Page 60 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

I made Aev sleep a few hours with me that day, knowing he couldn’t keep it up forever without any rest, despite his protests. A few other fae took to the skies with the other girls, trying to distract the beasts.

Apparently, they saw right past the distractions, and focused on those of us who could control them. After one particularly close call, a furious, worried Remmo retrieved Aev from our bed. My king didn’t protest as we headed back to the others, though the circles under his eyes were dark and thick.

We were all tired, but if we could hold out a few more days, we would have more help.

When Rosalie came to trade places with me on the fifth day, so I could finally crash again, it was the middle of the night.

The new humans would be classified in about forty-eight hours, so we wouldn’t have to stick it out alone for too much longer.

But as I searched for Aev, planning to make him sleep for at least an hour or two, one of the dragons who had been flying with us swept down from the trees and landed beside me. His eyes were wild, his white-blond hair sticking up in every direction.

He reached for my arm, to stop me, but halted his fingers a few inches from my skin. He must’ve remembered who I was, and that I didn’t like to be touched, I assumed.

Red blossomed on his cheeks, though, and his gaze swept over the trees. “I know she’s yours,” he said quickly.

When I glanced over my shoulder, I realized he was talking to Aev. The gorgeous ex-king was striding toward me, with purplish circles under his eyes and a clenched jaw. “We’re all tired,” he told the dragon guy anyway, wrapping his arm around my waist and leaning in to press his cheek to my head. “What happened?”

“All four of them are together now, and it looks like another one joined them. They’re flying toward us,” the fae explained quickly, his expression somewhere between stressed, apologetic, and afraid.

Aev swore, pulling me tighter to his side.

“Thanks for letting us know.” I gave the blond fae the biggest smile I could muster—which wasn’t big. It probably didn’t even resemble a smile.

The man nodded, and then left.

Aev pulled me into his arms, crushing me tightly to his chest. “You’ll be careful?” he murmured to me, voice raspy and exhausted.

“Of course. As soon as they’re gone, you need to sleep. Even just in a tree, or cuddled up at my feet in your beast form while we wait for them to regroup,” I whispered back. “It’s been too long. I need you to take care of yourself.”

He swallowed roughly, and I felt the movement against my forehead. “Alright. I’ll come to you when you’re back on the ground, safe.”

We held onto each other tightly for a few more seconds before he reluctantly released me, kissed my forehead, and then made his way back to his own place in the trees.

I knew it killed him to rely on Presley to protect me, but I loved that he trusted me and her enough to let it happen anyway. And despite how many days had passed since the bond had been broken, he’d only seemed to get more attached to me, not less.

I headed back to the other life-bringers and their male rides, and Presley strode up to the group at the same time I did. We all exchanged worried grimaces.

“We’ve got this,” Rosalie said, though her expression told me she only half-believed it.

“They won’t know what hit them,” Blue agreed weakly. “Me and Oren will take the blue one.”

“I’ll take the red one,” I said, looking at Presley. She nodded in confirmation.

“We’ll take the obsidian one,” Summer said, looking at the fae dragon she’d been flying with. He was friends with Remmo, and his name was Kiin, but that was all I knew about him.

“And Devv and I will take the sunset one.” Rosalie snagged the male phoenix’s hand, and I watched them closely. She flashed him a tired grin, and both his cheeks and ears reddened.

“Are you together?” Blue asked Rosalie, her expression growing curious.

“Sort of. It’s new.” Rosalie lifted a shoulder. “He’s a damn good kisser.”

His face and ears reddened further, but he was grinning, then.

They were adorable, and the way she bumped her arm against his made me really happy for them.

“Congrats,” Blue said, smiling at them.

“Thanks.” Rosalie smiled back, and there was light in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before.

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