Page 7 of The Orc's Oath

"So you admitted to a crime you didn't actually do yourself?"

"It is our way. Orc law says the leader must punish those responsible in accordance with orc law, and then inherit their responsibility when it comes to the outside laws. I only tell you this as you are my Uk'lah. We don't discuss our ways with outsiders."

Serena slumped in her seat. She looked exhausted and confused.

"And I'm not an outsider?"

"No, not now."

I also slumped low in my seat. I did not enjoy talking about this shame. The weight in my stomach felt like it would pull me into the ground itself.

"Have I passed the challenge of sharing my shame, Uk'lah?"

"Yes, Orzesh, you have passed my challenge. I don't think you are guilty of these crimes. Killing those responsible is… extreme, but I understand why you did it. It is your own law and moral code. You tried to make it right the best you could."

My heart skipped a beat. But before I could say anything more, she hit a button on the table next to her chair. The guards entered again.

"We'll talk more tomorrow, Orzesh."

She stood, and the view of her curves was magnificent. I stood too and towered over her. Our eyes met as the guards shackled my arms behind my back and my legs together. Electricity fired between us. Her smell filled me with need. I burned for her. Maybe there was still hope.

"Let's go."

The weedy hyena guard tugged helplessly at me. It didn't move me an inch, and I allowed him a moment to realize that, before I stepped back and turned to leave the therapy room. The walk back passed in a blur as our conversation ran through my head over and over again. I found myself back in my cell almost by surprise. A complete lapse in attention was very unlike me.

My mate. I have found my mate.

She wasn't anything I had expected. But it wasn't a disappointment. How could she ever disappoint me? She hadn't rejected me when she heard of my shame. She had declared me not guilty in her eyes. I had won her challenge of therapy today and done it honorably, with honesty. If this "talking" was what it took to get us to the mating fight, then so be it. I would talk until my tongue bled and my throat cracked open.

Chapter 6

Serena

I fled to my room and threw myself on the bright yellow blanket. My head was in turmoil. Thoughts barely formed in my brain before another one forced its way in. I felt like the session, although short, had been as tiring as anything else I'd ever done. My brain was sluggish, but my body tingled with a feeling I didn't understand. I needed a nap, but my body wouldn't settle. I let my hand wander down and pulled my dress up and my panties out of the way. This would make me sleepy enough. My fingers found the small nub and began a slow, circular rhythm. Forest green eyes flashed into my mind. I pushed them away.

I'm not thinking about an orc.

The image of his eyes pushed back into my mind. The way he had looked at me. There was something about it that made my stomach flip. My whole body flooded with heat. I imagined him wrestling me to the ground in a mating fight and holding me there. My gods, it was the hottest fantasy I'd ever had. I gave in to it, my hand moving faster now. I ached with need as I imagined how he would feel pushing inside me. A moan escaped my lips, and my body arced with pleasure as an orgasm swept over me. I fell asleep almost instantly, finally free of the tension that I hadn't realized I'd been holding since I met Orzesh.

The rest of the day, it was hard to focus on my other clients. My mind kept drifting off. Green biceps holding me down. All the aggressive fantasies that I had always pushed away because they seemed wrong somehow were now plaguing me, with an enormous battle-scarred orc as the star of the show.

This is ridiculous. You are a nice girl. Stop it.

In bed that night, I couldn't help myself again. My fantasies raged, and I desperately used my fingers, wishing it was him. My mind roiled with images of him. By morning I was tired and angry with myself. I threw myself down in the therapists' lounge and tried to stretch out my tired body.

"Are you doing okay?"

Cerys was peering at me.

"Yeah, it's just this orc. Stressing me out."

"Have you made any headway at all?"

"More than I thought I would. But not enough."

"Any idea why he keeps getting into fights all the time?"

"Nope. And he insulted how I smell. He's a pain in the ass."

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