Page 88 of Bound to the Orc Hunter

“You know what I’m going to say.” Branikk grins as he settles me onto a chair. “Magic. Specifically, my father’s magic.”

Everyone sits around us, and Branikk fetches ale from the bar and orders food, bringing back a basket of hot rolls and a pot of butter.

I fall on the food, the whole-grain bread hearty and rich, the butter sweet and a little grassy and delicious.

Olivia asks me if there’s anything I’d like and makes me a Coke, the bottle so cold, condensation starts to form on the glass. The first swallow bubbles across my tongue in an explosion of sugar, and I moan.

Branikk swipes my drink to take a sip and pronounces it, “Better than coffee.”

I take it back and sip again. “So much better.”

When everyone asks, Olivia makes more Cokes and passes them around for people to try. The orcs nod at me, raising the bottles in a toast.

“Now, about that Ferris wheel,” Taylor says.

“No, we start at the beginning.” Branikk sits back in his chair, his body language changing, immediately capturing everyone’s attention. And here it is, that magnetic part of him that made mefirst think he was an actor. “The very first time I met my bride, she threw pillows at me!”

Yells fill the room. “No!” “Yes!” “Why?”

“I’d just played one of those pillow-toss games at the carnival I worked at, and my magic seems to want to make carnival things.” I shrug, not admitting that my magic also likes to make sexy things. Then I hook a thumb toward my husband. “Butthisguy, he thought it meant something totally different.”

“I thought it was a human mating ritual!”

The whole room breaks into laughter.

“Oh, my god!” Taylor leans forward, eyes bright with interest. “What did you do?”

“Well…” I catch Branikk’s approving gaze, and he gives me a little nod.

Warmth fills me. I’ve never been accepted like this, never felt like one of the gang before. I feel like I lived my whole life on Earth as the wallflower outcast, always watching from the outside as others lived their lives.

But not anymore. Not here with these wonderful, welcoming people. Not here with Branikk.

We take turns telling everyone the story of our adventures.

And with each admiring word and approving glance from him, I start to hope it’sourstory.

The story of how we fell in love.

We eat a long meal that ends up being a combination of lunch and dinner. What’s the equivalent of brunch using those two words instead? Dunch? Linner? No matter what you call it, it’s yummy, finished off with cinnamon-roll dessert pizza, whichis so good, the local pixies wake early and fly through the open windows to demand the “new sweet pizza.”

Everyone sips their drinks and chats. It’s funny in a way. For all I love watching things likeBridgerton, I never imagined how authentic it would feel to just sit and talk with other people without the distraction of phones or TV. Maybe it’s the real reason I can’t seem to make a phone battery.

Sturrm, an older orc who seems to permanently scowl, surprises the hell out of me when he pulls out an old-timey acoustic guitar and sings several songs in a lovely rich baritone. He finishes with a haunting love ballad, and everyone in the pub goes quiet. Love and yearning throb in his voice, yanking on my heartstrings, and I lean into Branikk as everyone’s eyes go a little misty.

When he finishes, I whisper to Taylor, “How thehellis that guy still single?”

“I know, right? Total panty dropper.” She shakes her head. “There’s rumor of some kinda lost love.”

These orcs certainly love hard, it seems. My eyes flick to Branikk, who smiles and reaches over to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. Then he leaves his arm resting on the back of my chair in one of those casual shows of togetherness I’ve seen other people have but never experienced until now. Until him.

While Branikk tells Krivoth and some of the others about our big battle in more detail, I chat with the other witches about our powers, learning Taylor can move things with her mind. She makes me float up out of my chair a good foot, then moves me sideways, depositing me on Branikk’s lap with an impish grin. “Oops! Still practicing!” I don’t believe her, but I also don’t mind my new seat.

Evening’s falling by the time we leave the pub, the big fluffy clouds in the sky over the green turning a glorious pink.

Branikk lets me walk this time, but keeps an arm wrapped around my shoulders as he steers me away from the village center. It takes me a few minutes to realize we’re not headed for our cottage. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

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