Page 85 of The Dragons’ Eternal Mate

“I-I…” She struggled to get her words out.

“Are you okay?” I asked, closing the distance between us in a few short strides. My hands came to rest on her upper arms, my wide eyes raking over her, desperately searching for any sign of injury. Of course she wasn’t okay. My father had tried to kill her—again. But making sure she wasn’t bleeding or broken was my first priority.

“I hurt him,” she whispered.

As she spoke, I could hear my father gurgling. Whatever had happened in the few minutes I wasn’t there was clearly lethal, looking like some sort of poison that was shutting down the asshole’s body one system at a time.

“Good.” I pulled Rowan in close, breathing her in.

My heart was still thundering as I took several deep gulps of air, breathing in the scent of her hair, trying to ground myself.

She was here. She was okay. We were both okay. She wasn’t hurt.

In fact, a small part of me was extremely impressed that she had held her own. Once I managed to get my heart rate under control, I was probably going to be proud as fuck. My tiny human mate had taken down a grown-ass dragon; not only a grown-ass dragon but an Alpha, someone who’d run a horde for decades and wasn’t afraid to enact whatever form of violence he deemed necessary to get what he wanted.

“You don’t understand, Bastian. I’m a healer. I’m meant to help people, and I just… I didn’t even think twice about it—” she admitted in a broken whisper that cut off with a sob.

My hands stilled on her upper arms at those words. She felt guilty… for defending herself? Oh, fuck, of course she did. Rowan had never killed anyone, even in self-defense.

“You did what you had to,” I tried to soothe her, but she shook her head, tears falling fast.

“I could have done something different. Run away. Made the stuff to be… I killed him!”

I looked between my distraught mate and the piece of shit I used to call my father lying on the ground, the long grass around him crumpled. He was still breathing for the moment, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he wasn’t long for this world.

Rowan had an impeccable sense of morality. She wanted to help everyone, and the idea of causing harm was abhorrent to her. It was a big part of why I loved her: that dedication and genuine compassion.

She was softer than me and my clanmates, kind and gentle, which was something we appreciated. When it came to protecting people, she had a spine of steel, but her ability to inflict harm was purposefully minimal. A code of ethics. “Do no harm,” she’d once said.

That was why she had us.

And I was here. I could do this for her. I could carry a weight she had no reason to suffer alone.

“No.” I shook my head, slipping away from her. “No, Rowan.”

I walked up to him… Cyrus. I crouched low, jaw set, eyes unblinking. I turned my father over, looked into those bloodshot eyes as he choked, trying to claw every last breath from the air. It was done. He was done. But this last thing, this last decision, was on me.

“You tried to kill her, planned to kill my clanmates, and murder so many others in your blind pursuit of power.”

I leaned close, getting my mouth close to his ear so only Cyrus would hear me.

“She beat you, old man. That human you thought was so weak, so disposable. She was faster and smarter than you.” A growl rumbled out of me, my voice pitching so low. “I want you to know that this isn’t mercy. I’d watch you choke to death happily. This is for her. Because I choose her. You died alone in a field like a fucking coward.”

After leaning back, I threw my hand out to the side, telling my claws to extend farther. I embraced that partial shift and looked my father right in the eyes. I reared my hand back and swiped across his throat, easily tearing through the soft flesh. Warmth hit me as his blood splattered, landing across my arm and the earth below him, painting the pale green grass with crimson streaks, but I didn’t care.

It was done.

I dropped my head, breathing in the scent of copper on the wind. I stood up, leaving his pathetic body where it dropped. I turned around. Rowan was a few feet away, watching me with wide eyes. I strode over to her, placed a kiss on her forehead, cupping the back of her head with my hand that was unmarred by my father’s blood. She shook in my hold, collapsing into my chest as she let her tears flow hard and fast.

If I could take some of the burden off her, I would do it in a heartbeat, with a fucking smile.

“You didn’t kill him, mate. I did.”

Rowan

My head was spinning. All the blood in my body felt like it had rushed to my hands and face. It felt like it’d been years since I’d been in the kitchen with Ma, and yet… I knew it’d only been a few moments.

Ten minutes, and my life had changed.