Page 114 of The Orc Outcast's Mate

Govek snapped his gaze to his mate, finding her wide eyed. He tightened his grip on her and swung back around toward the forest. “Let’s go.”

“Miranda!” Maythra screamed after them, clearly trying to follow, but Govek was already through the brush. “That monster will show his true face in time! You’ll see! You’ll wish you had obeyed me!”

Neither of them looked back as Govek continued carrying Miranda toward their home. He trembled under the force of the truths that Maythra had screamed into the night.

“Let me down.”

Govek did so instantly, lowering Miranda to her feet. She turned away from him, heaving a sigh and muttered a dark curse under her breath.

“I... I did not want it to come out this way.” Every one of Maythra’s words spiraled through his mind, and he didn’t even know where to begin. Fuck, Miranda had been so determined to avoid the vile woman that he hadn’t prepared what to say.

Perhaps now was the time to tell Miranda the truth of his birth. Of the reasons Maythra, and many of the older members of the clan, despised him so greatly.

If not for him, Maythra’s mate, Zayvor, one of the greatest conjurers this clan had ever known, would not be dead. It would not be such a struggle to keep up with the production of healing tinctures. The blight in the Rove Woods may not have grown so swiftly. Some said that Zayvor, at the height of his power, had even been capable of holding back winter for half a moon. There was no doubt Rove Wood Clan would have been far more bountiful had Govek never been born. He swallowed down his pride and worked for the words to explain this atrocity to Miranda.

“So, how long were you going to let me hang out with Viravia before you told me you were supposed to become mated to her?”

What?

“For the love of—goddamn”—Miranda covered her eyes with her palms—“You really let me just... watch you two be all flirty.”

Govek was so thunderstruck he could not make a sound. Flirt with Viravia? With his brother’s mate? What was she talking about?

“And to think I had to find out from fucking Maythra of all people.”

“Miranda, I was not—we were not?—”

“Don’t tell me I imagined it, Govek. I saw how you were looking at her!” Miranda skewered him with a glower that rocked him to the core. “Why are you even with me if you have her as an option? Is it because of your imprint on me? Does it force you to pick me when you really want her?”

“No, that’s not—Viravia is not an option. She is my brother’s widow.”

“So, if she wasn’t, then you would have her?”

What the actual fuck? “No. Miranda, I?—”

“She’s about twenty times prettier than me and super nice, and damn it!” Miranda scrubbed at her eyes, turning her back to him, and took a few steps into the woods. “Damn it... even I like her. I can’t even blame you.”

“You... you think I would leave you? For Viravia?” He could hardly grapple with the idea.

“Of course I do!” Miranda spat throwing up her hands. “And maybe not even her. There’s a whole world out there, Govek. A whole world of people who don’t have their brains all messed up and wouldn’t wake you up from screaming nightmares a million times a night. And who don’t feel like their chests are going to implode every time they think about the babies they—they?—”

Her eyes flooded even as she wiped them, and it tore at his chest. Govek moved toward her, endlessly grateful that she did not continue to back away. His control was in ribbons, and he wasn’t certain what he would do if she ran from him now.

“You think I might leave you. You think that someone else could be better suited for me than you?” The imprint was absolutely raging. It blasted heat through his veins with every beat of his heart.

“Govek, we’ve only known each other for like a week. Of course, someone out there might be better suited for you.”

Govek choked, laughing half hysterically.

“What the heck?” Miranda said, though his misbegotten mirth had her tears drying as fury took their place. “Why are you laughing at this?”

“I apologize, Miranda. Truly. Because what you suggest is so completely ludicrous, I could not maintain my composure. And that of all things, this has you so upset.” It pleased him to no end. He truly was a beast.

“If that’s the case, then why were you looking at her like... like she had the fricking messiah in her belly?” Miranda was furious, and the only way he could think to quell it was with the truth.

“I was envisioning you with child.”

Miranda’s face went slack, and all the anger drained away. “What?”

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