Page 20 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

Damn, I’d never been manhandled—orc-handled?—before. I’d never felt soalivewhen someone touched me.

I’d never felt—

“I should put you over my knee and spank you until you have no strength to run again.” Nash’s growling threat took me off guard as he broke the kiss.

“I… what? Are you threatening me or flirting with me?” My voice sounded as dazed as I felt, and my question was swallowed down by the feel of his mouth pressing against mine again.

Warm.

Hot.

Demanding.

Confusing.

As confusing as his hands trailing along the length of my back, fingers digging into the skin just above my ass as he pulled me firmly against him.

“Nash.” I finally managed, his name spilling almost of its own accord from my lips. “I have to go. I can’t just stay tied up in your tent forever.” Even as I spoke, I knew the words were useless. He’d started walking with his arms around me, and I had a feeling he wasn’t taking me back to the portal so I could go home.

I could blame the way I didn’t struggle as much as I should have on the darkness, on the fact that I didn’t know the woods at all and I probably wouldn’t have gotten very far.

It had nothing to do with how good it felt to be pressed against his body—was I allowed to be attracted to a dude if I couldn’t see him?

Did that still count?

Yeah, probably.

Nash didn’t stop dragging me forward until I was back in his tent, and I was too shocked to stop him when he threw me roughly across the room so I tumbled onto his bed.

He followed after me, and my entire body felt like it was blossoming with fire—heat just beneath my skin that I couldn’t stop.

That I couldn’t control.

He took my mouth with his again, and I didn’t have the excuse of it being dark this time when I let out another low-sounding rumble in my chest.

I was pretending—I had to be pretending. Getting out of my punishment? Trying to set him at ease so he’d let his guard down again, since I’d fucked up my first attempt at running so spectacularly?

I…

I was kissing him back. The only thing that saved me from completely losing myself was the way he had my wrists pinned above my head, though I completely lost my train of thought when his mouth trailed from my lips to press warm, rough kisses that scraped my jawline. My neck.

Distracting. And… definitely not evoking verystraightfeelings from me.

It took me a full twenty seconds to realize he’d slipped the ropes around my wrists again, and this time when he murmured the words, I felt the pressure against my skin. I was still half dazed from the feel of his mouth pressed against mine, caught up in whatever confusing emotions were roaring along my nerves and making me feel like my entire body was on fire.

“Maybe this will be lesson enough.” Nash leaned in, brushing his lips along my jawline and drawing another violent shiver from me.

Magic.

It had to be magic.

It had to be—

“Where are you going? What do you meanlesson?” I got the words out as he pulled back after tying my hands to the frame of the bed. I was stuck there on my back, the effects of our kiss embarrassingly obvious in the way my shorts were tented. Nash’s eyes swept along my body, his brows drawing together and a nearly pained expression painted across his face.

“I can feel the way youwant,Little Mate. I would give you relief unlike anything you’ve experienced before, but…” He clenched his hands at his sides like he wanted to show me what he meant, and for some reason, my protests of “not your mate”were caught in the back of my throat. “I think you’re better left to think…”

“Think?” I tried to jerk my hands down, but there wasn’t any room. The position I was in was proof that he hadn’t really tried to tie me up at all before—I was actually restrained now. “Think about what?”

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