Page 9 of Simon

“I beg your finest pardon!” I raised my hand to my chest and couldn’t help but notice its small and delicate appearance. It wasa stark contrast to his, which was large and robust. I found it surprising because my hand was typically swollen and bruised from my day-to-day activities of collecting plant samples, caring for animals, and occasionally dropping heavy objects on it.

I was clumsy.

“You will not be smelling any part of me!”

The wolves behind me chuckled, and Elmira bolted from an unknown location, standing in front of me to use herself as a shield. “You heard the human. Back off.” Elmira stepped forward, shoving her finger to the giant’s chest. “It seems you haven’t learned your manners yet. Haven’t you learned anything from the manual our gracious queen made for you?”

Sugha snickered from behind him. His shoulders rose and fell. “Does Durz strike you as a male that would want to read?” Sugha lifted an eyebrow and smiled.

No, I didn’t believe so. Durz was the exact type of orc I pictured in my head: large, muscular, and his brain the size of a pea.

“Suppose not.” Elmira shared the thoughts in my head and backed away but still kept my body covered. “You stay away from Lucy. She is my charge, and I won’t have you making her feel uncomfortable. It’s under order of the queen.”

Durz didn’t care. He still stared at me like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. I was the same. I stared at him with questions. This was the first time I’d seen an orc in person. When I first heard that orcs lived in this realm, I thought them to be hideous, like in theLord of the Rings. Thank heavens he didn’t look like those orcs. Sugha and Durz were the opposite. They were easier on the eyes.

I also didn’t feel threatened by them as I should’ve been. The more human-like males were who I had trouble with. I could see having conversations with Sugha was going to be easier than Dutton, or any of the other men around me. I couldn’t put myfinger on why that was, but I was already relaxing at the thought of it.

“I won’t bother her,” Durz said to both of us when he turned away. “She isn’t my miresa—er, mate as you all call them. But if she was, I would have carted her off and made her mine, no matter what your order was.”

My face grew red, and I looked away. Shifters were similar in their actions. One could construe their acts as barbaric, but that was the way the cultures were in this realm. It could also vary from couple to couple.

When my face was turned away, I saw a shimmer in the darkened part of the wood. I tilted my head to get a better look.

Elmira and Durz argued, but I blocked them out when the bushes moved and the light sources reflected off something inside the darkness of the brush.

“Hey?” My voice came out stronger than I intended, but it made the arguing stop behind me. “Do you see that over there?” I pointed in the general direction of the shrubs. It was a reasonable distance away, but there was no denying something was there. A thump sounded, and all the wolves behind me stiffened.

“I’ll check.” Durz removed the blade at his side and widened his stance. The males took off with him and fanned out around to give him space.

As they arrived at the location, they parted the dense undergrowth, their weapons slicing through the foliage with a sharp swish. The leaves rustled and twigs snapped, accompanied by the earthy scent of crushed vegetation.

“Anything?” I stood on my tiptoes as I tried to see over the wall of female shifters that gathered around me.

Sugha stood by my side with his arms crossed.

“Strange,” Durz said when he sheathed his sword. “No scent, but there was something there. You can see where someonebroke the branches and indented the soil. The only remains was some fur on the branches.” He came back with the rest of the crew and held up a minuscule amount of hair in his claws.

I squinted my eyes and saw it was only a few threads. “So, an animal?” I rose to my tiptoes again and plucked it from him.

He grunted and turned away. “Aye, no smell, though. Strange.”

I concentrated on the fur, my eyes crossing as I felt its fibers. It was soft and smooth, not coarse like most animals you would find in a jungle. Normally, you find fur to be slightly coarse from living outside. I was also surprised that the orc and shifter, with their exceptionally strong noses, couldn't detect a scent.

Dutton came closer and took to sniff from my fingers. I shied away but held it out for him.

He tutted. “Yeah, no smell.”

“That’s what I said, wolf. No scent,” Durz snapped.

Dutton’s muscles tensed, emitting a low growl that reverberated through the air. With a rigid posture, his back stood straight like a steel rod. A mixture of disdain and revulsion twisted his lip, emanating a palpable sense of disgust. “Wolves’ noses are better; I’m just making sure.”

Durz scoffed and slammed an arm over his chest. “Orcs are stronger. We know the Wood. What we say goes.”

Feeling the tension rise and watching the shifters gathering around with bags of peanuts and jerky to watch a fight, I stepped between them.

“Isn’t there a rare plant that can cancel out the smells and scents of beings? Shifter, fae, and animal?” I held onto the fur with my fingers and glanced between the two heavily breathing males.

Durz grunted in response and nodded once. “Aye, yellowcress. It grows in the northern mountains with the dragons, but we have grown it here in the south as of late. Helps keep the ogresaway from the human females. We should grab a sack from the farm keepers,” he told Sugha, who was wiping a tear from his eye from the earlier scuffle.

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