CHAPTER 107: AN UNSIGHTLY VARIABLE

ALDRIC

I left the infirmary with measured steps. Not too fast. Not too slow. Just a man tired from a late night visit with his dying sister in law.

The hallway stretched ahead of me. Empty except for the sentinel who’d run for help earlier. He stood at attention now. Back straight. Eyes forward. Playing at being professional while the fear still clung to him like cheap cologne.

I nodded as I passed. He nodded back.

Then I saw her. Maren. Walking away from the infirmary. Her shoulders were hunched. Her steps quick but unsteady. Like she was running from something or heading toward someone.

Perfect.

I picked up my pace and closed the distance between us. My footsteps were quiet on the tile but she must have heard them because she glanced back.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw me.

I moved to block her path. Positioned myself so she’d have to push past me or stop. She stopped.

"Alpha Aldric." She bowed slightly. The motion was proper. Respectful. But her eyes told a different story. They were wary. Questioning. Why was I blocking her path? What could I possibly want?

"Did Thorne lie?" I kept my voice gentle. Concerned even.

Her brow furrowed. "I’m confused. What do you mean?"

I let a small smile touch my lips. It was supposed to read as sad. Perhaps understanding if you looked into it deeply. "Doctor, I saw your face when Thorne made that statement." I paused. Let the weight of my words settle between us. "It wasn’t him who gave my sister in law that cure, was he?"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about." The words came out too quickly. Too practiced.

"If that will be all, I have to go, Alpha Aldric." She moved to step around me.

I held out my hand and proceeded to block her path again.

The urge to slam her skull against the pavement hit me hard and just as fast. The thought was so visceral I could almost feel the impact. Almost hear the crack. But I couldn’t. Not here. Not now. Scoping and molding her was all I could settle for. But even she seemed adamant.

Why were they protecting the omega? What spell did the bitch cast?

"What I mean is it isn’t fair that Thorne suffers for a sin he knows nothing about." I kept my tone reasonable. Like I was doing her a favor by bringing this up. "It would be understandable if it was Fia. She has no medical knowledge. She’s Cian’s mate and bride. Of course she would want her mother in law to be fine." I tilted my head and studied her face. "My nephew would understand. You know that, right?"

Maren sighed. Long and tired. She took a good look at me. Really looked. Like she was trying to see past the words to whatever lay beneath.

"I have no idea what you mean, Alpha Aldric." Her voice was flat now. Empty of the nervousness from before. "Luna Fia didn’t do anything. Or am I missing what you seem to be implying? Because it seems like you are accusing Luna Fia of something. Did you pray tell see something?"

I smiled wider and let it reach my eyes. "Perhaps I was wrong."

"Perhaps." She held my gaze and didn’t flinch. She didn’t even ook away. The lowerborms on these grounds had some nerve.

"Can I go now, Alpha Aldric?"

I dropped my hand and stepped aside.

She walked past me. Her footsteps steady now. Confident. Like she’d won something.

"Fucking bitch." The words whispered out of me. I meant all the venom that came along with it.

I watched her turn the corner and disappear from sight.

Disappointment settled in my chest. Heavy and sour. I’d wanted to crack her. Wanted to see that moment when the facade broke and she admitted what I already knew. That the omega had fed the cure to Morrigan. That Thorne was covering for her.

But no worries. There was still ample opportunity to make her suffer.

The part that bothered me more was how the cure they made had actually been working. How three powerless fools had managed to create something that fought back against magic. Against alchemy. Against everything that should have made it impossible when they didn’t have magic.

I pulled out my phone. The screen glowed in the dim hallway light. I opened my messages and typed quickly.

’Are you up?’

I waited while I stared at the screen. I watched the little dots that would indicate she was typing.

There was nothing.

I started to pull up her contact and my thumb hovered over the call button when the phone buzzed.

’What do you want now?’

I smiled as I typed back.

’It’s late and you’re up. Why the sleepless night? No sleep for the wicked?’

The response came faster this time.

’Makes both of us I guess. What do you want?’

I leaned against the wall and let my fingers move across the screen.

’Can alchemized poison be cured with a cure that has no magical composition?’

The dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again. Like she was thinking about her answer. Choosing her words carefully.

’No. I have never heard of such.’

Dread flooded through me.

’Good to know.’

’Is there a reason you asked?’

I typed back quickly.

’I like being up to date. That is all.’

I ended the conversation. I didn’t wait for a response. I just locked the phone and slipped it back into my pocket.

My thumb tapped against the hollow part of my cheek. A nervous habit I’d never quite broken. The rhythm was steady as I wandered in my head.

Did the omega have secrets? Had she somehow stumbled onto knowledge she shouldn’t possess? Was she magic? Or had Thorne been divinely blessed with some stroke of genius that defied explanation?

All options bothered me. All meant variables I hadn’t accounted for. Pieces on the board I couldn’t predict.

I pushed off the wall and started walking again. My footsteps echoed in the empty corridor.

It lingered even heavier now that the omega was a big problem. She had been from the moment Cian married her. But now she was a even bigger issue. Because now she’d done something that almost threatened everything I’d built. Everything I’d planned.

And she didn’t even realize it.

That made it worse somehow. The idea that she’d created a cure through sheer dumb luck. Through trial and error. Through playing at being a healer with Thorne’s little herb garden and her pathetic attempts at being useful.

I’d have to find out. I had to know if this was luck or something more. I needed to understand what I was dealing with before I could neutralize it properly.