Only she managed to quieten the screaming of his mind.

Vir slept like the dead.

He didn't move, snore, sigh, mumble or showed any other sign of being alive while he was asleep. A few times in the hours that I sat there in his bedroom, I felt the need to check his pulse or his breathing, to ensure that he really wasn't dead.

"Livia," I heard Daniel whisper behind me. "The doctor is here, he wants to check on Vir."

I turned around to see a young man stand behind Daniel, a doctors case in his hands. He wore dark brown pants and a blouse, giving him an older appearance than I guessed from the looks of his face. The guy couldn't have been a year older than me, which, in my opinion, was way too young to be an actual doctor.

Although, this was the Pack of Intelligence after all. I was sure each toddler knew how to perform first aid here. I nodded silently at him to step closer, though a bit weary. My own fear of doctors preventing me from trusting the guy immediately. The doctor shuffled forward, after which I gave him a firm handshake and a deadly glare. He seemed impressed by my appearance, considering his slightly sweaty hands.

Good. He better not fuck up anything.

"This is the Alpha's personal physician, Derek. He has security clearance and is trusted by Alpha Vir to perform necessary care." Willow's voice filled the room. I hadn't even noticed her coming in. "He has agreed to be discreet about this doctor's visit, and is legally bound by a Non-Disclosure-Agreement, so no one but us will know about this."

Derek nodded, giving me a nervous smile.

I shrugged my shoulders, and allowed him to get closer to Vir. Instantly, the guy seemed more confident as he was now able to do his job; checking Vir's vitals. Heart-rate, blood-pressure, breathing, body temperature, and he even collected some blood for analysis.
"What I can conclude from this," he said in a soft voice, turning back to Daniel, Willow and me, "is that he is both mentally and physically exhausted. His blood pressure is extremely low, he has a fever, and his heart appears to be struggling more than it should. I recommend that you let him rest and have him drink lots of fluids. For today, only liquid foods, tomorrow something light, and after that eating normally should be fine. Especially the resting is very important, if we want to prevent a severe burn-out. In case he is being difficult in terms of resting, I will prescribe him some oxazepam, which should help with the anxiety he might be feeling. For the fever, 1000 milligrams of acetaminophen every six hours until the fever breaks."
"So rest, drink a lot, eat very light foods, 1000 milligrams of acetaminophen?" I repeated.
"Yes," Derek answered. "For today I suggest soup or broth, maybe some yoghurt, nothing more"
I nodded. "Okay, thank you."
"No problem. If something is wrong or if you have any questions later, please call me." With these words the doctor walked away, escorted to the back entrance of Sapientiae Headquarters by Willow.
Daniel stayed with me in Vir's room. "He will be okay, you know." He patted my shoulder in an awkward manner.
I sighed in return, and walked over to the bed where I sat next to my mate's sleeping body. Even when he was asleep he seemed worried. His eyebrows were frowning, causing a crease on his forehead. All I wanted to do was kiss it away, but since the evening I met him, my lips hadn't touched his skin. Kissing him while he  was asleep, even if it was just his forehead, felt like I was violating him.
As if I was taking his kiss virginity or something.
"How did this happen?" I asked. "Why is he so stressed that he refuses to eat, drink and sleep?"  I looked over to Daniel. "Please just tell me, maybe I can help."
Daniel visibly hesitated, but seemed to decide to humour me this once. "Fine." He shot a look at Vir, and then joined me on the side of his bed. "It started around the time you got here, probably a little earlier than that even. Abnormalities in the daily life of Sapientiae pack members. People that went broke, shops that had to close, fights breaking out on the streets."
I blinked. "That is normal city life, right?"
Daniel shook his head vigorously. "Not here, not in Sapientiae, where the standard IQ is 130 or up. People with a lower IQ than that are our weakest. They are the janitors, the garbage collectors or employees in a grocery store. Some are sent to Fortis to become our guards later, but every one here is smart. My point is that in the history of Sapientiae, that never happened before. Sapientiae pack members are very civilised. We do not fight."
"Except now."
"Exactly. Where it started with fights and bankruptcy, it then progressed to protests, disappearances and gun violence. You even got involved then. It has gotten worse and worse over time. The research funds of large companies are drying up, people get fired, scientific breakthroughs are rare, something is going very wrong here."
"And as the Alpha, Vir is caught in the middle," I mumbled softly.
Daniel sighed deeply. "Yes. The Board is demanding that Vir finds out the cause, but all possible clues lead to dead ends, and the situation gets more and more messy. And you know Vir. He is terrible in chaos. He is desperately trying to find a structure in the chaos, but honestly, it is one big mess. But if he doesn't find a solution soon, there are going to be consequences."
I glanced at Vir, who was still sleeping deeply, breathing quietly every few seconds. "Poor thing," I said, feeling myself overflow with pity. "It's not as if he can help it."
"No," Daniel mumbled. "But it is still his job to fix everything. That's why he is the Alpha. He is the smartest man alive. If anyone can do it, it's him."
I smiled softly and brushed a lock of blue hair out of my eyes, behind my ears. "Maybe he just needs some help this time."
Now Daniel smiled too. "Maybe." He stood up and walked to the door. "You should get some sleep, knowing Vir, it's going to take all your energy to keep him in bed."
I smirked, and then laughed when Daniel realised his unfortunate choice of words. "I mean he is not going to want to rest. He will want to continue working, I mean."
"I know," I said grinning at Daniel's fiery red head, as I joined Vir underneath the covers. "I know."