To ruin an Omega - Chapter 375: The Reunion

Chapter 375: The Reunion

CIAN

The infirmary felt too small for the number of people packed inside it.

My mother sat on the edge of one of the cots with her hands folded in her lap. She was trying to look composed, but I could see the tremor in her fingers. The way her shoulders stayed just a little too rigid. There was a slight pallor in her cheeks that had not been there this morning.

Fia stood beside her with one hand resting lightly on my mother’s shoulder.

Maren moved between them both with quick, efficient steps. She checked my mother’s pulse. Then she pressed the back of her hand against her forehead.

“How do you feel?” Maren asked.

“Fine,” my mother said.

Her voice came out steady, but I knew better. I had known her my entire life. I could hear the lie underneath.

Maren frowned.

“You should still be resting now. The white moss is keeping you upright but it will not last long. Your body needs time to process what you put it through.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” Maren asked quietly. “With respect, my lady, the white moss is only delaying the strain. If you push yourself too soon, your body will give out when it matters most.”

My mother met her eyes.

“I will not collapse.”

Maren looked like she wanted to argue, but she held her tongue. She stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest.

I moved closer and crouched down in front of my mother so I could see her face more clearly.

“Maren is right. You do look pale. I feel selfish pushing you like this.”

“I am fine, Cian.”

“Well… that is what you keep saying.”

She reached out and touched my cheek. Her hand was warm against my skin.

“I promise you. I am fine.”

I did not believe her but I nodded anyway.

Fia shifted beside us. Her hand left my mother’s shoulder and she turned toward the door.

“Someone is coming,” she said quietly.

I stood and looked toward the entrance.

She was right. Footsteps echoed down the hall outside. Multiple sets and they were getting closer.

My mother moved immediately. She stood from the cot and smoothed the front of her dress. Fia stepped beside her and the three of us positioned ourselves near the center of the room.

Maren moved to stand with us.

We waited.

The door opened, and Thorne walked in first. He was carrying a small leather case in one hand. Behind him came Elder Pryce. The older man’s expression was carefully neutral but his eyes swept the room with the kind of attention that missed nothing.

Thorne stopped a few feet inside the infirmary and nodded to us.

“Alpha Cian. Grand Luna Morrigan. Luna Fia.”

I nodded back.

“Elder Thorne. Elder Pryce.”

Thorne held up the case.

“We got it,” he said. “A fresh sample of Beta Ronan’s blood.”

Elder Pryce stepped forward slightly. “I will stay to ensure there is no hanky panky.”

His tone was polite but the implication underneath was clear. He did not trust us to run the test without oversight.

It was the rule anyway. So I had no issue with it.

I kept my face neutral.

“That is no problem at all.”

Maren moved toward the elder and gestured for him to follow her.

“This way,” she said. “We have everything set up in the back.”

Thorne and Elderr Pryce followed her deeper into the infirmary. Elder Pryce walked slower. For some reason, his sight was fixated on me. But his fixation did not last as he reache dthe corner. His boots clicked softly against the stone floor as they disappeared through the doorway that led to the smaller examination room.

The door closed behind them.

I turned back to my mother.

She had sat down again. The brief burst of energy she had summoned to stand and look presentable had already faded. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.

I crossed the room quickly and pressed my hand against her forehead.

She was warm. Not feverish exactly but warmer than she should have been.

“You are burning up.”

“I am fine,” she whispered.

“You keep saying that.”

She opened her eyes and looked at me.

“What you did was reckless,” I said quietly. My voice came out harder than I meant it to. “More than reckless.”

“I know.”

“You could have died.”

“I know. But I had to do it. I had to be the one to put that monster down, regardless of how it could have gone.” She sighed. “I did know I was in no real danger, considering my daughter-in-law is a talented healer herself. I do wish the bastard had just died in his cell, though. The small moves he seems to be able to pull even now unsettles me.”

I pulled my hand back and sat down beside her on the cot. “You should have just waited for me to make my moves.”

“You do not know what we feared was going to happen.”

“Fia told me,” I said. “Eventually. She told me everything.”

My mother’s lips curved into a faint smile as she looked at Fia, then back at me.

“Good. She should have told you sooner. But I understand why she did not.”

I looked at her.

“You really thought poisoning him was the only option?”

“I thought it was the safest option.” Her voice was quiet. “For Fia. For you. For this pack. For everyone who stands to lose if that man walks free. Or survives this.”

She reached over and took my hand in hers. Her fingers were cold now. The warmth from before had faded.

“It seems the goddess is by our side today though,” she said softly. “I have a feeling this is the moment when we win over that monster.”

Now that… I did believe. I had made all the moves for it to happen. For Skollrend and me to finally have some fucking peace.

Though I also wanted to feel the certainty my mother seemed to carry in her voice.

But all I could think about was how close we had come to losing her. How easily Aldric could have turned the tables. How much still hung in the balance.

I squeezed her hand gently.

“I hope you are right.”

She smiled.

“I always am.”

Fia moved closer and sat down on my mother’s other side. She did not say anything. She just sat there with us while the sounds from the back room drifted faintly through the closed door.

The minutes stretched.

