To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106: Code Blue

CIAN

I couldn’t sleep. The ceiling above me had become familiar in the worst way. Every crack in the plaster. Every shadow cast by the moonlight bleeding through the curtains. I’d memorized them all in the hours I’d spent staring up.

My phone sat on the nightstand. Dark. Silent. Mocking me with its lack of response.

The house settled around me. Creaked and groaned like it was alive. Like it was judging me for every mistake I’d made. For calling Valentine. For leaving that pathetic message. For pushing away the one person who might have actually been able to help.

A sound cut through the quiet. Distant but sharp. Footsteps. Running.

I sat up. My heart kicked against my ribs.

Then I heard more footsteps. They sounded urgent . Like multiple people moving fast. Voices shouted but I couldn’t make out the words.

My feet hit the floor before I’d made a conscious decision to move. I crossed the room in three strides. My hand found the doorknob. Turned it and pulled.

The hallway stretched before me. Empty at first. Then a sentinel appeared at the far end. He ran toward me. His face was pale. Panicked.

"What’s happening?" I stepped into his path.

He skidded to a stop. His eyes went wide when he saw me. His mouth opened but nothing came out.

Horror bloomed across his features. Pure and undisguised.

My stomach dropped. "What happened?"

He still didn’t speak. The fool just stood there looking at me like I was something to be pitied.

I didn’t need a seer to tell me what this was about.

I ran.

My bare feet slapped against the cold floor. The hallway blurred past. My lungs burned but I pushed harder. Faster.

The infirmary doors were already open. Light spilled out into the corridor. I could hear the monitors before I even reached the entrance. That sound. That horrible, frantic beeping that meant everything was wrong.

I burst through the doorway.

Thorne stood over my mother. His hands moved quickly across her chest. Pressing down in steady compressions. Maren worked beside him. Her fingers flew over the machines. Adjusting. Checking. Her jaw was tight.

"What the fuck happened now?" The words ripped out of me.

My uncle stood at the side of the room. He paced back and forth. Three steps one way. Three steps back. His hands were clasped behind him.

He looked up when I spoke. "I couldn’t sleep." His voice was strained. Rough. "I came over to see Morrigan. One minute with her and she just started coding." He stopped pacing. "It is a good thing they all came in time. I couldn’t imagine what could have happened."

I moved closer to the bed. My legs felt unsteady. The world tilted and I had to grip the footboard to keep from swaying.

The markings on my mother’s skin had spread. What had been isolated patches of tree bark lesions now covered her arms. Her neck. They crept up toward her face in twisted, organic patterns that looked like roots burrowing under her skin.

They’d tripled. At least.

A shudder ran through me. "It’s even getting worse."

Maren stepped back from the bed. Her shoulders sagged. "I don’t understand how it happened."

"Are you sure about that?" Aldric’s voice cut through the room.

Everyone turned to look at him. Maren and Thorne exchanged glances. Their expressions shifted. Became wary.

"We are, Alpha Aldric." Maren’s words came out carefully.

Aldric moved closer. "When I came in..." He paused and let the silence stretch. "Fia was just leaving. She mentioned something about a cure. Was that tried? Because last I checked... This was alchemy poisoning. It cannot be fixed without the involvement of magic."

The color drained from Maren’s face. Thorne’s throat worked as he swallowed.

Ice flooded my veins. "What the fuck is my uncle talking about?"

I nodded without lifting my head. I didn’t trust myself to speak.

His footsteps faded. The door clicked shut again.

Silence settled over the room. Just the steady beep of monitors and the mechanical hiss of the ventilator. The sounds of my mother barely holding on.

"Alpha Cian." Thorne’s voice was small. Broken. "I... I apologize again. I know it means nothing but—"

"I understand." The words surprised me. They felt heavy coming out. But true. "What you did was fucking stupid."

"Yes." He agreed immediately.

"But I understand why you did it." I lifted my head. Looked at him. He still stood with his head bowed. His whole body curved in submission and shame. "I backed you into a corner. I demanded results without caring about the cost." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"That doesn’t excuse—"

"No. It fucking doesn’t." I cut him off. "But it explains it." I looked back at my mother. At the lesions spreading across her skin like a disease. Like death taking its time. "We’re all desperate. All of us. And desperate people do stupid things."

Thorne straightened slightly. Not all the way. But enough that I could see his face. "Thank you, Alpha Cian."

I didn’t respond. I couldnt. I just sat there holding my mother’s cold hand and watching her chest rise and fall with each mechanical breath.

The night stretched on. Minutes blurred into hours. Thorne stayed. Working quietly. Checking vitals. Adjusting dosages. Doing what he could to keep her stable.

Stable. That word again. That meaningless word that just meant not dead yet.

My phone stayed silent in my pocket. There was still no calls. No messages. Just the weight of my own failures pressing down until I could barely breathe.

Dawn would come eventually. Aldric would make his calls. Maybe someone would answer. Maybe they’d agree to help despite Gabriel’s poison. Maybe we’d find a way out of this nightmare.

But right now, in this moment, all I could do was sit here. Hold my mother’s hand. And pray that stable would be enough to keep her alive until help arrived.

If it arrived at all.