“Yeah, you’re definitely more of a Rowan.” Griffin laughed.
Smirking, I sat on the edge of the bed. “Did I ever tell you how I got my name?”
Griffin shook his head. “No, and I never thought to ask. I assumed you just picked it out of a book.”
I smiled, looking down as I remembered the dear old healer. “Kiki named me.”
“She was a legend.” Griffin sighed wistfully.
Nodding, I thought about meeting her for the first time. Kiki had found me when I was injured. She’d nursed me back to health. I had been found by several members of their horde while they patrolled, and they had taken me to her. Once I was better, she started teaching me everything she knew. I’d been stuck in her hut recovering forweeks, so I supposed it was normal to be interested in what she did, and I took to it quickly.
At first, I had been convinced she was hurting me. Every time she had changed my bandages or put a fresh poultice on my skin, the sheer agony made me think I was going to die.
I guessed, back then, there had been a damn good chance that Iwoulddie.
Kiki never gave up on me, though. Every day, she sat by my bedside, changing my bandages, talking to me through the pain. Sometimes she’d discussed her work, sometimes her family. Either way, the one-sided conversation had helped me focus on something other than the horrific pain of my midsection being torn in half by dragon fire.
“Apparently, several members of the Southern Dust Lands Horde found me under an outcropping of rowan trees,” I explained. “For a while, she called methe Gift from the Rowans. I think she expected me to choose my own name, but after a while, it just felt right.”
“Look, no matter what your past is, your name suits you now. I’m not about to call you Emmeline.” Griffin’s nose crinkled.
“You know, I?—”
But the door opened, and I turned to see an imposing stranger filling the frame. Long, dark hair—so dark it was almost pitch-black—hovered over his shoulders. It matched the scruff on his face and his dark brown, laser-focused eyes. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I tensed, sitting straighter on the bed as the man stared at me, unblinking.
“Emmeline,” he whispered. That voice, deep and grumbly. My chest constricted and everything in me wanted to lurch forward, like there was an invisible string puling me towards the stranger.
“Nope,” I saidsimply, with one shake of my head, forcing myself to stay in place. “My name is Rowan.”
I could have explained, but I was exhausted and the Alphas could all communicate like big boys if they wanted to.
He looked at me while the seconds ticked away, raking his gaze down my entire body, taking everything in. The guy stared at me so intently, it felt like he was trying to memorize every curve of my face, the path of every hair that fell from the top of my head.
“Rowan, this is Bastian,” Griffin finally said. “One of the Alphas.”
“Ah, I see,” I muttered, my eyes going to the floor. “Could you maybe stop staring at me?”
“You just vanished.” There was outrage in Bastian’s voice, the anger that masked deep-rooted pain.
“Apparently, she did,” I countered, still not looking up as the Alpha’s stare burned into me.
“You really have no memory of us?”
“No.” My hand reached out instinctively for Griffin, who took it.
As much as I wanted to keep staring at the floor until this guy left, I couldn’t keep from glancing at him. When I did, my chest pinched hard. There was no mistaking the way Bastian’s eyes darkened, the rage and pain swelling behind those irises as he zeroed in on our joined hands. I couldn’t be the cause ofanotherfight, but I felt so unsteady, so overstimulated, and tired. I needed something to ground me, and Griff was the only one I trusted right now to do it.
Safety first, however.
After letting go of Griff’s hand, I turned toward Bastian, unwilling to back down just because this guy was some big-shot Alpha. But looking into his eyes had been a mistake.
I could get lost in those depths. It was stupidly cliché, but there was something about Bastian that made my stomach turn uncomfortably—a familiarity I didn’t wantto recognize. And it didn’t help that there was no denying how attractive he was, the intensity rolling off him in waves.
Looking at Griffin, I plastered a smile on my face, ever the professional. “Okay, I’m going to get you some more herbs in the morning, but the best thing you can do for now is rest, all right?”
He pouted, grumbling, “I can try.”
Rolling my eyes, I nodded, patting his leg. Griffin had never sat still for a day in his life, as far as I knew. He was always up and moving whenever I saw him. There had been days when I’d been totally exhausted, wanting to collapse in my little cot in Kiki’s healing tent, while he’d been bouncing around, ready to go.
