Chapter 32
Rowan
“Rory, you’re looking good.” I beamed as I walked into my little clinic in the woods where Rory was staying.
The young dragon was sitting in the armchair, happily playing some game on his handheld console I didn’t understand in the slightest.
“He’s been eating normally,” Leah told me happily.
Donald was sitting next to her, his arm thrown over her shoulders, also smiling widely. It was so good to see them relaxed, undoubtedly relieved that Rory had improved so much.
“I like to hear that,” I commented, quickly sanitizing my hands before walking over to Rory. “Do you mind if I check you over again? I’ll let you get back to your game as soon as I’m finished.”
Rory sighed in that overdramatic way teenagers were so good at. “Okay, if you have to, but I wanna go back to my game.”
“Rory,” his mother admonished.
“Don’t worry,” I insisted, waving off her concern. “I’m actually glad he’s getting a bit of an attitude. It means he’s feeling better, more like himself.” I placed my fingers on his neck, gently taking his pulse.
And I wasn’t lying, being a bit of a butt was exactly how to tell that a kid or teen was improving.
“His temperature is normal. Everything is pretty much back to where I would like him to be.”
“Does that mean…?” Leah trailed off.
“I think Rory is ready to go home and finish recovering in his own bed.” I smiled. The expression on all three of their faces was priceless.
Rory’s head shot up, and he looked at me hopefully over the top of his Switch. “Really? Like really, really? No more hospital beds? No more crappy food?”
“Well, you can’t be doing any extreme sports, but I don’t see any reason why you can’t rest in your own bed while your parents cook for you and your friends come to visit. They have to visit you though, no going out and running wild. Not for a few weeks at least.”
“Thanks, Miss Rowan!” he said excitedly. “This is awesome!”
“You’ll still be seeing me regularly. I’ll come and check up on you at home, but”—I turned to look at his parents, offering Leah a quick squeeze on the shoulder—“I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.”
“We can’t thank you enough for this,” she said, standing and wrapping her arms around me.
I returned the hug. Having spent so much time with Leah over the last two weeks, I was fond of her.
I was almost sad I wouldn’t be seeing her so much, but that emotion was vastly outweighed by my happiness that Rory was doing better and could start returning back to a somewhat normal day-to-day life.
“It’s what I do. Why don’t you guys take tonight, let Rory get a tiny bit stronger, then tomorrow, you can take him home?”
They both hummed in agreement. We all knew the moment I told Ma that Rory was going home, she would ensure their house was spick-and-span and that a hot meal was waiting for them. A real meal, at that, since I didn’t need to restrict his diet anymore.
“Are you going to be staying, then?” Leah asked.
I nodded. “I’ll be here for at least a few more weeks. There are more dragons who could use my help.”
Their smiles widened. While my initial plan had been to leave as soon as Rory had recovered enough, I knew there was no way I could leave the horde in its current state.
There were so many people coming to see me for treatment that it would be unethical to leave, and there was still the matter of Jenkins to think about.
Something had to be done about his inferior skills.
Leah hugged me again before I ducked out, a satisfied grin on my face. Confident that Rory would be fine, I made my way into the office and threw myself into paperwork. With Kiki’s old journals and a few medical textbooks, I sat at the desk with my legs tucked under me and started reading.
Any time I wasn’t spending actively working with the horde with their various medical issues, I was researching the medications that Jenkins had everyone on.
I was tempted to ask one of the Alphas to force him to give me access to his records so I could see exactly what he was giving each patient, but I had a sneaking suspicion that would be more trouble than it was worth.
After all, I had the pill bottles. I could deduce a lot from that.
The ingredient list on all the pill bottles that the horde had given me was extensive. I’d probably been reading for hours, casually snacking on some of the sour candy that Orsen or Greylen kept putting in my desk, when a fact about one of the medications caught my attention.
Alquins is a synthesized form of Daucus Carota that offers increased potency and ease of storage.
The former was an ingredient in the multivitamin Jenkins had been prescribing for the women to boost their fertility for years, and I wasn’t entirely familiar with it.
