Chapter 34
Rowan
The last thing I remembered was curling up on the movie chair with Grey, and then I woke up the following morning wrapped around him.
My mind fought me as I slowly regained consciousness. My sleep had been deep and peaceful, the kind that one struggled to drag themselves out of. Gods, there was probably drool under my chin and creases on my face from the pillow.
Only, I wasn’t sleeping on a pillow.
My face was pressed against Grey’s chest, my legs wrapped around his. One of his arms was under my head, the other draped casually over my waist.
It turned out sleeping tangled with a dragon was optimal for a good night’s rest. Who would’ve thought?
“Morning,” he said in a rough, tired voice.
I looked up at him, biting my lip. “Crap, sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
“I didn’t mind.” He stretched lazily. “I don’t know about you, but that was some of the best sleep I’ve ever had.”
For a moment, I just chewed on my lip, trying to decide whether I should admit how well I’d slept too. Before I had come to North Oak my dreams had often been plagued by nightmares. Usually something to do with the unknowns in my past.
Grey, ever the gentleman, spoke instead. “We probably should go down for breakfast.”
Reaching over me, he plucked his phone from the small table next to the sectional and lifted it to his face. His brows shot up as he laughed, eyes wide, his chest rumbling against me.
“What’s so funny?” My stomach dropped, feeling self-conscious.
“Well, it looks like we missed breakfast. It’s nearly one in the afternoon.”
“What?” I screeched, jolting upright. “How on earth did I manage to sleep that late?”
Greylen stretched once again, yawning loudly. “You needed the rest, Rowan. You’ve been running yourself ragged, helping the horde.”
“I know I’ve been a bit nonstop, but they need my care. I’ll sleep when everything’s a bit better,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. At least what little sleep I had been getting had been good quality, devoid of nightmares.
I had a feeling that after the truth about Jenkins’s medication had been discovered, I was going to have even more patients. So many of them had been taking that crap for years, I needed to figure out if there were any long-term consequences.
Grey stood up after a moment, holding out his hand to me. “Come on, let’s go get some food. The least I can do is feed you.”
“That is the bare minimum,” I agreed, grinning and taking his hand.
“I just want you to know, I really do appreciate what you said yesterday. About staying,” he said, his voice soft.
My throat felt dry as I tried to swallow, searching for the words. With him so close, only a few inches away, it was difficult to form a single thought, let alone a sentence.
“I meant it,” I spoke finally, nodding once. “I’m here until the horde is better.”
A strange expression washed over Grey’s face. I couldn’t parse out whether it was relief or regret, but before I could ask, he was leading me out the door.
I’d only taken two or three bites of my sandwich when Kellan came running through the door. “Is Healer Rowan here?” he shouted, his breathing short and fast. Upon hearing my name, I put the food down and looked across the dining hall.
A few people looked around, their eyes landing on me. I raised my hand, given my mouth was full of the delicious sandwich Ma had rustled up.
As Kellan jogged over, I swallowed, wiping my mouth. “Is everything okay?”
He was pale, his eyes wide and panicked, and all thought of food disappeared. Something was wrong. “You need to come quickly. Rory’s gotten worse again.”
My stomach dropped, my heart stuttered, and my skin went cold. I shook my head, almost thinking this was some kind of sick joke. But Kellan looked terrified.
“What do you mean, Rory is worse?” I quickly discarded my plate and stood so fast I nearly tripped over the bench. The kid had been better, practically one hundred percent. He had only just gone home. He had even been giving me attitude. How could he have gotten worse all of a sudden?
Kellan led me out of the room, and I vaguely heard Grey at my heels, naturally he was following to see what was happening.
“We have no idea. He was doing so well, and then this morning, he’s just…
He’s bad again, like real bad. We took him straight to your clinic, thinking you’d be there, but… ” He trailed off.
I silently cursed. Clearly, I had picked the best possible day to sleep in with a dragon cuddle buddy.
“You did the right thing, taking him to the clinic,” I said, trying to provide some level of reassurance.
“What do we do, Miss Rowan?”
“Don’t panic. I’m going to look him over. Everything I could possibly need is at the clinic.” I sprinted behind him, breathless.
I could only go so fast, and I knew it was starting to irritate Kellan in his panicked state, but he didn’t say anything. He paused every few strides to wait for me to catch up.
