9. Rowan
Rowan
Iwas half falling asleep at my desk when Nix appeared in the doorway. He was looking far too good, as always. Blue jeans and a white T-shirt that clung to his skin, showing off all the defined muscles in his arms. Combined with the blond, wavy locks, he looked like a god.
“You’ve been here every day,” he commented, crossing his arms.
After running a hand through my hair, I shrugged. “Jenkins left a lot of work for me.”
Nix frowned, the corners of his mouth turning down. I knew I had my work cut out for me, but I was enjoying helping the horde. Only, a bone-deep weariness I hadn’t felt in a very long time dogged me.
“You can’t do everything all at once, Rowan. You need rest, too.”
I eyed him pointedly. “Well, considering I’m the only healer here, I beg to differ.”
Nix sighed, stepping into the room. “How did Kiki handle it all in the Southern Dust Lands?”
I paused, turning in my office chair to look at him more clearly. I racked through the memories cataloged in my brain, trying to remember what I’d seen back then.
“With a lot of help. There were probably six dragons who regularly lent a hand. Also, Kiki was on top of things. It was a whole different situation. People were regularly getting good care, so there wasn’t a huge influx of patients because a bad doctor had left the horde in shambles.”
Nix grimaced. “That makes sense. How tired are you, though? You can’t work if you’re falling asleep on patients.”
I waved my hand. “Oh, I’m exhausted, but I can keep going.”
Nix cocked his head to the side. “Too tired to go on a little adventure with me?”
I sat a little straighter. “What sort of adventure are you talking about?”
A slow grin spread across his face. “I’ve got to go into Oak Ridge, the nearest town, to get a few things. It’s nearly a two-hour drive, but we can go to the ice cream parlor. I would ask the others to come, but everyone is busy or being a grumpy asshole. You are much more enticing company.”
“You’re not going to catch me saying no to that!” I exclaimed with a genuine smile. “It also means I can go to a few health stores and pick up extra supplies.”
Nix bounced on his feet. “Do you think the horde will survive without you for a few hours?”
“I think they will,” I confirmed with a chuckle, picking up my phone and dialing Nina’s number.
“Hello, beautiful, mystical Rowan,” she said after the first ring.
I couldn’t fight my snort of laughter. “Well, that’s a greeting if I ever heard one.”
“It felt great in the moment, so I just went with it.” I could practically hear her shrug. “What can I do for you?”
“Do I have any patients coming in for the next few hours?”
“Let me check.” She rustled papers down the line. She was in the main house with Ma instead of in the clinic with me. “Not many. Looks like it’s a pretty easy morning that I could easily rearrange.”
“Would you do that for me?” I smiled across at Nix. “I think I’m going into town.”
From the doorway, Nix’s grin brightened to an almost blinding level.
“I’ll have that done in the next half hour,” Nina assured me. “Go have a little bit of fun.”
“Apparently, there’s going to be an ice cream parlor involved, so I definitely will.” I laughed.
“Oh, that place is amazing! You’re going to love it.” Nina giggled.
As a rule of thumb, dragons didn’t leave the horde lands often, but the occasional trip into town was okay, even if it was a bit of a drive. There were no real laws against it, but most dragons tended to prefer staying with their own, where they didn’t have to hide.
After putting the phone down, I turned to Nix, whose smile had stretched to dazzling proportions.
“Let’s go on a date, princess,” he said.
“Who said this is a date?” I furrowed my brow at him, slowly getting up from my desk, fighting my own smile.
“There’s just the two of us, and we’re getting ice cream. I think that constitutes a date.” He beamed.
Well, shit. He had a point. I guess it did.
Despite it being a sort-of-date, I didn’t have much time to prepare. Nix practically dragged me out of the clinic, so my messy bun and T-shirt-and-jeans combo would have to do.
Part of me had considered wearing something a little more professional when I’d officially started as the horde’s healer, but I had so much work to do that comfort was more important than professionalism.
If I had scrubs, I’d be wearing them. Given the situation, however, I didn’t think anyone doubted my abilities.
“This better be good ice cream,” I warned as I climbed into the cab of Nix’s truck.
“It is glorious ice cream,” he confirmed with a serious nod. “In fact, it’s so good, there’s a cooler in the back of the truck so we can bring some back.”
“Smart man.” I smiled.
He preened at my praise, turning his attention to the road. “I think we’re going to have to get you a private freezer for the clinic, though. If we put this in the main kitchen, someone’s going to pilfer it.”
“That someone being you?” I teased, raising my brows at him.
He pursed his lips, tilting his head to the side playfully. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility. But I’d find some way to repay you.”
A snort escaped me.
As we drove down the winding roads out of the forest and toward the town, I kept checking my phone, responding to messages about my patients. Several of them had questions, and Nina was trying her best to assist them.
Nix leaned over, taking one of my hands. The contact felt nice.
“Put your phone down. You can go a few hours without working. The horde will be fine,” he assured me.
“Nina’s doing what she can, but it’s a lot without me there.” I reflexively looked at the screen again.
“I know it is. You’re taking on so much. That’s why you need a few hours off. If you don’t get some rest soon, you’re going to go crazy. Burnout is a real thing, you know.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure I’m already crazy for taking on the entire horde’s health care as a single human.”
Nix chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you did that as a big fuck you to Jenkins.”
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, that was part of it.” I laughed, leaning back in my seat. “But also, I really care about the horde. I want them to be healthy.”
He squeezed my hand, that dazzling smile on full display. “They’re good people. They deserve it.”
Letting out a huff, I tilted my head with a much-needed stretch. I didn’t even realize that the relaxed position meant my breasts stuck out until Nix looked over, his eyes landing squarely on my chest.
