Page 6 of Claimed By the Orc Lord

So…

The sound of someone shouting in the distance drew me from my thoughts, and my brows knit together. I recognized the cadence of human language, though it was too far away for me to make out what was being said.

The loudthunkfollowed by a low hum of something hitting the portal barrier gave me pause.

Because I heard it again.

And then again.

When I finally made my way to the edge of the trees so I could peer through and see what was going on, I’d heard the sound so much that the vibration of it was humming along my tusks.

And then I sawhim.

The one making the sound.

A human man was taking a few steps back and then flinging himself at the barrier as though brute force would let him back through. Each time, he fell to the ground… and each time, a low string of filthy words ripped from his chest. He stood, shook his long tresses of golden hair, and did it all over again.

Him.

I didn’t know his name, but I knew one thing.

I’d been waiting my entire life to meet my fated mate—I had been certain it would be an orc… Though a few in our land had mated with humans, I found them to be small.

Weak.

Incapable of surviving the lifestyle I lived.

But the human who stumbled back from the barrier for a sixth time, his expression a little dazed and his mouth pinched, belonged to me.

Him.

Mate.

Mine.

Chapter three

Kai

Nomatterhowmanytimes I slammed my hands against the invisible barrier, I couldn’t seem to make my way back through. It was… strange to say the least, and my fists were hurting after the sixth or seventh hit.

But as I drew back to ram into it again, something dawned on me.

If Rainn came through this way, he probably couldn’t get home either.

That would be a good reason for him to be gone for two weeks when he was supposed to be home sooner.

With a sigh, I turned, looking around. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but everything was slightly off. Just a little too bright and lush and untouched.

Just a little too wild.

The leaves were shaped differently; the air smelled different.

The noises weren’t… right.

“The fuck am I supposed to do now?” My eyes instantly flicked to the ground. Nervous talking… I was probably going to be doinga lotof that until I figured out what was going on. If I’d been in one of Rainn’s books, there would have been tracks leading me to where I needed to go.

Well, either that or there would have been some huge hunk of a monster waiting just this side of whatever I’d walked through to fuck me senseless and convince me I was into guys.

---