The Dragons’ Healing Mate (The Dragons of North Oak #2)

1. Rowan

Rowan

My head was pounding.

It wasn’t a mild, passing headache, either; it was a deep, throbbing ache that made me think I’d either drunk far too much the night before or I’d been hit by a bus.

Potentially both.

Turning over, I reached for my blanket, desperate to get a few more hours’ sleep, in the hope that the pain would ebb, or at least I wouldn’t notice it because I was unconscious.

Only, there were no blankets.

Reality crept in, and my exhaustion quickly evaporated, replaced by a sinking feeling in my stomach that sent alarm bells flaring in my aching head.

One moment, I had been in my clinic, organizing a mountain of paperwork. The next moment, darkness. Opening my eyes, I sat up, wincing at the dim light and pinching the bridge of my nose.

I was in a log cabin, but it wasn’t familiar.

The furniture was ancient and crumbling, and the wallpaper was peeling, the curling edges revealing the yellowed glue.

The smell wasn’t exactly fresh, either. The windows had been opened so the breeze could trickle through the small structure, but there was no concealing the deep, dingy, damp scent.

“You’re awake,” a male voice said to my left.

Whipping around, I jumped off the bed and stood up, instantly regretting it as the room spun, sinking back down.

Sitting on a chair next to the bed was a dragon I hadn’t met before.

He had scraggly blond hair that fell to his chin and bone-weary eyes, with dark bags underneath them.

It was easy for me to identify him as a dragon.

His eyes had an almost metallic glint, and there was an animalistic nature to his movements that most definitely weren’t human.

I should have been scared—I was scared. But that wasn’t my only emotion.

I was pissed.

“Who the fuck are you?” I snarled.

I should have been terrified of this stranger, but his expression was hollow. Desperate. Nothing about him screamed threat.

He eyed me cautiously, but also slightly fearful. “I’m sorry for grabbing you the way I did. But I had no other choice. She needs help.”

He jerked his chin toward the other side of the room. Reluctantly, I took my eyes off him, turning toward where a woman lay on a sofa.

Her face was red and contorted as she clutched her stomach—her very pregnant stomach.

“My mate is suffering. We need your help,” he begged, his tone fraught and hollowed out.

I didn’t have all the information, but it was obvious the woman wasn’t doing well, and the man looked like he was starting to crumple in on himself.

“I’ll help,” I whispered, staggering to my feet.

As I walked over to her, I forgot what was happening for a moment, focused entirely on the woman who was clearly in a lot of pain, my every instinct humming.

My healer brain took over, and I ignored that I was in a very scary situation, having been kidnapped. The only thing I cared about was making sure that the pregnant woman was okay.

I probably should have had more self-preservation instincts, but they were something I definitely lacked. Blame the fact that I was raised by dragons for as far back as my memory went.

“Hi, my name is Rowan. What’s going on here?” I asked, keeping my voice steady and low.

She was wearing a dress that had seen better days, and her hair was pulled back into a messy, sandy-blonde braid.

The pleading look she gave me made my heart ache for her. “I’m so sorry. We needed someone to help us. They wouldn’t let us go to the horde to ask. I didn’t know what else to do.” Her face was red and blotchy, eyes puffy.

She was ready to babble on, but I held my hand up to silence her, shaking my head. “That doesn’t matter. What’s important right now is that you’re in agony. Please, can you tell me what’s going on?”

She swallowed, calming herself down somewhat before speaking.

“I went into labor two days ago. For a while, everything felt fine. I read all the books on it and felt like I was progressing well, but recently it’s just…

It’s gotten really painful, and I’m not sure what to do.

My name is Allison, by the way. That’s Colin,” she said, jerking her head toward the Alpha who was now pacing in the back of the room.

I crouched beside her. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

She nodded emphatically.

Reaching out, I gently inspected her belly, trying to ascertain where the baby was.

With a furrowed brow, I had to ask, “Wasn’t there a healer at your horde? Have you had any medical care before now?”

She shook her head. “We had to run after I found out…”

“We’re rogues,” the guy said from behind me.

Dragons without a horde. Usually, they were single outcasts, exiles from their hordes due to crimes or violent disagreements. Female rogues were rare, and I had never in all my years heard of a pregnant rogue.

“I would think most hordes would welcome a mated couple who had a baby on the way with open arms,” I commented, not looking away from her stomach. It wasn’t the best small talk, but I needed to know more.

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Allison said, scoffing as her eyes closed, her face tense as she tried to breathe through the pain.

“We wanted to come to North Oak. Since they have a low birth rate, we thought their Alphas would accept us. My father happens to be the Alpha of our old horde. He poisoned a lot of the local hordes against us.”

“Shh. We can’t tell her everything,” Colin growled.

She gave him a firm but exasperated look. “My love, you kidnapped her. Rowan has a right to know,” she grumbled, and her mate shut his mouth, his throat bobbing.

