Page 52 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“Understood, boss lady. Won’t let you down.”

“I have complete confidence in you.”

And with that, Nina left, hopefully to find a bit of peace because she definitely deserved it.

Rowan

After what felt like eons, the gentle clicking of my keyboard had become a constant as I typed up all the paper notes. I’d been determined to start this process sooner rather than later because my eventual hope was to be able to share my findings with other hordes and improve health care for all dragons.

Lofty, I know. I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess.

It was also a good distraction from the Bastian situation. I was itching to check on him, which was silly, considering he was going to either yell at me or snore at me, given his condition.

Still, it was nice to have something like that to focus on to take the edge off this endless paperwork. I’d made a fair bit of progress today, too. Maybe at this rate, I’d be caught up with documentation by?—

Crash!

I jumped in my seat, looking around the room, half expecting to see a hole blown through the wall.

“What the hell?” I stood up in a hurry, abandoning my work to rush to the front door and take a look outside. That boom had been like a plane crash or something, not that I’d ever had the misfortune of seeing a plane crash. As I stepped outsideand turned around to the side of the building, I still didn’t see a plane, but something else had definitely crash-landed in the grass.

A very large, very dazed-looking dragon lay in the yard in front of my clinic. Instinct took over, and I ran toward them, worried that a landing like that could have broken a wing or worse. Hurrying to the dragon’s side, I held my hands up as I skidded to a halt, making sure the he knew I wasn’t a threat. Things could get dicey when one was in this form.

“Hey, there. I’m just coming to check on you. It’s Rowan. I want to make sure you’re?—”

My stomach dropped as I realized the dragon I was looking at wasn’t one of the younger pack members or even an older dragon who’d experienced some flight issues. I knew this one—intimately.

Dark iridescent scales rippled as the dragon registered me, dilated pupils stretching even farther. A huff of breath shot out of his nose, hazy smoke following. I shook my head, as if that would somehow make him disappear. It didn’t work, of course, and I exhaled hard, running a hand through my hair as renewed panic wormed through me.

“Bastian. How… how did you even get out here?”

I wasn’t about to get an answer with him in dragon form, but there was no mistaking the drunken fog hanging over his eyes. He was still high from all those painkillers.

Dammit, Grey was supposed to be watching him, ensuring something like thisdidn’thappen. Watching Bastian, I just had to stand there for a few minutes because I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t do anything while he was in dragon form, but I also had no idea how to make him shift back.

“Ugh, this is not my day.” I turned to Bastian, pointing toward the house behind him. “You need to go back to bed. You can’t be out here, crashing into things like that.”

His dragon eyes did their best to focus on me, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was watching me like he was… sad. His large pupils looked like endless obsidian pools on his massive face, and a tiny whine bled out of him.

“Are you… No, you couldn’t be. Look.” I pointed again, trying to make myself understood, as if I were talking to an oversized Doberman. “The house. You need to go back inside. Shift and?—”

That whining picked up, and Bastian pulled himself across the grass with his claws, his belly pressed against the ground, until he was right at my feet, his snout nudging my legs. When I reflexively shot my hands up, worried he was going to bite me or something, Bastian whined once more, and then…rolled over to show me his belly.

“What in the world?” I was totally thrown for a loop, staring down at an enormous, imposing dragon who apparently wanted belly rubs. “What the hell has gotten into you? Do you really expect me to… pet you?”

Exasperated, I startled again when I heard voices rushing over from the house. I looked up to see Orsen, Nix, and Grey running toward us, worry painted on each of their faces.

“Rowan! Bastian—” Nix stopped himself when he put together what he was seeing. “Well, I suppose you know already. What… what is he doing?”

My brows were at my hairline, my heart in my throat. “Hell if I know! I was working when this oaf decided to crash-land outside my clinic. Why is he in dragon form?”

The three of them pulled to a stop a few feet from Bastian’s gigantic dragon tail, Orsen smirking through a laugh while Grey shook his head.

“No idea. I left him in his bed. Thought he was fine, passed out, butclearlyI was wrong.” Greylen crossed his arms over his chest, radiating exhausted energy, while Orsen looked tickled pink. “He’s not going to do anything, though.”

I shot him a glare. “Are you serious right now? Why is Bastian rubbing his dragon head on my feet!?”

Nix snorted, not bothering to hide his grin or the laughter bubbling out of him. “It looks like he’s trying to get himself some scratches.”