Chapter 143

Claire POV

I leapt to my feet in shock.

And joy.

I had connected with my father’s subconscious!

Feeling overjoyed, I took a deep breath and sat back down. I needed to focus if I was going to understand what he was trying to say.

Dad…are you still there? It’s me!

It’s Claire!

It was like trying to listen for a song through static. For a long, long moment everything was just a jumble of white noise.

And then my father’s voice drifted through, growing stronger, even if the connection between us seemed to drift in and out.

He was still there!

But what he told me shocked me, leaving me speechless.

Claire!

I’m here. You need to…

…listen…

Don’t…healing…

I shook my head, trying to piece together what he was trying to say.

I don’t understand. What are you telling me?

On a burst of energy, a full message came through, or seemed to:

Stop healing! It’s poison. It hurts.

I nearly dropped his hand, and the connection between us, in shock.

My healing was hurting him??

It was “poison”?!

But that didn’t make any sense.

I don’t understand. Am I hurting you somehow?

His response came back eventually, growing more distant now.

Like the effort had exhausted him.

No. Hurts you, Claire. Need to stop…

The connection grew more and more stretched out, and I finally let it go.

I knew, now, how to get beyond that wall inside my father’s mind, and I could go back again tomorrow. I could sink down to that level of his subconscious with relative ease.

Now I could make contact with him!

The wall that had held me back from reaching him for so long was finally starting to crack.

The joy that I felt at speaking with Dad, as well as the breakthrough I’d just made, was truly overwhelming.

The only shadow on the moment was his cryptic, garbled message.

How could my healing sessions with Dad somehow be hurting me?

Still, even with the strangeness of the message, I went home feeling lighter and more free than I had in a very long time.

That brief moment of connection with my father restored me in a way that Dr. Baldwin’s healing sessions hadn’t been able to do in a while.

I got the first good night’s sleep I’d had in weeks. Maybe even months.

And I went back to the clinic the next day feeling energized, being both well rested and full of hope.

“Good morning!” I said cheerfully to Amelia. “How was your night?”

Amelia looked up from her desk and studied me with an amused smile.

“Not as good as yours, apparently. You look better, Claire.”

“I feel better,” I said. “And listen, I’m going to order a new round of tests on Dad. There’s been a major breakthrough!”

Confused but excited, Amelia followed me out of her office and up to Dad’s room.

“We’ve already run every test we can think of,” she said. “What do you mean by a breakthrough?”

Feeling cheerful, I opened the curtains over the bay of windows, letting in the early morning sunlight.

“I made contact with Dad last night. I stopped by to see him before I went home and it just…happened.”

“What??” Amelia stared at me for a moment, then rushed forward to hug me.

“Claire, that’s so exciting! It’s amazing!”

I laughed as I returned her hug.

I’d already decided not to tell her about Dad’s message.

Not until I understood what he actually meant.

Just then Dr. Baldwin walked in, and looked at us in amused surprise.

“What’s all this then?” he asked, glancing at Dad before joining us.

Excited to share the news, I grabbed his hand. “Baldwin, it’s…it’s almost like a miracle.

“I finally made contact with Dad!”

He stared at me, stunned.

I laughed again. “I know, it’s a shock. But I was able to make contact with him. I’m convinced the wall between us is starting to come down.

“I’ve ordered another round of tests, to see what they show us about what’s going on now in his mind.”

I expected him to be as happy as Amelia, and to be just as excited to see what the new tests would say.

But to my surprise, he reacted very differently.

His face fell, and he looked down at me with something like pity.

“Claire…Why put yourself through all of this again? I believe that you think you made contact with him but it - it just isn’t possible.

“The Royal Alpha is clearly gone.”

He put his hand on my shoulder.

“I think it’s time you fully accepted that.”

I stared up at him, completely confused.

“Wait, do you think all of this is in my head? Do you really not believe me?”

Shrugging away from his hand, I backed away from him, upset.

Baldwin shook his head, a sad look still on his face.

“I think you’ve been under a lot of stress lately, that’s all.

“Why don’t you let me give you a healing session? That might - ”

But I cut him off.

“No. You’re wrong, Baldwin. I did make contact with Dad. I did!

“And I’ll prove it.”

I turned and marched out of the room, determined to oversee the tests on my father, and to show Baldwin that he really was wrong.

Except…

Hours later, after completing the last of a long list of scans and exams, I had nothing to show.

Every single text showed zero difference in Dad’s condition.

Each test showed that there was absolutely no change at all.

And I was at a loss.

How could that be?

Feeling disappointed, I went on about my work day with a heavier heart, and feeling more confusion than ever.

I hadn’t imagined that moment of contact with my father.

Had I?

By the end of the day I was back to feeling awful again, with a blinding headache and a constant sour nausea in my belly.

Feeling sick and sad and also a little embarrassed, I went to my office to wrap up some paperwork before leaving for the day.

Then I simply sat and waited, massaging my aching head. I knew Dr. Baldwin would come for a healing session.

Even though now these sessions only offered a bit of relief rather than completely easing my symptoms, they were also the only thing that worked even a little bit.

Baldwin knocked and then came in, a kind look of understanding on his face.

By now he’d heard that none of the tests showed any difference in Dad’s condition.

But he was kind enough not to say anything.

“Is it the headache again?” he asked, circling around where I sat to stand behind me.

“Yes,” I said, barely able to speak above a whisper. “It’s a bad one.”

He put his hands to either side of my head, and I soon saw the cool blue-white light emerge from his hands.

And finally felt the refreshing cold chill of his healing.

But something was different, this time.

Something was wrong.

It started with a hissing sound growing louder beneath the soft hum of his healing energy.

Like one voice trying to speak over another. Or like static.

After a moment of listening, trying to figure out why it sounded so familiar, my eyes widened with recognition.

It was the same static I heard when I was in Dad’s subconscious!

And then, all at once, I realized what Dad had meant last night.

He’d told me no more healing. That it was poison.

And he hadn’t been talking about the healing I was doing for him.

He meant the healing I was receiving from Baldwin!

With the shock of that realization rushing through me, I jumped to my feet, breaking contact with Baldwin’s hands.

I spun around to face him, and a wave of dizziness threatened to make me fall.

Clinging to balance as best as I could, I stared at him.

“Wh-what is this? Baldwin…

“What have you been doing to my mind?!”

A look of frustration and anger grew on Baldwin’s face, and there was a cruel look in his eyes.

“You’re getting exactly what you deserve, Princess.

“Now come here and let me finish. It’s time we ended this.”

“No!”

Shocked at the betrayal, and now feeling truly afraid, I turned and tried to run.

But I was still in so much pain, still so dizzy and confused.

Baldwin caught me before I was even halfway to the door, grabbing my shoulder roughly.

And the world went dark.