1721

It's beyond strange, seeing Cian standing in the centre of my room.

He's awkwardly tall in here, and otherworldly. Just him standing here makes the furniture around him look mundane, to the point I'm almost embarrassed to have him in here. More than that though, I'm absolutely terrified. The last time I saw him outside of his cell, he took me to the immortal realm.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he says softly, stepping toward me. I match is back, unease. "But I think we should talk."

"Get out of my room," I whisper, aware of Lev on the other side of the door, and the immortal standing right in the middle of my room. After I've been ignoring him for so long, I'm scared at the idea that he is here for retaliation.

Cian doesn't move, although his expression softens. Despite the fact I don't want him in my room right now, I have to admit that he looks especially beautifully tonight. Surrounded by my mortal belongings, he looks otherworldly and magical, and not just because of his golden roots and clothing that he has changed since leaving his cell.

My mouth is suddenly dry.

"Would you like to talk elsewhere?" he offers, motioning behind me through the window. I shiver, the breeze coming through icy cold.

"I have nothing to say to you, Cian," I tell him firmly, trying to keep up my facade, although I doubt I have much choice but to cooperate with him now.

"You were gone for awhile," he breathes, not looking as though he wants to leave. I step back again, but now my back is pressed against my bedroom door. "I thought you had quit your job, as I recommended."

"I was away, taking a break," I reply, rubbing the back of my neck warily.

"You shouldn't have returned," he mutters darkly.

I draw in a deep breath, trying to regain some composure. Seeing an Immortal Sin standing in my room is disarming, and now I can't tell whether he is threatening me or not. If I back down and agree to leave my job, I'm betraying Stace and Noah. But at the same time, I imagine that if Cian really demands I quit, I may not have much of a choice.

"You don't get to tell me what to do," I demand, although my voice shudders slightly. I can't speak too loudly, not wanting to involve Lev with any of this. I can only imagine his reaction. "Now leave."

"Why are you working there again?" Cian questions, shoving his hands in his pockets, ignoring my request for him to leave.

"I need a job, and right now it pays me better than any other job would," I reply, hoping he doesn't see through my lie. The job I'm doing right now is technically for the money, he just doesn't need to know what that job is exactly.

Cian tilts his head back and forth, considering what I'm saying.

"I own may businesses that would hire you and pay you far more than Stace would ever offer you, if you wish to work," he offers.

My eyes narrow, unsure of what his angle is with this. Why does he not want me to work for Stace so desperately? There is no way I want to work for Cian anyway, to owe him anything. At least in working for Noah, I'm doing him a favour, helping him disable a man's overwhelming power.

"What do you know about Stace?" I question, folding my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes.

He raises a dark eyebrow at me, eyes glittering. "What do you know about Stace?"

I pause, not wanting to reveal my hand. It shouldn't be hard to lie to him, because in truth, I know nothing about Stace, and why he is involved with everything. Cian knows, it appears, the way he is looking at me right now the biggest indicator of that. His eyes are curious, a hint of amusement touching his lips.

"You told me he's a bad man," I tell him casually, shrugging my shoulders, even though Cian is very aware I don't take his advice on anything, including people's characters. "He's my boss."

"He isn't actually your boss. He goes wherever he pleases, and since I'm here, he makes himself known quite often," Cian explains, wandering over to my desk, where he brazenly looks over the contents, as if he owns them.

"Why does he care about you?" I question, brushing off what he said about Stace not actually being my boss.

"I'm an immortal who handed themselves in. I suppose I interested him," he says with a shrug.

I frown. I have a million questions about that already, but I'm not ready to get into that. Right now, I'm angry knowing what he has done to Noah's mate, and although I don't want the jeopardize this mission, I'm so irritated, and I want to lying on his behalf to stop.

"Why did you kill her?" I whisper.

Cian pauses, looking up at me with narrowed eyes from where he was looking at pictures of me and Lev on the wall. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"Why did you kill Alpha Noah's mate?" I blurt out.

He doesn't respond for a long moment. He simply freezes in his spot, eyes glazing over. I watch a myriad of emotions cross his face, although some are so overwhelming they are hard to decipher. Surprise, confusion and then anger. His gaze settles on the latter emotion, a sharp coolness overtaking him.

"Alpha's Noah's mate isn't dead," he breathes. It almost sounds like a threat, that if she is in fact dead, then we all have a lot to be concerned about.

"He told me she is..."

How does Cian not know? Lev seemed to know, although he is aware of plenty of people with all the right kinds of gossip. Cian must have not heard, having been locked up in his cell for so many years...But if that were the case, then he can't have killed Noah's mate. This is all too much to deal with, making my head spin.

"I don't understand what kind of sick joke you're trying to make," he mutters darkly.

I'm unsure if he is telling the truth or not, as his reaction is not what I expected. I thought he would lie, maybe stumble over his words or try to justify his position to me. Instead he's acting as though I'm insane for saying that to him, for even assuming he would have anything to do with this.

"He told me you killed her," I explain, wondering if I shouldn't have gotten emotional and told him this. "That you drowned her."

Cian is leaning against my desk now, almost as if he may collapse if he doesn't. The way he looks at me is haunting, dark eyes hooded, cold.

"And why would I do that?" he asks slowly.

"I don't know, you tell me?" I exasperate, throwing my hands up. I don't exactly have good information on either side. Suddenly I'm wondering whether I should have believed Noah when he told me...I should have asked more questions, should have wondered into how it happened.

Cian runs a hand back through his hair, the golden roots shimmering. "When did you speak to Noah?"

"He sort me out and told me to quit my job because you're dangerous," I explain, not bothering to mention is was when I was outside of his own Pack. Has no one really ever been close enough to Cian for him to use as a weapon? "Stace did too."

"And you didn't?" he asks.

I hesitate. Despite Cian claiming he did nothing to Noah's mate, I can't be sure that I should believe him. Cian also seems on the edge of multiple emotions, so if I tell him I'm working against him, I'm afraid he's going to lash out at me, or maybe take me to the immortal realm again. He doesn't have any reason to keep me alive at this point...

"I can't, I have no money," I remind him. I sense that he expects more than this just being an issue with my job, but he's too distracted by what I'm accusing him of to question me on it.

"Hmm..." he murmurs. "I hope for his sake that you're wrong about her being dead."

"You're the one who killed her," I say flatly, utterly dumbfounded by this conversation.

Cian turns away for a moment, battling his emotions. It's unnerving that I can't read him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"It makes sense...that's why he wants to kill you, right?" I say, basically trying to convince myself that Cian is just lying, that he is trying to trick me. He's the Sin, he's the one who will do bad things to get what he wants. He is more likely to kill Alpha Noah's mate than for him to be lying about it.

When Cian looks back at me, there us a bombshell of emotion in his eyes. "I didn't kill Abella."

"Who did?" I breathe.

"She's not dead," he decides, pacing back and forth incessantly. "I refuse to believe that. He's got to be hiding her somewhere, to use her against me, right?"

He looks at me as if I may reveal the answers, before he turns away, pacing back toward my window. No, he can't leave now, not when I haven't figured out what's going on. How do I sleep tonight without knowing for certain Cian is the killer, and I'm doing a good thing working against him.

"Where are you going?" I ask him. He pauses, looking over his shoulder. In that moment, I see a broken man, but also, someone who now knows what he has to do.

"To find out what happened," he tells me firmly. "And maybe kill a few people."

And with that, he vanishes.

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Sophie_Midika

Midikacrane

~Midika 💜🐼