Chapter 224 The plan all along
Chapter 224: the plan all along
Milo POV
I moved.
Not because I had a plan. Not because I knew where I was going or what I would do when I got there... But because staying in that bloody room… surrounded by corpses, and the traumatic experience of almost having my baby ripped out of me, made it never an option.
The strong smell of copper filled the air. The emergency lighting cast everything in shades of red and shadow. But I gritted my teeth, and pushed forward, even as my legs trembled, my body screaming in protest. The wolfsbane was still in my system, making everything sluggish and wrong. My muscles felt like they were filled with lead, my thoughts fuzzy at the edges.
But I had felt it.
For one brilliant, milli-seconds, an impossible moment happened. I had felt the mate bond flare to life. Damon. Somewhere in this fortress, close enough that even through the wolfsbane's suppression, the connection had sparked like lightning in the dark, before it went off.
He was here. He had come for me.
I just had to survive long enough to find him.
The vial felt heavy in my pocket. The masked stranger's words kept on echoing in my mind:
When the time comes, you will know.
But know what? What was I supposed to do with it? And who was that person? Why help me only to disappear into smoke and shadow?
The questions spun through my head as I stumbled towards the doorway, like a drunkard, but I forced them aside.
Focus milo, I needed to focus.
The corridor beyond was chaos incarnate. Smoke billowed from somewhere deeper in the fortress, and the sounds of fighting echoed off stone walls… screams, the clash of weapons, the heavy thud of bodies hitting the ground. I realised with horror that whatever war was happening had reached the fortress.
I pressed myself against the wall, trying to orient myself. The fortress was built like a maze, in a time like this, then coupled with the thick smoke that was burning somewhere, it made navigating the fortress 10 times more difficult. But the masked stranger had led me this way for a reason, hadn't they? There had to be an exit somewhere ahead.
I moved forward, one hand on the wall for support, the other pressed protectively over my stomach. The transparent hospital gown I was wearing hardly did anything to hide my nakedness, but I hardly paid it any attention. Not when each step felt like I was marching on a bunch of needles.
The doctors had taken a lot of my blood, during their examination… probed and prodded and violated me in ways that made my skin crawl , and made me want to rip out my skin in disgust just from thinking about it. But my baby was still there, still fighting, still alive.
And that was all that mattered.
That was when I noticed the blood.
A trail of it, dark and glistening in the red emergency lighting, leading from where I walked forward into the corridor. My blood. I looked down at myself properly for the first time since I left the room, and felt my stomach lurch.
It was worse than I thought. The thin medical gown was now soaked, blood seeping from where they'd inserted IVs, taken samples, done God knew what else while I was too weak to stop them, they left a trail like breadcrumbs for anyone who cared to follow.
The bells started ringing at that moment.
Deep, resonant peals that shook the very stones of the fortress.
They knew I was gone!!
A fresh wave of panic hit me like a speeding trailer. My heart hammered against my ribs as I forced myself to move faster, ignoring the protest of my exhausted body
"No, no, no," I whispered, I pressed my hand against the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, but it was useless. I needed bandages, antiseptic, and time to properly treat it.
I had to do something. I had to hide it somehow, or I would lead them right to me.
A door to my left stood slightly ajar. I pushed it open with my shoulder, wincing at the creak of hinges, and found myself in what looked like a storage room. Shelves lined the walls, stacked with linens, cleaning supplies, and…thanks to whatever gods were listening…
medical supplies.
My hands shook as I grabbed what I needed. Bandages. Antiseptic that burned like fire when I applied it. A clean cloth to wipe away the blood. I worked as quickly as my wolfsbane-addled body would allow, every second feeling like an eternity, every sound in the corridor outside making me freeze in terror.
The cleaning supplies had a mop and bucket. I used them to wipe away the blood trail as best I could, working backwards toward the storage room. It was sloppy, imperfect, but better than leaving a clear path for the soldiers to follow.
By the time I finished, my hands were trembling so badly I could barely hold the mop. Exhaustion crashed over me in waves, and for a moment, I seriously considered just staying in this storage room, hiding among the linens until the fighting was over.
Until they found me.
But the bond pulsed again, faint but unmistakable.
I had to keep moving.
I emerged from the storage room only for me to freeze on my tracks. The corridor opened up ahead into a junction where three large hallways converged, each one identical in the dim lighting. Smoke curled along the ceiling, making it impossible to see more than a few feet down any of them.
Which way? Which way had the masked stranger meant for me to go?
I stood frozen, my mind racing through possibilities. Left led deeper into the fortress, toward the Queen's private quarters if I remembered correctly. Center led... I wasn't sure. Down, maybe? Toward the lower levels? The right led toward the outer walls, toward freedom.
Right. It had to be right.
I took a step in that direction.
"There!"
My blood turned to ice. Before I could blink, figures emerged from the darkness.
Soldiers in the Queen's crimson and black, weapons drawn, face hard with purpose. Five of them. No, six. More appearing from the other corridors, surrounding me like wolves circling wounded prey.
I backed up like a deer under the headlamp, my hands raised, searching desperately for an escape route that didn't exist. The storage room was too far behind me now, and even if I could reach it, they would just follow me in.
I was trapped.
"Don't move," one of them commanded, advancing with his sword raised. "Omega, you're coming with us. The Queen wants you alive, but she didn't say unharmed."
The others laughed, a cold sound that made my skin crawl.
I wanted to fight. I wanted to do something, anything. But I could barely stand, barely thinking through the wolfsbane still coursing through my veins. My hand moved instinctively to my pocket, to the vial the stranger had given me.
When the time comes, you will know.
Was this the time? Was this what it was for?
Before I could decide whether to take it or not,
I felt it.
A presence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. A familiar pull that I had learned to recognize over the years.
Impossible” my voice came out broken and desperate. “I thought…they said you went after…” words failed me at the moment, all I could do was stare like a fish out of water.
The soldiers parted like the red sea, and she stepped through them like a queen surveying her domain.
Millen!!
The look in her eyes was cold, calculating. nothing like the sister I remembered.
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Oh, Milo. You always were too trusting."
The world tilted sickeningly as understanding crashed over me. The masked stranger's warning echoed in my mind.
Trust no one. Not even those who seem to fight for you.
All my pain, my shock, and regret morphed into tears that slipped out of my eyes.
I had followed the path they had shown me, believing they were leading me to safety.
But they had only led me straight into my sister's hands.
And from the look on Millen's face, that had been the plan all along.