To ruin an Omega - Chapter 459: Borderline 1

Chapter 459: Borderline 1

CIAN

The evening sun caught the edges of the courtyard stones, turning them amber. I stood beside my mother on one of the garden benches, watching the main gate where Elder Moira would soon arrive. My mother’s hands rested in her lap, fingers laced together in a way that looked peaceful but probably wasn’t. The cast on her leg gleamed white against her dark dress.

It had mostly healed. But Thorne had to be dramatic about it.

“I’m happy everything turned out fine at the end.”

Her voice carried that particular lightness people used when they were trying to convince themselves as much as anyone else. I glanced at her, taking in the faint bruises still visible along her jawline. Age did that, but she did not seem to remotely give a fuck, given the way she held herself.

“Right.”

The word came out flat. I tried not to think about Lily of the Valley. Tried not to think about Alpha Wenzel and whatever the hell Aldric had sent him. Tried not to think about Lysander and the provisions Fia’s mother, Muna, had supposedly made. The not-thinking wasn’t working particularly well.

My mother shifted her weight, grimacing slightly when her leg protested the movement.

If she was not completely healed by morning, I would have to do a selfish thing and ask Fia for a hand.

“I heard from Moira even that the heat season will come soon.”

I looked at her. “How soon?”

“Two days max. Well, night is nearly here. So technically one day.”

I nodded slowly, processing that. The heat season always complicates things. The biological imperative hit harder than people wanted to admit, especially for mated pairs. For Omegas, it could be brutal. And Fia was pregnant.

My mother continued before I could voice the concern forming in my mind.

“Fia is with child, and it can get rough given she is an Omega. I believe you two should go on a honeymoon of sorts. Get away from pack politics and responsibilities for a while. Let her body adjust to the pregnancy without all this stress, and of course, chain yourself down should you lose control from her pheremones.”

The suggestion landed with surprising weight. A honeymoon. The idea felt almost absurdly normal given everything that had happened in the past few days. Valentine dead. Aldric destroyed. My mate, having faced down monsters and emerged victorious through power, I still didn’t fully understand.

“I was going to bring that up with her,” I admitted. “Though I reckon Fia will survive me. She has survived worse.”

Mother gave me a look before she spoke. “I will admit that it is my fault. I said too much.”

That did take a chuckle out of me.

The truth was, I had been thinking about it since yesterday. About taking Fia somewhere quiet and safe. This place would be a mess when heat season came. Good, of course. But Fia was a born Omega, and they happened to have the most tantalizing pheremones. We needed an out of this pack for mostly her safety. Where we could both breathe without waiting for a sudden and avoidable disaster to crash through our lives.

My mother smiled. It transformed her face and made her look younger despite the injuries.

“Good. I was so scared for her, you know. When I saw Aldric there, when that girl attacked and threw me through the window…” She paused, swallowing hard. “I thought we were all going to die. That he would win. But it’s clear the goddess is on her side and in doing so, also on our side.”

The conviction in her voice caught me off guard. My mother had always been devout, but this went deeper. This sounded like someone who had witnessed a miracle and couldn’t quite process what it meant.

Movement at the gate drew my attention. Elder Moira walked toward us with that measured pace healers and spiritual leaders seemed to cultivate. Her beautiful fully grey hair caught the light, and the ceremonial robes she wore marked her position clearly. She stopped a respectful distance away and bowed.

“I heard you needed my help.”

I stood, gesturing for her to straighten.

“Yes. It’s about my uncle.”

“I’m sure word must have spread already.”

“About his possession?” Moira’s expression shifted into something thoughtful. “Yes. The sentinels talk. That kind of thing doesn’t stay quiet long.”

“I need you to use the blessing thrusted on you by the goddess to figure out if Aldric still holds any control in there.” I kept my voice level and professional. This was pack business. This was about security and making sure we didn’t have a threat lurking in Gabriel’s skin. “I can’t release him until I’m certain.”

Moira tilted her head slightly, studying me with those sharp eyes that always seemed to see more than I wanted to show.

“I also heard he was vanquished by the power of Luna Fia. The sentinels who saw would not stop mentioning it.”

That pulled a grimace from me. Of course they wouldn’t. Fia had unmade Valentine Blossom. Had destroyed Aldric’s consciousness so thoroughly that nothing remained. The sentinels who witnessed it probably wouldn’t shut up about it for months.

“Well, I better curb that.”

Moira chuckled. The sound was warm and knowing.

“I don’t know. Perhaps the healers of legend are returning. Perhaps Lady Selene is changing her mind about us. Something is just in the air.”

She said it like it was a possibility worth considering. As if the idea of true divine intervention returning to werewolf society wasn’t completely insane. I thought about the apparitions Fia had described. About Athena and Muna appearing to her.

“Protecting my mate is what is paramount to me,” I said. “I don’t have the eagle eyes of a goddess. I just need to make sure my uncle is truly free.”

“Let us go then.”

We walked together, into the main estate and toward the dungeon entrance. My mother stayed behind on the bench, watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read. The stairs leading down felt colder than they should have. Darker. Every step echoed against stone walls that had held too many prisoners over the years.

Gabriel’s cell sat at the corridor’s end. The same isolation I had ordered after the fight. The same precaution that had felt necessary since I still wasn’t sure if my uncle still existed or if Aldric still remained wearing his face or dancing somewhere in there.

The sentinel on duty unlocked the door. The metal scraped and groaned. Gabriel looked up from where he sat on the stone bench. He’d cleaned himself up as best he could, but exhaustion still marked every line of his face. The wounds from the fight had healed. Alpha healing did its work. But the psychological scars ran deeper than any physical damage.

Moira stepped inside. Her robes whispered against the floor.

“It’s lovely to meet you again, Alpha Gabriel.”

Gabriel stood slowly, straightening to his full height.

“Oh, I wish the circumstances were better, Elder.”

That pulled another chuckle from Moira. She moved closer, her presence somehow both gentle and commanding.

“Are you ready to share your oath?”

Gabriel nodded. His jaw set with determination, but I saw the fear underneath. The uncertainty about whether the goddess would accept his pledge or strike him down for housing the consciousness of someone so vile.

“You have a unique situation,” Moira continued, “but I’m sure the goddess would never harm a righteous heart.”