Page 17 of The Orc Outcast's Conquest

“I would literally follow you right off another cliff for that.”

He continued to look puzzled, but handed over the bread. Snatching it, she shoved half of it into her mouth.

“Eat slowly,” he demanded. “Or I will reach in and take it back.”

Was he going to reach down her throat and into her stomach? She decided not to test the physics of this dream and obeyed the order. The bread was too hard to eat quickly, anyway.

He let her finish two rolls and have another long drink before closing up shop. Her abdomen felt like it was bulging against her shirt, but her brain was demanding she tackle him to the ground and steal every crumb of food and drop of liquid he had.

She distracted herself from attacking him as he produced a thick cloak out of his pack. It was so bulky she wasn’t sure how he’d managed to fit it in there.

With both hands he held it up, his face questioning. Miranda blinked. “Is that for me?”

“If you are willing.”

“Heck yeah, I’m willing.” Her clothes were in tatters and this delusion was cold. Half the leaves were off the trees and the sun was low in the sky. She stepped forward, taking advantage of his shock, and swiped it out of his grip, only to fumble with the knot that closed the top.

“Would you like help?” He was laughing at her, she could tell.

“Yeah.”

He made such quick work of the knot, which forced her to blush. Apparently, she’d lost her finger dexterity along with her mind.

The stranger stepped forward, slinging the cloak around her shoulders. He was so close she could feel heat radiating off him. He smelled of wood smoke and... blood.

“Are you hurt?” she asked as he secured the tie at her neck.

“No.”

The abrupt way he denied it betrayed him, but if he wanted to play the tough guy, she didn’t care.

Using what little stamina she had left, Miranda convinced herself that everything would be fine, that her mind wasn’t stuck in a delusion while her body was bleeding out at the bottom of a cliff. Maybe even that Earth hadn’t been destroyed and she would wake up in her bed at any moment.

“You belong to me, woman,” the orc said, shouldering his pack. “Now come, it is time to leave.”

Chapter

Four

GOVEK

Govek was in agony.

The boar had gouged out a chunk of his side. One healing tincture hadn’t been enough, but he was loath to use another, especially since the Spring of the Fades was close enough to spit in.

His senses were still fucking muddled from leaving Rove Wood, and now his nose was scorched, blistered, and aching. Whatever vile tincture the woman—Miranda—had used to throw off the wolves had burned him as well.

Fuck his raging instincts back to the Fades who’d given them to him. If he hadn’t been so desperate to get a taste of the woman’s true scent, he wouldn’t be half gone right now.

Why did his base urges always lure him right toward the women he should avoid?

“Do I belong to you or with you?”

Govek sucked in a shuddering breath as the woman’s voice tingled through him like a balm. He should not have scented her. Should not have given into his wretched urges, but the damage was done. Fucking done.

She was imprinting within him. Her essence was soaking into his mind and connecting her to his being. He could feel her presence like a gentle hum in his head, steady and unyielding.

“Did you hear me?” Her warm fingers brushed the back of his wrist and Govek was crushed by the longing to wrench her off her feet and into his arms.

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