To ruin an Omega - Chapter 382: Have a break

Chapter 382: Have a break

CIAN

My jaws closed, but he got his arm up in time to block.

I bit down hard, feeling bone crack beneath the pressure of my teeth.

He howled and shoved me off with his other hand, throwing me back with enough force to send me crashing into a tree, the impact knocking the air from my lungs in a sudden rush.

By the time I forced myself upright again, he was already pushing to his feet, his body unsteady but still refusing to give out.

Blood covered him now, multiple wounds bleeding freely, his breathing uneven and labored in a way that made it clear how much he had already taken.

But he was still standing.

One of the sentinels moved closer and fired again, the shot hitting his shoulder and spinning him slightly with the impact before forcing him back down onto one knee.

I was on him before he could recover.

My claws raked across his back, tearing through skin and muscle in long, brutal lines, but he twisted sharply and caught me by the scruff, using the grip to throw me sideways and break my momentum.

I hit the ground, rolled, and came back up without hesitation.

We began to circle each other, both of us slowing just enough to measure the other, to search for an opening, to decide how this ended.

We were both bleeding, both wounded, both running on what was left.

But only one of us was walking away from this.

He moved first.

This time, I was ready.

We collided head-on, bodies crashing together in a violent tangle of claws and teeth and raw force, each of us trying to overpower the other, trying to force the fight into something final.

He was stronger than I expected, even wounded, even bleeding out, he was still fighting with a relentless drive that refused to break.

His claws caught me across the ribs in a clean strike, pain flaring instantly as I felt skin split and blood begin to run down my side.

I ignored it.

I shifted my grip and bit down on his arm, the one that was already broken, and this time I committed fully.

The bone shattered completely beneath my jaws.

Aldric screamed again, the sound sharper now, edged with something closer to desperation.

He tore himself free and stumbled backward, his footing less certain than before.

The sentinels took the opening and fired again, three shots in quick succession, all of them hitting as the bullets drove into his chest, his stomach, and his leg.

With that amount of wolfsbane in his system, Aldric went down.

But he did not stay there.

He forced himself back up, slower this time, weaker, his body beginning to fail even as his will refused to follow.

I charged again, putting everything I had left into the movement as I slammed into him and drove us both to the ground.

This time, I did not let go.

My jaws closed around his throat, locking in place as I tasted blood and felt his pulse hammering beneath my teeth, frantic and uneven.

He clawed at me, his movements desperate now, weaker and less controlled as he tried to force me off.

I held on.

I did not loosen my grip.

Then suddenly, he found leverage.

His legs came up and braced against me before he kicked hard, sending me flying backward with enough force to break my hold completely.

I landed badly, my shoulder taking most of the impact. I even heard something shift there, and it came with a sharp, wrong sensation that told me immediately it was not right.

I pushed myself up anyway.

But Aldric was already on me.

He closed the distance and grabbed me by the throat, his grip tightening instantly, claws digging through fur and into skin as he lifted me clean off the ground.

I thrashed and twisted, trying to break free, but his hold did not give; his strength was still overwhelming despite everything.

He pulled me closer until his face was inches from mine. There was blood dripping from his mouth, and it helped make his eyes wild and unhinged.

“You should have stayed down,” he rasped.

His other hand came up, his claws extended, the intent behind the movement unmistakable.

He was going to tear me apart, rip me open like it was nothing, without hesitation, without doubt, without even the slightest restraint.

I could see it clearly.

This was it.

This was how it ended.

Then one of his hands exploded.

Not metaphorically. It actually fucking exploded.

Blood, bone, and torn tissue burst outward in a violent spray, the force of it breaking through the moment as Aldric’s scream tore from him, sharp and immediate.

His grip on my throat vanished.

I dropped to the ground and shifted back into my human form almost instantly, dragging air into my lungs as I forced myself upright.

I turned my head.

Madeline stood about twenty feet away, her hands still raised as faint traces of magic crackled around her fingers.

She looked exhausted, pale in a way that suggested the spell had cost her more than she wanted to give.

But she was there. She had saved me.

Aldric had dropped to his knees, staring at what remained of his arm, at the stump where his hand had been.

There was so much blood pouring from it in thick, heavy pulses.

Then he looked up at me.

The hatred in his eyes had not faded.

Neither had the fight.

But his body had nothing left to give.

I stepped forward, closing the distance with deliberate steps before grabbing him by the hair and forcing his head back.

His remaining hand lifted weakly, trying to push me away, the movement lacking any real strength, and the only damage that was done was that the ring on his finger scratched me.

I ignored it.

Then I twisted. Hard and just as fast.

I felt his neck snap beneath my hands, the sound sharp and final as it cut cleanly through the air.

But I did not stop there.

Even after the fight had already been decided, even after his body had begun to give out beneath my hands, I kept twisting, kept pulling, refusing to let the moment end until I was certain there was nothing left of him that could rise again.

I felt it as it happened.

The resistance of the bone gave way under the force I applied.

The vertebrae separated one after the other as the structure failed.

The tearing of skin and the pull of muscle as everything that held him together came apart in my grip.

And then— I tore his head clean off his shoulders.

It came away with part of his spine still attached, a long, twisted column of bone slick with blood and torn tissue, the weight of it heavier than it should have been as it hung from my hands.

For a moment, I just stood there and held it.

Aldric’s eyes were still open, still fixed in a stare that no longer meant anything.

Whatever had driven him, whatever had kept him moving, was gone completely.

There was nothing behind them now.

He was gone.

Finally gone.

I let it drop.

The head and spine hit the ground with a wet, heavy sound, landing among the dirt and blood that had already soaked the earth beneath us.

Only then did my body catch up with everything that had just happened.

I dropped to my knees.

The strength that had carried me through the fight drained out of me all at once, leaving behind something unsteady and raw.

My entire body was shaking in a way I could not control.

Blood covered me. Both my blood and Aldric’s.

I could not tell where one ended and the other began anymore; the line between them blurred until it stopped mattering.

The sentinels approached slowly, their movements cautious, measured, as if they were still unsure whether the danger had truly passed.

One of them spoke, his voice careful.

“Alpha Cian. Are you alright?”

I did not answer right away.

I stayed where I was, kneeling in the dirt, in the blood, trying to steady myself, trying to pull my breathing back into something that resembled control as my chest rose and fell unevenly.

Aldric was dead.

It was over.

Finally over.

I lifted my head and looked toward Madeline.

She had lowered her hands, the last traces of magic gone from her fingers, whatever she had summoned already spent.

“Thank you,” I said.

My voice came out rough, worn down to something quieter than I intended, barely more than a whisper.

She gave a small nod in response, but the movement cost her more than it should have. I saw it in the way her balance faltered, in the way her body swayed where she stood.

One of the sentinels reached her in time, catching her before she could fall.

I forced myself up.

Every muscle protested the movement, pain flaring in places I hadn’t had time to register before, but I ignored it and pushed through until I was standing again.

“We need to get back,” I said, my voice steadier now despite everything, the urgency returning as reality settled back into place. “My uncle Gabriel needs help.”

The sentinels nodded.

I looked back at Aldric’s head and picked it back up. There was one more thing to do.