To ruin an Omega - Chapter 286: Men and their complex 1

Chapter 286: Men and their complex 1

VALENTINE

This Chapter contains graphic depictions of violence against women, medical experimentation, pregnancy-related harm, non-consensual medical procedures, and emotional distress involving a parent and child. Reader discretion is advised.

The heat slammed into my face before I could think.

I threw up a barrier on pure instinct. The spell formed faster than conscious thought. A shield of crackling energy that wrapped around me and Wilhelm just as the vial exploded.

White flames erupted outward like something alive. They hit my barrier and the impact drove me backward. My shoes scraped against stone. The shield held for maybe two seconds before it shattered like glass.

The force threw me off my feet.

I hit the floor hard. My shoulder took the worst of it. Pain shot down my arm and up into my neck. The air left my lungs in a rush that left me gasping.

White fire spread across the table. It dripped onto the floor and burned without fuel or reason. The flames didn’t flicker or dance. They just existed. Pure as they terrible and wrong.

I heard Wilhelm scream.

The sound cut through the ringing in my ears. I turned my head and saw my son on his knees. His hands were pressed to his face. Between his fingers I could see blistered skin that was raw and weeping. The white liquid had caught him across the left side of his face and neck.

“Will!”

My voice came out hoarse. I tried to push myself up but my hand wouldn’t support my weight. I looked down and saw third degree burns running from my wrist to my fingertips. The skin had turned black in places. In others it had simply melted away to expose muscle and tendon.

I should have felt more pain but the shock must have been dampening it.

Wilhelm’s screaming turned to ragged sobbing. His whole body shook. He couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

I dragged myself toward him. Every movement sent fresh agony through my ruined hand. I ignored it. My son was hurt. Nothing else mattered.

“You’re alright.” The words came automatically. “You’re going to be alright.”

I reached him and put my good hand on his shoulder. He flinched away from the touch but I held on and kept my grip gentle but firm.

I started muttering the healing spell. The words tumbled out in a rush. The words came out too fast and I failed. That was how terrified I was. My mind was a mangled mess. I had to slow down and start over. I had to focus despite the pain and the fear and Wilhelm’s sobbing.

The magic gathered slowly. Too slowly. Madeline could have healed this in seconds. I was going to take minutes of not hours and the result would only be half as good.

The spell built and built until I could feel it humming in my chest. I directed it toward Wilhelm. Toward the burned flesh and blistered skin and the damage that would scar if I didn’t work fast enough.

My magic poured out of me and into him in droves.

And then something else came with it.

A rush of power that wasn’t mine. It slammed into me like a freight train. Foreign energy that tasted old and twisted and familiar in a way that made my stomach turn.

The healing was taking a toll on me. I could feel my eyes getting heavy.

The lab disappeared.

I was somewhere else. Sometime else. The stone walls looked almost the same but cleaner. Newer. The equipment was different. Older models that I’d replaced years ago.

And there was a woman on the table.

Athena, also known as number one.

She was strapped down with iron cuffs around her wrists and ankles. Her belly was swollen with pregnancy now. Seven months along at least. Maybe eight.

I stood over her with a syringe in my hand. The liquid inside glowed faintly blue.

This wasn’t a vision. It was a memory. My memory playing out in perfect detail like I was living it again.

“Please.” Athena’s voice shook. “Please don’t hurt my baby.”

I didn’t answer her. I was too focused on the injection site. The needle had to go in at exactly the right angle. Too shallow and the serum wouldn’t reach the fetus. Too deep and I might puncture something vital.

The needle was massive. Longer than my hand. Thick enough that I could see Athena’s eyes go wide with terror when I brought it toward her stomach.

“No. No, no, no. Please.” She pulled at the restraints. The cuffs bit into her wrists. Blood ran down her arms. “Take me instead. Hurt me. Just please don’t touch my baby.”

I pressed the needle against her skin.

“This won’t kill it.” My voice sounded distant. Clinical. “Trust me. The child is more valuable alive than dead to me.”

“Please.”

I pushed the needle in.

Athena screamed. The sound tore out of her throat raw and animal. Her whole body convulsed against the restraints. The table shook. The chains rattled.

I kept pushing. The needle slid through skin and muscle and into the amniotic sac. I could feel the resistance change when it broke through. I felt the give as it entered the fluid.

The baby moved inside her. I could see it writhing beneath her skin. Trying to get away from the intrusion.

I depressed the plunger slowly. Carefully. The serum flowed into the womb in a steady stream. Blue mixing with clear.

Athena’s screaming turned to sobbing. Ragged gasps for air between cries that sounded like they were being ripped from somewhere deep inside her.

“Why are you doing this?” Her words came out broken. Stuttered. “What did I do to deserve this?”

I pulled the needle out and set it aside before reaching for a cloth to clean the injection site.

“You got pregnant with Alpha blood in your veins.” I pressed the cloth against her stomach and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. “Do you know how rare that is? An Omega carrying an Alpha’s child. The genetic potential is remarkable.”

“I just want my baby to live.” Tears ran down her temples and into her hair. “That’s all. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Nobody asks for this. People are just unlucky. But trust me, there is nothing unlucky about you right now.”

I turned away from her and made notes in my journal. The time of injection. The dosage. Her physical response. All of it needed to be documented.

Behind me, Athena kept crying and she kept begging too. The sound faded into background noise while I worked.

The memory shifted.