Page 6 of Arrested By the Orc

We get inside and I see there’s a banner and indeed a free-standing fake jail cell all set up inside the lobby. It looks very real though. People from the County Food Bank are there, along with more deputies. They do a fake fingerprinting of me and then pretend to take a mugshot and it’s instead kind of cute with balloons behind me. In the end they give me a thank you certificate with my fingerprints and picture as a memento.

Sheriff Underwood remains nearby the entire time.

“Bowen, Bowen, it’s you. I’ve been waiting for you,” a breathless, musical voice greets.

I turn and see Amanda Amato rushing up, dressed beautifully, as usual. Her long black, highlighted hair is in perfect waves past her shoulders and her hazel eyes flash with a little too much makeup. She was Prom Queen, Miss Silver Lake County and later a cheerleader at the college level and now she’s a reporter for the local TV news. I expect she’ll soon land a bigger job and eventually a national program and I’ll be able to say I once went to high school with her.

She rushes up and looks between the two of us and frowns.

“Hi Amanda,” I comment. “It’s nice to see you again.”

She gives me a fake smile and then turns to Bowen and swiftly starts a conversation about plans the two of them apparently have for this evening, pointedly ignoring me and making zero effort to include me.

That’s my cue.

Bowen takes off my handcuffs very gently.

I step away, giving them space to talk.

A volunteer chats with me, talking me through today’s events. And then I’m handed a donut and coffee by a different smiling volunteer and guided into the temporary jail cell along with a welcoming crowd of jovial townsfolk, happy to be there for the day. They immediately greet the newcomer.

The bars clang shut behind me.

I choose to promptly ignore Bowen Underwood and start a conversation with the others nearby.

Because I need to get over him.

He’s taken and that’s the way it is.

Chapter 3

Bowen

Igaze in confusion at the back of Sadie’s head as she leaves without speaking or looking at me, wondering what went wrong.

Amanda Amato, a local news reporter for a television channel that everyone around here seems to have heard of, arrived and suddenly Sadie’s mood changed.

The sexy smile my female had only for me left her face and she walked away and is now ensconced in the temporary jail cell, chatting with the other humans and pointedly ignoring my existence.

There’s a chill in the air because her warmth has left my side.

The reporter keeps talking but her voice grows distant as I continue to think only of Sadie Powell.

This morning, I caught one of my deputies trying to reorder the Fake Arrest List, so that he could be the one to personally arrest Sadie for the charity run, but I put a stop to that nonsense immediately. “No one is arresting Sadie Powell but me,” I growled.

Because she is mine.

Today I wanted to finally tell this female how I’ve felt and admit my attraction. At the end of today’s charity drive I planned on asking her out on a human style date and then hopefully I’d coax her into my bed tonight and forever. And now those plans appear in jeopardy, and I don’t even know why.

I’ve wanted this gorgeous female as my bride and the mother of my future sons since the moment I saw her on my first day on the job. I was striding down the street in Silver Lake, getting to know the area better and saw her from a distance and was struck with orc sense—the instant primitive knowledge that this female was a possible bride. The idea of her swollen with my son caused my shaft to thicken in my trousers.

The next day I patrolled main street at predawn and happened to witness the same female arrive to start her work shift at her bakery. I learned she is a hard worker and a morning person, like me. Sadie arrives first and is usually the last to leave. She works six days a week and only takes Sundays off because the entire business district also closes on Sundays as a day of rest. Otherwise, I assume she’d be there that day too.

She is slightly taller than most of the other females I’ve met, slender, with an athletic build. This means she would be strong enough to withstand my orc lust and carry my sons.

But the problem is that I arrived at the start of winter.

And orcs historically claim their brides in the dark of winter.

---