Now, Daucus Carota, on the other hand, sounded familiar. Grabbing one of the journals, I started flicking through the pages.
Kiki wasn’t big on using formal names for herbs and plants she used in her healing, but if she knew them, she added them to the journals.
I had spent hours poring over all her journals, night after night, trying to memorize as much as I could.
They were all I had left of Kiki, of her vast knowledge.
While I was grateful for the limited time I’d had with her and for what I learned, I could have used years more just to scratch the surface of her wisdom.
After licking my finger, I quickly flicked through the pages, glancing at various diagrams, painted in delicate watercolors, until I found a familiar white floral.
Queen Ann’s Lace. Otherwise known as Daucus Carota.
My heart sank.
Shit.
That flower, when brewed properly along with a few other herbs, had one well-known use: a contraceptive.
A dry laugh escaped me, bitter and somehow not surprised, as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
The horde’s crackpot doctor had been giving the women multivitamins to help boost their fertility, vitamins that, in his infinite wisdom, contained an ingredient that very much did not help someone get pregnant.
What an idiot! He didn’t even bother to do his research! Or maybe he had, but thought he knew better.
He was damaging the horde almost beyond repair.
I didn’t fully understand advanced, compound, and synthesized medications, but I knew enough to understand that nothing good would come from giving dragons medications commonly used as contraceptives, among the host of other things he’d been prescribing them.
Angered, I slammed the journal shut, pushed away from my desk, and got up, pacing around my little office. This was bad, and it went over my “pay grade.” I was a visiting healer. What was I supposed to do about this?
I was torn. While I didn’t want to rock the boat and cause an even larger disruption than I already had, this was bad. Really bad. The errors weren’t isolated. Jenkins would continue to cause widespread harm to the horde if I did nothing.
But what are you going to do, Rowan? Just… what?
Unable to stay in the clinic with my own thoughts, I made my way to the den. After walking up the stairs and into the building, I made a beeline to the kitchen, nodding politely at any dragons who greeted me along the way.
My head spun with my discovery, my stomach tied up in knots, and my replies were curt, but I didn’t have it in me to be any friendlier, particularly when I was technically keeping something important from everyone.
I had information that would rattle the entire horde, and I had no idea how to go about telling people. Who first? One of the Alphas?
Griffin! He had known me the longest, and he knew firsthand just how good a healer I was. He would listen to me.
“Rowan!” Ma greeted me warmly as I strode into the kitchen, standing over a large pot, stirring it slowly. “Dinner will be ready soon, but I’ve got several snacks and small plates ready to go if you’re hungry and need to get back to work.”
I shook my head, my chest pinching. “No. I’m not hungry. Do you know where Griff is?”
The dining hall was already filling, but I hadn’t seen him in there when I had glanced over there on my way into the building.
Ma paused, running her intent gaze over me. “Rowan?” she asked, putting down the ladle and turning to me. “Griffin has taken some of the young ones exploring. The teenagers were getting into mischief. They should be back soon, but… what’s wrong?”
“I just… I think…”
“Rowan.” Greylen’s smooth voice hit me a moment before his hand reached out from behind, gently resting on my lower back. “Is everything okay?” his brow was furrowed. I was probably radiating stress, and he knew something was off, but being the polite dragon he was, he asked instead of demanding.
He was growing on me… just like the majority of his clanmates.
I sighed and took a deep breath, giving up on the composure I was forcing.
“I don’t think so,” I whispered, even though Ma and Nina, who was also in the kitchen helping, could probably hear me. “We… we need to talk.”
Greylen’s brows pinched together, his head tilting as he regarded me. Nodding, he guided me to the corner of the kitchen, while Ma and Nina watched on with interest but didn’t interrupt us. I would have preferred a different room, but the truth was going to come out eventually.
Grey nodded. “What is it?”
Sighing, I laid it all out. “I’ve been researching the medication that Jenkins has been giving the women. One of the pills he’s been prescribing, claiming it's a multivitamin, actually contains Daucus Carota, more commonly called Queen Anne’s Lace, which is, in fact, a contraceptive.”
