Chapter 14
Rowan
Ididn’t know what had come over me, but I’d been overwhelmed by the need to show Greylen my scars.
He had to understand who I was, not the person I used to be.
The girl in the picture he’d shown me was sweet, innocent, and pure.
But the masses of unmarked skin had left a sour taste in my mouth.
I’d experienced too much pain to ever be that carefree again.
The scarring was a part of me. I’d never struggled to accept it, because I’d never known life without it.
It was a small silver lining to having no memory.
But seeing that carefree girl sitting on a dock…
stung. Anger settled in my stomach—a bitter resentment toward the girl I used to be.
Sure, acceptance of my scars was one thing, but I still knew the pain associated with them, still understood how different they made me.
Fuck. I needed therapy.
Or a drink.
Maybe both.
These four Alphas seemed convinced I was their mate, but even if I had been, I was no longer the same. I was scarred, damaged. They needed to understand that.
Ignoring the thudding of my heart, I made my way toward the doctor’s office. I desperately needed a distraction, and checking on my patients would provide just that. After jogging up the wooden steps to the office cabin, I avoided Jenkins’s office and veered right into Rory’s room.
The overly clean, bleach smell was gone, thankfully. They’d listened to my suggestion to open the windows and let the kid have some fresh air. My nose greatly appreciated it, so I could only imagine how Rory’s sensitive dragon nose was feeling.
“Hey.” I smiled as I entered the room. Rory was propped up on a small mountain of pillows. His brunette curls stuck to his forehead as he slowly sipped on the tea his mother was giving him.
“Miss Rowan,” his mother greeted warmly. “He’s loving the tea, managed three whole cups today, and he’s shivering less.”
She turned to her son with a look of relief I hadn’t seen since I’d arrived. “This is the nice healer I told you about, Rory.”
“This is yummy,” he muttered weakly, taking a small sip of the tea.
“That’s because of all the honey.” I chuckled, crossing the room to the bottle of sanitizer and pumping some onto my hands before making my way over to Rory. “You’re looking good. How are you feeling?”
With my hand on his forehead, I used the old-school trick to check his temp first. He was warm; then again, dragons usually ran on the hotter side.
More importantly, he was no longer clammy to the touch, a good sign that his fever was subsiding.
Considering he was happily drinking the tea, I didn’t see the need to interrupt him and take his temp orally. It could wait.
Rory frowned. “I still don’t feel good. But I feel less ‘not good’ than I did yesterday. You know?” His brow furrowed in confusion as he tried his best to find the right words, unknowingly putting it in the perfect way.
“That makes total sense to me.” I smiled, laying a hand on his knee and squeezing to reassure him. “I’m sorry you’re not feeling great, but we’ll get you there soon enough. You’re making excellent progress. You’ll be back to causing chaos and stealing cookies from Ma in no time.”
“He’s stopped taking all the medications from Dr. Jenkins,” his mother said, nodding decisively.
“Sometimes, the old ways are the best ways. There’s a reason the dragons of old had such strong hordes.
We have plenty we can learn from them. Now, I think, as you’re managing to keep the tea down, we should start working on soup.
Get a little more nutrition into you. Dragons eat a lot, especially growing dragons. ”
“I’ll be a big dragon, based on how much I usually eat.” Rory laughed lightly.
“Probably,” I agreed. “Who’s the biggest dragon here?”
That smile of his brightened, and he sat a little taller. “Alpha Orsen!”
I nodded, trying my best to keep a smile on my face at the mention of him. I’d walked into that one. The horde leaders were usually the largest dragons because they were responsible for protecting everyone and keeping them safe from outside threats.
“Well, maybe you’ll be even bigger!” I chuckled.
Rory’s eyes widened, and he swiftly started drinking the tea again, as if he might start growing, right there, on the spot.
I turned to his mother. “Have you managed to get some rest?”
She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes, and her skin was paler than it had been when I had arrived a few days prior. That was the thing about caring for someone: you needed to take care of yourself too.
“I’ll rest when my son is better,” she whispered.
“Leah,” I said, keeping my tone gentle, “you need to sleep. If Rory keeps improving like this, he’s going to need you to be energized when he comes home.”
Those first few days were always vital to recovery, and I wasn’t about to treat his mom for exhaustion when her son was finally improving.
