Chapter 37
Nix
“Where the hell are the fire starters?” I asked myself as I rummaged through the closet. I pulled out an old sleeping bag and threw it over my shoulder, so it was out of my way.
“Nix, what the hell are you doing?” Orsen chuckled from behind me.
Turning, I found him standing behind me, the sleeping bag I had just tossed in his hands.
“I’m looking for the fire fuel! I was thinking it’s been a while since we had a campfire. Maybe we could convince Rowan to join us. It’ll be just like…” I trailed off.
“Just like at the cabin all those years ago,” Orsen finished for me, a small, sad smile gracing his features.
When we had first met Emmeline, we spent our days swimming in the lake and our evenings by the campfire, making s’mores and attempting to cook a variety of campfire meals.
They were, hands down, some of the best memories of my life.
We needed a few more good memories. Given everything that was happening in the horde, Rowan needed to relax, and know just how much she was adored and appreciated. Seeing the bruises on her neck filled me with a rage I didn’t know I was capable of.
If Jenkins returned, I would happily kill him myself.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to start making those memories with Rowan? Not with Emmeline?” In my head, I had to separate them into two distinct people, because they were.
Orsen took a deep breath. “I'm beginning to accept Emmeline really is gone forever. I hate it, and I’m grieving the woman I loved. At the same time, I’m excited because Rowan has come into our lives.”
“It’s a lot for little pea-brain idiots like us,” I agreed with a vigorous nod. After everything we had been through, the idea of sitting together, laughing, joking, and enjoying each other’s company was sublime.
It helped that Rowan didn’t hate us anymore; even Bastian wasn’t completely despised after he’d stood up for her against Jenkins.
Maybe there was hope for that grumpy bastard yet.
Orsen smiled. “I’ll get marshmallows.”
“Don’t forget the good chocolate!” I shouted at his retreating back. Greylen was a total chocolate snob. If Orsen grabbed the cheap stuff, we would never hear the end of it.
It took a few more minutes of digging, but eventually, I found the small packet of campfire starters.
“Victory!” I shouted to no one in particular as I held them in the air. With my prize in hand, I bounded out of the room, all the way out of the den, and toward the clinic. I was going to get our mate, and we were going to have a fun night.
Maybe I could convince Rowan to have a little snuggle by the fire.
“Rowan! Where is the prettiest, smartest, and most wonderful healer in the world?” I asked in an overdramatic fashion as I entered the clinic.
“I don’t even have to ask who that is!” her sweet voice shouted from the little office.
My mate’s location discovered, I leaped forward into the room.
She sat at her desk, and the dark circles under her eyes were even more prevalent than usual.
She needed more sleep; maybe a better bed would help.
I made a mental note to buy her the fanciest mattress money could buy. If anyone deserved it, it was our mate.
“Nix! I could have had a patient with me!” she admonished.
“The door was open,” I said, looking behind me pointedly.
Rowan rolled her eyes at me. “What do you want?” she asked, but her tone was soft and playful.
“Don’t go to dinner tonight! We are having a campfire.”
“We? A campfire?”
I bobbed my head. “Clan campfire! We are going to make s’mores and cook hot dogs. It’ll be a good time. Please?” I batted my lashes at her innocently.
Rowan thought about it for a moment and was tapping her chin when the door opened again. “That will be my next patient,” she explained. “I'll come to this campfire if you leave me to do my work.”
“Done! One of us will pick you up here later? About seven?”
“That sounds perfect. Thank you.”
I practically skipped out of that room with the biggest goddamn smile on my face.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I felt truly optimistic about the coming weeks.
“It needs to be bigger!” I insisted, grabbing more firewood.
“Any more wood, and this is going to be a bonfire, not a campfire,” Orsen said, but still, he picked up more logs and added them to the pile.
We were standing in a small clearing near the den, quiet and somewhat isolated. It was the perfect place for the evening’s plans.
Greylen and Bastian moved several large wooden planks we used as makeshift benches while we prepped the fire.
“Okay, I think that’s it!” I declared, placing one last log on the fire. “Okay, I’m going to grab Rowan! Bastian, you want to light the fire?”
He knelt in front of the pit. “It’s crazy that dragons, fire-breathing creatures, need to use fire starters…”
“You wanna get naked and shift to light it?” Greylan asked Bastian with a laugh before turning to me. “Wait up, I’ll come with you to the clinic.”
“Fun! Adventure time!” I crowed, jumping up and down as he strode across the clearing to me.
“You’re lucky Rowan seems to appreciate your endless energy.”
We walked down the small path to the clinic while talking.
“Well, now that things are getting back to some sort of normalcy, we can put that energy to good use,” I said, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
“Maybe give her a little time to settle in first. She’s running herself ragged, cleaning up Jenkins’s mess.”
I bobbed my head. “Do we get her more help? Do you think there is anyone who could make a good assistant?”
“I’ll put out feelers. I’m sure Nina would be happy to take on the position officially.”
We chattered about meaningless things—weather, food, and movies—while we walked up the small path to the clinic.
“The door is open?” I said as a question, craning my neck as we got closer.
“Maybe she forgot to close up? She’s been exhausted lately.” Greylen kept up pace behind me, his brows knitted together.
“Did she go back to the den?”
Had I been unclear when I told her I would pick her up from the clinic?
At the door, we pushed it open and headed in together.
“Rowan?” I called out.
Papers were scattered across the floor, all the chairs upturned. My stomach dropped as I took in the mess.
“What the hell happened here?” Greylen asked, lightly kicking one of the chairs.
The room had been trashed. Everything Rowan had been working so hard for was destroyed.
And our mate was nowhere to be seen.
My stomach dropped as I headed toward the office.
“Someone put up a fight,” I said in a hoarse voice.
“This is fucked,” Greylen exclaimed as he looked through the mess. A few of the windows were broken at the back of the cabin, which was why we hadn’t seen them on our approach.
“Rowan!” I shouted loudly, pausing my exploration to strain my ears and listen for any possible reply.
“I’m calling the others.” Grey pulled out his phone.
The little glass bowl that had strawberries on it that Rowan liked to keep on her desk was shattered. Her jacket was still slung over the chair. Rowan must have left in a hurry.
I turned to Greylen, unable to restrain the panic flooding my system as it hit me what was happening. Rowan didn’t leave in a hurry, because she didn’t leave by choice.
Swallowing, I uttered the last words I wanted to say.
“Someone took Rowan.”