Page 54 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

Then again, imagining her stabbing Bastian now wasn’t exactly a stretch, which was pretty hilarious if I was being honest. The two of us were usually the “gruffer” of the clan, but lately, Bastian had upped that assholery even more. He needed to get with the picture, as far as I was concerned, but that asshole was as stubborn as I was, even more so since Rowan had returned.

Casting a glance down at him, I sighed. “Thank you for indulging him.”

“He’s sweet.” Rowan smiled, rubbing his scales quicker. “Unlikethe human Bastian.”

I cocked a brow at her. “You know Bastian is able to hear everything you’re saying, right?”

A devilish smile slowly spread across Rowan’s face.

She knew.

She just didn’t care.

“Yeah, he’s such a good boy, isn’t he?” Rowan cooed, petting the dragon like a puppy. “Sweet little baby.”

Bastian was probably screaming inside, but the dragon? Going by the way his eyes sparkled and the massive purrs he was letting out,hewas lapping up the attention. He huffed, nudging his head deeper into her lap, preening at her praise.

My clanmate was probably going to have an aneurysm when he finally got back in his own body.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t take it out on Rowan.

It wasn’t her fault. But it was also clear that Bastian and his dragon needed to have a good fucking talk. They were on very different wavelengths, and keeping that up for a long time wasn’t wise when it came to dragons. Internal strife wasn’t healthy.

“I think you are the sweet one,” I offered, sweeping my fingers down Rowan’s cheek. “Just maybe try to remember that this guy is a part of Bastian, too, when he wakes up.”

She hummed, narrowing her eyes at the dragon. “I’ll think about it.”

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long. After almost an hour in the clearing, Bastian’s scales started to ripple as the thick reptilian skin made way for human flesh. One moment, there was a dragon with its head resting in Rowan’s lap, and the next, there was a very nakedman crouched on the ground in the undergrowth, glaring at all of us.

Rowan bit back a smile, covering her mouth with her hands, but my grin couldn’t be contained, even with Bastian’s growling anger staring at me in the face.

“Give me those fucking shorts,” Bastian snarled, snatching them out of my hand. When we had guided the dragon to the clearing, I hadsothoughtfullystopped at my vehicle and pulled out one of the many spare pairs of shorts we left lying around in case we shifted. He hurriedly shoved his legs into them while Rowan looked away pointedly. She was a hell of a lot politer than me; I just stared at my buddy with a smile as he got dressed.

“No shirt?” he asked roughly.

I shrugged. “I didn’t have time to grab one. I was a bit distracted by the giant dragon acting like a lapdog. You’re welcome, by the way. With how you were behaving before your scaly friend arrived, you’re lucky I brought you anything.”

“I’m going to head back to the clinic,” Rowan declared softly, looking between me and Bastian, clearly uncomfortable now that fuckface was back. Anger radiated off him, and, as much as I wanted her to stay, I knew it was for the best that she got out of sight. The last thing I wanted was Bastian’s anger blowing back on her. She’d put up with enough of his shit of late.

“I’ll find you later”—I nodded at her—“and thanks for babysitting with me.”

Rowan tried not to smile again. “Sure. Just keep an eye out for any lingering symptoms or anything out of the ordinary, okay? I’m pretty sure he burned through all the medication in dragon form, but that stuff can linger.”

I nodded again. “Of course.”

She stood there for a moment, looking at Bastian like she expected him to say something, but he didn’t. After that, she turned around and left, leaving me in the clearing with Bastian as he sulked to himself.

Oh, I am so over this.

Facing him, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Okay. Enough. Why are you being such an ass to her?” I growled, roughly shoving Bastian as he stared at me like it was nothing.

He stumbled back, glowered at me, and then stormed off through the trees, clearly trying to get away from me—without answering.

“No, you get back here. We are going to have a grown-up conversation about this. You arenotrunning away!” I shouted, taking long strides to catch up to him.

“No!” he growled, refusing to look at me, still stomping through the tall undergrowth like a man on a damn mission.

Luckily, he wasn’t the only fast dragon around. After a few seconds, I caught up to him, grabbing his forearm and whirling him around. The look he gave me could only be described as a death glare. But I wasn’t about to back down. We’d fought things out before, by virtue of both of us being stubborn as hell, and I was more than fine with duking it out again.