Page 4 of The Orc's Captive Bride
This is it. This is where I die. Killed by an orc on an alien world because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
CHAPTER TWO
Khorrek stared at the small human female—at Thea—in frustration. No part of him wanted to be here, but High King Lasseran had sent him on a mission.
Retrieve the female. Bring her to me unharmed. This is your chance to prove your loyalty, Khorrek.
The words had been delivered with Lasseran’s characteristic silk-smooth voice, the one that promised everything and guaranteed nothing. The High King had been… different lately. More volatile. The winter months had stretched long behind the dark walls of the Obsidian Keep, and with each passing week, Lasseran’s mood had darkened like a wound turning septic.
Khorrek wasn’t stupid. He knew when he was being tested.
Even though Lasseran couldn’t possibly know that his loyalty had faltered, he suspected—and that suspicion made him even more dangerous than normal.
The scar across his face itched—it always did when his thoughts turned dangerous. He’d earned that scar in the High King’s service, along with a dozen others that mapped his body like ahistory written in pain. Each one a reminder of what he owed. Each one a chain.
You owe him nothing, whispered the part of his mind he tried not to listen to.He made you into this.
He shoved the thought down where it belonged, locked away with all the other doubts that had been accumulating like rot, as he focused on the female. She was… not what he expected.
Small. Soft. Fragile.
And the moment their eyes had met, his world tilted. His Beast had surged to the surface with a force that had nothing to do with violence and everything to do with recognition.
Mine.
The word slammed through him with the force of a warhammer, bypassing every rational thought, every carefully constructed wall he’d built between himself and his nature. His Beast knew her. Claimed her. Wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and carry her somewhere safe where nothing and no one could ever touch her.
No.
He crushed the impulse with brutal efficiency. She was the High King’s prize, not his. This female belonged to Lasseran, just like everything else in his life belonged to Lasseran. The fact that his Beast was reacting like she was his mate meant nothing. Less than nothing.
It was a trick. Had to be. Some residual magic from the stone circle playing havoc with his senses. He forced himself to look at her analytically. Her skin was pale—too pale, like she’d never seen proper sunlight. Fiery hair, tangled and wild, fell past hershoulders. Eyes the color of winter frost. Delicate bones that looked like they’d snap if he gripped her too hard. Small breasts that?—
Stop.
He jerked his gaze back to her face, frustration burning hot in his chest. This was exactly the kind of distraction he couldn’t afford. Not now, not with the High King’s suspicions weighing him down.
Those strange glass things on her face magnified eyes that were far too intelligent, far too assessing. She should have been terrified. She should have been screaming and begging, cowering away from the monster looming over her.
Instead, she said something in a language he didn’t recognize, her tone dry and sardonic.
The shock of it nearly made him laugh. Nearly.
She pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly but refusing to cower.
Brave little thing.
The thought came unbidden and unwanted. He didn’t want to admire her or feel anything toward her except professional detachment.
His Beast disagreed. Violently.
The fact that she didn’t understand his language made things infinitely more complicated. How was he supposed to make her obey if she couldn’t understand basic commands? How was he supposed to keep her safe if she couldn’t understand warnings?
Why do you care about keeping her safe? She’s cargo. A package for the High King.
Except his Beast didn’t see cargo. It saw mate, and no amount of logic or self-discipline seemed capable of changing that fundamental, bone-deep recognition.
She hadn’t given up on the attempt to communicate, pointing at herself. “Thea.”
