Summer at Last

ANEURIN

I blinked my tears away. They were distorting my vision, and I needed to see clearly.

Even if I didn’t want to see this.

“It’s going to be okay,” I comforted my brother.

But I wasn’t even sure if he could hear me.

Our battle was over, and Loch and Hael had taken to the skies.

Dane had shifted back to his human form. He was too weak to remain a dragon.

The gash on his side looked much more dire on human skin. Blood poured from the wound as my brother moaned quietly, trying to be strong.

Dane and I had welcomed many guests lately, and sometimes they stayed with us in our extra hammocks for many nights at a time.

But now we had no visitors. It was only us.

I had to find out how to help Dane, but I didn’t know where to start…

Then it hit me.

The pool!

I lifted my brother in my arms, groaning under his weight. I felt my skin become wet with his blood.

My legs carried us through the woods and over the stream.

Dane bobbed helplessly in my arms. The only thing that told me he was still alive was the soft moans I heard with each footfall.

“Stay with me, brother!” I whispered. We could speak with our minds, but words felt comforting right now.

At last, I saw the glowing green waters of the pond. I carried Dane the remaining distance and delicately lowered him into the healing pool.

My brother floated with his head above water. Still, his eyes were shut tight.

“Dane,” I whispered nervously. “Do you feel any better?”

After a moment, my brother slowly opened his eyes. He looked as if he was traveling back to me from a faraway place.

I could see that he was still weak, but the pool had clearly revived him.

I reached out and turned him in the water. He rotated without complaint. His wound hadn’t completely faded. The water had stopped the bleeding, but I could still see his red, exposed flesh.

“Let’s wait,” I told him. He responded by closing his eyes once more.

I sat on the bank beside my brother, praying that time would heal him.

After what felt like a small eternity, I turned Dane over. I winced when I saw red through the water. His wound was still open. The pool had helped him, but he wasn’t healed.

“Dane?”

His eyes flickered open.

“I’m going to pull you out of the pool now, okay?”

He nodded. He was still too weak to talk.

I grabbed him under his arms and pulled him onto the bank next to me.

Kneeling, I propped up his torso on my leg.

I gazed down at his suffering face. I was out of ideas, and my brother still needed help.

I reached into my pocket. My fingers fumbled with the tiny keys of my cheap flip phone.

Even though I didn’t want to get Maddie involved, and she never answered her phone anyway, she was the only person I could trust to help us. Even if her mates ~had~ put us in this situation to begin with.

I called her number and held the phone to my ear.

~Please pick up. Please pick up.~

The phone rang and rang.

“Aneurin?” Maddie said. She sounded like she was running.

“Hey!” I said. “Where are you?”

“Um…leaving Xander University. Really fucking fast.”

“Oh, okay. I’m so glad you answered. I need your help.”

“What’s up?”

“Dane is hurt,” I explained. “And we’re in the woods.”

“What?!” she said. She was still out of breath. “How did he get hurt?”

I paused. I didn’t want to tell Maddie her psycho mates appeared out of nowhere to attack us, but that was the truth.

“Uh…Hael bit him.”

“Are you ~fucking~ kidding me?!” she yelled.

I took that as a rhetorical question.

“I tried the healing pool.”

“Fuck. Right. Okay, did it work?”

“It helped, but he still has a big gash. I think he’ll probably need stitches.”

I knew Maddie had stopped running.

“You have to take him to the hospital,” she said. “But whatever you do, ~don’t~ let them find out you guys are dragons.”

I sighed, frustrated.

“Okay. But it’s not like I can get an ambulance to come up here!”

I was freaking out. The healing pool had given me hope, but I had to face the truth. I couldn’t heal Dane out here.

I had a big problem on my hands, and it was my responsibility to fix it.

“Um…” Maddie paused on the line. “How about you fly to a road? And then call an ambulance from there?”

“I’m worried Dane won’t be able to hang on to me.” It wasn’t a bad idea, but if Dane fell off my back, we would be in even bigger trouble.

“Wrap him in your tail,” Maddie suggested.

“Okay. Yes. Maddie, you’re brilliant,” I exhaled. I felt relieved to have a plan. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” she replied. “Call me from the hospital, okay?”

“I will,” I said, hanging up.

I ran to grab some clothes for us both.

“Alright, brother,” I told my semi-conscious companion as I pulled a T-shirt over his head, “we’re going to get you help.”

I stuffed my spare clothes into a backpack then shifted. I felt my body expand. My skin replaced itself with scaly armor.

I wrapped my brother in my tail, careful to avoid his wound.

When he was secure, I sprang from the ground. Together, we sailed over the forest. I landed on the first road I saw.

I shifted back and stood over my brother as I threw my clothes on.

We looked just like normal humans, right?

I could only hope.

