Chapter 72

Claire POV

The rogue attacks continued to affect the entire kingdom, until it hardly seemed like a single day went by without hearing about a new attack, fresh destruction, more lives lost.

And the clinic slowly but surely began to flood with patients brought in from the border areas, either by the medics that traveled with the warriors defending the border or by their desperate families.

Some people were severely injured, their conditions made worse by having had to travel so far to get the help they needed.

Our beds filled quickly and the clinic itself, already short staffed and low on supplies, struggled to keep up with the care these people needed, and deserved.

And they just kept coming.

One morning I arrived to find the grassy areas around the clinic filled with makeshift tents. Dr. Baldwin pulled in at the same time I did, and we stared at each other.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

He looked around. “I recognize some of these people. We’ve treated a few of them, and released them. But…”

As it dawned on me I felt my eyes widen with horror, and I brought a hand to my mouth.

We’d released them from our care, because they were healthy enough to go back home.

But so many people didn’t have a home to return to.

I lowered my hand, eyes filling with tears. “Baldwin, we need to take care of these people. We need to help.”

His kind eyes were sad. “But what can we do? The staff are running on fumes, and our supplies aren’t going to last forever.”

For a moment I felt helpless. Even as a Princess, with all the power and authority that gave me, there simply didn’t seem like there was anything I could do.

But after a moment I realized suddenly that there was.

“Don’t worry,” I told Dr. Baldwin. “I’m going to get help.”

I marched into the clinic, where the waiting room was crowded with even more people, a few from our pack but most wearing the rumpled, stained travel clothes and the exhausted expressions of rogue attack survivors.

A wave of murmurs followed my progress through the room.

“That’s her - the Princess!”

“The healer!”

“Finally - someone who can help us.”

Their faith in me was touching, and I was determined to do whatever I had to do to get them help.

Up in my office, I placed a call to the one person in the world I had always known I could count on.

Amelia arrived within days, bringing supplies, nurses and doctors with her.

I rushed out to the parking lot when her convoy pulled out, calling out when I saw her.

She turned at the sound of her name, her face lighting up when she saw me.

We ran to each other, hugging tightly.

My eyes filled with tears.

I hadn’t realized until then just how much I’d missed my best friend.

“I’m so glad you could come,” I said when we stepped back. I looked at the trucks being unloaded around us. “And you brought so much!”

She looked around for a moment as well, proudly. “We’ve been stockpiling supplies and preparing staff to come help for weeks.”

I led her in through the waiting room and up to my office, her eyes widening as she saw the state of the clinic:

Crowded, noisy, out of date tech, tired staff rushing here and there among the constant calls for help.

“You weren’t kidding about this place,” she said as we walked into my office. “How did it get like this?”

I blew out a sigh as we sat at my table near a window. It was barely dawn, and the sky was only just beginning to grow lighter.

“Well, I’m doing what I can to drag it into this century, but the state of a clinic is a problem - and a mystery - for another day. Right now, we need to just get through this crisis.”

“Agreed,” she said. “And honestly, if it hadn’t been for the standing orders to hold our position, we would have been here a while ago.”

I frowned. “What standing orders?”

“We were told not to come here, weeks ago. At Silverfang we were told that the Royal Alpha was refusing all help.”

“What?? My father wouldn’t do that. He’s been practically begging other packs for help.”

Amelia nodded as if I’d confirmed something. “That’s what I’ve come to suspect. I have friends in other packs, and many of them say their Alphas and Lunas are strangely unwilling to send aid.

“Some have even placed direct orders on their packs not to come here.”

Direct orders?! To their entire packs?

“I don’t understand. We’ve been desperate for aid. What is going on??”

Amelia shook her head. “I don’t know. But don’t worry - my friends are coming anyway, now that they know help is actually wanted. Even if it goes against their Alpha’s orders.”

She reached over and took my hand.

“Help is on the way, Claire.”

Her words, and her strong, capable presence, kept me hopeful throughout the day as I went from patient to patient, healing what I could. It meant a lot to have my friend there, and to no longer feel so alone with this emergency.

And yet…

The idea of other packs refusing to send help, and the rumor that my father had refused aid, troubled me deeply.

I reached out to Nathan several times throughout the day, looking for answers.

Phone calls in the morning went straight to voicemail.

Texts in the afternoon went unopened and unanswered.

I didn’t understand.

Why was Nathan avoiding me, now, when I actually needed him?

By the end of the day I was carrying so many questions that it was like I could literally feel the weight of them pressing down on me.

Back at the palace, I introduced my cousin Catherine to Amelia, and couldn’t help but smile when they immediately hit it off.

After dinner, sitting up in the library by the fireplace, I shared with them the unease I felt about the lack of aid, as well as Nathan’s lack of a response.

“I knew something was off about all of this!” Amelia cried. “It makes no sense that other packs wouldn’t want to help.

“After all, if rogues are attacking here, what’s to stop them from later attacking other packs as well?”

Catherine shook her head. “And I don’t understand why anyone would believe Uncle would refuse aid. He cares too much about his kingdom to let his pride get in the way. Everyone knows that.”

“I’ve been trying to reach Nathan all day,” I told them, “trying to answer some of these questions. But he won’t answer. It’s so frustrating.”

“Have you tried mindlinking?” Catherine asked.

“Not yet. I’m going to try right now.”

With my friends on either side of me, the firelight warm on my face, I closed my eyes and reached out to Nathan with my mind.

Usually a mindlink was a lot like a phone call. You could tell when you made a connection just by the change in the sound of the silence before someone answered.

But all I got when I reached out was static.

I frowned, opening my eyes. “I can’t get through. The connection…it felt so strange.

“It felt like there was a wall between us.”