“He won’t, but the old bastard needs to behave,” Griffingrumbled.
“If he gets too pissed off, he’ll leave, and then we won’t have a healer,” Orsen reminded Griffin.
“He’s blowing smoke up your ass—he’ll never leave. You guys pay him way too much for that. And fuck him. Rowan is ten times the healer he is. If I thought I could convince her to stay, I would. We'd all be way better off with her rather than that old fart.”
Still, there was no question of whether his friend could heal. When he’d been exploring the local territories and visiting hordes, Griff had accidentally gotten involved in a nasty clan dispute. Another dragon had challenged him, and, being Griffin, he’d accepted. What he didn't know was that the dragon he was fighting was a dirty cheat and had zero morals. Instead of it being one-on-one, it was agroupthat rolled up on him, looking to kill.
He’d managed to take down a good number of them, but not without getting his ass seriously kicked. I’d seen the scars myself. The fact that he had survived was a goddamn miracle.
When he’d come home, Griff had told us of a small human healer he’d met a few weeks before his injury, who’d worked night and day to make sure he lived. We’d all been amazed by the story—especially when we saw the scars.
Now, with no indication that Rory was getting better, the guy had begged us to allow Rowan onto our lands to work her magic.
“Why wouldn’t she stay? If she’s better than Jenkins, we would happily offer her all the money she could ever want. You know that. Hell, we’d pay whatever it takes to get the horde healthy,” I said.
It’d been years since we'd had a healthy birth, and considering we were the largest in the area, that was damn frightening.
I wanted my horde happy, healthy, and living it up.
“She’s been through some shit in the past and always moves around. I’ve tried to convince her, but she’s pretty dead set on the nomad life.” Griffin sighed. “She never stays in one place longer than a few months.”
Orsen bobbed his head, his eyes narrowing. “Shame. Then again, she’s a human. If you didn’t vouch for her, I would be unsure. Update me tomorrow after she sees Rory?”
“Yes, Alpha.” He hung up, neither of them fans of long-winded goodbyes.
I was just thankful that Rory was getting the help he needed. We Alphas were going to have our work cut out for us when it came to smoothing things over with Jenkins. But whatever. If the kid was healthy, we’d do it. I’d gladly step up and tell the bastard right to his face.
Happy horde. That was my main goal. We all deserved some carefree living at this point, and while I wasn’t sure if being “content” was really in the cards for my pack after our mate’s death, I was going to get us as close as possible.
Rowan
Rolling over with a groan, I stretched as my back popped. My body was relaxed in a way it wasn’t used to after sleeping in dusty motels or my car for too long. Daylight streamed through the windows, so I had clearly slept well because I hadn’t woken up a single time during the night.
“Morning, sunshine,” Griffin chirped, waltzing out of the bathroom with a towel slung around his hips.
“Morning,” I replied, sitting against the headboard, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “What time is it?”
“A little after seven.” Griff rubbed another towel through his hair. “Want to grab some breakfast, then go over to the clinic?”
“I should probably go to the clinic first. Give me five, and I’ll throw some clothes on.”
I tossed the covers aside. I had my patient to think about, and I hated that I hadn’t been to see him yet. After getting out of bed, I quickly located my bag, shoved in a corner on the floor, and started rummaging around for clean clothes.
Griffin frowned, narrowing his eyes at me. “You should eat. You look scrawny.”
“Ouch. You know I’ve been traveling. I don’t always remember to eat three square meals a day,” I admitted with a shrug.
“All the more reason to take advantage of the kitchen while you’re here,” he pointed out.
“AfterI look in on Rory,” I reassured him, grabbing the first pair of leggings and T-shirt I could find.
I scooted to the bathroom, changing into the clean clothes and bundling up the old ones to wash. Thatwassomething I’d be taking advantage of while I was here. Laundromats sucked. With my hair thrown into a low bun, I slipped on my sneakers.
“Not the most professional look, Ro-Ro.” Griffin chuckled, looking me up and down. I grimaced at the nickname.
“I’m here to help and heal, not look pretty. If I’m here for longer than a day or two, I'll start making more of an effort, not that I need to, with how rare women are around here. Now, lead the way!” I grumbled, shoving Griff toward the door, but he was a solid wall of muscle and refused to budge. “Seriously?”
“Can I put some clothes on before I show you the way?” he asked sarcastically, running a hand up and down his bare chest.
