , immediately mirroring Cian. “Just take it and go.”

I stepped forward and held out the pouch.

Cian’s hand shot out faster than mine. He intercepted it and took it from me.

My stomach dropped when he did that.

“What even is this?” He asked as he pulled the drawstring open and peered inside.

“Her blood,” Wilhelm said casually.

Cian lifted the hand sanitizer bottle out and held it up to the light. The liquid inside shifted slightly.

“Oh.” He placed it back in the pouch carefully. “And what is it for?”

Wilhelm glanced at me. Then back at Cian. “Well, you should ask her. All of this is because she chose you instead of her people after all.”

He opened the car door and stepped out. His boots hit the gravel with a soft crunch. He walked over and plucked the pouch from Cian’s hand.

Wilhelm rolled the bottle between his fingers. “The coven doesn’t want her on any of our property. It’s what you would call a true excommunication.”

Cian’s expression hardened. “Your father can be allowed to hide his tail since he holds a sensitive position. But as the son of the house, would you not fight for your sister?”

Wilhelm laughed. Short and bitter. “Well nobody in that house takes me fucking seriously. Why should I break my back over something she knew would happen?” He looked at me. His eyes were sharp despite the casual tone. “This is the bed my good sister made because she still loves you. What good is it if she will not lie in it?”

He then walked past both of us. His shoulder brushed against Cian’s.

“I do think it’s nice to spend today with her,” Wilhelm continued. He didn’t look back. “A final goodbye. After all, the coven is clamoring for fifteen years. That will be rough for my sister. She has always been family oriented too.”

“What? Fifteen years?” Cian’s voice rose slightly.

“It is just the law,” I said quietly.

“The law is stupid.”

“Well she didn’t make it, neither did I.” Wilhelm stopped and turned around. He scanned the area. His gaze swept over the estate grounds. “Where is that Beta of yours?”

“He is injured. Also leave him be. We still have a lot to—”

But Wilhelm was already moving. He jogged toward the main entrance and disappeared inside before Cian could finish his sentence.

Cian turned to me. “He should know there are a lot of things he cannot get away with anymore, considering we aren’t together.”

“Forgive him for today.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “He is pretending this doesn’t hurt him but I know Wilhelm. He hates not having power and being unable to help me. He masks it by being the way he is.”

Cian was quiet. His eyes were distant. Like he was working through something in his mind.

“I should go chaperone him,” I said. “Before he makes Ronan’s life a living hell.”

“Do not bother. Ronan quite likes him around.”

“Oh… I know.”

Silence settled between us again. The kind that followed us relentlessly now. It felt heavy and weighted with things unsaid.

Cian took a deep breath. His shoulders rose and fell. “We need to talk, Madeline.”

I reached up and fixed my hair. I tucked a strand behind my ear then I looked at him straight in the eye.

“About what?”

“Us.”