Page 10 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

Logic, of course, said he was afraid because he was in an unknown world, he’d just been chased by a massive tandrax… and he probably didn’t know whatIwas.

Apparently, though, logic had no place when it came to the way my insides twisted and my hands itched to run along every inch of his sweaty skin, all warm and sun-kissed.

I wanted to touch him.

I wanted theanythinghe promised.

I wanted everything from him.

But… for the moment, I needed to provide him with a sense of safety and security, if only so he would calm himself enough to accept the inevitable truth that he was here, and that I was never going to let him leave.

He was still looking at me with bright blue eyes gone wide, confusion painted clearly across his features. Some small part of me wanted to stay here, to keep him in this clearing and sequestered away from the rest of the world. I wanted to learn every inch of his body, to learn everything about him.

A human.

My mate was a human.

I couldn’t have predicted it if I’d tried, but it didn’t matter. It could have been anyone—any gender, human, orc, elf. I would have known them anywhere, and I would do anything to keep them… and I knew the man in front of me, even if I knew nothing about him.

I knew he wasmine.

“Come.” I stood, extending my hand down to him as I did. His head turned up as I moved, his neck craning. I thought of the other humans I knew, those who’d come through the barrier over my time patrolling. It wasn’t a frequent occurrence, but it happened often enough that I’d seen quite a few.

He was… larger than most.

It probably felt strange to him to be so small now, but the thought just made my body shiver in delight. I could lift him easily if I wanted. I could protect him, could keep him.

I could—

He slapped his palm against mine in a quick gesture and scrambled back a few steps before pushing to his feet.

“Uh, thanks, bro.” He lifted his thumb and offered me a weak grin. “For cutting me down. And saving me from that big… uhm… cat?”

His voice sounded warm, like sunshine on my skin. I could see the near panicked expression crossing his features, even though it was obvious he was trying to sound brave and bold.

It was hard to do when you had to turn your head up to meet someone’s eyes, apparently.

“Bro?” I said the word carefully, letting it roll over my tongue. I was used to many languages—I’d studied them to the point that Axum sometimes questioned the way I spoke because it all blended into my speech—but the wordbrowasn’t something I was familiar with. The magic of the band that allowed the human to speak my language didn’t extend to strange slang.

“Yeah… bro. I mean… uh, well…” He glanced along the length of my body, his eyes catching for a second on my cock before jerking back up to meet my gaze again with cheeks stained pink. “It’s a term of… endearment?” he finally sputtered out before covering his face with a low groan. “Listen, I… Am I dead?”

My brows snapped together. “No.”

“Didn’t… hit my head too hard trying to get out of here? Am I in a coma?”

I looked him over. There was a bit of a red mark where he’d slapped into the barrier, but he seemed none the worse for wear. “No.”

“Am I… high?”

Another word I wasn’t quite familiar with… but he was on the ground now, so I felt confident answering.

“Not anymore.”

“Okay,” he finally threw his hands up with a frown. “I don’t get it. What’s going on? Why did you put a collar on me? Where am I? And what are you?”

Not who.

What.

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