Page 32 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“That’s because he’s an asshole with an entire tree shoved up there.” Grey snorted under his breath. We both knew I was right. “I’m just happy things are moving along. I want our lives back.”

At that, Grey sobered, eyeing me with his brow deeply furrowed. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Nix. You know as well as I do that things aren’t going to be just like how they were. They can’t be. Even if she magically got her memory back, there’s too much trauma that can’t be ignored.”

I stiffened. I wasn’t a moron, despite what others might have believed. I knew that what’d happened had changed things. I loved Rowan with all my heart. She was my mate; I didn’t care if she’d been gone or needed new things. I would give her whatever she wanted to make her happy, to keep her safe, to keep herhere.

“Don’t go raining on my parade, dude. I just got excited about all the possibilities.”

Shrugging, Grey dropped his stare again before meeting my eyes once more. “I just mean… This doesn’t mean she’ll be jumping into bed with all of us. That’s Rowan’s decision.”

“Duh. It means she’s warming up to us, though, and that naked fun time isn’tcompletelyout of the equation. If we give her enough orgasms, she’ll be too exhausted to leave. That sounds like a solid plan to me.”

She can’t leave. She just… can’t.

Greylen shook his head, smiling. “A good plan, but a dumb one. We need her to stay because shewantsto, not because you’ve stopped her legs from working.”

I thought about that for a second. My clanmate may have had a point, sure. But there was no way orgasms would hurt our chances. And they werea lotof fun.

“Fine, but I still think copious orgasms should be part of the plan.”

“I’m not disagreeing. We’ll just… We’ll see how it goes.”

“Fine, fine. So, how was it?” I waggled my eyebrows at him, getting comfy to listen toallthe juicy details.

Speaking with Grey had been amusing and enlightening. It had given me a fair number of ideas for what I wanted to do to pass the time. Rowan was working, but visiting her for a short break seemed like a great idea. She worked so hard, and afternoon delights aside, giving her a moment to breathe was definitely something I could do to show her I cared.

Because, boy, did I.

The walk was quick enough, and I waved to Nina as I stepped inside. “Hey, can I sneak in for a few minutes?” I asked, holding up the cold can of soda I had brought with me.

Nina smiled at me, then checked the calendar. “She has some free time. Go for it.”

“Thanks.” I strolled past, heading to Rowan’s office, and knocked on the open door to get her attention.

She looked up, an air ofwhat now, which quickly softened when she saw it was me. “Oh, Nix. Hi. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to come say hi to my favorite human. Figured you could use a break for a few minutes. Plus, a cold soda never goes amiss.”

Sighing, Rowan leaned back in her chair, the exhaustion behind her smile peeking through. “Man, that’s accurate. It’s beenbusytoday. I don’t know what it is about people or fate or something, but it’s like everyone decided to get sick or hurt on the same day. I’mexhausted.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but the energy is definitely low in here.” I gestured around her office as I spoke. Rowan laughed, shaking her head.

“You’re not wrong.” When she looked up at me, she cocked her head. “Did you really just come in here to say hello?”

“Yeah. I like seeing you.” I smiled, leaning forward so that I could take her hand over the top of her desk. “And you have a habit of not resting, even when someone tells you to.”

A sarcastic scoff left her as she took the can, cracking it open and taking a long drag. “Who, me? Never. I’m excellent at taking breaks.”

The room was silent as we stared at each other, and then we both burst out laughing. I rubbed my thumb across the back of her hand.

“So, when was the last time you ate? I feel like some food would do you good. Oh! I could have them bring it here so you don’t even have to move.”

Rowan grinned, squeezing my hand. “That’s really thoughtful of you, but I should probably eat at the house. If I tried to eat it here, I’d let my food get cold because of all the paperwork.”

I bobbed my head, looking at her desk, at the pile of notes, and then at her computer. “There’s a lot, huh?”

“Understatement of the century. I need to get records of everyone I’ve seen logged, and then I need to make sure it allgoes into the computer. I’ve been tracking symptoms and trying to integrate the shitty job of recording Jenkins was responsible for, too. So many tests and measurements don’t mean much when it’s just one reading. It’s a person’s history you need to look at—and Jenkins hardly made records, so I’m mostly starting from scratch. So much of caring for someone is building a puzzle, but you can’t start with edge pieces or corners.”

I blinked. There was so much I never would have thought of. Rowan’s job wasn’t just treating someone that day. And, sure, I knew chronic conditions existed, but it was eye-opening realizing that check ups could establish a pattern that Rowan, as a competent medical professional, could track.