I kissed the back of his neck again, causing him to shiver and Scaron to nearly gag.
“You can have your seat back. I feel like walking anyway,” he grumbled as he stepped off the chariot.
Drovo got back down on one knee so I could slide off his back. I walked to his front and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, just to piss off that weasel of a male even more. Drovo’s hands tightened on my waist and I knew he wanted to make our kiss last longer,but he let me go, nonetheless. I gave him a heated look that promised more kisses in the future.
Taylor and I settled next to each other on the bench once again. The rest of the trip was blessedly uneventful.
As the sun started to sink low in the sky, we approached a deep valley fenced in by two large mountains and a rustic stone wall in the middle. As we drew closer, I could make out rows of small wooden houses surrounded by lush pink grass.
It looked like the shire. It was cute, cozy even. These people were protected by the valley allowing them to live outside in the open while our dekes was forced to live in a mountain for protection. I ground my teeth as I imagined Drovo, only thirteen years old, being forced to leave this safe haven of a home. My heart ached for all the guys. How could a community be so cruel?
I had a bad feeling I’d get my answer as soon as I met their Savrix.
Chapter 17
Drovo
CW: Physical violence, emotional family reunions - might negatively affect anyone who has gone no-contact with family members, or have left a religious community, characters being physically bond against their will
The sinking feeling in my gut grew tenfold the moment we passed through the gate leading into the valley. I could see a crowd gathering and their murmurs reached my ears.
“Why aretheyhere?” “Is that Drovo and Brexl?” “Who are those females?” “What are they?” “Do you think they’ll shift while they’re here? Is it safe to have them in our valley?”
“Brother!” The voice of a young female broke through the crowd. “You’re back!”
The female, one of the few, ran up to Zander and embraced him. “Did you bring me anything? Did you-”
Her voice cut off at the sight of us.
“You do not need to be afraid of them,” Zander assured her. He was the only one who looked at uswith respect instead of fear.
“Drovo? Drovo!” A young male on the brink of becoming a hunter ran up to me. It was Zoru, my youngest brother. All the air left my lungs and my knees grew weak at the sight of him. I barely recognized him.
Zoru attempted to run to me, but our sire held him back. He eyed me and then the Savrix. There was pain in his expression. I knew my sire loved me even still, but he had to protect my younger brothers from the Savrix’s wrath.
“Drovo,” he nodded his head toward me in a gesture of acknowledgement.
“Sire,” I bowed with my fist to my chest.
“Brexl!” An elder’s voice came from the crowd. It was Brexl’s appo, his grandfather.
He rushed to his grandson and hugged him, not caring about the consequences.
Brexl stood stiff as a board as his grandfather embraced him.
“Get your hands off that abomination unless you wish to join him in his exile.”
There it was. The voice I’d been dreading the most. My Savrix. No, not my Savrix. Tarak wasmySavrix. This male was a bad memory, one I’d wished to never encounter again.
Dameron wore black and white robes that resembled the priestess’ own garments, which accented his long white hair and dark brown eyes.
Trivix stepped away from his grandson, keeping his eyes toward the ground lest the Savrix seehis anger.
“Scaron, why have you brought these two back into my valley?” The Savrix eyed us with distaste.
“Savrix,” Scaron bowed low with his fist to his chest. “I brought our dekes two new females. These abominations.” His voice was laced with distaste as he said the word. As if our curse might rub off on him by the mere mention of it. “They claim to be mated to these females and would not part from them, so I was forced to bring them along.”
“They didn’t claim to be mated to us. We told you ourselves that we are their luminescence mates.” Kayla spat out, looking livid.
