Page 26 of Shackled to the Orc

I slip out of the clothes, and his eyes run up and down my naked body as I slide into the bathtub.

14

KHAN

Her clothes drop to the floor, and she is nude in front of me, her perfect curves and sensuous figure so different than my hard lines. She is everything I want, everything I do not deserve, but my cock throbs in lust as I taste her scent. She slips into the bath, slowly sliding into the steaming hot waters, her head barely above the water.

I stand, slowly, my knee protesting, the arcs of lightning pain shooting up my back, and walk to her. She looks up at me, and I want to stare at her forever, freeze this moment. I gently run my hand through her hair, and her lips part, and I cannot stop myself. I lean in and kiss her, her lips perfect, so soft, against mine.

I break the kiss off, my cock swelling, the fire for her overpowering all my pain, but I pull away and sit back on my bed. She is the only woman who has not looked at me as the monster I am.

I want her to know me.

“It was eight years ago.”

It’s like I can feel the wind whipping the snow against me, my furs tight around me as I lead my men towards the herds.

“The herds did not follow their usual path. They went into the king’s land, and I had been hunting them with my trusted men for weeks. A young orc, Brond, he begged me to take him with me. He’d only hunted our grounds before. I thought him old enough.”

She is watching me, intent on my every word.

“The storm started. I could have turned back.”

“I followed the herd to the great frozen lake, when the ambush hit us. The king’s men, with rifles that thundered out. Visibility was poor. I could have rallied my men into an attack and overwhelmed them. But I did not know how many they were. I did not want to take Brond into his first battle. I led my men into the frozen lake, to wait for the storm to pass.”

I can remember the snow so thick I could barely see a foot in front of me. Hunkering down with my men, waiting for the storm to pass.

“Days…weeks. We lost track of where we were, without the stars to show us the way. Hungry and weak, I tried to lead us back. When the storm cleared…”

I swallow. Hard. “I had led them deeper into the king’s lands. I’d run from a patrol and led them straight into an entire regiment. They were as surprised as we were. These ones were outfitted in technology. Weapons that shot out lightning. Glimmering armor that would have stopped our swords. I couldn’t even order a retreat. Six of my men were cut down. Others ran. They will have been hunted down. I got hit here,” I say, running my hand over my chest, where the blow that should have killed me seared through my flesh and knocked me to the ground instead.

“I woke up in a cell. Shug was there, on the other side of the bars. He bought me before I could go to the general auctions. And I told myself that I had died on that day. That I would fight until it was done. Then I met you, Maya.”

I breathe in her scent, the perfect, feminine tone that is hers and hers alone. “I didn’t take your medicine because of duty to the other gladiators. I took it because now I have something to come back to.”

Her eyes are wet, and a tear drips down her cheek. I hate to see her in pain. My own knee is throbbing less, the pain muted, my arm feeling more nimble already, but the pressure behind my eyes is increasing. The headache has come back with a vengeance.

“You’re not the monster, Khan. I am.”

“What do you speak of?”

“In that leather bag, there’s three vials. Shug told me if I don’t fill them with your seed, he’s going to kill me. I was going to…I…” Her voice breaks.

A surge of rage fills me. I never felt anything for or against Shug. He was just part of my path to peace, putting me up against champion after champion. Now he has threatened the one woman I care about.

Her confession only makes me care more about her. She is a healer. She never could have gone through with it. With an axe hanging over her head, it took her only minutes to make the noble choice.

“He will never touch you.”

“You don’t hate me?”

“No. But I will not have sons born to the same life as mine.”

“I…I have a plan.”

“What is it?”

“Garvin can go to the markets as he pleases, right? Do you trust him? There’s an herb he could get. It would kill your seed, but Shug would never know. But…Garvin’s no fool. He would know what it is. He could betray us.”

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