Page 10 of Arrested By the Orc

“Sadie is my mate. And she said nothing negative about you and instead said that I was the one who was treating you badly. I apologize that I wasn’t clear before.”

“Clear about what?”

“I do not want to be your mate.”

“No,” she wails. “No… you do want to be with me. That’s why we’re always talking like this. You want to go out with me, you just haven’t had time to go out on a date yet, but soon. In fact, tonight is perfect.”

“It’s not happening. I do not want to be your mate.”

“Yes, you do.”

I shake my head at her persistence. “When have I ever initiated you and I being alone together? When have I ever spoken to you outside of a professional context?”

“Well…um…but I really thought you were just taking things slowly because you’re an orc. I thought I was basically your girlfriend, in your own orc-type version of girlfriend.”

“No.” I stare at her calmly. “There's been a miscommunication between us due to the fact that we are different species with different communication styles. Maybe I forget that you can't scent that I have no arousal for you.”

She winces.

“Maybe I forget that you don't understand that I would know if a female was my Bride by her scent.”

She leans in, “but you smell me every day you can scent me now.”

“I've always known,” I try to tell her gently, “that you are not my bride.”

“Oh.”

“Since the moment I met you, we are only professional acquaintances. I do not want to take this work relationship with you any further.”

Her eyes begin to water.

“I consider you a valued member of the media. That is all. I do not like it when you call me Bowen, I prefer if you refer to me as Sheriff Underwood and I will continue to call you Ms. Amato.”

She bites her lip.

“I am sorry, Ms. Amato. I hope that we can continue to meet again in the future as if none of this happened and continue to work together.”

“I have to go…my team is waiting for me.” She rushes away out the front door and she's gone.

And I let out a heavy sigh.

“You had to do it.” I look over and see Deputy Smith, my most trustworthy and professional human employee, standing nearby. “I heard her once brag that she was dating you,” he says. “That’s why the whole town thought she was your girlfriend, including me.”

I turn back to see Sadie looking at us from her cell. I nod and she nods back and gives me a thumbs up.

He grins. “Heh, now that you’re not actually dating her and out of the picture, maybe a guy like me can have a chance with Amanda Amato.”

“Good luck,” I respond and head straight for my female.

And then the tornado siren blares.

Chapter 4

Sadie

One second after I confirmed that Bowen broke up with the girlfriend he didn’t even know he had, in the nicest but clearest way possible, a tornado alert rings on my phone.

What the heck?

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