Page 112 of The Orc's Captive Bride
The sky lightened incrementally. Black fading to deepest blue and the stars winking out one by one.
He found the landmark he was searching for. A lightning-split oak, ancient and gnarled, its exposed heartwood pale as bone in the growing light.
From there, he counted paces, adjusting for the angle of the slope, before pushing through a dense thicket of brambles that caught at their clothes and skin.
And there.
The cave mouth was barely visible. Hidden behind a curtain of hanging vines and overgrown brush. Small enough that most people would walk past without noticing.
Perfect.
He’d used this hideaway twice before. Once after a particularly messy assassination that had required him to disappear for several days while Lasseran smoothed over the political complications. Once when a border skirmish had gone wrong and he’d needed to lay low until the search parties gave up.
Both times he’d been alone.
Both times he’d been thinking only of survival.
This time was different.
This time he had someone to protect.
He pushed through the vines and helped Thea navigate the narrow opening. The cave beyond was small but dry. Deep enough that the back chamber would be invisible from outside, and high enough that he could stand upright.
Not comfortable, but safe, and safe mattered more.
She sank onto the stone floor with a sound that was half sigh, half groan. She set the bundle of scrolls down carefully and then just sat there, her head bowed and her shoulders slumped while he moved deeper into the cave checking for signs of occupation by animals or other travelers.
He didn’t find anything but ash from his own previous fires. Proof that no one else knew about this place.
Good.
He filled a waterskin from the small spring at the rear of the cave and returned to find Thea trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. He handed her the waterskin and she drank thirstily before washing her hands and face.
“Now sleep.”
“I should help you?—”
“With what? Setting up camp?” He gestured at the bare stone. “Already done. Sleep, Thea. You need it.”
“Don’t you?”
“I’ll keep watch.”
“Khorrek—”
“Please,” he said gruffly. “Let me do this. Let me keep you safe.”
Something in his tone must have convinced her. She nodded, pulled her cloak tighter around herself, and curled up on the stone like it was the finest feather bed.
And just like that, she was asleep.
He watched her for a long moment, watched the rise and fall of her breathing slow and the tension drain from her body as exhaustion finally claimed her.
Beautiful. Even disheveled and exhausted and sleeping on bare rock.
His Beast stirred in recognition.
Mate.