“Forgive me, Rowan, but there’s no time for slow humans,” Grey said, reminding me he was there. He scooped me up bridal style and took off into the woods with impressive speed.
A fifteen-minute walk turned into a three-minute one, and thank fuck for that. The trees whizzed past me faster than if we’d driven.
Still, my stomach was swirling. I wasn’t sure if the nausea was because of my worry for Rory or the speed. But we made it to the clinic in record time. I didn’t even bother thanking Grey as I dashed through the entry, past reception and into Rory’s room.
“Leah, Donald, what happened?” I headed straight to the bed where Rory was lying on his side in the fetal position, clutching his stomach.
His mom shook her head. “I don’t know. He was fine last night, and then this morning, he started vomiting and couldn’t even stand.”
After picking up the stethoscope from the small table next to the bed, I quickly checked Rory over. His skin was pale and clammy to the touch.
That was very bad. Dragons tended to run hot, so when they were really sick, they would chill—the opposite of humans in most cases.
Rory’s skin was also a sickly green color, and he clutched his stomach, clearly in pain, groaning every couple of seconds as his body obviously fought against something.
“What did he eat last night?” I probed his abdomen gently, and he hissed as I touched above his stomach.
“I gave him chicken nuggets because that’s all he’s been wanting lately. But he’s eaten them the last few nights with no issue. This isn’t because I haven’t been feeding him enough vegetables, is it?” Leah asked in a tight voice.
That almost made me laugh, a mom’s concern about veggies.
“No, Leah. He’s not going to get sick because he’s had chicken nuggets. I think any child who’s recovering from something like this deserves all the chicken nuggets in the world.”
Rory groaned, trying to turn over, but I had to stop him, lifting one of his eyelids. His pupils were dark and bloodshot, slightly dilated.
“Can you tell me anything else?” I released his eyes, assessing his tonsils and tongue before looking at Leah.
She shook her head. “Nothing comes to mind. Oh, Gods… Oh, this is bad, isn’t it?”
“We don’t know that yet,” I replied before turning back to Rory, keeping the neutral tone I used when treating someone. “Hey, Rory, it’s Rowan. Can you talk to me for a moment, bud?”
“Hurts,” he groaned, barely conscious and unwilling to open his eyes.
“I know,” I said softly. “Did this happen really fast?”
Rory nodded, and I bobbed my head back. Acute stomach pain with sudden onset, dilated pupils, and clammy, greenish-tinged skin. That sounded like food poisoning or poisoning in general.
“Can’t you give him anything for the pain?” Leah stepped closer, rubbing Rory’s back.
“I could, but I’m concerned he’s eaten something to make him like this. He’s showing all the signs of having consumed something he shouldn’t have.”
“But he hasn’t eaten anything other than chicken nuggets,” Leah insisted. “He raids the pantry every now and again, but…”
Sighing, I knew what had to be done if I was right. “This looks like food poisoning—the serious kind.”
Chills. Nausea. Sweating. It meets all the criteria, Rowan. You have to.
Running over to the cupboard, I grabbed a small bottle and returned to Rory.
“Okay, this is going to suck, kid, but you’re going to drink all of this.
It’s going to make you vomit—a lot. You’ve ingested something that’s hurting you, and we need to get it out of your system, okay?
” I spoke clearly, making sure everyone understood what was going on.
“You’re going to make him sick? On purpose?” Donald asked.
Part of me hated having parents in the room while I was treating someone because they worried, rightly so, but that meant I had to explain everything in minute detail. When I was in a rush, that wasn't always feasible.
“It's most likely he's consumed something that has poisoned him, making him really sick. I need to clear his system first, get whatever it is out of him, and see if that improves anything. If it’s a simple poisoning, removing the bad thing from his body will immediately help.”
With my hand behind Rory’s back, I pushed him into a seated position, but Greylen got there before me. He gently maneuvered the confused child and took the bottle from me. “I can do this,” he said, becoming an invaluable extra set of hands.
“Thank you,” I muttered, already turning away to get the rest of my supplies.
“What are you doing?” Leah asked, already so upset.
“I’m guessing whatever he ate is acting like poison. He’s got all the symptoms of someone who’s consumed something toxic, so we need to flush his system—and flush it fast,” I explained, grabbing a bag of saline.
“I thought you didn’t like giving dragons IV fluids,” Leah countered when she noticed the bag in my hand.