To ruin an Omega

Chapter 217: No claim left

FIA

I frowned. “About what exactly?”

He tilted his head, studying my face like the answer mattered more than it should have. “You really don’t remember me?”

I blinked. The question landed wrong, not heavy exactly, just misplaced, like something meant for another version of me. My eyes drifted past him before I could stop myself, to where my father stood with the elders as they gathered their things and spoke in low, tired voices. He was watching us.

His expression sat somewhere between confusion and surprise, like he hadn’t expected to look up and find me talking to anyone at all, least of all someone like this.

Pauline Strati stood a short distance away. The moment I saw her face, my stomach tightened. There was a sharpness in her eyes that made my skin prickle. The kind that came before bloodshedding.

I looked back at the boy in front of me.

“Am I supposed to?”

His mouth curved, barely. The smile was small and quick, but it changed him. Softened something sharp around the edges. He stepped closer and held out his hand, palm open like this was a meeting between equals.

“The name’s Lysander Asker,” he said. “Alpha heir of Lily of the Valley.”

I didn’t take his hand. I didn’t even pretend to consider it. My gaze slid back to Pauline, who now looked like she was holding herself together by force alone. Her jaw was tight, her shoulders rigid, every line of her body pulled inward like a coiled wire.

I returned my attention to him.

“I don’t think you should be talking to me,” I said. “I already have enough enemies.”

He followed my line of sight easily, like he’d expected it. When he looked at Pauline, his smile widened instead of fading.

“We’re just talking,” he said lightly. “No need to shoot daggers into her soul or think about assassination.”

Pauline’s expression darkened, something ugly flickering there before she masked it.

“She looks terrified of you,” he added, still watching her.

Then he turned back to me as if that was the end of the discussion, as if he had just smoothed over a minor inconvenience. “There. That settles it.”

I stared at him, stunned by the audacity of it. Pauline muttered a curse under her breath and turned away, stalking down the steps to where Isobel knelt beside Hazel. Hazel was still unconscious and she was being lifted onto a stretcher, her face ashen, her hair tangled and damp with sweat.

When I looked back, Lysander was still there, watching me like none of that mattered.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I want you to remember me,” he said, almost cheerfully. “I never forgot you. It stings a little, knowing I didn’t make enough of an impression to be memorable.”

I let out a slow breath, trying to steady myself, trying not to feel like the floor had shifted under my feet.

“And if I say I remember you,” I said, “does this end?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Fine,” I said. “I remember you. The boy from the meadows.”

His smile spread, real this time, like I’d just confirmed something he already knew.

“So you lied.”

“I don’t owe you honesty,” I replied.

He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think that’s true.” His voice lowered, not threatening, but deliberate. “I helped you deal with your sister. I stood behind you when you had her stripped of rank. Demoted to Omega.” He paused, letting the words settle where they would coil most. “You know you couldn’t have done that without my backing.”

The air felt heavier after that, like the room itself had decided to listen.

I scoffed. The audacity of him standing here acting like he had done me some grand favor.

“Without your backing, she would be dead. If anything, you hindered me.”

I pushed past him and headed toward the door. Garrett straightened from where he had been waiting and fell into step beside me.

“Garrett, let us go.”

“I had no idea you were Silvercreek.” Lysander’s voice stopped me. I turned back.

He stood where I had left him, hands loose at his sides. His expression had shifted. There was something quieter there now. Something more serious.

“After you vanished while I went to get better help, I looked for you. I looked for you like crazy. I even asked a witch from help. But your blood count be tracked fow whatever reason. It was like the goddess didn’t want us to meet ever again.”

The words hung in the air between us. I felt something shift in my chest.

“Thank you for your help then,” I said. “But it was so long ago.”

“Not to me.”

The way he said it. The way he had been looking at me this entire time. I suddenly understood what was happening here and I needed to shut it down immediately.

“You do know I am mated to someone.”

He looked confused for a second. Then he laughed. It was genuine and startled.

“Did it feel like I was flirting? I get that a lot. But of course I know you are married. Perhaps if I had acclimated myself more to werewolf society gatherings, I would have known you were his bride much faster.”

I studied his face. He seemed sincere. But who knew? There was something about the way he looked at me that still made my skin prickle.

“Well goodbye to you.”

He smiled again. That same small smile.

“Goodbye, Fia.”

The way his tongue settled on my name sent a strange shiver across my skin. I ignored it and kept walking.

What the hell was even that? I thought.

Garrett and I made it outside before I heard my father’s voice.

“Fia.”

I stopped and turned.

He stood in the doorway, his face shadowed by the overhang. His expression was hard and closed off.

“Before you ask, I don’t really know him,” I said. “And he chose to help me because he wanted to. Not because I am some manipulative monster who found a way—”

“I do not care about that.” His voice cut in in a sharp and final manner.

I waited.

He took a breath. When he spoke again, his words were measured. Deliberate.

“After this, I never want to see you again. Don’t come to Silvercreek. Stay out of our lives and we will stay out of yours.”

The words should have hurt. Once upon a time, they would have shattered me. They would have carved something hollow and aching in my chest that I would have carried for years.

I laughed instead.

The sound surprised even me. I had no resentment at all. His words held no weight anymore.

“Once upon a time that would have hurt me like crazy.” I met his eyes. “But not anymore.”

He said nothing.

“I will not miss here,” I continued. “But my mother’s grave is on these grounds. So I’ll visit. And I promise you…” I stepped closer. “You cannot stop me.”

His jaw tightened.

“We’ll uproot that grave and give the sand, stone, and body to you if that is what it takes for you to stay the fuck away from this family!”

The anger came quick and hot. It surged up through my chest and I felt it burning behind my eyes. But I smiled instead of screaming or trying to tear at his throat.

“No. You won’t.”

“Watch me.”

“Not unless you want your head on a silver platter.” My voice was quiet now. I meant every word. “Because that is what you will get if you disturb her rest after everything you did.”

He stared at me and I stared right back.

“Dare me and see.”

The silence stretched between us. He did not move. Neither did he speak.

Only then, did I turn and keep walking.

Garrett followed without a word.

“You alright, Luna?” Garrett asked.

“I’m fine.”

He did not press. That was one of the things I appreciated about him. He knew when to let silence sit.

We walked in quiet for a while. My mind kept replaying the trial. Hazel’s screams. The blood on the stone floor. The way Isobel had wailed when her daughter collapsed.

I should have felt something. Mostly satisfaction. But instead, I just felt tired.

“Do you think they’ll actually try to move her grave?” Garrett asked after a while.

“No.”

“You sound sure.”

“I am.” I glanced at him. “My father is a coward. He won’t risk the fallout. Not when it would make him look bad in front of the other packs.”

Garrett nodded slowly. “And if he does?”

“Then I’ll make good on my threat.”

He did not ask if I meant it. He already knew the answer.