Page 4 of The Orc Chief's Baker
Didn’t he know this area of the woods was off limits to the orcs of Rove Wood?
She didn’t have time to ask a single one because in the next breath, he turned on his heel and bolted into the woods.
And despite all logic, Trinia found her legs, got to her feet, and rushed after him.
Chapter
Two
BROVDIR
Brovdir had been with many women in the woods but never once had he ever beenchasedby one.
Fades blast it, the woman was quick. It was like she’d grown up scampering through this forest and knew each tree and bush by heart. She was keeping pace with him.
And he was . . . hesitant to leave.
Not because she smelled good. Certainly not that. He’d smelled plenty of human women andyes, she smelled the best of them. Like something sweet and rich he’d not encountered before. It drifted into his nose and made a quiet, comfortable bed in his mind, settling around him like a thick fur on a chilly night.
The feel of her, all full and heavy in his arms, made him long for another touch. He’d held a few women like that, but they’d always felt too light. Like there was nothing on their bones but skin. This woman feltlush.
And she hadn’t immediately tried to squirm out of his hold.
And now she wasrunning after him.
Perhaps... he could stop just for a moment.
Brovdir shook the crazed thought right out of his head and kept going.
Blast, he had no time for this. Karthoc wouldskin him aliveif he found out he’d spoken to a woman from Oakwall Village. The village Brovdir wasn’t even supposed toknowabout. The one he’d sworn to keep secret from the rest of his brethren and go absolutely nowherenear.
“Wait! Please come back! I just have a few questions!”
Curiosity seized him so tight he could feel it in his throat. Questions about what? About the saber cat he’d just sent packing? About the knife he’d given her? About why she smelled so good...?
Would it really be so bad to just...
No.No!He would not disobey his Warlord’s orders. Absolutelynot.
“I have cookies!”
As she brought out a cloth package, a delicious aroma flooded everything else. It was sweet and soft and rich. He’d smelled something like it when traveling past a human town before. One of the big ones with elaborate stone walls surrounding the perimeter. The wooden gates had been open as he’d snuck by, so the stench of human bodies was strong, but through that, he’d caught a whiff of surgery bliss. Just one.
He’d dreamed about what the taste might be like...
Ah, blast it. He was insomuch trouble.
“Please? Just for a moment?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and leaned against the trunk of one of the huge fir trees. His head hit the trunk hard, and he wished it would jar some sense back into his miserable skull. He never should have gone walking through the woods. No matterhowbadly his throat hurt.
And it did hurt. The only thing more potent than the delicious aroma of this woman and her baked goods was thesearing agony gripping his vocal cords. It burned like the foul depths of the goblin’s deepest mines and blistered like he was swallowing down magma.
She wanted to ask him questions, but with how much he’d been forced to speak this day, there was no way he’d be able to utter a single word in response to her.
“At least take these as a thank you for saving me!”
Her call made him flinch because it wasrightnext to him. Right around the tree. If he tipped his head a little...