Usually, I would have made a snarky comment, but there was something about the heat in his eyes that made me pause. I had to admit, I kind of liked it.
“Eyes on the road, buddy.” I laughed, gesturing in front of us.
“Oh, sorry.” He shook his head like he was physically trying to shake the thought out of his brain. “Having seen you without a shirt, I know what’s under there. It’s very hard to concentrate. You’re a highly distracting woman.”
“Considering our past, which I don’t remember, you should know them very well.”
“Oh, trust me, I know them extremely well.” Nix’s tone could only be described as proud. “I was pretty sure I knew every freckle and curve of those beauties. Then again, it’s been so long, I think it’s only fair that I reacquaint myself with them thoroughly.”
I chuckled. He was so smooth, I almost allowed it. I had no doubt I would enjoy his relearning, especially given what I already knew about him.
“Maybe later,” I taunted. “I don’t feel like crashing.”
“I’ll take it.” He beamed, sneaking another look at me before exaggeratedly turning back to the road.
The time flew by as we drove into town, the two of us making easy conversation about what we expected in the horde, from the clinic and heightened security to Ma’s plans for dinner. It felt incredibly normal. And, God, I didn’t realize how much I’d needed that.
“Griffin is excited about getting his cabin,” I added, remembering how much he’d talked my ear off about it.
Nix snorted. “The man’s smart. He leveraged his beatdown to get a damn good place. I am thoroughly impressed.”
I squinted, probing a little. “He said it was old, though. Just how old is it? Does it need a little work? Or are we talking—”
“Oh, it needs a complete overhaul. That thing has been in the horde longer than I have.”
“Ha! Oh no. And just how long have you been in the horde?” I assumed he’d been with them his entire life. My attention was certainly piqued.
“Well, I didn’t grow up there.”
“Are you from one of the neighboring hordes?” It wasn’t unusual for dragons to move hordes, especially if they found what they felt was their clan or their mate.
Nix snorted. “No, not at all, actually. I was a foster kid. I never knew my biological parents.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I replied, my chest burning at the thought of little Nix all on his own.
He shook his head, shrugging. “It’s no big deal. I didn’t know any different. But when I was a teenager, things started happening…” He trailed off.
“Oh fuck,” I whispered.
Dragons began their first shift in their early teenage years. If Nix had been in the public foster system with humans who had no idea what dragons were, well, that could get messy.
“Yeah, it was less than ideal,” Nix admitted.
“I was fourteen when my first shift happened, and I was fucking terrified. I didn’t know what was going on.
Luckily, my foster parents were away at the time, so they didn’t see it happen.
Not that they were particularly good foster parents. They were just using me as a cash cow.”
I squeezed his hand tighter. “Nix, I’m so sorry. That must have been so scary.”
“A bit,” he admitted, his face devoid of its usual smile as the memory took hold. “I had no idea what was going on, but I had enough sense to make it to the woods. Honestly, I thought I was either dying or hallucinating. I’d probably been out there on my own for a few hours when Bastian appeared.”
“Bastian?” I shot Nix a look, my mouth falling open.
“Yeah, he found me in the woods, freaking out in dragon form. I had no idea what I was, so I kept crashing into trees and causing damage. I couldn’t really see myself, but I knew something was different.
Then Bastian flew into a clearing nearby, also in dragon form.
I freaked out even more because, well, shit, there was a dragon in front of me.
That’s not exactly something I was ready to learn. ”
I stared. “Of all the dragons you could have met, Bastian was your introduction? Rough.”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice. I mean, I would have preferred a smaller, cuter, even a fluffy dragon.
But Bastian? He was possibly the best person for me at that moment.
At first, he spent a good ten minutes yelling at me while I was still in dragon form and he was in human form.
We must have been a hilarious sight—me as a dragon freaking out, and Bastian just standing there shouting at me with his junk flapping in the breeze. ”
I snorted at that mental image. “How on earth do you guys deal with that?”
“Bastian realized pretty quickly that I had no idea what was going on. Even in dragon form, I think my panic and confusion were obvious. So, after a few minutes, he started talking me through how to shift back. It took a while, but I eventually got the hang of it. He got a pair of shorts for each of us from his car. We sat in the forest together and made a fire while he told me everything.”
I couldn’t imagine Bastian being so… brotherly. The man didn’t possess a wealth of compassion, as far as I was concerned. But I didn’t interrupt, letting Nix speak freely.
“It was a lot to take in, but he was patient and answered every single one of my questions. When we were done, he got up, held out his hand, and said, ‘Let’s go home.’ He took me back to the horde, where there were plenty of dragons who talked to me about what I was going through.
Overnight, I gained an entire family—something I had never really had before, while I was bouncing around the system.
I didn’t look back. On my first night at North Oak Ma fed me, and basically bossed everyone around until I had a room, a wardrobe full of clothes, and everything else I could possibly need. ”
“Wow. I can’t imagine how hard that was to deal with. Well…” I thought about waking up with Kiki, no clue what was going on or how I’d gotten there. “I suppose I can a little.”
“Hmmm.” Nix bobbed his head in agreement, a small smile lifting his cheek. “I guess so, in some ways. A crash course on dragons. We can give people pointers on how to be better at it.”
I laughed, rolling my eyes as we got closer to town. “I hope those aren’t too popular, but we certainly could.”
The road zoomed past us, and Nix steered the conversation back to what we needed to pick up in town, aside from ice cream. It was something special to learn all that about him, and even more so, I was damn curious about this caring side of Bastian that currently seemed so impossible.
My disappearance back then really did a number on them all. I guess I just didn’t realize how much Bastian, in particular, had changed. I couldn’t help but wonder whether irreparable damage had been done.