Page 34 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

With every moment I sat by the stream, the tightness in my chest eased a little. My mind had been running a million miles an hour since I set foot in the North Oak Horde lands. And for the first time in a while, I felt… quiet.

“Rowan,” a concerned voice said behind me, making me jump.

Turning, my eyes landed on Orsen, who stood at the tree line. His brows were deeply furrowed, and I could sense the frustrated energy circling him.

“Hi,” I greeted weakly, exhaling hard.

“What areyoudoingout here?” He strode forward to join me at the stream. “Did you tell anyoneyou were coming out here?”

I shook my head, rolling my eyes a touch. Orsen got right up in front of me, staring me down. It felt like being scolded by a parent or something.

“I just needed a few minutes alone. Everything was getting a bit…” I trailed off.

Sighing, Orsen blinked slowly, running a hand through his hair before nodding. “Look, I get that it can be a bit much to handle,” he agreed, taking a seat next to me and removing his own shoes, “but you can’t just run off like that. You were literallyjustkidnapped. What if something were to happen to you again?”

“I didn’t go far. I just—” I stopped. He had a point, as much as I didn’t want to admit that. “I’m tired, Orsen. I’ve been working so much. I accepted this job, I know that. I want to help, but… my brain hasn’t been letting me sleep very well, either.”

Furrowing that brow again, he studied me, tilting his head. “Well, can I stay with you for a little bit?”

I thought about it for a moment. I could have told him to leave, but the idea of him staying didn’t stress me out. If anything, I sort of liked the idea of his company, and the guy wassort ofgrowing on me, so I rolled with it.

“Sure, but if you talk about healing or how I was being irresponsible, I may push you into the stream.”

He laughed, settling in as he dropped his head and peered into the water. “It wouldn’t be the first time. You know, Bastian once pushed me in from the top of that waterfall over there.”

Orsen pointed to the distant rocks, water cascading down. Even from so far away I could faintly hear the water crashing. I scoffed out a laugh. “What did you do to piss him off so much?”

“I honestly don’t remember.” He laughed. “He can be like that, though. So, for all I know, it was nothing.”

I rolled my eyes, looking at the stream ripple over the rocks. “Sounds right.”

Our conversation lulled into a pleasant silence for a while. We simply sat in each other’s presence, listening to the water babble and churn, the wind blowing softly.

“Please tell me how I can help.” Orsen’s soft words surprised me, and I opened my mouth to speak before pausing and coming up short.

I took a deep breath, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t think youcanhelp right now. There’s just so much to do. I’ll admit… I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“You need to take time for yourself, too, you know. If you work yourself to breaking point, then what would happen?”

A chuckle escaped me. “And which of my many responsibilities should I take that time from? Healing an entire horde that’s been mistreated for years, or coming to terms withthe fact that I have four mates I barely know who know meintimately?”

“Point taken,” he conceded, bobbing his head. “Though I did have an idea.”

I looked away from the water. Orsen was watching me intently, his brow lowered as though he were trying to figure something out.

“Dare I ask?” I questioned as the thought of sleeping crossed my mind again. I was damn tired, but every time I tried to lie down, I had another nightmare.

“I’m not going to do anything without your approval,” he explained, expression serious. “But would it help if we got anotherhealer you know to come and help? Surely there are other horde healers you could reach out to? At least for a while, right? While you take care of the backlog. I know you and Grey have discussed training someone, but that’ll take energy I’m pretty sure you don’t have at the moment.”

I thought about it for a moment. “There are one or two, possibly. Honestly, they’re pretty busy with their own hordes, though. The best thing to do is keep training Nina. You should see her—she’s jumped right in. She’ll make an amazing healer one day.”

Orsen leaned back on his hands, a smile peeking out at the corner of his mouth. “My mother’s been talking about how amazing she is more and more recently. I don’t know why we never noticed her skill before.”

“Because Jenkins neverallowedanyone to see it. It was hisdomain, and he ruled it with an iron fist.”

He took a deep, long-suffering breath. “I really fucked up, letting that asshole keep healing, didn’t I?”

“All four of you did,” I replied, not bothering to mince my words. “Not just you, Orsen. But yeah, he was a mistake, and correcting it is going to take a lot of time and effort.”