To ruin an Omega - Chapter 499: That Special someone

FIA

I turned fully to face the cloaked figure.

The stillness in the hallway pressed against my skin. Every nerve ending screamed danger, but something else threaded through the alarm. Something familiar that didn’t quite match the threat my instincts insisted was there.

“Is the intention to scare me or talk?”

The figure reached up. Hands pulled back the hood, revealing a face I’d seen only twice before but had memorized anyway.

Lysander.

“How did you know it was me?” His voice carried genuine curiosity.

“I have a decent sense of smell.”

He walked closer. Each step measured and deliberate. “It does boost my ego to know that though our meetings tend to be short, you never forget me.”

Heat crept up my neck. I pushed it down and focused on the question that actually mattered. “Are you here to pay your respects to the dead?”

“No.” He stopped a few feet away. “Considering I was the one who ended your sister and in turn pushed your stepmother to suicide.”

The words should have shocked me. They didn’t. Some part of me had already known. The pieces had been there, waiting for confirmation.

“I don’t know if this helps,” I said carefully, “but I do not feel too bad about it.”

His expression shifted. Something almost like relief flickered across his features. “I heard your speech. I know.”

A smile tugged at my lips despite the strangeness of this entire situation. “Why are you here then, Alpha Lysander?”

“I thought about visiting Skollrend.” He slipped his hands into his pockets. The gesture looked casual, but tension radiated from his shoulders. “But I know your mate. So I came here in secret, hoping you would come.” He paused. “I guess the goddess heard my prayer.”

“I am still mated.” The correction felt important somehow. “Happily, might I add.”

“I know.” His gaze held mine. “But I believe I am allowed this.”

I reached for his hand before I thought better of it. My fingers wrapped around his, and I gave them a gentle pat. The contact felt strange and oddly natural at the same time.

“I am glad you are here too.”

His eyes widened. The surprise that crossed his face was so genuine it made my chest tighten.

“I want to thank you.”

He scoffed. “What?”

“I know you know I am a healer.” I kept my voice low. “And I know you also did things for my sake. To protect me.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I am a healer.” I squeezed his hand once before releasing it. “And one of my talents happens to be foresight.”

His posture changed. He stood straighter, his attention sharpening in a way that reminded me he was an Alpha. That he’d killed his own father and walked away with the council’s blessing.

“Though I will admit that foresight was not one I saw.” The confession tasted bitter. “Regardless, I am thankful.”

Suddenly running footsteps echoed down the hallway.

I turned just as Cian rounded the corner. His eyes found me first, then tracked to Lysander. His entire stance shifted. The protective fury I’d seen earlier at the podium came roaring back, but this time it carried a possessive edge that made the air feel charged.

“Lysander Asker?”

Surprise jolted through me. I hadn’t expected Cian to quickly recognize him.

“Get away from him.” Cian closed the distance between us in three long strides. “I sensed your discomfort and came running.” His gaze never left Lysander. “What kind of incompetent security does this pack have?”

Lysander’s weight shifted. His hands came out of his pockets, and he took a stance that screamed readiness for a fight.

“Get away from my wife.”

The air between them crackled with tension. Two Alphas, both primed to tear into each other, and I stood in the middle like some prize to be claimed.

“It is fine.” I stepped between them. “We were talking.”

“That is not what I felt from you minutes ago.”

He wasn’t wrong. My initial reaction to the cloaked figure had been pure alarm. But that had changed the moment I recognized Lysander’s scent.

“Feel what I feel now.”

I pushed the emotion toward him through the bond. It showed that I was calm and most importantly certain. He could see now that there was no threat here, and this was just an unexpected conversation that needed to finish.

Cian’s shoulders relaxed fractionally. The murder in his eyes dimmed to something more manageable. He didn’t look happy, but he stopped advancing.

Lysander turned back to face me. His expression had shuttered, become unreadable.

“I do not need appreciation for that.” His voice came out flat. “And you do not have to worry anymore… I burned the files.”

