To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 442

Chapter 442: Seeing Red 2

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He sounded genuinely rattled. The light had blinded him, left him blinking and squinting, and he hadn’t seen what happened. He hadn’t seen the red.

I didn’t answer.

I hit him with the gift instead.

The force caught him square in the chest, and since he was still trapped inside his own barrier, there was nowhere for him to go. The impact drove him backward into the wall of the barrier, hard enough that I heard something crack. The barrier itself shuddered, fractures spreading across its surface like spiderwebs, and then it shattered completely.

Valentine fell.

He hit the debris in a heap, gasping, and tried to raise his hand. He even attempted to conjure another barrier. The magic flickered weakly in his palm, sputtering like a dying flame, then it went out entirely.

He stared at his hand.

"Fuck. My mana."

He scrambled backward, moving like a cornered rat, and stumbled over something soft.

A body.

Number Four’s body.

She was half-conscious, her face pale and streaked with blood, barely moving where she lay among the rubble. Valentine grabbed her by the hair and dragged her upright, using her as a shield between us.

"Get up, you useless thing." He kicked her hard enough to make her whimper. "If I die, you die too."

Number Four didn’t make a sound. She just looked at me, her eyes glassy and unfocused, and I felt something twist in my chest.

Pity.

Valentine pulled her closer, pressing his back against a section of wall that had somehow remained standing. He was cornered now, trapped, and the fear in his eyes was sharp enough to cut.

"This girl is innocent in all of this," he said quickly. "If I am hurt, she dies."

I glanced back over my shoulder.

The sentinels had moved closer. Their golden eyes burned brighter now, reflecting like firelight, and I could see their forms more clearly. Massive wolves, fully shifted, their lips pulled back to reveal teeth like knives. It felt almost like they were waiting for my signal.

My gaze found Cian.

Garrett was by his side now, his wolf form bent protectively over him, and I saw Cian’s chest rise and fall.

Slow but steady.

He was alive.

I turned back to Valentine.

He tightened his grip around Number Four’s throat, making her gasp, and his voice took on a desperate edge.

"See reason."

That was when they appeared.

Shapes at the edge of my vision, translucent and flickering like candlelight. I turned my head slightly, and they came into sharper focus.

Athena.

She stood there, her face young and unlined, exactly the way she must have looked before Valentine got his hands on her. Her expression was calm, almost serene, but her eyes held something darker.

Beside her stood my mother.

Not the woman I remembered, but a child. Small and fragile, her hands curled into fists at her sides, her gaze fixed on Valentine with an intensity that made my throat tighten.

A young boy appeared next. Then another woman. Then more, one after another, until they surrounded us like a jury.

"Can you see them?"

Valentine blinked. "See who?"

"It doesn’t matter if you do."

I took a slow breath, and the weight of their presence settled over me like a shroud. I could feel what they felt. The rage. The betrayal. The pain that had followed them even after death.

"I see them," I said quietly. "And I feel what they feel. I feel their resentment for you. They want you dead, and they want me to finish the job."

Valentine’s face paled. "Even at the price of one who still lives?"

I looked at Number Four.

She was trembling now, tears streaming down her face, and her lips moved soundlessly. Maybe she was praying or maybe, she was just trying to breathe.

"If you let the girl go," I said slowly, "I will ensure you do not suffer."

Valentine laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Am I supposed to believe that?"

"When I had visions of what my mother and her mother went through, I heard you make a lot of promises."

I crouched down, lowering myself until I was at eye level with him, and the apparitions moved with me. Their faces stayed fixed on Valentine, unblinking and patient.

"They had to believe you because they had no voice."

I turned my head, looking back at the sentinels, and raised one hand.

"Back down."

The command rippled through them. I felt it more than heard it, the effect that my order had on them, and the wolves obeyed. They didn’t retreat, but they stopped advancing and they stopped growling. Their eyes stayed locked on Valentine as they waited.

I turned back to him.

"So I would ask you." My voice came out steady now, calm in a way that felt foreign. "What choice do you have now?"

Valentine stared at me.

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