Page 4 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

When I pulled out my phone and glanced down at Rainn’s little grayed-out face on the tracker app, I knew I wasn’t going to. No one had ever accused me of being smart.

Headstrong, yeah.

Handy? Sure.

Smart…

Hm. I think the closest I got was when I was little and my mother was still alive. She’d told me I was bright then, but I was pretty sure she was talking about my smile. I didn’t remember her much, other than how sweet she was and how much she’d loved me. I remembered that her being alive was the last time I really, really felt like I was home, like I was anchored.

Rainn was the closest thing I had to that now. I couldn’t leave him stuck in a drippy, wet cave.

So… I had to pick a direction. With a sigh, I turned left and headed down the fork, hoping if I kept moving I’d stumble on something soon.

After another ten minutes of walking, I finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. I took off at a jog, and let out a small grunt of relief when I spilled out of the mouth of the cave—though the sun on my skin made my body tingle for just a second. I hadn’t been inside for that long, had I? And as far as I could remember, Sumner Cave only had one exit… but maybe I’d gotten turned around?

Maybe there was another way out that no one had found.

Maybe Rainn had found it and…

My eyes searched around and the hope I was feeling slowly dwindled.

This… wasn’t right. This didn’t look like Forest Glen at all.

It didn’t look like anywhere I’d been.

“I don’t… think I’m in Kansas anymore,” I muttered under my breath, then paused. “I don’t live in Kansas, though… so…”

I vaguely remembered how Rainn told me I talked to myself when I was freaking out, and I paused. Was that why I’d felt so weird when I walked out of the cave? Because I was freaking out?

Maybe.

Yeah, probably.

“Rainn?” I called his name out again, and the sound of an animalyowlingscreeched from the trees in front of me.

That didn’t sound… normal.

None of this was right.

I backed up slowly, and when my shoulders slammed against something solid, I froze—there’d only been air behind me before, so what was it?

Monster?

Bear?

Bear monster?

No. It was too solid. A bear monster would be soft and snuggly, right?

I turned and… there was nothing. Just the mouth of the cave that led into darkness.

When the yowl came again, I jumped and darted forward…

And promptly slammed face first into whatever that invisible thing behind me was, falling flat on my ass in the unfamiliar dirt.

Chapter two

Nash

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