Page 14 of Claimed By The Orc

Mahk’s lashes fluttered. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you did your job, right? So what happens now? Do you go back to your world?”And leave me here alone?I managed to keep that part to myself.

Mahk froze at my question, one of his tusks digging into his upper lip, and I swore to fuck this massive orc was blushing.

“Well, you see, about that . . .”

Hell, what now?

“What is it, Mahk?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I cannot return home.”

What? “Huh? How? I thought you said there was a barrier that you could cross. In the cave? That’s how you got here, right?”

“There is.” He looked down at the floral area rug we were standing on, his toes digging into the fabric. “But it kind of closed and won’t open back up.”

“What do you mean it won’t open back up? Is that even possible? Do you know what happened? Have you been trying to find a way home?”

It wasn’t like I was in a rush for Mahk to leave me, but . . . I was realistic enough to know he could not stay here forever.He wasn’t human. He had a life and a family. He was the royal assassin, whatever the fuck that meant. Whatever this was between us wasn’t destined to be permanent, and no matter how much I wished I could have something that was only for myself, something with Mahk, I understood that wasn’t in the cards. I knew what it felt like to be trapped somewhere you didn’t want to be. I didn’t want that for Mahk.

He still looked awkward. There was something he wasn’t telling me. “I know what happened and how to reopen the barrier. I am unable to do so right now.”

“Okay . . . so how do you do it?”

Mahk finally looked up, and I was struck by how vulnerable he appeared. All I wanted to do was kiss him and hold him and make everything better, which, wasn’t that an odd feeling?

“There is a story from my homeland,” he said instead of outright answering. “It talks of how every orc has a person that is destined for them. Fated. The story goes on to say that if yours is from a different realm, one of the barriers will open, but only for the person. They would be allowed into Belzod to meet their mate. But the twist was the border would not reopen until both parties accepted the match.” He laughed a little, reminiscing, “My brother Nash always firmly believed in the stories, and my other brother, Axum, and I would tease him. It wasn’t that I thought they were fantasies exactly, but it seemed so farfetched and unlikely to happen that I dismissed it, as did Axum.”

Made sense. I would never believe something like that either. “That was until both my older brothers met their mates, who crossed the barrier. Still, I never expected it to happen to me, and I had no idea it could occur in reverse, where I would be closed off to my home, but it did, and it can.”

I understood the words and even what they meant. Mahk believed he’d been locked out of his homeland because he had afated mate here and needed to accept the bond before the barrier would reopen—but that was impossible.

The last few weeks flashed through my mind like a movie, from the first time I’d caught Mahk watching me to all the times he’d brought me food and spent time with me, to all the events today. The way Mahk seemed to fixate on me, seemed to act like I was the most important person in the universe. It implied one thing, but there was no fucking way whatever deities Mahk believed in would somehow decide that I, of all fucking people, was this sweet, slightly deadly orc’s perfect match. It was fucking laughable.

But the way Mahk was staring at me with such earnest want, begging me to understand, to accept him, it was hard to come up with any other conclusion. It was so fucked up, so unbelievably impossible I had to fight the urge to break down in hysterics. But Mahk was being deadly serious, and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him like that.

“Tell me I’m misunderstanding what you’re implying,” I finally implored.

But Mahk looked at me sadly. “You’re my fated mate, Tanner. You were meant to be mine, and I was meant to be yours.”

Oh, fuck me. What did I do now?

CHAPTER 8

MAHK

Tanner’s eyes were wide with panic, and I could hear his heart beating from here, even with the space between us. Too much space. It might have only been about two arms distance, but it felt like miles, a never-ending chasm separating us.

Tanner was rejecting me, or at least the idea of being my mate. He still hadn’t said a word, but he didn’t need to. He didn’t want me. Couldn’t accept me. My heart ached, shattering into a million pieces in the silence.

I waited, hoping he’d say anything. If I understood what he was struggling with and why he was so against the idea, maybe I’d be able to convince him otherwise.

It wasn’t even about never returning home. That would hurt, yes, but not nearly as much as Tanner turning me away. That might break me beyond repair.

“You have to be wrong.” Tanner stumbled back, his knees eventually touching the furniture. He fell back into it, like it was impossible to stay standing anymore. “Maybe it closed for another reason? Or maybe someone else is meant to be your mate and you only thought it was me, since you saw me first?”There was an edge of panic to his voice as he tried to find some kind of explanation that wouldn’t tie him to me.

It was like my body cracked in two. My mate, my other half didn’t want me. He was so desperate to find a reason to make it not true that he was coming up with other plausibilities. I thought back on all the moments we’d had together. At Tanner’s beautiful smile when I’d brought him tacos. What would I do if he said no?

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