Page 50 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

“No, it’s nothing like that.” He waved me off and actually pushed my shoulder. “Why don’t you go grab something to eat? I’m going to go back to the tent. My head just… hurts.” The expression he made when he said it looked like he was in pain. “I think I’ve probably been doing a little too much to try to prove myself. Well…” He looked me up and down. “That and I’ve had this big orc pounding me every night, so…”

The soft accusation pulled a laugh from me as I responded. “I’ll bring you something to eat. Go rest.”

He nodded and started to turn—before he did, he leaned back in and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth.

I probably should have realized then that he had something else on his mind as he took off back toward the tent.

Chapter nineteen

Kai

Itwasbettertoask forgiveness than permission, right? That and I was pretty sure I’d go crazy if I didn’t do something now that I knew where Rainn was. We weren’t so far from the city that it would be that hard to find it… and I knew Nash wasn’t going to take me there until after he’d found Koth and killed him.

I was halfway to packing up all of my stuff so I could take off at a run toward my friend when I realized something…

I couldn’t leave Nash. I was pretty sure if I up and completely disappeared, he’d probably end up waging an entireextrawar to find me. That and… from the sound of the letter, even though Nash’s brother had been attacked, Rainn hadn’t been.

Fucking my own human mate.One who came through the portal around the same time I did. I didn’t believe in coincidences that big.

Yeah. He was probably safer where he was than if I found him and dragged him back here with me. Nash’s warning about me leading danger straight to him was still stuck in the back of my mind too. Rainn was safer without me there.

Especially if Nash was going to go after this Koth dude and not hold back.

But I still needed to do something…and by the time I realized that “something” wasn’t running away, it was probably too late.

The best I could do was compromise. I knew the road the messenger had taken, because it was the road we were traveling… and he’d only left a few minutes ahead of me. As long as I stayed on the road and not in the trees, I couldn’t get lost.

It did take me a little longer than I wanted to write up a quick letter for Rainn—telling him I was here, that I was blaming this all on him and all the smut he’d made me beta read… and letting him know that I was happy.

Fuck, I was happy.

But still, he needed to come and find me ASAP. If he was fucking the Emperor of the whole land, I was pretty sure he’d be able to manage a little request, right? Maybe he could talk his newfound royal lover into coming to help Nash so no one got hurt.

For the third time, I glanced around the camp to make sure that none of Nash’s guards were watching me, and then I slipped out and took off at a jog down the road.

It didn’t feel good, leaving without telling Nash, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t really appreciate me asking Rainn for help—he was stubborn, and he thought he could do everything on his own.

And…

As I continued to jog in the direction of the messenger Nash had dispatched, I realized he sounded exactly like me.

Not asking for help. Doing what he thought was right, what he thought he had to do to take care of the person he… loved.

“Fuck, I really love him, huh?” The words came out soft on my tongue, and they didn’t sound strange, they didn’t feel wrong.

They were just… there. And real, solid enough that they’d kept me from running off again, weighty enough that they were going to keep me here in this world, by his side.

I was ready to leave everyone and everything behind, because I’d finally found where I actually belonged.

And that place I actually belonged… was probably going to try to spank me again if he found out I’d run off without telling him. As much as the thought made my cock twitch in my shorts, I would probably be better off hurrying up and getting back before he noticed instead.

The good news was, I’d actually gone in the right direction for once. I saw the back of the messenger’s head as I rounded the corner.

“Mol!” I shouted his name and let out a small snicker as his head whipped back and his eyes went wide.

“No. No! Back to the camp with you, Kai. If Nash thinks for a moment that I helped you inanotherescape attempt, I—”

His words cut off, his eyes going wide… and I didn’t realize why until his body fell forward with a knife sticking out of his back. His gaze lifted to me—at least he wasn’t dead—but…

---