Page 66 of The Dragons' Healing Mate

Luca’s eyes went wide, the tension dissipating. “Griff! How are you—Wait, wereyouon guard duty?”

He nodded, smirking. “Yep, I wasn’t going to trust anyone else. But that ugly mop on the top of your head is very recognizable.”

Luca rolled his eyes as Griffin ruffled his hair before nodding approvingly.

“I suppose that’ssomething,then.” Luca narrowed his eyes at Griff before facing the Alphas, which made my heart rate shoot up again. “But you only haveonedragon on patrol?”

“Hey,” Griff interjected, but it was the short growl escaping Orsen and Bastian that made me nervous.

Before either of them could speak, though, Grey stepped forward, reaching for his cell phone, saying, “It’s fine. We know him.”

Silence hung for a moment, and I made eye contact with Poppy, both silently communicating that some de-escalation was necessary. She put a hand on Luca’s arm, squeezing lightly, and I shifted toward Orsen, clearing my throat so that he’d remember I was there and everything was fine.

“Well, now you’re here.” Orsen exhaled as a smile spread across his face. “I guess we need to officially hold a horde dinner?”

I resisted the urge to groan. I had sat through a great many horde dinners in my time. They were usually fun celebrations, like the feast before the night flight, but most of the time, I ended up working as a healer during them. People wanted medical advice or just to gripe about something. I very rarely got to relax during the event.

Then again, I didn’t mind Luca sticking around for another day or two so that we could catch up.

Even though I was feeling rather settled in North Oak, it was nice to have a friend stop by. It reminded me that I wasn’t just a healer or mate to some grumpy Alphas. I was me, too, a person with a friend she dearly missed.

“Okay, you boys sort that out. I’m going to give Poppy here a checkup!” I announced, gently guiding the pregnant dragon into the exam room and leaving all the Alphas to their grandstanding.

Even though they were being friendly, I half expected them to start comparing dick sizes.

Ugh, men.

“I’m serious!” Poppy sat up, wiping the gel off her stomach after the Doppler reading. “I’ve heard such incredible things about you, and I wantyouto deliver the babies.”

Twins. Poppy was heavily pregnant with twins.

There was something so joyful about helping multiples enter the world. It was one of my favorite things to do; I had assistedon a triplet birth several months before I arrived at North Oak and still thought about it regularly.

I smiled, shaking my head. “That’s so sweet of you. But do you really think Samuel is going to want to come all this way?”

“It’ll be fine.” Poppy was all smiles as she stepped off the table, her hand going to her belly as she gazed at it lovingly. “Samuel and I can stay in North Oak until the babies arrive. That way, I’m sure to get the best possible care.”

My chest squeezed. I really had missed my friends, but it felt selfish to give into that desire. Still, it didn’t look like I had much of a choice right now. Poppy wasn’t the type of woman to get bowled over. When she put her mind to something, that was pretty much it.

“Well, I wouldn’t hate seeing you.” I grinned, and she nudged me with her shoulder, making us both laugh. “And it is good to have a healer on standby to check you out. Things look spectacular now, though. All that movement, measuring right on track, andverystrong heartbeats. You’ll have two brand-new dragons, ready to take the world by storm in no time.”

“God, I hope so.” Poppy sighed through a chuckle. “Being pregnant is exhausting.”

I rubbed her back as we headed toward the clinic lobby. “I have no doubt. You’re growing two people, after all. That’sa lotof work.”

“Huh, when you put it like that”—she smiled, giving her best pregnancy waddle—“I’m kind of a badass.”

“Extremely!” I pulled her toward me for a side hug. “And it’ll be awesome to see just how much of a badass you are on the big day, too.”

“With you by my side,” Poppy squeezed me back, “I know I’ll be in good hands.”

Orsen

“You guys are lucky, you know that?” Luca asked as we took him on a walk around the horde lands. We needed some fresh air after the tense exchange in the clinic, and it felt good to be able to stretch my wings.

“We are,” I agreed, nodding once, even though I couldn’t help but think about how my horde had been in complete disarray, and we were doing everything we could to keep it from crumbling.

“Rowan… She’s fantastic. Do you have any idea how many Alphas have propositioned her over the years?” Luca’s brows rose as he spoke, and as soon as the words hit me, I struggled not to choke.