Page 44 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

Ma shrugged. “He’s your problem now.”

“When did I agree to that? I don’t recall signing any papers!” I said with faux indignance while Nina giggled.

“You break it, you buy it. Youmost certainlybroke my son. I saw the way he was after you guys spent some time alone at the river.”

My face was fire-engine red, and I was desperately praying for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow me whole. It was one thing for other people to know what I had done with Orsen, but for his mother to know? We had done our best to be subtle, but apparently that hadn’t worked.

First, we were talking about dick pics, and now my sex life?

Turns out,shopping tripwas code for an amazing time with a side of embarrassment.

Bastian

She was having sex with my clanmates.

Deep down, I knew it was coming. I could see the way they looked at each other. There was only so long the mate bond could be avoided. Despite my best efforts, evenIwas starting to succumb to my desire for Rowan.

But that didn’t mean I was happy about it.

Yes, I was being an ass. I was well aware of that fact—my clanmates told me on a regular basis. Nix had woken me up by throwing pillows at my head and calling me a bastard several times, but there was something in my gut telling me that the situation was wrong.

Until I knew exactly what had happened, I doubted I would be able to settle. As long as we had no clue, it could happen again. Opening myself up to that kind of pain again seemed like an invitation to years of agony. And I’d already been through enough.

I’d been working on the roof of the old McCreevy cabin for several days now, and my body was starting to hurt. So, it wasn’t much of a surprise when I woke up in the morning with a splitting headache.

Fuck.

I was groggy as hell, my mouth tasting off, and between the typical aches and pains and this mother of all migraines, I felt like complete shit. It wasn’t the normal kind of temple throbbing, either. It was the kind that meant light hurt and every little sound made me want to strangle someone. Hell, jumping off a bridge sounded pretty damn good.

But there was no bridge jumping in my future. I had too much shit to do around here, and I couldn’t trust anyone else to do it the way I wanted. I had my clanmates, sure, but they were only three people, and being the fourth made all the difference.

So… work.

“Jesus Christ, who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?” Orsen asked when I came into the dining hall.

“Headache,” I grumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“In that case, why don’t you go get some rest?”

“No, I’m finishing the roof,” I groaned, grabbing an apple as I strode out of the den.

There was no way in hell I was going to shirk my responsibilities, not after the way Rowan had spoken to me. I was going to show her that Ididhave the best interests of the horde at heart, no matter what she might have thought.

Even if it kills me in the process.

As I approached the cabin, each of my steps felt heavier, and yeah, I knew I was being a tiny bit dramatic about everything. So, sue me. I wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed and pretend the world didn’t exist for a day.

I didn’t have that luxury, though. I never had, and I had a feeling I never would.

The sun was only just starting to rise, so it wasn’t too warm outside. I clambered onto the roof and got to work, replacing the broken shingles.

I liked manual labor. There was something about it that was weirdly relaxing. Rhythmic and easy to get lost in. Once I started my work, the pain became less apparent, and I lost myself in the simple routine, the Zen art of shingle repair.

In fact, I didn’t realize how much time had passed until someone shouted my name from the ground. But the headache came screaming back at me when I recognized the voice.

Shit.

My father.