Caged In

Chapter 55: To Shift or Not to Shift

" Welcome back to the land of the living." Lazarus smiled down at me.

Land of the living ? My eyes widened as I shot up in bed and started to look frantically over my body. Did I die ?!

" Think about how you word things, Lazarus, you're scaring the girl." Celia pushed in front of him to place a hand on my shoulder," You didn't die. You were simply unconscious for three days."

I froze the moment her cold palm made contact with the thin fabric of my hospital gown. I snapped my eyes to the side to glare at her.

I shook her hand off of me to growl at her," What ?!"

Celia smirked as she brought her hand back to her side and stood up straighter," Ask Alpha Waters, he was the one who brought your unconscious body back to the castle in absolute panic."

I looked over at Greg, who was doing everything to avoid my stare.

" Everyone except Greg, get out!" I ordered.

The room fell silent as everyone stared at me. It slowly dawned on me that my orders meant nothing to everyone in the room, other than my title as crown princess, I had no power over them. A stinging reminder of how weak I was.

Evan came to my rescue and broke the silence as he patted Corine and Varian on the back before pushing them out the door," You heard the girl, get out."

He then turned around to face Celia, who waved a hand at him," I'll let myself out, so you can just keep your paws to yourself." The sound of her heels clicking on the linoleum floor slowly faded into the hallway as she exited.

The only ones still left in the room were Lazarus, Evan, and Greg.

" I only asked for Greg to stay." I said with a clipped tone as I glared between Lazarus and Evan.

" Well, I am the one who treated you, so I figured you may have some questions." Lazarus looked down the bridge of his nose at me.

" Fine." I huffed before turning my eyes to Evan," What's your reason ?"

" I wanted to talk to you and see how you're doing." Evan cocked his head to the side.

" You can do that after I have a private conversation with Greg and the doctor." I sighed.

Evan looked between Greg and Lazarus for some sort of support. Greg didn't even glance in Evan's direction and Lazarus offered him a shrug and a small wave. Evan glanced back at me and I flicked my wrist to shoo him off.

He frowned as he turned around and exited the room, slamming the door behind him with a resounding 'BANG!'.

" Now then, shall we start our conversation ?" Lazarus clapped his hands together.

" Are you sure he won't try and listen through the door ?" I asked skeptically.

" The rooms are soundproof. Even supernatural beings with augmented hearing have a right to doctor patient confidentiality you know." Lazarus replied.

" Okay." I took a deep breath," Can someone explain what exactly caused me to get knocked out for three days ?"

Lazarus looked at Greg with a smirk," I believe that's your cue."

I looked over at Greg expectantly.

Greg met my eyes as he spoke," You began to shift in the woods and something went wrong, so I stopped it. At first I was scared because I thought you died, your breathing was so shallow . . ." Greg trailed off.

I took the opportunity to speak while he paused," Wait, what about the binding seal, I shouldn't have shifted in the first place."

" The binding seal is breaking." Lazarus spoke up.