Page 11 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

“Humans are strange,” Ravv grumbled.

“You’re the one who showed up in my city without wearing a damn shirt. That makes you the strange one.” I tugged my undergarment the rest of the way off. “And I guess that means you don’t have spare clothes.”

“Only shorts and pants. I’ll find you something in the Timeless Sands when we pass through.” He plucked my undergarment from my fingers and started scrubbing it with the soap.

My face warmed a bit. “I’ve never even imagined going that far. How long will it take us to get there? Will we go through the Broken Woods?”

“About three days on Gleam’s back to the Sands.” He continued scrubbing, making much quicker work of it than I would’ve. “We’re far enough west that we’ll dodge the Woods.”

I sighed.

I’d always been curious about the Woods.

“Don’t be disappointed. The shifters are assholes.”

“How?”

“Here.” He handed me the soap. “Unless you want me to scrub the rest of you.” His eyes gleamed.

I ripped the soap out of his hands, ignoring the obnoxious warming in my nether regions at the wickedness in his gaze. “I’m good.”

“What is a sex aversion?”

Heat bloomed on my cheeks. “I think I made it up. Maybe it’s real; I don’t really know. But I was trapped with Gora and Jern, and they were all over each other constantly. I started to dread any mention or thought of sex, and labeled it an aversion to make me feel better about the constant cringing.”

He barked a laugh. “Veil.”

“Right? It’s nothing against them; I’d feel the same way listening to anyone having sex so frequently. The bed would literally rock beneath me.” I shuddered.

“It was prison and torture in one, then.”

“Yeah.” I finished scrubbing myself, and handed him the soap. “At least it’s over.”

He slipped out of the river, taking my underclothes with him and wringing them out. I considered asking him to hang them over a branch or something so he could look away while I dressed… but decided against it. Ravv hadn’t made me feel unattractive or self-conscious, and he probably wasn’t attracted to me anyway, so there was no reason for modesty.

He had made that comment about cleaning the rest of me, but it was probably just a joke.

I started climbing out of the water, and he was quick to offer me a hand.

When I lifted an eyebrow at him, he rumbled, “So you don’t cover yourself in dirt. We’ll be riding close enough that your dirt will become mine.”

Right.

Ravv squeezed one last bit of water out of my clothing, then gave it to me. He turned away without me asking while I wrestled myself back into my wet undergarment, letting out a relieved huff when I finally fastened it again.

He grabbed his bag off the ground, filled it with some fruit he’d gathered while he was off in the forest, and then threw it over his shoulder again. “Let’s go.”

I agreed and headed over to Gleam. She batted a big eye at me, and then licked my knee.

My lips curved upward. “Is there any particular way to climb on without hurting you?”

She let out a chuff that reminded me of a laugh. “You aren’t heavy enough to hurt me.”

I didn’t bring up my flames.

It was difficult to get my leg up over her back, but I maneuvered myself up with a bit of effort. I was breathing fast when Ravv landed behind me without any effort at all.

Those long legs were a huge advantage.

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