Leah nodded. “I know, I know. I just don’t want to leave him.”
The medical room was pretty large, though.
“I totally understand,” I said, walking around to her. “How about I ask Ma to bring in a bed. If anyone can get a few of the younger dragons to do something, it’s her. That way, you can sleep when Rory sleeps without leaving him.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “W-would you be okay with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Being near Rory is what’s best for you, and what’s best for you is also what’s best for him. He needs his mother at least a little rested so she can help him heal.”
“It’s just…” She trailed off uncomfortably.
“What?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, suspicion nagging at my nerves.
“Dr. Jenkins doesn’t like visitors and always refuses overnight guests,” she admitted, her stare going to the floor. “I don’t want to rock the boat.”
“Well, I’m not Dr. Jenkins. One moment,” I said pointedly, pulling out my phone.
Nix picked up on the first ring. “You called, my sweet, beautiful angel?”
I rolled my eyes, my stomach clenching. “I’m ignoring that. I need you to override Jenkins on something for me.”
Leah’s eyes widened.
“Whatever you need. Actually, one moment.” There was scuffling and movement down the line, and in a few seconds, Nix walked through the door, his blond curls bouncing as he bounded in like a walking ray of sunshine.
“You called?” he asked with a cheesy grin, and I had to laugh.
I should have been peeved, but something about that smile hit me in the gut. And fuck, I wanted to smile with him. It was infectious. Everything about him was like that, this bright, shiny energy that oozed “let me serve you.”
“How close were you?” I asked.
“I’ll always be close by, princess.” He beamed, not shy in the slightest.
I narrowed my eyes, fighting the grin creeping up my lips. “That’s called stalking.”
Nix shrugged, sliding over to stand next to me. “I call it being a good mate.”
A small squeak escaped Leah, and I shot my eyes to her, my heartbeat accelerating.
“Mate?” she asked, looking between us.
Nix nodded at Leah, still grinning. “It’s a long story.
We’re still figuring it out, so I would appreciate it if you don’t go telling the whole horde just yet, because we know how they love to gossip.
” I kept my tone light, but my chest constricted.
While it was inevitable it would get out, I wanted to avoid it for a while, hopefully long enough for me to figure out what the hell was going on myself.
“O-of course.”
“Alpha Phoenix!” Rory smiled weakly, trying his best to get excited.
“Looking good, Rory!” Nix walked up to the bed and ruffled his hair in a surprisingly gentle move. “You look like you’re a little better.”
Rory bobbed his head. “Still really sleepy, though.”
“I love sleep.” Nix nodded seriously. “It’s very important. If I could nap all day, I totally would.”
I snorted. Of course, he would. Nix seemed more and more like a floppy-eared, oversized puppy each time I saw him.
“So, what can I help with, Rowan?” he asked, turning to me.
“Can you move in a bed? I want Leah to be able to sleep here and look after Rory. Jenkins has a thing about overnights, but that’s bullshit—especially when we’re talking about a child.”
Rory giggled, his eyes wide as he rolled his lips between his teeth. “She said a cuss word. I like her.”
Nix frowned, looking around the room at Leah and Rory.
“I don’t want to be a bother, Al—”
Nix waved off Leah’s words. “You are a member of our horde; your needs are never a bother. I didn’t realize the old”—he broke off, glancing at Rory, clearly choosing his next word carefully—“man wasn’t allowing overnights. I’ll get a bed in here ASAP.”
He pulled out his phone and texted someone. Gratitude filled me, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Nix did have a way about him.
“But I—” Leah started, her face a mask of worry.
“You just look after Rory,” Nix told her with a good-natured smile. “Leave this to me.”
Leah’s body relaxed, the tension seeping from her muscles, making her sag in her seat. “Thank you.”
Nix and I went out into the entryway of the doctor’s office, giving Leah some time with her son.
“She’s exhausted,” I said.
Nix grimaced. “Hopefully, a bed will help, but let’s be honest, nothing will help more than Rory getting better. How is he doing, honestly?”
His expression was uncharacteristically serious. At the end of the day, he was one of the Alphas of the horde. The health of his people probably weighed heavily on him, even if he didn’t admit it.
I thought for a moment, choosing my words carefully. “He’s improving. I think taking him off all the man-made medications is helping.”
