He kicked open the door to his bedroom and laid her carefully on his bed, smoothing her tangled hair back from her face. Her nightgown was torn and filthy, her feet scratched and bleeding, but her breathing was steady and her pulse was strong under his fingers.
"Lilith," he said quietly, his hand cupping her cheek. "Come on. Wake up."
Nothing.
Sebastian dropped to his knees beside the bed and took her hand, pressing it between both of his. "Please. Please wake up."
Lucian was pacing at the foot of the bed, his whole body vibrating with barely contained violence. "Where the fuck is the doctor?"
"Here."
Dr. Aldric swept into the room with his medical bag already open, his silver hair catching the lamplight as he moved to Lilith’s side. He was older than any of them, had been the pack physician for thirty years, and his hands were steady as he began his examination.
Nicholas stepped back to give him room but did not go far. Just stood at the edge of the bed with his arms crossed and watched as Dr. Aldric checked Lilith’s pulse, her breathing, her pupils, the temperature of her skin.
"Vitals are stable," Dr. Aldric said after a moment. "Heart rate normal. Breathing normal. No sign of physical trauma beyond the superficial cuts and scratches."
"Then why won’t she wake up?" Sebastian demanded.
Dr. Aldric’s expression darkened. He leaned closer to Lilith and inhaled deeply, then placed his hand flat against her forehead and closed his eyes. The air in the room shifted, became heavier, and Nicholas felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Magic.
Dr. Aldric was not just a physician. He was a wizard....low level, nothing like what the Morvaine bloodline was supposed to be capable of, but enough to sense things that normal wolves could not.
After a long moment Dr. Aldric opened his eyes and pulled his hand back. "She’s under a spell."
Nicholas went very still. "What kind of spell."
"A compulsion. Someone called her, pulled her into a trance state, and now she’s trapped somewhere between waking and dreaming." Dr. Aldric looked at Nicholas grimly. "Her consciousness is not here. It’s somewhere else. And until we can pull her back, she won’t wake up."
"How do we pull her back?" Lucian asked.
"The bond." Dr. Aldric gestured to the mark on Lilith’s throat, the one Aplha Kael had left weeks ago. "Alpha Nicholas, your bond is complete. You should be able to reach her through it, anchor her, bring her back."
Nicholas had already tried that. Had been trying it since the moment he woke up and felt the bond go blank. "I can’t. Something is blocking it."
Dr. Aldric frowned and placed his hand on Lilith’s forehead again, and this time his frown deepened. "You’re right. There’s a barrier. Someone put a block on the bond from her side. You can’t reach her because she’s...."
Lilith started convulsing.
Her whole body arched off the bed violently, her back bowing, her hands clawing at the sheets. A choked sound tore from her throat and her eyes flew open....but they were unseeing, completely white, rolled back in her head.
"Lilith!" Sebastian lunged forward and tried to hold her down but she thrashed against him, her strength impossible for someone who should be unconscious.
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