My breath caught. The files. The ones documenting my heritage, my connection to fleshcraft, the evidence that could have been used against me in a dozen different ways.

“You should know that you will be safe.”

“Oh, I am sure.” The words came out softer than I intended. “I guess I could say I owe you a second time.” I paused. “If you do need my help in the future, which I doubt, I will be there to render it.”

He looked at me with eyes that carried too much knowledge. Something sly moved behind his gaze. “There is something I want, but I have a feeling you will not give it to me.”

“Excuse me?” Cian’s voice came out sharp.

I gave him a look that kept him still. Then I turned back to Lysander and touched his hand again. The contact sent a jolt through me, but I ignored it.

“I guess this means I will keep owing you for a while.”

Still… the moment my skin made contact with his, the vision hit.

It slammed into me like a physical blow. The hallway disappeared. The belely of the church vanished. Everything dissolved into fragmented images that felt more real than the ground beneath my feet.

Lysander was on his knees.

A crown being lowered onto his head, heavy and ornate, gleaming with precious stones.

A woman with platinum silver hair was standing beside him. Her features were sharp and beautiful in a way that made mortals look dull by comparison.

The images flickered like photographs being shuffled too fast to process properly. Then they stopped.

I blinked as the hallway quickly reformed around me. Lysander was staring at me with an expression caught between concern and confusion.

“But I do not think you would want what you want in the near future.” My voice sounded distant to my own ears. “I have a feeling someone is about to find you, and your love story… It will be legendary.” I paused, let the weight of what I’d seen settle. “Your majesty.”

His eyes widened. “Huh.’

“You will get to know with time. But I am afraid I have to take my leave now.”

I walked to Cian and slipped my hand into his. The familiar warmth of his palm against mine grounded me, pulling me back from the strange space the vision had left me in.

“We should go.”

“I have no idea what any of that means.” Lysander’s voice stopped me mid-step. I turned slightly, just enough to see him still standing in the same spot. “But Cian—that is the name, right?”

Cian’s attention snapped to him. The murder came back into his eyes.

“If you do mess this up, you should know someone will be right there to pick up right where you left off.”

Cian’s hand tightened around mine. The grip bordered on possessive.

“Fia, I think we should go.” His voice came out strained. “The last thing I want to do at a funeral is cause a scene.”

We walked. Cian’s pace was just slightly too fast to be casual. I glanced back over my shoulder and caught Lysander’s gaze one more time.

I waved.

He smiled. The expression transformed his face into something softer, more genuine than I’d seen from him before.

“You should not wave,” Cian said through gritted teeth.

“I am being nice.” I kept my tone light. “He has helped me three times now.” We pushed through the side door and stepped into the cemetery. The afternoon light felt too bright after the dim hallway. “You do know it was probably not Hazel who took out Alpha Wenzel.”

Cian stopped walking. His grip on my hand tightened further.

“But you did not mention the psycho was obsessed with you.” His voice carried an edge I’d rarely heard. “Is that why he did it? He killed his father for you?”

“I am sure you would have done the same.” I looked up at him. “Right?”

“Perhaps.”

I shook my head. “He is winning then.”

He stopped me. Both hands came up to grip my shoulders, turning me to face him fully.

“You do not mean that. Right?”

“No.”

He kissed me. Hard and possessive and desperate in a way that made my knees weak. When he pulled back, his eyes searched my face like he was looking for cracks in my certainty.

“Though it is best you never change.” The words came out before I could stop them. “I somehow had a peek into Lysander’s future, and he will be king of the Alphas someday. That wouldn’t be a bad choice for a second marriage.”

“I do not think you should tease me like that.”

I laughed. The sound felt good after the weight of the funeral, the speech, the unexpected encounter in the hallway. Cian’s expression softened, and he kissed me again. This time slower, sweeter, with less desperation and more promise.

“Can we go home now?”

I looked past him at the three filled graves. At the mourners still clustered in small groups. At the church where my grandfather had offered me a birthright I didn’t want.

“Yeah.” I laced my fingers through his properly. “I agree. Let us go home.”