Chapter 145

Nathan POV

In the cot beside Claire’s bed, I struggled through another one of the strange dreams that were beginning to haunt my sleep every night.

Every night since I came here, to the Royal clinic.

Every night since Claire fell into her mysterious coma.

I knew it was probably the stress of the situation, the constant fear and worry for my mate.

Being scared that she’d never wake up was like a sickness inside of me, something I had to fight against every waking moment.

It made sense that the fear would follow me into sleep. And into my dreams.

Into my nightmares.

Nightmares where I was in some thick and unknown forest, running.

Chasing after something. Something I can’t see or name but desperately need to find.

Every now and then as I ran I would get a drift of scent in the air, following it in a near panic.

Just to lose it at the base of a hill, or the end of a ridge.

Just to stand there, chest heaving, howling with frustration.

Sometimes I’d hear a voice calling my name.

A voice I knew but, again, couldn’t name.

And yet, I longed for it. Longed to find who it belonged to.

“Nathan…find me. Please!

“Find me…”

But I never found them.

No matter how hard I ran, how frantically I searched through the deep and endless forest around me.

They were always just beyond my grasp.

And I woke up gasping, the images and sensations all jumbling together in my mind.

By morning I forgot nearly everything about them.

But flashes of memory began to intrude on my waking hours.

The nightmares began to haunt me when I was awake as surely as they did when I slept.

What were they? What did they mean?

Who was I trying to find??

I did my best to put the dreams and their hold on me to the side. I had things I needed to deal with, things I couldn’t afford to let slide.

Arranging for Andy’s care at the palace, for one thing.

Figuring out how to run Silverfang pack from an entirely different territory, for another.

And, above all else, trying to do what was best for Claire.

It always came back to Claire.

Seeing her lying so still on the bed that first day we arrived at the clinic was a shock that hadn’t yet worn off.

She was right there, right in front of me, and yet also so far away…

The idea of losing her made me sick to my stomach.

I was determined to do everything I could to bring her back.

And I reminded myself of that when Dr. Baldwin knocked on the door and walked in.

“Good morning, Alpha,” he said. “How’s our patient?”

We both looked at Claire.

“Same as yesterday,” I said, struggling to keep a civil tone.

Dr. Baldwin was clearly devoted to his work, and dedicated to doing whatever he could to help Claire get better.

But there was still something about the man I just didn’t like.

Still, he was the only other healer I knew.

So when he asked for privacy for his healing session, so he could focus on going as deep into Claire’s mind as he could, I left the room.

And hoped that this time, when I came back, there might actually be a change in her condition.

But despite my best efforts, that hope was hard to hold onto.

Claire POV

Nathan left me alone with Baldwin.

Again.

Every morning Baldwin came to my room for yet another “healing” session.

And I knew that neither Nathan nor Amelia had any reason to suspect Baldwin was doing anything but trying to help.

But he was actually doing the exact opposite.

He was reinforcing the walls of my prison.

Every day he put his hands to either side of my head, exactly as he would for a healing session.

But instead of the cool wash of relief I’d grown so familiar with, what came instead was the static, rushing like a wall of water over me.

Around me.

Surrounding me.

Cutting me off from the world.

And no matter how I screamed at him to stop, to let me out, to just tell me why he was doing this, he just kept going.

He just kept reinforcing that wall.

But I could tell by the expression on his face, that small and satisfied smile, he could hear me when I screamed, and when I wept.

Today I was too tired to beat my energy against the wall as I usually did. Too tired to try to fight him.

Today I just asked him why.

Why are you doing this, Baldwin? I don’t understand…

And to my surprise, he actually answered.

“You want to know why, Princess?” he whispered. It was a harsh hiss in my ears.

“It’s because the Royal family has been in power for far too long.

“And I’m going to finish what my mother started.”

His mother??

“Oh yes,” he chuckled, as if he could hear not just the thoughts I directed at him, but all my private thoughts as well.

“Don’t you know what happened when you were a child?”

He leaned closer, his face swimming into view in that one square of light that was my window into the world.

“Haven’t you ever wondered what truly happened to your dear dead mother?”

I had heard that she had a long, extended illness. One even her own abilities couldn’t keep at bay.

But Baldwin began to tell me a different story:

“Our mothers were friends, once. Two gifted healers who grew up loving and supporting each other.

“And then your mother ruined it, choosing power and Royalty over friendship and loyalty.”

He shrugged. “So they became enemies. And so they fought.

“Your mother didn’t die of any illness except greed. That’s what led to the final psychic battle between our mothers.”

His face hardened.

“Your mother died. My mother was left with a broken mind, one slowly being consumed by a frenzy she hadn’t had before that battle.”

I gasped. Baldwin had told me his mother had suffered from the frenzy, but now he was claiming that my own mother was to blame??

“It’s true,” he said. “Your mother was not the saint your pitiful father made her out to be.

“And I swore long ago that I would avenge what she did to my mother. That I would destroy the Royal family.”

He finished the “healing” session and looked down at me with a grin.

“And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

“And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing at all.”

Horrified, and determined not to let him win, I began to try to fight Baldwin more over the next few days.

I needed to find a way out of this prison, and to stop him from making it stronger.

But it was like trying to push back against an avalanche.

He was so strong.

And I had become so weak.

It was only now that I began to realize why.

All those healing sessions…

They hadn’t been helping my headaches.

They’d been causing them. Every session meant he was creating a stronger and stronger foundation for the wall he had now put into place.

And the nightmares that began to plague me?

That was my subconscious trying to warn me that Baldwin was slowly building that wall in my mind.

And now?

All I could do was lay there, trying to fight him whenever I could.

And hoping that someone - anyone - would hear my desperate psychic cries for help.