Page 21 of Enchanted with the Orc
It would be my first and I was too damn old to still have a hymen, damn it. But after the date we’d just had, it felt… different. Not ruined, perhaps, but not something I wanted. Swallowing hard, since I wasn’t a huge fan of conflict, I sent him a small smile.
“I was thinking we could go back to the coven and—” I started, but his eyebrow quirked as he slid his free hand over to put on my knee, his thumb caressing me there.
“But there won’t be much privacy with your coven there, would there?” he asked, his thumb moving higher.
Swallowing hard, I nodded, an awkward laugh filling the air between us. “Definitely less privacy.”
“Then my place,” he said with finality, leaning forward to press a kiss to my lips.
I went along with the kiss, struggling to find the joy I’d started the night with. The anticipation. But it wasn’t coming.
Later, when I lay on my side next to him, tucked against his long, naked body, I winced at the twinge between my legs. He hadn’t been careful, not by a long shot, but I knew from reading magazines that most women had terrible first times. It didn’t mean that the rest of my sex life would be destined for failure.
I turned, peeking over my shoulder at David. He was the male that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I needed to pull my head out of the clouds and realize that reality was different from the movies I watched. This was real life and real life meant that the big moments I built up in my head didn’t have to turn out the way I thought they would.
Looking into his face, I found my reality swirling, switching to his features again, but this time, they were twisted in fury. As fear lodged in my chest, I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. A big hand was holding my arm, and I fought against it, knowing it was David, knowing that he had caught me.
I yanked myself away, confusion swirling in my head as I realized that I was in another room. Not David’s bedroom. A strange room on a huge bed, and the hand wasn’t David’s. I pulled away still, scrambling up the bed away from whoever was touching me. I felt Gabbi next to meand I scooped her into my arms.
As usual, my sweet girl slept through everything that was happening. I eyed Enka, his hands up from where he was kneeling next to the bed, his face ravaged with worry.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice, glancing at Gabbi before looking at me again. “I think you were having a nightmare.”
My eyes squeezed shut as my memories of the night flooded back.
David.
The fucker had found me and as usual, my subconscious was torturing me with our past.
“I’m fine,” I told him with a fake smile, tucking Gabbi close again and easing away from where he was still kneeling at the side of the bed. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”
He hesitated for a long moment before he nodded, standing and backing away. “If you need anything—” he started, but I shook my head, cutting off his words.
“I don’t,” I told him, swallowing against the horror of remembering the male who had made my life miserable for too many years. “I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me, but sometimes I just have these weird dreams.” I waved my hand as if it didn’t matter, lying to him. I was vulnerable and I didn’t need another male ever taking advantage of that again.
“Okay,” he said in a low voice, backing out of the room. “I’m sorry.”
Regret slashed into my chest. I hadn’t meant to make him feel bad for trying to help, but maybe that would be better. I didn’t need to worry about another male. I had too much going on with the one who was currently after me and my daughter.
“Thanks again,” I whispered, not wanting to be ungrateful. When the door closed, I heaved a sigh of relief and lay Gabbi down on the side. I stood, making my way to the door and turned the lock, the small clicktelling me that it was locked now.
I knew he probably heard it and there was instant regret in my chest, but I wasn’t taking the same chances I had when I was younger. I wasn’t trusting another male the way I had before. There was no way I would ever be that stupid again.
Chapter Thirteen
Enka
Isat on the pull-out bed outside my mate’s bedroom, and the click of the lock sent a pang of pain through my soul. I shouldn’t have rushed in there without knocking. My instincts had pushed me to protect my mate, but damn it, I’d made her feel unsafe instead.
Scrubbing the palm of my hand against my face, I glancedtoward the door where she was sleeping next to our daughter. She’d remembered something. The scent of her fear while she slept had been acrid in my nose while her whimpers were loud and painful in my ears.
I hadn’t been able to stop myself from going to her. From reaching out and waking her. I needed the pain she was experiencing to stop. But I shouldn’t have. I was being too forward, and my mate needed me to take things slow.
I could do that for her. It would hurt like an open wound, but something was telling me that when it came to Tasia, I was going to have to take my time. I had to be careful, or she would run. Again.
Now that I knew that it was her plan, I could let the panic that had swept through me when I realized she was gone take over my body. I clenched my hands into the sheets, looking at the locked door while my chest heaved with my breaths.
She wasn’t safe. Someone was following her and my beautiful, courageous mate had decided that her best bet would be to run. My lips curled in a snarl at the thought of that asshole who had to be following her.
