Page 6 of The Orc's Stolen Shepherdess

A humanfemale.

My stomach clenched with dismay. I’d seen the humans of Oakwall Village at the trades twice now. Their tables of goods were as full as their glares. They were peaceful with the orcs of Rove Wood Clan and didnot want to make enemies of us warriors, but that didn’t mean we were welcome.

I was about to turn tail back to camp when a yelp of fear pierced the air and all the hair on my body stood right to attention.

“Help!”

Ah, fuck.

I was under no obligation to aid her. None at all. It could be a trap!

It wasn’t a trap. I knew that. I’d scented the air already and there were no other humans about. She couldn’t have even known a warrior orc would be here.

“Someone! Anyone! Help me,please!”

My throat tightened against my own sense of self-preservation, and I made my way through the underbrush. Tiptoeing closer and closer to that sweet rosemary smell.

Fades, it smelled like comfort made tangible. Like the coziest fire on a warm night. Like the break of dawn after snowfall. I wanted to bask in it. To drink it up and—

Fuck, I’d nearly forgotten what I was doing!

I was quickly reminded when I broke through the trees and found a mound of boulders three times my height.

“Help!”

The voice was right there now—near the top. I climbed up onto the nearest rock so I could look over the edge.

My heart dropped right down into the pit of my stomach.

I could see the feet of a human woman sticking out of a massive black crevasse. Her toes were curled around a crack in the rocks. One wrong move and she wouldplummet.

Without forethought, I bolted up to the ledge she was on.

“Is someone there? Please help!” she cried, obviously having heard my scrambling as I climbed. The delicious scent of her was overwhelming, and I rushed to her side. There was no time to lose here.

Reaching down, I gripped the woman around her waist and yanked her.

Her yelp of alarm cut off as I swung her into my arms and backed away from the crevasse toward a safe location to put her down.

Fades, havemercy. She felt good. I’d never held a woman before, and I hadn’t realized how soft they were. Or how warm. Or how fucking incredibletheysmelled.

Suddenly, I understood why some orcs wanted to take a woman as a mate, to have her for alifetime, instead of just taking one as a conquest.

Her hand tightened against my chest and her face went pale with shock. Fades, blast me back to the depths. They were soblue. Like the coolest, calmest depths of a lake. Perfect waves lapped at my soul and made my whole body lax.

And then she inhaled sharply like she was about to start screaming.

Blast it all. For one blissful moment, I’d forgotten that I was a monster in her eyes. Compared to the slender, regal conjurer orcs of Rove Wood Clan, I looked like a scarred-up beast.

“Y-you’re a—you’re one of those new orcs!”

Ah fuck. I set her down quickly and backed away. She was saved. Time to leave.

A hot grip circled around my wrist, and I froze with shock.

“Wait!” she cried, golden hair frizzy from her tumble with death, cheeks a bright, perfect pink. She looked like a vision from one of my best daydreams.

“I need yourarms.”

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