Greylen’s brows knitted together again, his expression souring. “You think that’s why the birth rate is low?”
I bobbed my head, my stomach churning. “From what a young dragon told me, he's been giving these medications out like candy to all the women in the horde to ‘help them stay healthy and conceive’, even before they’re mated.”
Reeling, Grey didn’t hide his irritation. “Why would he do that?”
“I don't know, nor do I particularly care at the moment. My concern is ensuring the women stop taking them immediately. If that's toxic enough to mess with their fertility, can you imagine what else it's doing to their health?”
Grey’s eyes widened as the implication of my words hit him. He didn’t ask whether I was certain; he just took my words with a nod, his eyes scanning the space, cogs visibly turning in his head.
“Are you willing to see everyone who’s taking medication?”
“Of course, there’s no way in hell I’m leaving while this is happening.”
“Follow me,” he instructed, grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the dining hall.
“Where are we going?” At first, I assumed he was leading me to his office, or maybe to the other Alphas, but that was quickly refuted as he spoke.
“We need to tell the horde, now. Luckily, a lot of them are gathered for dinner.”
“Wait, are you—” I started to say, but Greylen raised his voice as we entered, cutting me off.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” he asked, voice firm but polite.
Immediately, conversation ceased. Everyone turned to look at the Alpha, some of them putting down their cutlery, while others continued to chew their food. All eyes were on us, and Grey was still holding my hand.
“I’m sorry to disturb your meal. I won't keep you guys very long. Some things have recently come to my attention, and I want to strongly encourage anybody who has been prescribed medication from Doctor Jenkins to see Rowan this week and get a full medical review.”
“Why?” one dragon asked, worry obvious in her voice.
Greylen looked at me, dipping his head in a silent invitation to take the floor. I took a deep breath, knowing I didn't want to lie but that the truth would likely cause chaos. Still, there was no way to correct the problem without the information getting out. It was now or never.
“Some of the synthesized medicines that you are taking have ingredients harmful to dragons,” I explained. “For instance, the vitamins that a lot of you take, especially those who want to conceive, contain a compound that actually renders a female dragon infertile. It’s a contraceptive.”
Voices rose as everyone started talking at a quick-fire pace, panic and outrage swirling up to the rafters.
The silence that had absorbed the room while Greylen spoke was well and truly shattered.
All I could do was stand there, terrified by the chaos I’d caused but knowing it had to be done.
I wasn’t a leader, though. I was a healer, and standing brave in front of a crowd on the verge of explosion wasn’t my strong suit.
“How can we know that she’s right?” another male dragon called out. “Jenkins says she doesn’t know anything, and he’s been here for years!”
God, I knew something like this was going to happen. Jenkins had loyal followers here, and I was the newbie, a human healer they didn’t know.
“But we haven’t gotten pregnant!” a familiar voice called out, and Celia stood up. “We’ve been trying for years with no luck. That can’t be a coincidence, and so many of us have felt worse since taking those vitamins.”
My heart squeezed, wanting to rush over and give her a hug for standing up for me. Still, too many voices were calling out, some even going so far as to blame the “damn human” for their problems.
Grey stepped forward, raising a hand as he growled low. “I am your Alpha, and you will settle down. I trust this healer implicitly. Jenkins is—”
“I’m what?”
The room fell into silence as the doctor in question stormed through the massive doors at the far end of the dining hall. I glared, squeezing my hands into fists just looking at the quack who was harming this horde.
“Jenkins, just the dragon I was looking for.” Grey’s brows rose as I looked at him, and then I noticed who was behind the older dragon in question. “And my fellow Alphas. How about we take this conversation somewhere a bit more private?”
The others stood behind Jenkins, quickly scooping him up before he could make a break for it. The horde was still in hushed silence as the clan walked past them, joining Grey and me. Greylen gestured toward another door, and I followed as he brought Jenkins along for a much-needed conversation.