Page 25 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “He doesn’t get to tell me what to do.”

I took off my gloves.

“Let’s go.”

Once we were out of town, Drev told me Goataro had escaped his stall that morning and had to be coaxed back with food. Drev sounded proud of him. I told him to let the goat have a little room to move around and spent the rest of the drive trying to decide whether I was making a terrible mistake.

Sitting beside Drev was surprisingly comfortable. He was nearly as big as Rauf, but I didn’t want to climb into his lap or stroke his horns. I could look right at him while he talked without losing track of what he was saying.

So it was just Rauf. Wonderful.

When Drev passed the turn for the farm, I was relieved enough to feel a little silly about the whole trip. We could find what we needed and go back to town. Rauf didn’t even have to know I’d been here.

Then I saw him standing in the road.

“Drev!”

He slammed on the brakes. I braced a hand on the dashboard, but Rauf didn’t move until we’d stopped. Then he came to Drev’s side of the truck.

“You were supposed to be guarding the perimeter.” His voice was low, but I could hear the anger in it. “You stole the truck and brought her back? What were you thinking?”

Drev opened his mouth. I leaned out my own window and called around the cab.

“He brought me another goat. We’re going to see where it died.”

Drev met Rauf’s stare, which apparently wasn’t what Rauf wanted him to do. Rauf scowled and came around to my window.

“It’s dangerous. We don’t know what’s out there.”

“I’m sure two ex-gladiators can protect me.”

“Drev can take you back to town,” he said. “I’ll go look.”

“No. I came out here to do that.”

“After what happened last time?”

He was talking about the device, of course. I knew that. Still, my face warmed, and I hoped he couldn’t see it.

“There’s something oily around the goat’s mouth. I need to see if there’s more of it where Drev found him.”

“Tell me what to look for.”

“And if it’s in a plant? Or something else has eaten it? I can’t tell you what I need until I see what’s there. I’m a vet, Rauf. You can let me do this.”

His eyes moved over my face. I wanted to know if he’d missed me.

“Stay with us,” he said finally. “If we find another device, you keep away from it.”

“I can do that.”

Rauf went around to the back of the truck and climbed in beside the covered goat. Drev drove on, gripping the steering wheel like a kid just learning to drive.

“He’s going to kill me for this.”

“I don’t think so. He’ll probably yell a lot.”

“Oh no, Rauf doesn’t yell. He just looks at you until you lose your will to live. You should have seen him in the arena. Beasts twice his size cowered in front of him. It was incredible.”