Page 55 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“Let me go,” he snarled.

“No! What the hell is going on with you, Bash? This behavior isn’tokay. Being so at odds with your dragon isn’t okay. I’m fuckingworriedabout you.” My brows pinched together as I stared back at him. “I’m worried about all of us.”

“Just drop it, Orsen.” He turned to leave again, shrugging out of my grip.

“No. Not until you tell me why you’re acting like this!”

“Fuck off.” Bash kept trying to walk away, but this was too important.

“You know this is a problem. I’m not going to drop it until you tell me.”

He pushed forward, but I caught up with him. He growled, and I growled back. I wasn’t leaving the forest without an answer, and even more, I knew Bastian needed to get it out.

“Just tell me!” I shouted in his face, standing between him and the house behind me.

“Because I can’t fucking be hurt like that again!” he bellowed, whipping around to glower at me.

His eyes were wide and wild, the fear unmistakable. I’d lived with Bastian for years, but I’d only seen him this worked up a handful of times. Namely, when Emmeline went missing.

“Iloveher. Is that what you want to hear? I fucking love her, but if we lose her again… I won’t survive it this time. Until we know exactlywhat happened, exactly how to keep it fromhappening again… I can’t. I just can’t—” He broke off with a choking sound, dropping his head, the fight going out of his body.

“Bastian…”

“We knownothing, Orsen. We can’tkeep her safe. She came back to us. She was here, on our lands, and then she waskidnappedfrom the clinic we gave her! There is nothing we can do to keep ourselves from losing her all over again. I can’t go through all that. Again.”

Realization dawned on me.

Bastian wasn’t being an asshole. I mean, sure, he was. But it wasn’t because he enjoyed it. The distance and distrust weren’t because he thought less of Rowan now or was mad at her for something she had no control over.

He wasterrified.

“We can keep her safe,” I assured Bastian, stepping up to him and gripping his shoulders. “I promise.”

“Oh yeah? How?” He glared, shaking me off him again. “When you have a solid idea, I’d love to hear it, because we’ve been up our asses with nothing. No plans, no answers, no way to keep history from repeating itself. I just… No. No, Orsen. We can’t.”

Bastian took off for the house, and I didn’t have it in me to run after him this time. The truth was, I was terrified, too. He was right. We had no clear way to protect Rowan right now because we didn’t know what had happened. That mystery still haunted us.

And it was about damn time we got some answers.

Rowan

It was starting to feel like all I ever did was eat, sleep, work, repeat.

Bastian had been avoiding me ever since the clearing. Not that I blamed him. I probably would’ve been embarrassed as well in his position, especially considering he hadn’t been himself prior to the shift, either.

Still, his dragon had been oddly endearing. The giant lump was basically a puppy in all the best ways. I had now seen two of my mates in dragon form, and both had been equally impressive. But there was something about how different Bastian was from his dragon that really stood out.

Sighing to myself, I glanced at the clock and then leaned past my desk to shout into the reception area. “Nina, you need to go get some lunch,” I said as I shuffled around paperwork before standing up and walking from one end of my office to the other.

“Working on it,” she replied. “There are just a few things I need to settle up. But then I’m heading to the kitchen to get some food.”

“Good, good. I’ll hold down the fort.” I smiled at her as she clicked through the last few tasks on the computer. “It’s been a little less hectic today, at least. That’s something. It seems allyour hard work is paying off, and the horde is getting a little healthier.”

“Just don’t go breaking your own rule and saying the Q word.” She grinned at me, rising and grabbing her messenger bag.

“I would never. Have fun at lunch. Snag me a sandwich or something. I have a feeling it’s going to be a desk-lunch kind of day for me.”

Nina rolled her eyes but smiled, walking to the door. “Will do, boss.”