Page 26 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

“Hm?” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Kai to look at my second in command.

“He moves as though he has been here all along. You know…” Vex’s voice was soft. “I always thought you were a bit foolish, the way you talked about fated mates like the world around us would shift when we found them. But it looks like you were right after all.” I finally managed to tear my gaze away from Kai to look at Vex. There was a soft wistfulness to his expression, but affection chased on its heels as he turned his eyes from Kai back to me. “You deserve this happiness, Nash.”

My hand landed on Vex’s shoulder, and I smiled at my friend. He’d left with me when I told Axum I meant to strike out and live with my people as nomads, and had never questioned our life—we’d been friends since we were children. And this was the first time I’d ever seen him look… vulnerable.

“You’ll find the same happiness, Vex. We all have mates waiting for us.” I pulled him to me in a half hug. “Shall we hunt yours once the matter with Koth is settled?”

His laughter was a warm thing as he returned my embrace briefly before pushing me away.

“I don’t know that Koth is the true danger here. I may be murdered before I have a chance to find myone.” It took me a second to realize what he meant. When I followed his line of sight, I saw Kai staring at us.

No, not staring—glaringat the place where Vex’s arm was still around my shoulder.

Vex pushed me away from him with a short laugh, and Kai’s cheeks instantly went crimson at being caught.

“Go to your mate, before he comes over here and rips my arm off.” I wanted to tell Vex he was safe—he was a warrior—but… the stormy expression on Kai’s face and the strength I’d felt told me that anything was possible.

Food was apparently the perfect way to shift Kai’s mood. Though he’d not-so-subtly asked me about Vex and whathisjob around the camp was, the sullen tone in his voice melted the second I brought him a bowl from the kitchen.

I wasn’t sure if it was the steaming soup, or the fact that we were eating with everyone instead of sitting in the tent with his hands tied. My entire group had warmed to him through the day—his sweet smile and willingness to work, along with my obvious claim to him, was more than enough to earn him acceptance. I knew he could feelit, because I could too.

It was… perfect. The way he fit in just as Vex said—like he’d been here all along. Like he’d been born to be at my side, and he was finally in his place.

And like he could sense it too, Kai kept bumping his shoulder into mine. Every time his body brushed against me, it made something inside me wind tight—he was perfect, and he was warm and solid and here…

And every drop of blood running through me, every inch of my skin and the bones in my body screamed that I hadn’t claimed him already as my mate. The bond between us was there, ready to be sealed, ready to tie us together forever… and it seemed tantamount to torture that I hadn’t done it yet.

But that bond had to be taken willingly, and even though his body unconsciously swayed toward mine, even though he’d carefully made sure to sit between Vex and myself without realizing it, I wasn’t sure that he was ready for my mark.

I wasn’t even sure if he was ready to hear that there was no way for him to return to his world without it.

“Fuck, I’m sweaty.” Kai drew me from my thoughts as he pushed his plate back, and I watched his eyes glance around the camp slowly. “Uh, you don’t have… like… portable showers here, do you?”

“Portable… showers?” My eyes glanced at the band he wore around his neck—the collar he wore. I wondered if there was some way to improve the magic so it let me know what the strange words he said meant, because there was still so much lost in translation.

“I need to actually wash off. You know… hot water? Coming out of a shower head? Rinsey rinsey, get all clean?” He wiggled his fingers in a raining motion like that could somehow paint the picture of what he was saying.

At least I understood what he wanted. There was a basin in the tent and fresh water was brought in daily, but after a hard day’s work, something more was in order.

“There’s a lake at the edge of camp that borders the cliffs. It’s safe to use.” It was part of the reason we’d come to rest here. We were protected from one side by the drop off.

“That sounds cold. Also…” I watched Kai visibly pale. “There’s a cliff?”

I knew what he was thinking when I stood, holding my hand out to him. He took my outstretched fingers and let me pull him to his feet. “Do you feel brave that you stumbled around in the dark now?”

Even though he would have had to swim the lake to get to the cliff, the thought of him accidentally falling made me twist my wrist, linking our fingers together instead of letting him go.

He looked between our joined hands with a small frown, but he didn’t pull away when I started walking.

“You could have warned me.”

“I told you it was dangerous.”

“Still,” he grumbled, but he kept pace with me as I guided him down the small pathway that led to the water. We’d set up a patrol around it, but the look I slid to the guards as we passed them was more than enough—I wanted this space as my own. They could watch the paths while keeping their distance.

We were silent until we came to the edge of the lake—the night was warm enough that it would feel good to bathe. Kai stripped out of his shirt and shorts, and was waist deep in the water before he realized I wasn’t following him.

My eyes were fixated on the sight of his body, muscled and perfectly golden. He had a few tattoos with symbols I didn’t understand painted across his flesh, and little scars dancing here and there.

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