Rowan
“Stop scratching at it!” I said, batting Nix’s hand away from the bandage on his shoulder.
For someone who had recently demonstrated just how well he could take orders when Bastian and I were with him, he was abysmal at it now. In fact, he’d been terrible at listening to the healer in the room the entire time I was patching him up.
“But it itches,” Nix whined pathetically, frowning at me like I was going to be sympathetic.
Thankfully, my mate hadn’t been harmed too much.
There had been a slight scuffle when they had arrived at the cabin.
From what I understood, Cyrus had managed to get away from them by setting fire to the cabin.
Nix was sporting a rather impressive burn on his shoulder, but thank God, it was a normal one, and not dragon fire, so in a few days, he would be as good as new.
Gotta love that advanced dragon healing.
I smacked his hand again, glaring at him. “You can’t scratch it. It’ll make it worse.”
“But, Rowan!” he whined, and I rolled my eyes, feeling slightly less than sympathetic.
“Zip it, or I’ll put the stinky ointment on it,” I threatened, pointing at the container resting on the counter.
Nix wagged his brows at me. “You could kiss it better…”
Reeling back, I scrunched my nose. “I’m not kissing your burn.”
“No, you kiss me! I’m pretty sure your kisses have magical healing properties, and by simply making out with me, you’re gonna help me get better faster.”
I frowned, trying to hold back a smile at my mate’s antics.
“Did you give him that strong painkilling stuff you gave me?” Bastian asked, walking into the room from the hallway. He’d clearly overheard Nix’s begging.
“Nope, I haven’t given him anything for the pain yet because I’ve been focusing on making sure he doesn’t get an infection. He’s this irritating all on his own.” I turned and smiled at Bastian, who gave me a knowing grin.
“Me? Irritating? You are all crazy!” my golden retriever Alpha grumbled, making me laugh, unable to keep it in anymore.
“Well, you’re about to get a dose of painkillers, so you’re going to be extra irritating.” I giggled, scrunching my nose playfully at him.
“So, kisses, then? Because kisses are—”
I clamped my hand over his mouth so he’d stop talking.
“No. The medical-grade kind that will actually help. Just do me a favor and don’t take the lot like our boy Bastian here.
I’m not dealing with that twice. And shifting right now would be a terrible idea.
” Nix started kissing my hand messily. I yanked it away, laughing as I wiped at the excessive saliva on the bed.
“Freak,” I muttered, walking to the cupboard. I gathered up what I’d need to make the painkiller tea and set it all out. “Bastian, could you put the hot water on?”
He nodded. Coming into the room behind him was Orsen. He looked exhausted, his shoulders hanging, and I smiled sympathetically.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get him,” Orsen said, pulling me into a hug and burying his face in my neck, which was impressive, considering how much he needed to crane over me to do so.
“I’m sure you will next time. Cyrus knows every nook and cranny of the horde lands. It’ll take a bit of time to smoke him out. I’m safe here. Samuel and Grey never left my side.”
“Good.” Orsen nodded, kissing the top of my head. “No one was hurt too badly, that’s the main thing.”
Bastian came in with a mug of hot water a moment later. I carefully added the herbs so that we could get Nix a bit of relief. Letting it steep for a minute, I stirred it, blowing over the top as I walked up to Nix.
“All right, here. Sip at this till it’s gone. And don’t burn your tongue.”
Smiling, Nix saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”
I rolled my eyes, watching him drink the liquid before I grabbed the cup, taking the cup to the sink. Orsen narrowed his eyes at Nix as we waited for the drugs to do their thing, as I sidled up to him again, and he wrapped his arms around me.
“Where is Grey?” I asked, craning my neck to look at Orsen. He had been with me while I was treating Nix, but the moment I let him know his clanmate was in the clear, he’d stormed off.
“Triple-checking all the security cameras, and if I’m not mistaken, installing more.”
“Aren’t there already a million security cameras here?” I asked, chuckling as I pictured Grey at his computer, sending young dragons up on ladders to install even more security cameras.
“There are!” Nix said dopily, the tea clearly starting to affect him. “But I don’t know if you know this, but Grey is a little bit of a control freak. He’s scared that anyone else could have access to the cameras, so he wants to have even more that only he knows the codes to.”
I gave Orsen a pointed look, but he just shrugged. “If it protects you, I support it.”
“Fair enough.” I looked around the clinic, sighing. “This place is a disaster. I need to clean up and put things back where I’ll know where to find them. I’ll keep an eye on Nix here.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Bastian jerked his head toward Nix. “In case… you know.”
“He’s in bed. I think we’ll be okay. You two get some rest and food. We’ll be just fine. And you can check on us in a little bit.”
After a bit of grousing, the two of them left me with Nix, and I set about tidying up the clinic. Nix fell asleep in moments, and I was left to the quiet of the room after all that chaos.
Ma was having more lucid moments. She had woken up that morning and cursed Cyrus out with some of the most colorful language I had ever heard. She had resisted when I tried to give her pain medication, but eventually she relented and was once again sleeping deeply.
Two people I loved were in my clinic, and I didn’t feel good about it.
I had never felt safe and secure when I knew nothing of my past, but this was a different kind of fear. Knowing exactly what I was up against.
As I tidied the herbs and cleaned up the carnage I had left behind while treating Nix, my hand paused on a vial.
Hellabore.
There were several varieties of the one I had, with medicinal properties and that weren’t poisonous, but plenty were highly toxic.
Seeing it gave me pause.
I was a human: weak and powerless.
Only, I wasn’t.
I didn’t have claws or wings, but I had a lot of profound medical knowledge that most dragons didn’t.
Staring at the vial, I chewed on my lip. I could easily formulate something to protect myself with. There were plenty of herbs that were helpful to dragons, but if combined could be highly toxic. If Cyrus ever came near me again, I could put him in the ground with a single vial.
Shaking my head, I put the vial back.
Yes, I could easily make something deadly, but surely that would make me just as bad as Cyrus. I was a healer; my job was to help people, not to harm them.
Then again, I couldn’t heal anyone if I were murdered by a psychotic Alpha with a grudge.
Sighing, I closed the cabinet.
As I passed Nix’s room, where he snoozed away, snoring loudly, I made a mental checklist of all the herbs and ointments in my clinic and their various uses. Being prepared was exponentially better than being caught off guard again.
Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
A few things I had were lethal in high doses, but those would be extremely hard to administer.
I needed to do some shopping.