Page 20 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“Yeah, he found me in the woods, freaking out in dragon form. I had no idea what I was, so I kept crashing into trees and causing damage. I couldn’t really see myself, but I knew something was different. Then Bastian flew into a clearing nearby, also in dragon form. I freaked out even more because, well, shit, there was a dragon in front of me. That’s not exactly something I was ready to learn.”

I stared. “Ofallthe dragons you could have met, Bastian was your introduction? Rough.”

“I didn’t exactly have a choice. I mean, I would have preferred a smaller, cuter, even a fluffy dragon. But Bastian? He was possibly thebestperson for me at that moment. At first, he spent a good ten minutes yelling at me while I was still in dragon form and he was in human form. We must have been a hilarious sight—me as a dragon freaking out, and Bastian just standing there shouting at me with his junk flapping in the breeze.”

I snorted at that mental image. “How on earth do you guys deal with that?”

“Bastian realized pretty quickly that I had no idea what was going on. Even in dragon form, I think my panic and confusion were obvious. So, after a few minutes, he started talking me through how to shift back. It took a while, but I eventually got the hang of it. He got a pair of shorts for each of us from his car. We sat in the forest together and made a fire while he told me everything.”

I couldn’t imagine Bastian being so… brotherly. The man didn’t possess a wealth of compassion, as far as I was concerned. But I didn’t interrupt, letting Nix speak freely.

“It was a lot to take in, but he was patient and answered every single one of my questions. When we were done, he got up, held out his hand, and said, ‘Let’s go home.’ He took me back to the horde, where there were plenty of dragons who talked to me about what I was going through. Overnight, I gained an entire family—something I had never really had before, while I was bouncing around the system. I didn’t look back. On my first night at North Oak Ma fed me, and basically bossed everyone around until I had a room, a wardrobe full of clothes, and everything else I could possibly need.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine how hard that was to deal with. Well…” I thought about waking up with Kiki, no clue what was going on or how I’d gotten there. “I suppose I can a little.”

“Hmmm.” Nix bobbed his head in agreement, a small smile lifting his cheek. “I guess so, in some ways. A crash course on dragons. We can give people pointers on how to be better at it.”

I laughed, rolling my eyes as we got closer to town. “I hope those aren’t too popular, but we certainly could.”

The road zoomed past us, and Nix steered the conversation back to what we needed to pick up in town, aside from ice cream. It was something special to learn all that about him, and even more so, I was damn curious about this caring side of Bastian that currently seemed so impossible.

My disappearance back then really did a number on them all. I guess I just didn’t realize how much Bastian, in particular, had changed. I couldn’t help but wonder whether irreparable damage had been done.

Nix

Iwas buzzing with excitement. Even though Rowan was calm, thiswasa date. Maybe not the most excitingdate, but it was stilla date. Mostly because I’d decided it waswaybefore I went and asked her to join me.

Emmeline had been a huge—colossal—fan of ice cream, and that was a facet of her personality that I highly doubted had changed. I’d been thrilled to find out I was right.

When we parked in town, she let go of my hand for a moment to slide out of the truck. I rushed over, intending to open her door, but she was too quick. Glowering at her playfully, I snatched her hand back up.

“Let a guy at least attempt to be smooth.”

Rolling her eyes, Rowan effortlessly redirected, “Okay, where to first?”

I shot her a disbelieving look, scoffing loudly. “To ice cream, of course. Where else would we be going?”

She shrugged, unable to bite back her smile. “Hey, I’m not the one with the plans here. For all I know, you have a few errands to run before ice cream.”

“There are a few shops we should pop into while we’re here, but my thought is, we go get ice cream first,thenwe do theerrands, and after that we go back and get another ice cream and fill up the cooler to take back to the den.”

Her eyes widened, the corners of her mouth curling. “I like how you think, Nix.”

Chuckling, I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, relishing in her closeness for a moment. “I’m a genius, really.”

I chose to ignore her snort of disbelief.

With her hand firmly in mine, I pulled her toward the ice cream parlor. She leaned into my side happily. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but something had changed during the drive. I’d been ecstatic at the idea of two uninterrupted hours with my mate, but I hadn’t imagined I would end up explaining my entire history again.

Emmeline had known everything about us, after all. She’d been told one evening while we all sat around a campfire. We had told her together, desperate for our mate to know what we were. It hadn’t really occurred to me that the details of my past would need to be repeated. We knew so much about her, and once again, she knew next to nothing about us. It was weird. We’d done this dance before, but Rowan didn’t remember. While part of that hurt, it was almost nice to be falling in love with her all over again.

“Okay, what flavor would you like?” I asked, tugging her toward the counter.

Her eyes widened as she took in the variety of ice cream in front of us. For a small-town ice cream shop, they really had a fantastic selection.

“There’s too much to choose from,” she whispered.

“I guess we’re just going to have to come every week and try something new. They make it all in-house. It’s amazing.”