I am silent for a moment, pondering the implications of doing just that.
Before I can ask him why, he answers me, indicating the crumbling room with his claw. “I want to feed my female the best meat in the land, and see her swim in the lakes and streams near the woods of my youth. It is time for me to return and to build a proper nest for my mate.”
“Are you sure?” I eye him, remembering everything he’s told me about the place. “It’s going to be dangerous. We’ve just found our peace here, are you certain you want to risk it? And there’s no way in Hell I’m going to be swimming in any lakes or streams.” I scoff.
“It will be dangerous for everyone else, not ussss. I have never been defeated. My hide is too thick to easily poison me with venom and my bones and limbs are too big to tear off. It would take many, working together, fell me.”
He’s cocky.“I’d like to see the forest,” I say, not opposed to the idea at all, especially not with him at my back. “I’ve never seen a real tree before, only fake ones. As for the water, I think I’d like to skip that.”
“Understandably. Though you may find it beautiful to look at.”
Lifting my finger to my chin, I start getting behind the idea, excited for an adventure after being cooped up for a month. “We can findThe Wreckand reunite with Tata and Annora maybe. Perhaps you can teach us all how to hunt. Tata mentioned a camp far north. That’s where they planned to return to.”
“Perhapssss. But wouldn’t your kind be afraid of me?”
I shrug and drop my hand. “Maybe. Who cares, though?” I watch as emotions play out on his face until his features settle.
“You are right. Who caressss?”
“We’ll use their fear to our advantage.”
“Do you think we can?”
“Oh yes.” I smile wide at him, checking out his muscles and long tail. His claws and fangs. “Between you and I, they’ll be very afraid of us.”
“I do not?—”
I pat his arm. “It’s fine. Just trust me on this,” I say, feeling more at home than ever before. “Let’s say if we ever come upon one of mine, let me do the talking. All you have to do is stand behind me.”
“If you ssssay so.”
I lean up on my toes and kiss his cheek. “I do.”
He cups the side of my face and turns his mouth into mine, kissing my lips. His purring hisses fill my ears and a shiver courses through me. I tear myself away from him when something cold and wet hits my cheek.
Hearing a pattering sound behind me, I turn around as Darolus looks over my shoulder at the pool. Rubbing the cold drop of water off my cheek, I see dozens of tiny little ringlets form across the surface of the water. The water drips and builds, making the ringlets bigger. Cold water splashes the top of my head and I jerk back as I reach for my scalp.
“What’s happening?” I ask, nervously looking around.
“It’s raining.” Flicking my eyes to Darolus, he’s staring at the ceiling.
I peer up at the ceiling with him. “Water that falls from the sky…”
Slowly the rain builds until its droplets pool together to run down the walls and edges of the broken rocks between. Letting the water fall on me, I let it soak my clothes and skin as I watch Darolus’s nest mist over, partially obscuring the once chalky stone, now a dark gray from being wet. Ahollow humming, dribbling sound floods my ears until there’s nothing else.
Rushing with noise from the water pouring in, I grab a hide and throw it over my head, shuffling closer to Darolus.
The water in the pool rises, beginning to trickle over the sides. More of it makes rivulets down the walls and seeps across the stone floor, spreading toward the nest. The dampness billows outward like veins amongst the dusty ground, reaching like fingers to touch everything it can.
Reaching out myself, I grab Darolus’s hand. Together, we watch the past wash away, and everything he and I once owned gets taken with it. Wiping my eyes clear of the rain, I let the hide drop. Pulling him under the rain with me, I lean up and kiss him hard, feeling the water drip between us and over our faces.
“Are you ready?” he asks, cupping my cheek and pulling away.
I open my eyes and nod up at him.
With his hand in mine, he leads me toward the open tunnel, walking past the boulders that once kept me trapped within.
With Darolus taking the lead, we’ve got this.I’vegot this.