I tried not to think about what was happening in that examination room. Tried not to imagine Elder Pryce standing over Maren and Thorne while they worked. Watching every move. Questioning every step.

Maren would certainly be pissed about having her work questioned.

Then there was a knock on the door. Loud and urgent.

All three of us turned.

The door opened before I could respond.

A sentinel stepped inside. He was young. Maybe in his mid-twenties. His face was flushed and his breathing was uneven like he had been running.

He bowed quickly to all three of us.

Then his eyes found mine.

I could see the shock written all over his face. The disbelief. There was uncertainty about whether he was supposed to be delivering this news at all.

“Alpha Cian,” he said. “There is someone you have to see.”

I stood slowly.

“Who?”

He hesitated.

“A Blossom family member by the name Wilhelm came into pack territory not too long ago. And he came with someone.”

My chest tightened.

Wilhelm? Madeline’s brother? Was he here already?

The sentinel shifted his weight.

“It is best you come,” he said.

I turned back to Fia and my mother.

“Keep watch over business here.”

They both nodded.

I followed the sentinel out of the infirmary and into the hallway.

People were everywhere.

Servants. Guards. Pack members who had lingered after the trial was adjourned. They all turned to look at me when I passed. I could hear the whispers starting before I was even out of earshot.

“Did you hear?”

“Someone came with Wilhelm Blossom.”

“Who could it be?”

“I heard it was him. The uncle. The one we thought was the traitor or even dead.”

The sentinel walked quickly. I matched his pace. We turned down the main corridor and headed toward the lounge.

More people gathered near the doors. They pressed against the walls and craned their necks to see inside. A few of them stepped back when they saw me coming.

The sentinel pushed through the crowd and opened the door.

I stepped inside.

The lounge was quieter than the hallway but the tension was thicker. It sat in the air like something solid.

Valentine stood near the window. His hands were clasped behind his back and his expression was unreadable.

Madeline sat in one of the chairs near the fireplace. Her face was pale and her eyes looked especially tired.

And then there was someone else.

A man I had not seen in years.A man I had wrongfully hated for many years

He sat slumped in the chair across from Madeline. His hair was a mess. Long and tangled and streaked with gray I did not remember being there before. His face looked dirty. Smudged with grime and exhaustion. The only thing remotely fresh on him was his shirt. It was clean and white and looked like it had been given to him recently.

I stared.

I could not help it.

Because the man sitting in that chair was supposed to be a villain. A monster. Someone who had tried to destroy my family and paid for it by exiling himself into obscurity.

But looking at him now, all I saw was someone who had been broken.

His eyes lifted.

They found mine across the room.

And then he spoke.

“Cian…”

His voice cracked on my name. Like he had not used it in a very long time. Like saying it out loud cost him something.

I felt my throat tighten.

“Uncle Gabriel.”

The room went completely silent.

Valentine shifted near the window but he did not speak. Madeline looked down at her hands. Wilhelm who I eventually noticed, stood near the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and his face carefully blank.

Gabriel pushed himself up from the chair. His movements were slow and unsteady. Like his body was not used to standing anymore.

He took one step toward me. Then another.

I did not move.

I just stood there and watched him cross the room.

When he stopped in front of me, he was close enough that I could see the lines etched deep into his face. The way his hands shook slightly at his sides. The hollow look in his eyes that spoke of years spent in darkness.

“You have grown,” he said quietly.

I did not know what to say to that.

He reached out like he wanted to touch my shoulder. Then he stopped himself and let his hand fall back to his side.

“I did not think I would ever see you again.”

Something in my chest twisted.

For years, I had held onto one version of him. The traitor. The man who chose power over blood. The name we did not speak unless it was with anger.

That was the man I was supposed to be looking at.

But this… this was not him. It had never been him.

My jaw tightened. I could feel the war inside me, old and falsely born resentment clawing against something heavier, something I did not want to name.

“You let him take you,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended. “Why would you let that monster take you and sully your name?”

Gabriel swallowed. His gaze dropped for a second before he forced himself to meet my eyes again.

“I guess I was not as strong as I believed I was. Family does make you hesitate and make excuses.”

I knew that all too well. All the time I should have suspected Aldric but I simply did not.

Silence stretched between us again, thick and suffocating. I became aware of everything at once, the faint shift of Valentine’s weight, the way Madeline’s fingers curled into her skirt, Wilhelm’s stillness by the door.

All of them watching and waiting.

I looked at Gabriel again. Really looked this time. At the tremor in his hands. At the way he held himself like a man bracing for a blow that had not come yet.

Like he expected me to hate him.

Maybe I should have.

Maybe I did.

But it did not feel like enough.

Something in me gave way before I could stop it.

I stepped forward.

Gabriel’s breath hitched, just barely, like he did not trust what was happening.

Neither did I.

But I closed the distance anyway.

And then I pulled him into me.

My arms wrapped around him hard, tight enough that I felt the sharp edges of bone beneath his clothes, tight enough that it almost hurt.

For a second, he went completely still.

Like he did not know what to do with it.

Then his hands came up, slow at first, before gripping the back of my shirt like he was afraid I might disappear if he did not hold on.

“I am glad you are alive, Uncle Gabriel.”