‘Intimidating.’
‘Look who’s talking,’ she retorted, nudging him with her shoulder. ‘You ready to leave now?’
With one last wistful glance around him, Idan nodded. ‘Naam, my queen, let’s pack up and seek our next adventure.’
They turned away from the abyss, strolling back toward the farm hand in hand.
Inside the hut, he stored away his leather-making tools, a few iron kitchen utensils, and his meager wardrobe of dark tunics.
Lago arrived to help haul the remaining crates to the ship.
With the hut emptied, Sheba made her way toward the livestock pens, kneeling in the straw.
She stroked the thick fleece of the lamb she delivered weeks ago.
The creature was no longer a spindly runt but a robust youngling, its wool matted with the debris of the pasture.
‘How will I live with myself if I leave you here?’ Sheba murmured, her fingers tangling in the wriggling animal’s coat.
‘Then don’t,’ her man rasped, appearing behind her. ‘Take her and her little sheep family with us.’
Before Sheba could object, Idan signaled for Lago to herd the yearling, its mother, and the lead ram toward the ship’s cargo lift.
‘Where exactly do you plan to house a flock of livestock on Eden II?’ Sheba asked with a wry smile, rising to her feet as the animals trotted past her. ‘My apartment won’t cut it, and Eden II is not quite carved out for animal husbandry. The entire moon is a city built on a barren rock. Apart from the parks and indoor gardens, there isn’t a blade of natural grass within a thousand kilometers of the dome.’
‘I’ll get an aerated storage unit secured at the space port,’ Idan growled, his jaw set in a stubborn line. ‘It is a temporary measure til we procure a permanent farm on Dunia,nada?’
Sheba shook her head, a soft laugh escaping her. ‘Your fantasies are valid, my love.’
Idan closed the distance between them, pressing a hard, brief press of his lips against her temple.
‘Indeed, they are. We’ll be the owners of afokkin’ amazing property in no time, you wait and see.’
Their lips met in a kiss until a thunderous, ground-shaking bellow cut through their intimacy.
From the shadow of the northern ridge, a six-eyed Basilisk bull appeared.
It was a monstrous mountain of obsidian muscle and horns, his multiple pupils tracking their movement with predacious intelligence.
He trotted into the yard, the impact of his hooves vibrating through the soles of Idan’s boots.
‘Shuaqagec!’ Idan rasped, shifting Sheba behind him and stepping forward with an outstretched hand.
Idan caught his woman’s gasp of surprise, but he ignored it, his focus aimed at the beast.
The steer slowed as he reached Idan, delivering a massive, solid bump against the warrior’s shoulder that almost sent him staggering.
Idan went still, his hand resting on the bull’s broad, scarred snout.
They remained locked in a silent, psychic communion for a long minute, the brute harrumphing with a sound like grinding stones.
‘Are you two, what? Speaking?’
‘Naam,’ Idan rasped.
‘So you talk to animals?’
He shrugged, still focused on the beast before him. ‘Tis a side talent that comes with my abilities.’
