Page 46 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“Rowanis the best—and only—healer we’ve got right now, and if I don’t take something to get rid of this headache, I’m going to burn this entire fucking cabin to the ground.”

“Maybe you should. Griffin doesn’t deserve this.”

I looked at my father—truly looked at him for the first time in a while. The old, weathered dragon really had no clue. Worse, I didn’t think he wanted one. He clearly only cared about whathedeemed best for the horde—and himself.

“Griffin has been loyal to this horde foryears. In fact, he’s stepped in when my clanmates or I have been unable to. Are you saying that isn’tloyal enoughto deserve a reward?” I asked in a low, dangerous voice.

“No, thatshould be rewarded, of course, but you’re onlygiving him this stupid cabin because of thathuman.”

“Rowan. Her name is Rowan,” I said, my tone clipped. No matter how I felt about her, I still respected her new name.

The two of us glared at each other, neither of us backing down, and I could feel discomfort leaking off Tanner. My head throbbed harder, making it difficult to focus.

“I’ve had enough of this conversation,” I said, turning to leave.

“You need to find another healer.”

“Not going to happen anytime soon,” I growled, thundering down the path toward the clinic.

Thankfully, my father didn’t follow.

Rowan

Iwas starting to have a one-track mind.

Anytime I had a few seconds to myself, my mind would inevitably wander to the recent escapades I had gotten up to with Grey and Orsen. Sex had always been a hypothetical. I didn’t remember having it, and after the dragon fire, well, I had bigger concerns.

But now? It was constantly on my mind.

Did I want a repeat performance?Of courseI did. But I wasn’t sure whether I was thinking with my brain or with what was between my legs.My downstairs brain, if you will.

Then again, my heart was also getting pretty attached to the Alphas. As I rearranged my herb cabinet for possibly the twentieth time in a week, I couldn’t help but wonder how I would feel if I tried to leave. I never stayed anywhere for long, leaving was an eventual reality... but would it be this time?

The sharp tightening of my chest was answer enough.

Where would I even go?I’d been on the road for so long, but the idea of moving away from the horde felt wrong in every sense of the word.

That didn’t mean it would be easy to stay, though. I had agreed that, for the time being, I would help the horde until theyfound a good healer. But what if they never found one? I knew three of my Alphas desperately wanted me to stay, along with the majority of the people here, but that still left the question of Bastian.

And he had been as welcoming as a vinegar-covered cactus.

He didn’t trust me. Sure, I had done nothingwrong. And honestly, neither had he, but we always seemed to butt heads. We had all been through something dreadfully traumatic, which had broken us all in different ways, but the distance between Bastian and me was vast.

Footsteps from behind alerted me to someone’s presence, and I turned to see the dragon in question standing in the doorway to my clinic.

Think of the dragon, and he shall appear.

“Bastian. What can I do for you?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone level, even though my heart was in my throat at his abrupt, if timely, appearance.

When he didn’t answer, I looked at him more closely. His eyes were somewhat unfocused, and he was pinching the bridge of his nose as if in pain. Well, that was new.

“What’s wrong?” I worried, getting up and making my way over to him from where I had been kneeling in front of my herb cabinet.

“I just need something for a headache,” he said in a low, rumbling voice.

I stopped a few steps away from him as my breath hitched. Why did he have to smell so damn good? I shook myself, blinking away the desire to bask in that scent for a minute.

“Are you sure it’s just a headache?” I asked, running a skeptical eye over him. “I could examine you, make sure it’s nothing else.”