Page 40 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

I didn’t think we needed to water things down for the fae who were using us for protection and treating us like shit. So, I answered for her. “Bad. Someone needs to find her king.”

“He’s helping judge the wrestling tournament, and maybe participating in it,” Eisley said. “We’ll have to go to him.”

I shrugged. “Ravv must’ve skipped it.”

“She said the men wrestling are all naked,” Nissa told me with a guilty grin.

Oooh.

My revenge plan was about to get even sweeter.

I stood. “Let’s get you out of pain, then.”

Nissa laughed.

Eisley grumbled, “Sit down.”

I needed to come up with a logical excuse.

My mind moved quickly.

Considering Ravv’s reaction to Jern’s scent on me, it was safe to assume he was possessive. But I didn’t know if Nissa or Eisley knew that, since it seemed rare for fae to take mates, and Nissa obviously wasn’t fae.

So I threw out, “Why? We haven’t established whether fae men are as possessive as their bonded animals are with their mates. This seems like the perfect opportunity to test the theory on someone who can’t burn the jungle down.”

“I’m sure they’re not possessive of females they’re temporarily bonded to,” Eisley countered.

“Kierden is disgusted by my ears, let alone the rest of me. Pretty sure possessiveness is off the table,” Nissa said.

Yikes.

The conversation topic changed, but I brought it back to the naked wrestling as soon as I could—and eventually, Nissa’s pain got bad enough that we all headed out to enact my revenge plan.

Er, I mean, to see if fae men were possessive.

The stadium where the fae held the events was built into another massive tree. I rode on Eisley’s bonded jungle cat with her—which I learned was called an esu, pronounced ee-soo. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable as riding with Ravv, not that I would admit it aloud.

Nissa had a bonded esu of her own already, which seemed like a pretty damn good sign to me that she and her king, Kier, were just as fated as me and Ravv, but I couldn’t say that out loud either.

I itched to ask if I could meet a few of those magical animals without riders. It would be nice to have a big furry companion of my own to eat anyone who pissed me off. Despite the urge, I decided it was wiser to stay quiet about it until I had established a place for myself with the fae.

After all, I had no intention of going back to my city and being thrown in that cellar again.

It seemed to be the middle of the night, but thanks to my nap, I wasn’t all that tired. Between my improved eyesight and some big light bugs I noticed flying all over the place, I could see just fine.

There were flowers blooming around the city, which seemed like a new addition. I assumed Nissa was to blame, since I also saw a few fae marveling over them, and I knew she had plant magic of some sort.

My bicep started to throb as Eisley’s bonded esu carried us into a stadium full of roaring fae. She maneuvered down a bunch of rows of benches until we reached a few empty ones. The empty ones were just outside the huge metal cage that held two naked, fighting men.

Though their nudity was appealing, I found myself backing away from the violence. It was close to us—way too close to us.

One of the guys in the ring finally lost the wrestling match, and the crowd cheered even louder. The man who stood up was just as big as Ravv, with tan skin, wavy black hair that fell around his ears, and an arm of tattoos that looked like the ones on Ravv’s back.

One of his palms was wrapped up, and when I glanced at Nissa, I noticed her gaze riveted to him, her body pressed as tightly to the bars as possible.

He had to be her king, Kier.

And damn, he was nice to look at.

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