Page 2 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

I crouched beside her. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

She nodded emphatically.

Reaching out, I gently inspected her belly, trying to ascertain where the baby was.

With a furrowed brow, I had to ask, “Wasn’t there a healer at your horde? Have you had any medical care before now?”

She shook her head. “We had to run after I found out…”

“We’re rogues,” the guy said from behind me.

Dragons without a horde. Usually, they were single outcasts, exiles from their hordes due to crimes or violent disagreements. Female rogues were rare, and I had never in all my years heard of a pregnant rogue.

“I would think most hordes would welcome a mated couple who had a baby on the way with open arms,” I commented, not looking away from her stomach. It wasn’t the best small talk, but I needed to know more.

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Allison said, scoffing as her eyes closed, her face tense as she tried to breathe through the pain. “We wanted to come to North Oak. Since they have a low birth rate, we thought their Alphas would accept us. My father happens to be the Alpha of our old horde. He poisoned a lot of the local hordes against us.”

“Shh. We can’t tell her everything,” Colin growled.

She gave him a firm but exasperated look. “My love, youkidnappedher. Rowan has a right to know,” she grumbled, and her mate shut his mouth, his throat bobbing.

“Sorry. I just worry about her—a lot,” he explained. Part of me empathized. I could imagine how desperate he felt, considering the situation.

Eyeing him, I figured being straightforward was my best bet. “It’s normal to be concerned. As long as you don’t meanmeany harm, I don’t meanyouany harm.”

“We need help getting the baby to come,” Allison pleaded, throwing her head back and groaning. Sweat beaded her brow, making damp strands stick to her skin, and every shallow breath she took seemed to cost her. No doubt she was exhausted.Labor wasn’t easy at the best of times, and glancing around the rundown cabin, I would say her situation was less than ideal.

“It’s beendays. She’s not able to keepanyfood down. She’s exhausted, and I don’t know what to do. I was desperate. We’ve been trying to get in touch with the North Oak Alphas for weeks, but nothing. Her father would rather the pregnancy never happened. If he had his way, he would have forced Allison to terminate.”

I turned to look at him, my eyes wide. “What?!What do you mean?”

A grandparent had no right to decide whether a child was born.

“My father is an Alpha, and he wanted to marry me off to an Alpha of another horde. You know—politics and all that bullshit,” Allison groaned, clutching her stomach. “Only, Colin and I fell in love and mated without his permission. We’re a fated pairing. He was going to kill Colin in a rage, so we both fled.”

Well, that made sense. Political matings weren’t unheard of, though most hordes preferred to mate for love—or find their fated mate. Being pushed into a mating against your will while knowing your true mate? That would be a fate worse than death, in my humble opinion.

“That makes the situationa littlemore understandable. Why don’t you appeal to the North Oak horde?” I asked, continuing my examination.

“We were going to, like Allison said.” Colin sighed, running a hand through his already mussed hair. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in days. “But they’ve been busy with a bunch of stuff I don’t quite understand, and time was running out. The baby…”

I grimaced, doing my best to hide the expression.

The thing the Alphas were very distracted by was me—but I wasn’t going to say that. Having their mate reappear after six years, her not remembering who they were, had probably distracted the Alphas from their regular horde work. And not a small amount of guilt hit me as I saw the very real consequences of that right in front of me.

“Yeah, they have been a bit distracted. But I’ll talk to them once we get you through this labor,” I soothed Allison.

“You would do that for us?” Colin sounded shocked, and, of course, I didn’t blame him. Recently kidnapped people tended to be less helpful, but I quite liked surprising people.

A faint smile tipped my lips, my hands gently gliding over Allison’s bump, observing her closely. “The Alphas just so happen to be my mates, so they listen to me.”

A strangled sound escaped Colin. “I kidnapped themateof the Alphas of North Oak?” he asked in horror. “I amsofucked. I’m dead. They’re going to chop me up into tiny bits.”

No doubt the Alphas would be pissed, especially given our past.

Sure, Colin hadtechnicallydone something terrible, but I understood the reason behind it. Allison’s life, and the life of their unborn baby, was at stake, and I knew how painful that could be for any mate.

Desperate times really did call for desperate measures.