Page 10 of The Dragon's Emberlinked Mate
Until we officially bonded, his dragon wasn’t ever going to be at ease, just as mine wasn’t. With him in the hospital, it was up to me to calm his beast, and I’d do everything in my power to make that happen.
He’d been downgraded to a regular room, no longer in the intensive care unit. If he were human, he’d have been inintensive care for much, much longer. As a dragon, his healing abilities made it so he had returned to almost normal.
It had only been thirty-six hours since he had flown into the cliff wall, and he was ready to be released. Hell, he could even walk around on his own. That didn’t stop everyone from babying him, though. No one had forgotten what it felt like when his pulse had flatlined.
I had a feeling that would live with me forever.
As much as I hated to do so, I had to leave briefly to make sure my home was ready for him. He also wasn’t ready to shift to his dragon form, so I had to make sure there was a way for us to properly get there. I hadn’t left it up for discussion, he was coming home with me.
He was my mate, and I planned to take care of him. When I first announced it, my mate was still in and out of consciousness. I wanted his family to know exactly where I stood, not wanting there to be arguments later over it. It wasn’t a surprise they all agreed. Even his brother, who had offered him a place with him, immediately agreed it was best for us to be together.
That could’ve easily gone the other way. Rythe had known I was his for months and I’d been in the same space as him and had been clueless. A parent seeing that as me being unworthy would’ve been reasonable. But instead, they accepted me completely. I doubted that would’ve been the case in any other circumstances. But nearly losing him impacted all of us deeply.
It didn’t take much to get my place ready and bring a car back. If he decided he wanted to change anything, I'd make it happen, but for now, he had a comfy place to sleep, someone preparing all kinds of food for him, and a huge television to binge any movies he might want to see.
Did he even like movies? Maybe he was into video games or possibly books. Heck, for all I knew, he was into painting or Pilates. I knew next to nothing about him, something I planned to remedy quickly.
When I walked back into the hospital, his parents were standing outside his door, whispering to one another.
“Well, I don’t understand why he can’t just come home with us.” I thought we’d worked through this, but I guess not. “It’s not as if he and Commander Emmen are actually mated,” his mom was saying.
“Katrina,” I said.
She turned and faced me, crossing her arms. “I suppose you overheard that.”
I smiled. “I did. And while I understand that you want your son close, surely you understand that my mate cannot be away from me.”
“You can stay at our home as well if you must, but Rhythe should return to his home, the one that he has always known. Not the mansion up on top of that hill where he’s never been.”
“I understand your concern, but as I—”
“Mom!” Rhythe shouted from inside his room. The door flew open. “Emmen is absolutely not coming back to our house and staying in the room that I have lived in my entire life. I’m going back to his house to rest there. It’ll be quiet.”
She rolled her eyes. “Our house isn’t exactly Grand Central Station, right? And what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.”
“I’m done resting. I’m done letting everyone make decisions for me. I’m an adult. Emmen is my mate. Whether that’s official or not is irrelevant. I’m going to his home… our home.”
The way my heart swelled at hearing this.
“And I don’t appreciate you trying to change this after we already discussed it.”
She sighed, her eyes welling up with tears. “You’re right. Sorry. I just—” Her hand came out, and she brushed a thumb over his cheek. “We almost lost you, dear, and that terrifies me. You and your brother are my last clutch. Now you’re all growing up.”
Rhythe shuffled his feet. “Mom…”
I grabbed the wheelchair that was against the wall and wheeled it toward Rhythe. “I’m pretty sure you have to be in this in order to leave.” I’d seen it on television, so the odds of it being true were fifty-fifty.
Reluctantly, he sat down. “Surely they’re not actually going to make me stay in a chair until I exit the hospital. That’s just a human thing, right?”
One of his doctors came around the corner. “Perhaps it’s just a human thing, but honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve had a shifter admitted for something like you experienced that I don’t know if we have an official protocol.”
Rhythe growled. “Glad I could set some new precedent.”
“Well, you’re the first person I’ve ever seen survive a complete collapse of their chest cavity, so that’s kind of fun. We’ll be talking about you here for a long time. It was an exciting day for us.”
In what world was that fun? There had been exactly zero fun to be had.
Rhythe rolled his eyes. “Glad I could be of service.”
