Page 41 of The Orc Outcast's Conquest

“S-sorry.” Her cheeks went red hot, more from how good it felt to have him catch her than of the embarrassment of tripping.

“Do you . . .”

“Do I?” she pressed.

“Do you want me to carry you?” he offered rapidly, showing her generous flashes of his teeth. The sound of his voice was crisper, and she wanted him to rumble words at her until she was reduced to contented jelly.

“I do.”

He hesitated briefly before shifting his grip down her back and under her knees, curling his body around her. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart thundered. Then he swooped her off her feet and lifted her. His massive warm hands slung her up, so she was resting in the crook of his elbow, and he tucked her forehead into his neck.

“Keep your head here,” he ordered gruffly, before adjusting his cloak so his face was hidden from her prying eyes.

She sighed heavily, wondering if hiding had been his true reason for offering to carry her, but she obeyed.

Chapter

Eight

GOVEK

Govek’s face and hands were tingling, his mind was mush, and he could not pull his eyes away from the woman’s chest. The blasted cloak was peeping open in the front, giving him a glorious view of her plump, round cleavage, which bobbed with her every word, threatening to spill out of her breast covering. Fuck, it was too distracting. He should close the cloak for her and end the temptation, but he could not close it without putting her down.

And he certainly wasn’t going to put her down.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been carried around like this. I’ve never really had a boyfriend. N-not that you’re my boyfriend or whatever, I just mean like... I haven’t been around many people buff enough to lift me.”

Her easy babble helped to loosen the tension in his gut and, as her words flowed, her body gave into his arms, warm and supple and thoroughly distracting.

“So, thanks for carrying me,” Miranda said. “I know I must be heavy.”

He scoffed. “You weigh less than a rucksack of chicken bones.”

“I probably look like one, too.”

“You do not.” Her frame would bulk up soon enough and hardly mattered in the list of her many attributes. Fades only knew how high his attraction would swell once she was clean. How much stronger the imprint would thrum.

Fuck, this was unsettling. Yerina’s imprint had never gone so deep, even after three full seasons of bringing her boons and winning her favor.

He’d only given Miranda a few measly fish and the cloak.

It wasn’t enough.

“Where are we going?” Miranda asked.

Not to war, that much was certain. His plans to join Karthoc were dashed completely.

But these woods were perilous too, and the only clan near was the one he’d just forsaken.

“Are you... taking me to where you live?”

Govek worked up the courage to push his cloak down and take in her sweet features. She didn’t even flinch when she looked at him, even though his jaw was still lowered. Her eyes were bright and round with thick lashes. She worried her plump bottom lip with her teeth.

She was his. He knew not what they would do or where he would take her, but he would manage something.

“Govek?”

“I am taking you to a deeper part of the spring,” he said, his voice lower and more abrupt than he intended. “To wash.”

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