“There’s no denying that. The kid’s hardly been lucid for the last two weeks. Now he’s able to string a few sentences together. You really are amazing, you know that?”
“I haven’t done much yet,” I pointed out. “Just stopped what Jenkins is doing.”
Nix shrugged, “Well, it’s making a big difference.”
My eyes dropped to the floor, unable to hold his intense, almost adoring gaze. I was used to being appreciated and even revered by dragons—any decent healer was because we were so few and far between.
The moment of quiet was interrupted when Jenkins walked through the door. Wearing his white lab coat, his gray hair slicked back, his face morphed into a scowl the moment he saw me.
“Why are you still here?” he asked in a wholly unpleasant tone, directed entirely at me like he hadn’t even noticed the Alpha standing by my side. Regardless of what he thought about me, he should have at least had a little more respect around Nix.
After the last twenty-four hours, I was emotionally strung out. My ability to deal with the old dragon’s crap was at an all-time low.
Casually, I shrugged. “I’m just looking after my patient.”
“And waiting for a bed to be delivered,” Nix added helpfully.
Jenkins eyes widened. “A bed? Why are you having a bed delivered to my facility?”
His use of the term facility made me want to gag. Never in my wildest dreams would I be such a territorial dick toward someone who was helping.
Then again, he thought I was nothing more than a hindrance.
“Because Leah needs somewhere to sleep.” I pointed out the obvious in a monotone voice. Thanks to Nix standing right next to me, I was a little more empowered to look at him like the total moron he was.
“She has a house,” Jenkins sneered.
Yes. That was his retort.
“Why, yes, she does, but her sick son isn’t at her house.”
“Wait, she’s staying here?” Jenkins spluttered, looking between Nix and me. Personally, I was surprised it had taken him that long to catch on, but I refrained from saying anything. “You can’t—”
“I approved it,” Nix said coolly, stopping Jenkins in his tracks.
“But, Phoenix, I know—”
“I agree with Rowan. We will not be keeping a mother away from her sick child.”
“He needs to rest!” Jenkins insisted.
“And you think he can’t rest with his mother near?”
“She’s flapping around, sobbing, and causing disturbances!” Jenkins hissed.
I clenched my hands into fists at my side. The urge to swing at this dragon was growing by the minute.
“I suggest you watch how you talk about a distressed mother,” Nix said, his voice taking on that dangerous edge that made Jenkins stand up straighter.
“I didn’t mean it like that. This girl is getting everyone worked up. I simply want what is best for Rory.”
Nix cocked his head to the side. “Well, what is best for Rory is to follow Rowan’s orders. You had your chance to help him, and you couldn’t.”
The doctor’s face turned red. “Now—”
He was stopped in his tracks as Bastian came in, hauling something in his arms like it was nothing, a number of younger dragons behind him with similar pieces, and then a mattress.
Bastian stood in the doorway as the others passed by, with what I realized was a headboard in his arms.
“Alpha Bastian…” Jenkins watched the dragons walk down the hallway to Rory’s room.
“Jenkins, good to see you.”
The doctor, knowing he was outnumbered, grumbled something and quickly stormed out of the room.
“He really hates me, doesn’t he?” I asked.
Nix shrugged. “Eh, so what? Come on, let’s get Leah set up.” He grabbed my hand, dragging me back to Rory’s room.
In a matter of minutes, there was a sturdy, wooden twin bed along the far wall of Rory’s room as Leah stood in the doorway, watching in disbelief.
When these dragons wanted something done, they got to it quickly. I knew Jenkins would be pissed, but if I was honest with myself, I was actually pretty damn tickled about it.
“Thank you,” she whispered, turning to Bastian.
“Don’t thank us, Leah. We’ve been neglecting the horde for far too long. It’s time to start focusing on what matters.” Bastian didn’t meet my eye as he spoke, focusing entirely on the sleep-deprived mother. “We’ll get you all set up.”
When they were finished, Bastian nodded at Nix, stepping out of the room without another word. If I hadn’t already spent a bit of time with him, I would assume he was being rude as hell, but I quickly realized that was just how Bastian was.
And, unsurprisingly, his actions spoke louder than his words, which I was very grateful for.
“Thank you,” I called after him.
He swiveled his head to meet my stare over his shoulder. “Of course.”
That was it. That was all he said, and then Bastian disappeared.