Page 21 of Song For His Siren
Khuldruk sat by the fire. The look on his mate’s face when she took him in kept playing over and over. He would give anything to erase the fear he found there. He had come here to find his mate and return home and help his people reclaim the ancient magic. He had found his mate without a doubt. Step one was done, but he hadn't thought it through. Even though she has some ancestry in the monster realm, this was her home. What was he thinking? How had he thought he would just be able to come here and claim his mate and take her back? Well, he had thought of orc bonds, the old tales of orc mates. His parents were the last mated couple to exist; many thought they were a thing of the past, but they weren't.
The look on her face before she fell lifeless in his arms was just playing on repeat. He should just go back to the monster realm, but he also knew he could not leave her. As soon as he met her, his entire world shifted. How had he not seen this coming? He couldn't survive without her, but he also couldn't live with himself if he let his people down.
He was finally pulled from his thought spiral by the opening of the tent flap. He turned to see Calli coming out of the tent, and he stood immediately, although he was at a loss. Part of him wanted to run to her and sweep her in his arms, but the other part remembered the look on her face. So, in the end, he just stood there like a big lump, staring at her.
"Hi," she said finally.
"Calli." He barely recognized his own voice. It had come out all rough and scratchy. He cleared his throat and looked away.
"I'm sorry," she said, barely above a whisper.
Sorry? "No, I’m the one who is sorry. I should not have come."
"Why would you say that?" she said, making her way over to him. He felt her close to him, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. "Dru, please, look at me. I was just overwhelmed. This whole day has been a lot."
"I understand. If you’d like, I’ll walk you back to your campsite and leave you be," he said solemnly.
"No. I would not like that," she said firmly.
"I understand. I will grant you leave of me then.” He clasped his hands behind his back and gave a curt nod as he turned to leave.
"Stop." She reached up and turned his face to hers. "Don't go. I'm not scared of you, if that's what this is about."
"You're not? But you fainted at the sight of me?"
"It was everything. It wasn't just you. This whole day has been intense. Please, don't leave."
The panic in her voice gave him a little bit of hope. While it pained him to hear it, it did offer hope that maybe she felt part of the mating bond too. Maybe being separated from him would pain her as well.
The look on her face puzzled him. So much of her puzzled him. When he was an orc, he had so many more senses than hehad in this human body. He would be able to scent her to know how she felt. He would know more about her reactions because he knew the way of orcs.
"What do you want from me? I will do anything you like," he said.
Her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth as she took him in. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. All the tension he had felt released the instant her arms circled him.
"I don't know what I want," she said as she laid her head on his chest. "I don't even know how to comprehend the last couple hours of my life...but I can't help thinking maybe this is all happening for a reason. I'm sure that doesn't make any sense to you, but with honesty and craziness of tonight, I just want to be close to you. I don't know why, but I just feel so connected to you."
His breath caught in his throat. She didn't know about the mating bond, but what she was describing was something similar to it. He wouldn’t tell her about that tonight because the poor thing had already been put through so much, but he was feeling much more hopeful than he was ten minutes ago.
She tensed in his arms. "Sorry. That probably sounds like I'm some stalker. I take it back. I'm just so –”
This time, he decided to stop her with a kiss. They seemed to communicate better this way anyway. As his lips met hers, he felt the bond sing like it never had before. It was almost as if they had become one; he could feel her magic in a way he hadn't before.
"Wow," she said in a gasp as she pulled back. "What was that?"
"That was magic."
"Where are you sleeping?" Calli asked with a timidness to her voice she hadn’t heard before.
"I have been sleeping in the woods near your home."
She cocked her to the side and looked up at him with a confused expression. "You have? I didn't know there were any sites open by me. I thought it was all fair people."
"I don't have a site."
"What do you mean?" She cocked her head.
"I’ve been sleeping in the woods."
