Page 11 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“I’m not going to fall asleep right here.” I shook my head, scooping up some of the stew and taking a large bite. A moan slipped free, and I sagged into myself, so blissed out by the delicious food. My stomach grumbled loudly, and I stopped paying attention to what the guys were saying as I dug in.

“Rowan?” I looked across the table at Grey, slightly panicked because I hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “Thoughts?”

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t?—”

He laughed, shaking his head. “You know what? Talking about how to convince Orsen and Bastian to pull the sticks out of their asses can wait. Enjoy the stew.”

My cheeks heated, but I smiled and didn’t argue, taking another bite because I was too famished to care.

“You were so impressive back there.” Nix leaned his elbow on the table as he sat facing me. “I’ve never seen a baby being born. That was… something.”

I chuckled. “I’m surprised the wordgrossisn’t getting thrown around.” I took another bite, then set my fork down. The stew hit the bottom of my stomach and started the beginning of what I knew was going to be one hell of a food coma.

“Look, I’m not going to lie to you.” Nix raised his brows so damn high, his stare fixed on something in the distance, and both Grey and I laughed. “Yeah. You both know what I mean, but that’s not the part I’m going to focus on. The way you swooped in and knew what to do was incredible. You saved their lives, a little baby! Rowan, you have to know how cool that is!”

I beamed, as I said, “Why, thank you.”

Grey and Nix started talking about the birth, things they remembered, and there was something about the sound of their voices. It was soothing, along with the potent scents that surrounded me. My mates, as much as that was still so new, were here with me, and being wrapped up in both their scents was undeniably calming. It felt like… I really had come home.

Smiling along, occasionally laughing quietly, I began to lean more and more onto Nix’s shoulder, resting my head on it as the food warmed me from the inside out. After another moment, it was impossible to keep my eyes open, then the background noises got farther and farther away.

I’d told Ma I wasn’t going to fall asleep at the table, really believing that.

I was wrong.

Rowan

So much pain. Endless streams of it. My skin burned; a relentless throbbing ache echoed through my entire body with each heartbeat. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered learning about chemical burns, how they would keep burning, keep affecting the flesh, if something wasn’t done to stop it, a dampening agent, or what have you. That’s what it felt like, constant liquid needles sliding under and through my skin.

I screamed and screamed, writhing on something like a bed, the smell of campfire and wood surrounding me.

“Shh. Shh, now. I’ve got you. We’ll get this fixed, you hear me? Hang on.”

I knew that voice, but I hadn’t then. It was Kiki. Through bleary eyes that rained tears, I looked up at her. I wasn’t sure; the worry and panic were just as thick and unwieldy as the agony that consumed me. I didn’t understand how it was possible to both know her and not.

And, still, I knew it couldn’t get any worse. This was the most horrendous pain I’d been through in my entire life. Then it hit me. I couldn’t remember why. I couldn’t remember how. Memories of what had been done to me and how I’d woundup there were just… gone. The sharp stitching through my skin swelled and ebbed in a pattern I couldn’t parse out, all across my stomach and sides.

The pinpoint sensations were so vivid. As I looked down at them, the room around me in a blur of indistinguishable objects, the shimmering appearance of my skin expanded, dissolving me like acid.

“Oh God! No, make it stop!”

“Shh, now, little human. You need your rest.” Kiki smiled, warm and sympathetic, but as the space around me filled with her gentle singing, the words garbled, but the tune so memorable, all that acidic shimmer ate me up, until the room stretched into the distance, and I descended further and further into a void of black and oil-slick pain.

“Ah!” I bolted upright, drenched in sweat, the beating of my heart deafening. I looked around, slowly realizing that I wasn’t in Kiki’s hut.

I’m back. I’m with my Alphas. They brought me home. I’m… safe?

I’d had my fair share of nightmares after the attack. As I sat there, I ran my fingers over my stomach, tracing the ridges of the dragon fire scars. That dream had been different, not just the usual memories of the agony, but fear that it was going to happen again. I was safe, of course. There was no one out there to get me. The “kidnapping” had just been a desperate dragon looking out for his mate.

“You’re all right, Rowan,” I murmured. “You’re good.”

Kiki’s tune still hummed in my mind, and I found myself singing the notes because the words were lost on me. That familiar melody smoothed out the rough edges, helping my pulse return to normal. She had always been a damn good healer, and she was proving as much even now. God, I missed her.

Looking around, I noticed the first inklings of sunlight peeking through the trees surrounding the house, my curtains left open. It would be light soon enough. When I checked the clock on the nightstand, I wasn’t surprised to see it was just before five in the morning.

Well, there’s no point in going back to sleep now.

I stretched, my body sore and stiff from all the walking, not to mention crouching and the odd positions I got into while helping Allison deliver. I rubbed my joints at the elbows, my neck, my knees, then I got out of the bed and padded over to the closet. I’d go down to the clinic. I was pretty sure the place was still a mess after everything. If I were going to start seeing patients again, I needed to get it back in working order.