I hummed softly to myself before turning around over the bed. My stomach grumbled—not with hunger. There was a silence that kept me in bed even when I was awake but as soon as noises reached my ear, I got up.
The noises increased and I grew curious. After tying a knot around my robe, I went outside and noticed everyone was gathered near a door towards my left.
It came to me in a while that the room belonged to Brian. The same Brian I had poisoned.
I cursed under my breath and walked over there while maintaining myself. Vanessa and I were on speaking terms again after last night when we spoke for a bit. She wanted me to do favours for her and I politely declined but we were still doing good.
A guilty feeling crept down my back and I stopped by the door. I peeked in for a second and couldn't see anything as healers were all around the room along with a few other male wolves.
Turning back around, I asked Vanessa, "What happened?"
She shrugged, "I have no idea but Nora told me she heard the Beta scream for help early in the morning. I suppose he's sick or something. He can't move. Everyone's worried." She gave out as much knowledge she had whilst I knew the truth.
It worked. The poison worked. It weakened Brian to the point where he was bedridden. As much as I was supposed to celebrate and be happy, I felt no emotion—nothing at all.
I clutched onto the side of the room and took another glance inside. Vanessa stood on the opposite side of the doorway and occasionally looked at me.
"There have been some rumours..."
"Rumors?"
"Sickness. Do you think this is a plague?"
I rolled my eyes and swallowed my laughter, "Of course not!" It was taking effect to only those that had been chosen by the omegas. I needed to get some more updates before I could tell Mom about it.
"There was another male that had gotten sick from the pack. The healers took him somewhere before they came here. I think they are going to take the Beta to." Vanessa continued, her gauging eyes settled on the movements inside Brian's room. "If that isn't a plague, then what is it?"
"We do not get affected by any plagues." I reminded her. We were different creatures with healing powers that could diminish the effects of any virus or infection.
"You should go inside..." She trailed off. "Get us some information."
I stared at her with bewilderment. What did she think I was? "No."
"Come on." She pressured, placing her hand over my shoulder. She really did think I was something after last night.
"No."
"I need to know if I am going to get infected too. We were all in the party last night. Any of us could be next!" She exclaimed, real worry crawling in her eyes. "And we omegas die way quicker." She reminded me.
Even when my title was changed, I still had the omega blood which was known to be weak and more immune to any kind of diseases. I wasn't concerned about it much. The poison only attacked the body of those who had taken it, no one else and that was confirmed by my Mother. It couldn't spread.
I kept my attention inside the room and as soon as one of the healers moved from the bed, I caught a sight of Brian who seemed like he was nearing death. His face was blue, sick and he looked terrifying. He barely kept his eyes open.
I poked my head around, wanting to see more, learn more but instead, the Alpha approached me, held my arm and took me away from the room and crowd nearby the doorway.
Vanessa whispered to me from the corner, "Ask him if it's a plague."
The Alpha took me into his room which wasn't far away from the Beta's. He closed the door behind. My heart hammered, expecting the worse. Was I caught? Did I slip something last night? I couldn't study him in the heat of the moment and found nothing in his eyes except for a thousand questions and curious thoughts.
Before I knew it, his palms were against my cheeks and then my neck, "Do you feel okay?"
"Yeah." I nodded, calming down. "What happened?"
"Are you sure? Do you feel sick or anything?" He repeated, sounding tense.
"No." I shook my head. "I'm fine."
He sighed at my reassurance and moved his hands away. It seemed like my reply had bought him a different kind of relief. Was he thinking the same as Vanessa was thinking? I gave it a thought. Who wouldn't? There were a lot of people that were poisoned last night, at once. They all were going to get sick if they weren't already.
I moved my hands behind my back and asked, "What happened with the Beta?"
"He got some kind of sickness."
"What kind?"
"I have no idea but it's not looking well and it's just not him. I've gotten a few calls earlier in the morning. A few of the wolves have fallen sick all of sudden and even with medicines, they are showing no signs of improvement. It's simply getting worse." He explained to me quietly.
I stood silent, listening and nodding as if I had no clue.
"Has it happened before?" I tuned in some questions.
"No. Nothing like this," He gave me a shake of his head before his eyes landed on mine. "You can't stay here, not until Brian is out of here and it's safe to be here."
"Where are you sending him?" I became still. A shiver went through my body as Brian's face flashed through my mind. He was in a horrible shape, petrifying and all because of me.
I believed the poison was only going to weaken them, their wolves, not almost kill them. This was terrible.
"Another location. The healers are still checking on his levels to see if it's the same sickness as the other wolves got." The Alpha replied. He stepped forward and wrapped his hands around my arms. "Can you leave until then? I don't want harm to come to you." He spoke with honesty.
It made my stomach flutter with unreal desires, one I hadn't given a thought about.
"Yeah, I'll go to my Mom."
"That would be better. Just be careful." He sounded miserable, for me.
Why?
There wasn't much talk after that. He resumed back to his duties while I was lost in my thoughts. An itch rose inside me and my heart pounded.
When I returned inside my room, I headed straight for the washroom before throwing up bile into the sink. It reached my throat all of sudden. I didn't even get a moment to comprehend what was happening.
I placed a wet towel against my mouth and stared at myself in the mirror, for long enough to know whatever I was doing was wrong.
The wrong wasn't with me.
Whatever I did brought no harm to anyone but what my Mom and the other omegas did was terrible and I had to tell them to stop before it got too late. I couldn't be in the middle of this.
I couldn't play two sides at once.
It took me an hour to gather my thoughts and leave with a decision to go to my Mom and ask her to bring an end to all of this. It was the right thing to do. I was here, living with the Alpha—who had caught feelings, bearing his child and cherishing the gifts he had given me.
One mistake and I was going to lose everything.
Literally.
When I arrived at the hills, I expected the omegas to be celebrating over the success of their scheme but none of them were. Everyone was inside their houses, either sleeping or something else.
I closed the door to Mom's house and went into the fireplace where I found her sitting on the couch. Her head was lowered to her palms, there was a gold chain dangling from her fingers and she was weeping in sorrow.
"Mom?"
She looked up, her eyes blood-shot red and frightening. She didn't say a word, instead, she grabbed me out of the house from the back door and took me to the forest where I found a fire burning in the middle of nowhere.
As I got a closer look, I realized that a body was burning.
A dead one.
"This is what they do to us," Her finger stretched towards the fire. "They kill us whenever they want too."
"Mom—" I held my breath back.
"This is what your Alpha does, Clara. You were hooting for him, weren't you?" She questioned, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at her. "There were orders given to search through our houses last night and when one of us refused entry, he was killed!" She shouted.
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