Chapter 11 #2
“What do you mean, someone tried to kill her?” Orsen asked. “Maybe she just hit her head? That is, if she truly doesn’t remember. She has our mating bites, for fuck’s sake. She shouldn’t be able to avoid that.”
I understood why Orsen didn’t immediately believe this story.
It seemed… impossible. Then again, our mate, who we’d feared the worst for, was right in front of us.
This all felt like our wildest dreams come true, while still being our worst nightmare.
Someone had tried to hurt Emmy? If that was real, the entire situation was a lot more complicated than we all suspected.
She was going to have quite a bit of trauma to work through.
“Have you even looked at her, asshole?” Griffin growled, sitting straighter, and we all saw how it pained him.
“Haven’t you noticed the scars? She’s covered in them.
It was dragon fire. Someone wanted her dead six years ago; it’s a fucking miracle they failed.
Once she realizes she used to know you, she’s going to run for the hills.
Rowan wants nothing to do with her past life because she barely survived it.
For years she’s traveled the east coast healing.
Never staying in one place too long, and never returning to the west despite it being the only place she’s ever known because she’s terrified that whoever hurt her would find her again. ”
We all froze. No, of course we hadn’t looked at her.
We just met her, but… scars? From dragon fire?
That was impossible. Wasn’t it? Who the hell would do something like that?
Simmering rage warmed my blood, and I couldn’t help but ball my hands into fists.
If someone had hurt Emmy, they needed to pay.
But we knew nothing about the situation. We’d missed so much.
And as much as I hated to admit it, the idea of her leaving again broke my heart. We’d just gotten her back. I didn’t think any of us would cope if she left again.
“She can’t leave,” Orsen announced, everything about him as rigid as steel. “I won’t let her. Emmeline stays with us.”
“Rowan. That’s her name now, and if you don’t learn it quickly, she will never warm up to you.
” Griffin met Orsen’s glare with one of his own, but then it cracked almost immediately, and he sagged against the bed.
“Look, I care about her too. She’s my friend.
I’m trying to protect her, just like you assholes are trying—and potentially failing—to do. ”
Orsen was still on edge, and I could feel it coming from Bastian, too—two glowering peas in a fucking pod.
But this posturing wasn’t going to get us anywhere.
If we wanted Rowan to stay, to remember who we were, what it was like to be part of a clan, we needed to give her a damn good reason to want to.
Greylen shifted closer to the bed, meeting Griff’s eyes in that frank, neutral way of his.
“We need more information about what happened. For her sake and ours. If there is a dragon out there scorching healers, or humans in general, they need to be dealt with. But it’ll all be out in the open.
We aren’t interested in keeping secrets from her, and I hope she won’t be, either.
Like you said, she isn’t the same Emmeline we knew.
We can’t change the past, so we’ll work with what we have in the present. ”
Grey was always very no-nonsense and straight to the point. I had to admit his clear direction was comforting right now. Emotions were running high, and it was going to take someone with a level head—along with someone with way more tact than all the rest of them—to navigate this situation.
I could handle the tact if Grey could help me wrangle the others. “Thank you, Griffin. You’re right. We need to respect who Rowan is now. And jumping to conclusions about what she was doing with you was wrong. We hope you can understand where we’re all coming from. Not an excuse, an explanation.”
Taking a moment, Griffin nodded at me, a long exhale flowing out of his chest. The exhaustion was creeping up on him.
It took a lot of work to heal, and Orsen had done a number on him.
Still, I had to hand it to the guy. He took in the sight of all four of us and didn’t back down.
He didn’t escalate things, either. And it had been damn close with Orsen and Bastian being… well, exactly who they were.
“I get it. Just… If you really love her, if you all actually care, her happiness should come first. Keep that in mind.”
He wasn’t wrong, even if that hurt like a bitch to admit.
I nodded back at him, then dragged the others out of the door. We left the room, wandering toward the kitchen. We were all feeling the pull, the desperate need to return to her, but like before, this wasn’t the time.
Someone had tried to hurt our mate, to kill her.
We would never let that happen again.
I’d lost her once. This time, we were going to be smarter. We weren’t dumb kids anymore. We were four seasoned Alphas.
And our mate belonged right here, where we could keep her safe.