“Sorry. I just worry about her—a lot,” he explained. Part of me empathized. I could imagine how desperate he felt, considering the situation.

Eyeing him, I figured being straightforward was my best bet. “It’s normal to be concerned. As long as you don’t mean me any harm, I don’t mean you any harm.”

“We need help getting the baby to come,” Allison pleaded, throwing her head back and groaning.

Sweat beaded her brow, making damp strands stick to her skin, and every shallow breath she took seemed to cost her.

No doubt she was exhausted. Labor wasn’t easy at the best of times, and glancing around the rundown cabin, I would say her situation was less than ideal.

“It’s been days. She’s not able to keep any food down.

She’s exhausted, and I don’t know what to do.

I was desperate. We’ve been trying to get in touch with the North Oak Alphas for weeks, but nothing.

Her father would rather the pregnancy never happened.

If he had his way, he would have forced Allison to terminate. ”

I turned to look at him, my eyes wide. “What?! What do you mean?”

A grandparent had no right to decide whether a child was born.

“My father is an Alpha, and he wanted to marry me off to an Alpha of another horde. You know—politics and all that bullshit,” Allison groaned, clutching her stomach.

“Only, Colin and I fell in love and mated without his permission. We’re a fated pairing.

He was going to kill Colin in a rage, so we both fled. ”

Well, that made sense. Political matings weren’t unheard of, though most hordes preferred to mate for love—or find their fated mate. Being pushed into a mating against your will while knowing your true mate? That would be a fate worse than death, in my humble opinion.

“That makes the situation a little more understandable. Why don’t you appeal to the North Oak horde?” I asked, continuing my examination.

“We were going to, like Allison said.” Colin sighed, running a hand through his already mussed hair. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in days. “But they’ve been busy with a bunch of stuff I don’t quite understand, and time was running out. The baby…”

I grimaced, doing my best to hide the expression.

The thing the Alphas were very distracted by was me—but I wasn’t going to say that.

Having their mate reappear after six years, her not remembering who they were, had probably distracted the Alphas from their regular horde work.

And not a small amount of guilt hit me as I saw the very real consequences of that right in front of me.

“Yeah, they have been a bit distracted. But I’ll talk to them once we get you through this labor,” I soothed Allison.

“You would do that for us?” Colin sounded shocked, and, of course, I didn’t blame him. Recently kidnapped people tended to be less helpful, but I quite liked surprising people.

A faint smile tipped my lips, my hands gently gliding over Allison’s bump, observing her closely. “The Alphas just so happen to be my mates, so they listen to me.”

A strangled sound escaped Colin. “I kidnapped the mate of the Alphas of North Oak?” he asked in horror. “I am so fucked. I’m dead. They’re going to chop me up into tiny bits.”

No doubt the Alphas would be pissed, especially given our past.

Sure, Colin had technically done something terrible, but I understood the reason behind it. Allison’s life, and the life of their unborn baby, was at stake, and I knew how painful that could be for any mate.

Desperate times really did call for desperate measures.

I turned briefly to him, giving what I hoped was a reassuring look. “Hey, let’s not worry about that now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, but first, I need to figure out how to help you give birth.” I directed the last sentence at Allison.

She looked at her bump, worry painted over her face. “Is the baby okay?”

“It looks like the baby isn’t in the right position. The head should be down here.” I lightly tapped the bottom of her belly. “Instead, their feet are here.”

“Is that bad?”

“I’m going to be honest with you—it’s not ideal,” I replied, doing my best to keep my voice level.

I needed to remain calm and in control, even though my head was still pounding from being taken.

“Plus, you’re not the only one who’s tired from all this.

It’s hard on the baby, too. But there are some things we can do. ”

“Do it. Do whatever you need to do to make sure they’re safe,” she blurted out.

Her face was flushed red, and sweat dripped down her brow. The poor woman must have been exhausted.

I looked around the cabin at their meager supplies. Saying they didn’t have much was a vast understatement. Back at the clinic, I would have access to herbs and equipment to help the birth move along smoothly.

“Okay, the first thing I’m going to do—that you’re not going to enjoy—is have you stand up and walk around. Colin, this is where you can help Allison,” I said, motioning to the Alpha who was pacing.

“How can I help?” he asked, stepping forward. I almost chuckled, seeing as I’d just told him how he could help. Men tended to lose what little brain cells they had in the birthing room, in my experience.

“I want you to support her as she does a few laps of the cabin. Taking plenty of steps can help encourage the baby into the right position. It may not feel the best, but it’s what’s best for the baby.”

“Let’s do it,” Allison said, holding out her hands to her mate.

He helped her up. When she winced, I could see the suffering on his face, clear as day. My heart ached for them. I could only imagine what my Alphas back at the horde were going through—again.

It was going to be a long freaking day getting this labor to progress, but I had a mission, and I was a healer. This was what I did.

I helped Allison on her other side, catching her eyes and taking a breath. “Okay, here we go.”