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 are they here?” “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 us with 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 was my Savrix. 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 see his 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.

“Luminescence mates, hmm?” The Savrix looked us up and down, his gaze lingering on our joined hands. “The big moon will be full in two days’ time. Why don’t you stay so I can see the evidence of your bond myself?”

“We don’t want to stay,” Taylor cut it. “In fact, I would like to go home now,” she took a step toward the gate when the Savrix cut her off.

“It wasn’t a request, female,” he growled and Brexl’s fist clenched. Taylor caught sight of the gesture and moved back to Brexl’s side. She unclenched his fist and interlaced her fingers with his. He rolled his shoulders back as if he could manually release the anger coursing through his veins.

“Savrix,” I began with the most humble tone I could force myself to speak in. “If you’d be so kind to let us go. We’ve been gone for longer than we should, searching for food for the winter and the offering. Our Savrix-”

“How many of these females do you have in your dekes?” He cut me off.

“Just the two of us,” Taylor lied.

“Silence, female. I wasn’t speaking to you,” he growled and this time Brexl couldn’t hold back his growl. He took a step forward when Taylor held him by the base of his tale. Brexl choked and nearly doubled over. Taylor looked confused. She must not know how sensitive the base of a sirret’s tale could be. Brexl righted himself again.

“Just two females,” I repeated Taylor’s statement, trusting her wisdom to lie.

The Savrix looked at Taylor and Kayla now. There was a hunger inhis eyes, but it was different from the hunger Scaron had. He looked at them as if they were dried reeds ready to be woven into whatever shape he pleased.

“If I remember correctly, you struggled to provide enough food for your dekes last winter. How do you expect to provide enough food for the offering as well as two new females? Are you planning to forgo the offering? Maybe now that you’ve been blessed by the goddess with two females, you think your curse has been lifted?”

“No,” I stepped forward with a growl of my own this time. “We have not forsaken the goddess.” How could we? Either we pray to her day and night to release us from the guilt we suffer or, for those with mates, we offer our gratitude for the blessings she’s granted us. Either way, we’ve remained faithful.

“Luminescence mates or not, perhaps the females should stay with us since we can provide for them and you cannot.”

“We aren’t staying with you,” Kayla said in a firm tone with her arms crossed over her chest.

“You will if I say you will,” the Savrix growled back.

“No, we won’t.” She said in an authoritative tone that I knew the Savrix would not appreciate.

“I”m the Savrix here. You may not be sirret, but while in my valley, you”ll give me the respect I deserve.”

“I am giving you the respect you deserve,” she said through gritted teeth.

The Savrix drew back his hand and before I could react, he slapped Kayla across the face. My Kayla.

I lunged for him, claws out, and landed one blow across his face before I was dragged away. Blood trickled from the scratch on his cheek and he wiped it away with the back of his hand with a frown.

“Tie him up.” The Savrix said in a low tone. “Tie them both up.”

“No!” Kayla cried. She reached out for me, but I was already being pulled away. Zander held her back. If it had been any other male, I would be vowing to rip their throats out. But I could see in Zander’s eyes that he was only trying to protect her. The more she tried to reach me, the worse it would be for us both.

“Let him go!” Taylor cried as Brexl was ripped from her grasp. “He hasn’t done anything wrong! Neither of them have!” Tears streamed down her face. Taylor carried herself with such confidence that I didn’t think it was possible for her to look scared. But she looked frightened now, frightened and distraught.

“It’ll be okay,” Brexl tried to soothe her as his wrists were bound behind his back.

His grandfather held Taylor back and echoed his words. “They won’t harm him. I’ll make sure of that.” The elder male eyed the Savrix with fury in his eyes, promising vengeance if they laid even a scratch on his grandson.

Ropes were tied tight around my wrists and we were both led away from the crowd. There was a small, damp cave at the base of one of the mountains protecting our valley. They led us to it and threw us inside.

“You two can rot,” Scaron scoffed as he rolled a boulder over the entrance, leaving us in utter darkness.