Chapter 96

Claire POV

After weeks of fear and stress, and days hard at work trying to fill my father’s shoes, I finally got to do something I loved:

Start my day by working at the clinic.

I didn’t realize just how much I’d missed being there, and seeing patients, until I walked in the door. Then the familiar sights, sounds and smells hit me, and I took a deep breath.

It felt like coming home.

And though my days were increasingly full of Royal leadership duties, I was determined to continue making rounds and healing people here at the clinic at least once or twice a week.

Because it was my calling.

And because it was a great way to continue to meet with and stay connected to the members of my pack.

My people.

The people whose lives rested in my hands now more than ever.

I had a full schedule that morning. Many people who had fled the border regions during the rogue attacks were still staying in the area, waiting for their homes to be rebuilt before they returned.

And some, it seemed, planned on staying in the city permanently.

“I forgot how big and vibrant the city was,” one patient told me.

She was an older woman, with beautiful silver hair, who had dislocated her wrist after tripping up the stairs.

“And how much fun it is to catch sight of the Royals,” she added with a smile as I carefully examined her wrist.

“Did you used to live here?” I asked.

“Oh yes! When I was a young woman, I worked right here in the clinic as an aide. I even met your mother a time or two.”

I looked up, surprised. “My mother?”

She nodded. “She was a beautiful woman, kind and caring. And with a gentle touch,” she added, looking down at my hands around her wrist.

“You remind me of her, Princess. Very much so.”

The unexpected connection to the woman I couldn’t remember brought on a rush of mixed feelings. Surprise, sadness, pleasure.

Tears blurred my vision for a moment. I took a breath to settle myself, then focused on healing the woman’s injury.

“Amazing!” she cried. “Your mother healed a broken foot I had once, and I believe you’re even stronger than she was. You healed me in an instant.”

I laughed, filled with the joy that healing someone so often brought me.

“I’m happy I could help, Grandmother. And thank you for telling me about my mother. I feel so close to her here.”

And it was true.

Walking the halls of the clinic my mother began with her own hard work and dedication, it was almost as if I could feel her presence in the building.

I’d never had a mother, not one I could remember, but this warm safe glow I felt inside thinking of her - surely that was what it felt like to have a mother.

By the time I had finished my rounds, I was pleasantly tired from seeing patients and performing healing sessions.

It was a good tiredness, so very different from the exhaustion I’d learned to live without in the field, traveling from one mobile clinic to another.

Despite feeling a little worn out, I ended my day with a visit to my father’s room.

His private suite was on the highest floor of the clinic, and the large windows let in the end of day sunlight.

The room might have been a nice place to spend some time in, if it weren’t for one thing:

My father, lying unconscious on the bed.

His body had healed enough now that he no longer needed to be hooked up to monitors, so all the whirring and beeping machines had been removed.

Now it was just him, breathing deeply and evenly, almost like he was sleeping.

Except it was a sleep I couldn’t seem to wake him from, no matter what I tried.

But that hadn’t stopped me from continuing to try, and it wouldn’t stop me now.

Brushing his hair back from his forehead gently, I placed my hands on either side of his head, and closed my eyes.

And met the same block as before.

This time, instead of trying to break through it, I began to explore it, gently feeling for the edges of what felt like a wall between us.

I pushed further, sank deeper into a healing trance.

And there!

I felt something, a familiar presence.

For a moment I connected with what felt like my father’s essence.

The effort of going so deep was starting to affect me. Sweat popped out on my forehead, and my breathing grew ragged.

But I couldn’t stop. Not now.

Bearing down, I doubled my efforts, searching for that connection, that trace, that spark of recognition.

My father’s consciousness.

I found it again, or felt like I did, but it was too far away.

And the strain of trying was too much.

I felt the world start to sway, then spin, and then everything went black.

When I woke up, both Amelia and Dr. Baldwin were on their knees beside me. I was on the cold linoleum floor, the cold metal wheel of Dad’s bed pressing into my leg.

“I think she’s coming around,” I heard Amelia say. Her voice was thin and wavered, like she was far away.

“Yes, she seems to be waking,” Dr. Baldwin said. I could feel his hands on either side of my face, and the familiar warmth and glow of his healing abilities.

“Claire, can you hear me? Are you awake?” Amelia’s voice grew closer.

I blinked my eyes, trying to clear away the blurriness in them. Finally both faces became clear, and I realized what must have happened.

“Did I pass out?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” Amelia said. “Big time. We walked in the room just as you were going down. We were able to slow your fall, keep you from hitting your head.”

The feeling of healing ended. “Too much strain on your system, Princess,” Dr. Baldwin said. “I’d say you pushed yourself too hard, too fast.”

They helped me sit up slowly, and then helped me into the chair beside the bed.

“Is there any change in Dad?? Amelia, can you check?”

“Of course. Why do you ask?” she added as she went to check his pulse, his pupils.

“I…I felt something.” I shook my head. It had felt so clear in the moment. But now I was struggling to recall what exactly happened.

“It was like I made contact with him. Or almost did,” I added, wondering if I’d only imagined it.

I saw Amelia and Baldwin exchange looks, and realized I must have sounded crazy to them.

Another familiar face entered the room. Nurse Devin, carrying a steaming mug of tea.

“Ah, thank you, nurse,” said Dr. Baldwin. He took the mug and handed it to me.

“Here, Princess. This should help with any lingering effects you’re feeling after fainting.”

I took the mug gratefully, and breathed in the steam before taking a sip. I recognized some of the herbs used - peppermint, lavender, chamomile.

All calming, soothing and restorative.

“You can finish that on the ride home,” Amelia said. “I’m going to drive you back, and make sure you go directly to bed.

“You’ve had so much to deal with lately. You need rest.”

I agreed gratefully, and let her lead me out of the room.

Right now, home and in bed was the only place I wanted to be.

Dr. Baldwin POV

Devin waited until Claire was out of the room, then turned to me.

“Are you sure the tea wasn’t too much, on top of everything else?”

I shook my head. “No. If anything, I don’t know if it was enough.”

I looked at the Royal Alpha, laying so still on the bed. Locked away so carefully behind the mental walls I had built, and maintained on a daily basis.

“She’s so strong already, and her abilities seem to increase almost daily,” I said, a note of wonder in my voice.

Her powers truly were amazing.

It was just too bad they were starting to get in my way.

I looked back up at Devin.

“We need to make sure we’re treating her with the strongest doses possible.

“We can’t let Claire interfere with our plans.”