Page 15 of The Orc Outcast's Conquest

“You are now my... conquest.” His voice was so low it tingled up her spine and warmed her gut.

“What?” She didn’t care what he was saying as long as he kept at it.

“No other humans would dare venture into the depths of these woods, so do not hold folly that you may be rescued.” His vibrant emerald eyes focused on her hands.

“But aren’t you rescuing me?”

He froze.

“Don’t tie me up,” she said firmly. This was a dream, so she could control it.

He held the rope over her hands, hesitant.

She waited for him to obey.And he did.

He let her go and swung a heavy leather pack down to his feet, putting the rope away within its depths. The thing was soaking wet, just like the rest of him.

“If you try to flee. I will catch you and bind you.”

“Okay. So, I’ll only run when I’m ready to be tied up,” she mumbled before she could think better of it.

The male’s eyes snapped to her again, flickered over her body for half a second. He shuddered, raked a hand through his hair, and muttered something she couldn’t make out before replying at a normal volume. “You... will tell me how you got here. Now.”

Her throat closed. “I told you. I fell off a cliff.”

“There are no cliffs here, woman.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty crazy, huh? This whole place is crazy.” Miranda looked around again. “It’s amazing how much the brain can conjure up just from watching kids’ movies on repeat.”

“You have children?”

“Uh, no. I mean, none of my own.” Her eyes prickled but she was too dehydrated to produce any tears. Her heart pounded, and her ears rang.

Oh, god! She’d been trying not to think about it, and suddenly, all the little faces she’d taken care of at the daycare were reeling in front of her mind’s eye and she couldn’t escape.

She should have been there with them when the bomb dropped.

She belonged with them, not here.

She should have died with them.

A gust of wind ripped across her back, flinging her hair in front of her face. She shuddered in the icy chill. Dang, this place was cold. Nothing on Earth had ever been this cold.

“I don’t . . . belong here,” she whispered.

“You belong with me.”

The crisp retort was so outrageous she huffed, opening her eyes to find the alien’s green coloring had lightened up. His eyes had gone wide. Apparently, his declaration had shocked him, too.

But she had no desire to fight him on it.

She had lost her mind, and she was too tired, too defeated, to care. Despite that, she found the wherewithal to ask, “Are you going to hurt me?”

His fierce eyes leveled her again, assessing. “That is the last thing I wish, human.”

So, he knew what species she was. She couldn’t guess his. He clearly wasn’t human, though he had the general shape of one. Two arms and two legs. Symmetrical face. Hair that was cut jaggedly and fell in wet clumps across his brow.

She reached up and brushed those strands away. The male stilled, blinking, and when she removed her hand, he recovered.

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