I formed my alibi…

~We were rock climbing in the woods, and then my brother fell.~

Good enough.

I called the police and crouched beside Aneurin. Soon the flashing lights of the ambulance appeared, and the paramedics loaded us both on board.

SUMMER

My shift was almost over when the patient arrived.

At the end of a shift, nurses get worn out. Especially if they were ambitious—like me.

Though my inexplicable healing abilities gave me an edge, I still had to work hard.

I looked over the patient’s initial report. He was a young adult male who had suffered a significant lesion on the right side of his abdomen.

I would inspect the patient, and if circumstances demanded, I would call in the surgeon. This was routine protocol.

I rounded the corner of the hospital, walking quickly to the emergency wing.

I pushed open the room noted on my clipboard, glancing one more time at the report.

“Mr… Dane?” I asked.

When I looked up, my heart stopped.

I was staring into the eyes of the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

His lips seemed to part in surprise as our eyes met. It was as if he recognized me from somewhere he couldn’t place.

The man’s physical presence was commanding, even as he huddled over his wounded twin brother. He gripped the other man’s hand in his and held it close to his heart.

He was anxious, but for some reason, his presence made me calm.

I had treated handsome patients before, but never had I been so out of sorts.

“I, um…I’m Nurse Summer.”

ANEURIN

I gulped.

The woman who stood before us made me mute and gave me a heart attack all at once. It was a good thing Dane and I were in the hospital.

The moment our eyes met, I forgot about my brother’s circumstance. I forgot about everything. Even myself.

I existed only in relation to her.

~Summer.~

Her name was Summer.

“Aneurin,” I replied. I held out the hand that wasn’t holding Dane’s.

She closed the space between us and took my hand. I felt warmed by her touch. And then calm.

“What happened to your brother?” she asked.

“A, um, rock climbing accident,” I replied. “In the Dusk Mountains.”

She inspected Dane’s wound.

“Rock climbing in the dark?” she asked.

~Fuck.~

“Uh, yeah. It’s a stupid hobby we have. We’re competitive, you know. Twins and all.”

She eyed me strangely.

“Okay…” she said. She returned her focus to the wound. “Something’s not adding up for me here.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

“You think I would lie to a doctor?” I asked, giving her my best smoldering look. To my delight, she blushed.

“Well, I’m a nurse,” she said, “but this wound looks as if it’s about a week healed. Your brother’s going to be okay. But a patient loses a lot of blood from a wound like this…I just don’t understand.”

Maddie told me to keep our secret at all costs, but I felt the urge to tell her the truth.

I felt I could trust her.

As I hesitated, she continued in a low voice, “If you tell me what really happened, I might be able to heal Dane without calling in a surgeon.”

SUMMER

I eyed the dashing mystery man while I waited for his answer.

“Look, I can’t tell you everything here,” he replied.

The sentiment sent a shockwave through my body. The thought of meeting Aneurin outside of work thrilled me, but I pushed that thought away.

“But after Dane was injured, I took him to a healing pool. The water really helped him, but he was still hurt.”

~A healing pool?~

“Where is this pool?” I asked.

“Dusk Mountains.”

“Could you take me there sometime?”

His eyebrows raised, and then he nodded.

“Whenever you’d like,” Aneurin said. His eyes were burning, and I felt my cheeks redden—not for the first time.

“Okay. Dane was really hurt before the pool, huh?” I continued.

Aneurin nodded again, gravely this time.

I sighed.

He told me a secret, so I figured it was safe to tell him mine.

“So, I’m a nurse. But I’m also a healer,” I said. “I can help your brother.”

Without waiting to see Aneurin’s surprised expression, I placed my hands on Dane’s side.

I closed my eyes, feeling the familiar heat course through my veins.

Energy rose from the ground beneath my feet, through my body, through my hands, and into the wound. I visualized skin growing over the flesh, the wound closing…

I drew one more deep breath, channeling the healing energy of the earth…

And then, when the procedure was complete, I opened my eyes.

ANEURIN

Dane’s wound closed right before my naked eyes. His skin was good as new. As if nothing had happened.

I had recently been forced to accept that magic was real.

But watching Summer work, I had to rethink reality all over again.

Dane woke up, rolling over onto his back. He let out a yawn like he had just woken up from a peaceful catnap.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Summer. He instantly froze.

I knew what he was thinking.

He was wondering if he was dreaming.

He looked at me, and I raised my eyebrows.

Dane reached for his side to check his wound.

“You’re all good to go, Dane,” Summer said with a little smile.

When she got up to leave, it felt like I was losing a part of myself. From the look on his face, I knew Dane felt the same way.

Summer gave us one more backward glance before she left the room, taking my heart with her.

“Okay, brother,” Dane demanded. “What the hell just happened?”