Page 71 of The Orc Outcast's Mate

“Govek didn’t?—”

“Please sit,” the chief said, gesturing Miranda back. She realized suddenly that he’d herded her far away from the edge of the podium and now her calves were bumping against the seat of his throne. “Rest. Be at ease.”

Why did he want her to sit in his chair so bad? Did it have some kind of double meaning? She would not take the risk and find out.

“I want to get down now,” Miranda insisted, moving to the side to escape the chair.

The chief’s eyes flashed with an emotion she couldn’t place and it made her stomach knot. “Have I done something to upset you? If so, I sincerely apologize.”

“I just... I want to go back to Govek.”

“You don’t have to return to him, Miranda. We can protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting from him.” Miranda’s voice came out clipped. She was getting tired of repeating this. She looked past the chief and back down to where Govek should have been.

He wasn’t there.

Her stomach dropped. “Where is?—?”

She was suddenly wrenched away from the chief and his throne and into a hard wall of pine-scented muscle.

Thank god!

“Get away from her!”

Oh shit.

“Govek, control yourself,” Chief Ergoth ordered firmly. “My son, this is unseemly. You’ve hurt her arm.”

“No, he has?—”

“Let her go, Govek.” Another snarling male had come up behind them. Agol. He looked like he was going to try to brawl with Govek over this. Brawl and lose badly.

Govek growled but his grip loosened as if he were going to obey.

“The fuck is happening here?”

The roar came from the entry and Miranda turned to find Karthoc had arrived with ten other warriors in tow. All battle scarred. All brawny and thick.

Not one of them was the seer. Damn it.

“Ergoth, what the fuck are you doing parading Miranda about on your blasted stage like she’s some prize?” Karthoc stormed across the room, his booming voice reaching every corner.

“I was only getting acquainted with her, my young nephew. She is the newest member of my clan. I wanted her to feel welcome.”

The warriors lined up at the trunk wall, watching silently as their much smaller counterparts glowered at them, whispering scornfully.

“You offer welcome by taking her up there for all your orcs to see, while her male is forced to stand by and allow her to be gawked at like a trinket?”

Hit the nail right on the head with that.

“She willingly came up to greet me,” the chief countered, as Karthoc pounded up onto the stage. “Didn’t you, Miranda?”

Did he expect her to agree? “I very clearly told you I wanted to get down, and you blocked my path. That’s the only reason Govek ran up here, right?”

Govek kept his head lowered but his grip on her arm firmed again.

The chief’s gold eyes went wide and then he fell into a sweeping bow that left Miranda flustered. “I sincerely apologize. I should have let you leave the moment you requested it, but I was afraid you felt coerced into staying at Govek’s side.”

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