Page 52 of Steve's Barmaid
I followed Billie’s faint scent out of the bar and into the woods with Reykr on my heels. We reached a path into the forest that split, and it was harder to catch Billie’s scent while surrounded by the smell of the furutré. I knelt down and examined each fork. Only one had fresh footprints, with the trees on either side having disturbed and snapped branches.
“They had to go this way, because this trail is fresh,” I told Reykr, pointing out what I saw.
Luckily, the moon was full, and orkin eyes were keen even in the dark. I could see the lazy trail left behind by Tyr and Berit. I couldn’t help but wonder what they had planned with Billie and Joey. The idea of one of them carrying Billie while she was unconscious and sampling all of her soft curves made my blood boil. If they had taken Billie and Joey intending to try to take them as mates, I was going to kill both of them with my bare hands.
It wasn’t long before I started to smell smoke, the telltale sign of a fire burning nearby. I followed the smoke to a smallcave opening just off the path and was slack-jawed at the scene I found.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
STEVE
Tyr, Berit, Billie, and Joey were at the mouth of a small cave, with a fire lit in front of them. Tyr and Berit had their wrists tied in several intricate knots, with their heads hanging down. It appeared as if Joey was berating him. This was not the scene I expected to find. Reykr and I gave up the ruse of trying to sneak up on them and just walked out into the open.
Joey stopped mid-sentence and turned to me and Reykr.
“Well, fancy seeing you two here,” she said sarcastically. “I am guessing these two buffoons left a trail about a mile wide for you to follow?”
“Pretty much.” I shrugged before I was almost bowled over by Billie, who came rushing to me with her boots flapping around her ankles. She jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist before kissing me soundly on the mouth.
“My hero,” she teased.
“It seemed like you had the situation pretty well taken care of.” I smiled down at her—of course, she and Joey handled the situation, my fearless Billie.
“That was only because of Joey. I have no idea how to restrain the person—or orc. But in case you weren’t aware, don’t get on Joey’s bad side.”
“Noted.” I pulled her in for another kiss. Reykr cleared his throat behind me, and I looked over Billie’s shoulder at him.
“While this display of affection is sickeningly sweet, we must plan what to do now.” He nodded at my two tribemates. “Should we kill them?”
“What?!” Billie gasped. “No!”
“Why not? They drugged you and kidnapped you.” I spat scornfully.
“Yeah, but they were way too stupid to pull it off. Look at how easily you found us. We were gone maybe a couple of hours. I think the only one with lasting damage may be Tyr.”
Billie called to Joey, “Hey, is that kick to the chest going to cause long-term trauma?”
“Nah, he’s fine. Aren’t you, buddy?” she spoke to him like a toddler.
Tyr nodded glumly.
Reykr looked appalled. “So you are saying they should receive a lesser punishment because they were too stupid to kidnap you effectively?”
“I mean. They didn’t really do any harm.” Billie shrugged.
She might be conversing with Reykr and Joey, but as she wrapped her legs more tightly around my waist, I could tell she only had one thing on her mind.
“Maybe we shouldn’t tell Agnarr and Piper about this.” Reykr scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Since there appears to be no significant harm done, I would hate for them to feel obligated to kill these two idiots.”
“I think we should leave it up to the women. Ladies, what do you think their punishment should be?” I asked.
Billie and Joey looked at each other thoughtfully.
“No talking to any of the females, especially not the humans,” Joey proposed.
“And they must go home once we’re done with the bar,” Billie added. “But they need to stay finish out their fair share.”
“Why no talking to females?” Reykr asked.
