Page 6 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

“I don’t want to hear it,” he growled. “We’ll deal withyoulater.”

“I think you shouldhear him out,” I interjected, raising my brows at him again. “These two are in a precarious position, and they need a horde to take them in—and personally, I think they’d be an amazing addition to North Oak.”

“Youwantthem?” he asked dumbly. “After he fucking kidnapped you?”

I swallowed, knowing what I was about to do. Ever since I had come to North Oak, I had been denying my position there, but I wasn’t going to anymore, especially if it meant I could help Allison and Colin.

I blew out a long breath. “Yes. If I really am part of the Alpha clan, I can make the decision to allow rogues to join the horde.”

I faced Orsen fully, meeting his prickly energy with my own confident one. I didn’t beat around the bush with him. I flashed a smile at Colin before offering it to Orsen.

“I mean, you can understandwhyhe went to such lengths, can’t you? He was protecting his mate. Surely, you would have done the same if it were me.”

It was a leap for sure, but in a normal horde, being part of the Alpha clan would allow me to invite new members. So, yes, I was going to use my weird situation to my advantage in thisespeciallyweird moment.

“We totally would do the same. Also you totally can add people to the horde, you’re an Alpha,” Nix replied, already smiling and nodding like I knew he would be.

Such a puppy dog.

“Well, in that case, I think Allison, Colin,andtheir baby will be a lovely addition to the North Oak Horde. It would be nice to have a baby running around, anyway, wouldn’t it?”

Orsen crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at me. “I see what you’re doing, Rowan. I still have to punish him for kidnapping our mate. I can’t be seen asrewardingthat kind of behavior.”

“And I understand that. But you can do something that won’t maim or hurt him—and you can do itafterthe baby is a few months old. Because once the baby is born, Allison will need all the support she can get. After all, we want our horde to be very supportive of new mothers, don’t we?”

I was laying it on so thick, I was surprised that Orsen wasn’t dissolving into a fit of laughter. Or growls. But in truth, I felt for the little family, and we needed more dragons to keep the horde going. It would be a long while before the people there recovered from what Jenkins had been doing, and having a baby around would be a welcome change.

“We’ll talk about it.” Orsen stared me down, and I caught Grey shaking his head from the sidelines.

“Good enough for now. Now, I need you to?—”

“Ahh!” Allison’s scream cut through the cabin, and I spun around, hurrying over to her. “It’s bad. Ugh!”

Commotion sounded behind me, but I didn’t care. My focus was entirely on my patient as I examined her belly for the umpteenth time. The baby was lower, but they hadn’t turned. God, I needed those herbs. But right now, I needed to figure out what was going on, and that wasn’t going to be fun.

“Allison, I’m going to need to examine you internally. I need to understand what the baby is doing.”

“Is that… Is that going to hurt?” She looked terrified, the mist on her brow thick, exhaustion written plainly on her face.

“It’s not going to feel great, no. But this will really help me.”

She frowned. “Okay.”

I reached under the sheet we’d been using for privacy so that I could feel where the baby was in the birth canal. “Okay, here we go. Colin, get your ass over here and hold your mate’s hand.”

As I worked, Allison groaned, Colin now by her side, and she gripped his hand hard. I could get my fingers up to her cervix, which wasn’t fully dilated, and just inside, I could visualize what was going on. The baby was right there, their little butt starting to come through.

“Okay. We’re really close, Allison. I can feel them. You’re going to push soon, okay?”

“Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,” she whimpered, tiny sobbing bubbles shaking her, but she bobbed her head. “Okay.”

I coached Allison through several deep breaths, the baby still pressing down on her cervix. Then a few minutes later, Bastian came bursting through the door.

“Oh, perfect.” I snatched the herbs from him, getting Colin to talk to Allison while I applied the salve to the exterior to prevent tearing, then used the second set of herbs on her cervix to help it relax. I took several long breaths, but then Allison moaned.

“I think that did something. It feels like they’re lower.”

Great news. I checked, finding that the baby had dropped, and where I could feel the curves of their butt, I could also make out the umbilical cord. Once Allison was crowning, I would need to make sure the baby came out quickly. There would be a lot of pressure on the cord, which could still risk the baby.