Page 52 of The Savage Beasts of Salem

“Nothing?” he asked, then grabbed me, pulling me onto his chest and flipping onto his back.

I reached up, scratching behind both of his ears. “Just this.”

His tail wagged again, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “Ahh… a little more to the left, if you please.”

Draven’s breath touched my neck. “Do me next.”

I made both of my Beasts lay on their stomach so I could sit on their backs, scratching my nails through their fur from their crowns and down along their spines. They groaned and stretched, luxuriating under my hands like cats.

I had just begun work on Draven again when a shadow blocked the knothole door.

Ash stood there, heaving, a massive stag draped over his shoulder. “I’ve brought you a bride-gift,” he announced, then he took in the sight of me sitting on Draven’s back, massaging behind his ears. “What is this?”

“This is amazing,” Draven groaned, kicking one paw.

Ash’s eyes narrowed.

“Wash off the blood, and it’s your turn,” I told him. He disappeared within seconds, taking the stag with him.

When Ash returned, still dripping water, I ignored Torr’s moan of dismay as I gave Ash a turn. I was careful on his still-healing back, focusing around his ears.

It gave me the giggles to see the powerful, terrifying Beasts reduced to puppies.

“This is almost as good as being inside you,” Ash breathed as I raked my nails over his head. His eyes were glazed over. “Not quite. But close.”

“Thank you for the stag,” I said, working my way around his jaw and smiling when he groaned. “I’m going to share with the other women while I settle them in today.”

“We can’t just stay here?” Draven asked mournfully, his amber eyes focused on my hands.

“They’re my responsibility now.” I gave Ash a final rake, my hands finally starting to ache. I’d been at it for over an hour, and the sun was fully up.

The Beasts sighed in unison, and I had to hide a smile again before gathering my things to go wash.

Ash was butchering the stag when I returned, and Torr and Draven were helping the other Beasts hunt.

I found Freya in her knothole near the ground, knocking on the scarred wood before I peered in. She had made herself a plush nest, and there was a large divot that made me wonder if she’d already invited the russet Beast in. She’d also draped bright red scarves over her ceiling, giving it the look of a fairy tale tent.

“Do you need anything?” I asked. She was combing out her long hair and braiding it, meeting my eyes in a small hand mirror propped against the wall.

“Aldis and I have been looking for the storage rooms,” she said. “We want to set up a kitchen. Cooking over the fire is inefficient for how many of us there are.”

It was true that the Beasts were easy to feed; they’d simply eat their meals raw.

But we humans couldn’t survive alone on meat, and cooking stew and porridge over the fire was difficult. “I’ll help look.” I too was curious about where the Beasts kept all these pilfered treasures.

Aldis and Mercy joined us, and eventually we got the location out of Ash.

We had to take a Fee path. I held their hands, pulling them along with me through the hidden magical ways that surrounded the tree, until we found a door leading to the inside of the Mother’s trunk.

“Oh my God,” Freya said, taking in the room. The rest of us looked with wide eyes.

The Beasts must have been plundering traders and caravans for years to attain all of this. Furs and bolts of cloth were piled carelessly, an entire wagon had been lodged in the corner, and sacks of food made a mountain atop it.

We plunged in greedily.

I found a chest and beat the lock away with a rock, revealing a cache of iron daggers. I pulled one out, stroking the ivory-inlaid hilt. They could come in handy one day.

We found bags to carry our newfound plunder back home. Mercy shoved several bolts of pale purple silk in hers, Freya snagged spools of thread and cooking utensils, and it took all four of us to drag out a massive iron cauldron.

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