Page 69 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

I laughed as the cub I was petting started licking my arm, urging me to continue rubbing its fur.

“Aren’t you sweet?” I teased the little guy.

A soft nose brushed my shoulder as a large female idorr approached me. “He hasn’t quite figured out how to communicate with the fae yet,” she murmured.

Her voice was calm, her body relaxed.

Veil, I hoped she would bond with me. Or her soul would bond with mine, I supposed. I could use that level of quiet confidence in my life.

“Well, he’s beautiful,” I told her. Her eyes were soft as she sat down beside me and lowered her massive head to rest against my leg. I scratched her head with my free hand, and she closed her eyes as she relaxed.

After a few minutes, the cubs ran off to play together. A few more of the adults came over and plopped down beside us, so Ravv and I chatted with them. He told them about Jirev when they asked, and explained our bond, as well as the dragon over our heads. None of the idorr seemed very concerned about the Demon, but that didn’t surprise me since I’d seen how laid-back Gleam was.

My soul didn’t connect to any of the beasts’, so eventually, we thanked them for their company and headed out to find Gora and Jern.

Chapter 15

Laeli

“Veil, I’m tired of pretending not to like you,” Ravv grumbled to me, as we walked with an appropriate amount of space between our bodies.

“I don’t think you’re selling it well, either,” I agreed. “You’re not growling at me nearly as much as you used to.”

“I promised to be nicer. I’m not breaking the damn promise,” he growled back.

My lips curved upward slightly at the irony of his words paired with his growl.

“Where are Gora and Jern living?” I asked him.

“Coarse put them in one of the homes furthest from the cult and the mated fae. It’s on the east end of the city, overlooking the ocean. You’ll be a few houses down from them after the eclipse.”

My throat swelled slightly at his mention of my future without him.

I really needed to put more distance between us… I just didn’t want to.

“Can you show me my house?” I asked.

He agreed and tucked his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

My eyes scanned row after row of homes and shops, everything mixed together as it lined the streets. The city seemed to go on forever, especially while we walked on foot. “Are all of these homes full?”

“No, only a fraction of them are occupied. The city was built to house growing families and a thriving society long before the cult came into play. It’ll be centuries before we build it back to what it was, even if we manage to clear out the rest of the cult and get the mated fae living back on the surface.”

I saw everything with new eyes, knowing all of that.

Suddenly, the massive city and rows of homes seemed more sad and eerie than hopeful.

There had to have been fae living there, once. The streets must’ve been full at some point.

The fae may have enjoyed the fighting, but the horrors of war were still horrors.

“Are there many fae where I’m going to live?” I asked him.

“Plenty. It’s where the strongest of our kingdom’s warriors live; the home was mine, before Ria tried to kill our parents and I took the throne.”

My head jerked toward him, my eyebrows lifting in surprise. “You’re giving me your old home?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t need it. I haven’t lived there in centuries.”

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