Chapter 286: n and their complex 1
VALENTINE
This Chapter contains graphic depictions of violence against won, dical experintation, pregnancy-related harm, non-consensual dical procedures, and emotional distress involving a parent and child. Reader discretion is advised.
The heat slamd into my face before I could think.
I threw up a barrier on pure instinct. The spell ford faster than conscious thought. A shield of crackling energy that wrapped around
and Wilhelm just as the vial exploded.
White flas erupted outward like sothing alive. They hit my barrier and the impact drove
backward. My shoes scraped against stone. The shield held for maybe two seconds before it shattered like glass.
The force threw
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
gasping.
White fire spread across the table. It dripped onto the floor and burned without fuel or reason. The flas 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 ca 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 lted 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 movent sent fresh agony through my ruined hand. I ignored it. My son was hurt. Nothing else mattered.
"You’re alright." The words ca 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 ca out too fast and I failed. That was how terrified I was. My mind was a mangled ss. 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
and into him in droves.
And then sothing else ca with it.
A rush of power that wasn’t mine. It slamd into
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 . I could feel my eyes getting heavy.
The lab disappeared.
I was sowhere else. Soti else. The stone walls looked almost the sa but cleaner. Newer. The equipnt 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 mory. My mory 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 sothing 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
instead. Hurt . 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 . The child is more valuable alive than dead to ."
"Please."
I pushed the needle in.
Athena scread. 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 sowhere deep inside her.
"Why are you doing this?" Her words ca 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 Oga 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 , there is nothing unlucky about you right now."
I turned away from her and made notes in my journal. The ti of injection. The dosage. Her physical response. All of it needed to be docunted.
Behind , Athena kept crying and she kept begging too. The sound faded into background noise while I worked.
The mory shifted.
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