Page 13 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

“I improved it. Every shelter needs a bathtub,” I mumbled back.

He scoffed at my joke.

“You’re grumpy,” I said.

Then again, it seemed like he was always grumpy.

Maybe there was a different word for it, if it was a constant state.

He disappeared from above me.

I forced myself to get up, and winced as I climbed out of the shelter.

Yeah, I was absolutely drenched. My hair dripped water everywhere—including down my face.

I yanked it out of my eyes as I looked around for Ravv—and found him stuffing more fruit into his bag. None of the suns were up yet, but I could see the tiniest sliver of light through the trees, marking the beginning of the first one’s rise. “Did you sleep at all?”

He didn’t answer me.

“He didn’t,” Gleam murmured, stretching out her long, heavy legs.

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t trust the human lands, and you were out of his sight.”

Rav growled at the idorr, and she chuffed, lowering her head back to her paws.

“Should we sleep together in the shelter tonight?” I asked.

“Yes,” Gleam said, at the same time Ravv growled, “No.”

I blinked again.

“I don’t want to wake up in a damn bathtub,” he said, closing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. “Let’s get moving.”

Gleam and I exchanged knowing looks.

We would get him to sleep in the shelter.

Or at least, she would.

Ravv lifted my sore body onto his bonded idorr’s back, and we ate silently while Gleam walked.

Despite my exhaustion and soreness, and the fact that I was soaking wet, I found myself smiling as I watched one of the suns rise while we went.

So much for having terrible luck.

Chapter 4

Laeli

When we stopped for the second night, Ravv had to literally peel me off Gleam’s back.

“Veil,” he muttered, easing me into the ice shelter he’d created.

“Just leave me in this cold coffin to die,” I mumbled back.

He hid his snort with another scoff. “You’re not going to die tonight. Your muscles are just sore.”

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