To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 451

Chapter 451: All hail the loser

FIA

I could feel Cian’s questions building through the bond. They sat heavy in the space between us, unspoken but present. He had pieced some of it together from what Dimitri said, from the way I reacted, from the venom in my voice when I threw the word rapist at him. But knowing fragments of something and hearing the full picture were different things entirely.

He wanted to ask.

I felt his restraint just as clearly as I felt his curiosity. He held back because he sensed how raw I still was, how close to breaking apart I had come standing in front of Dimitri. The bond pulsed with his careful concern, his desire to know warring with his need to protect me from reliving whatever had carved that much pain into my voice.

When we stepped inside, the warmth of the house hit me first. Then reality crashed back in.

"Your mother..."

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. My hands flew to my face as everything I had pushed aside came flooding back. The grand Luna had thrown herself between Aldric and me. Even number four... Prue. The fall she had suffered... I hated to think the worst.

Cian’s hand found my shoulder. Steady, as it was grounded.

"She is fine."

I pulled back to look at him, searching his face for the lie.

"Are you sure? She took so much protecting me."

"Her suffering the worst brunt from Aldric’s poisoning might have done more than enough to damage the perception of her strength." His voice stayed even, but I caught the tension underneath. "But my mother is a born Luna. She is a fighter."

I wanted to believe him. I tried to let his certainty settle the panic rising in my chest.

"What about Gabriel?"

The question came out quieter. More afraid.

"You must know what happened to him before you came for me. What Aldric did to him."

Cian’s jaw tightened. I felt his rage spike through the bond, hot, sharp and barely controlled. It burned through him like wildfire before he forced it down, wrestled it back into something manageable.

"I do."

Those two words came clipped and hard.

He took a slow breath, letting it out even slower.

"He is in a cell where Aldric cannot take over and harm more people."

The image of Gabriel trapped in his own body made my stomach turn. Aldric still being able to wear his face, use his voice, and control his limbs while Gabriel screamed from somewhere inside himself with no way out.

Cian moved toward the stairs. His hand gestured for me to follow.

"Let us get you cleaned up so you can rest."

"I can help him."

Cian stopped and turned to face me with confusion pulling at his features. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"When I use my healing, it does something to the runes he is covered in." I stepped closer, met his eyes directly. "Your uncle Gabriel does not need to suffer even more after what was done to him."

"You have already given a lot."

"I do not feel so weak that I cannot manage this."

The words came out firmer than I expected. I held his gaze, refusing to back down even as I felt his hesitation pulse through the bond. He wanted to say no. Wanted to protect me from spending more of myself when I had already been through too much today.

But I needed this.

Needed to do something that mattered, something that helped instead of destroyed.

His resistance wavered. I watched him consider it, weigh the cost against the benefit, against what it would mean for Gabriel to have even a moment of relief.

"No problem then."

The agreement came reluctantly, but it came.

I smiled at him. Small and grateful.

We headed toward the prison together.

The air changed as we descended. It grew heavier, damper, thick with the smell of earth and stone and something else I could not quite name. Something that clung to the back of my throat and made my skin prickle.

The solitary cell sat at the end of a long corridor. Isolated. Away from everything else.

Gabriel looked up when we approached. His face carried exhaustion in every line, but his eyes cleared when he saw me. Something like relief flickered across his expression.

"I am glad you are alive."

His voice came out rough, strained from disuse or screaming or both.

"It spares me more suffering."

Cian called to the sentinel stationed nearby. The man moved forward without question, keys already in hand. Metal scraped against metal as he unlocked the cell door. It swung open with a groan that echoed down the corridor.

Cian entered first. Cautious. His body positioned between me and Gabriel in a way that looked casual but was anything but.

"Which one is really you?"

Gabriel’s mouth curved into something too tired to be called a smile.

"It is me, Cian. Aldric has a much harder time taking over now after what your mate did."

He turned his attention to me then. Gratitude sat heavy in his gaze.

"I thank you."

I walked forward. Each step brought me closer to him, closer to the runes I could already feel humming beneath his skin.

"I believe him."

The words came out certain. I did believe him. Something in the way he held himself, the way his voice shaped the syllables, told me Gabriel was the one in control right now.

"I do think you should keep your distance."

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