Page 95 of The Orc Outcast's Mate

And Karthoc would ensure that he never got that aid.

“Hey.”

Miranda’s voice was hard, and he followed her gaze down to where his hands were balled into tight fists. Red blood oozed between his green fingertips.

Fuck, she hated when he cut himself. “Sorry.”

Instead of censuring him, she pushed away from the table, got a cloth from the hook on the wall, and sidled up close to him. He could feel her warmth soaking deep into his frame as she lifted his hand to her view, and turned it over gently. She dabbed at his palm with such tenderness that he barely felt the sting. “We’ll table this for now.”

His brow furrowed. “You... want to put our discussion on the table?” How would one do that?

Miranda let out a laugh that evaporated nearly every drop of tension he carried. “Oh gosh. No. It’s an expression. I just mean we’ll talk about it later.”

He let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as she finished cleaning the blood and stepped away. He turned to the kitchen, trying to decide where to start cleaning.

“Sorry, I made a pretty big mess this time, didn’t I?”

“The aftermath of a Fade storm would have been more manageable,” he teased.

She laughed again, the sound bright and clear and flooding the room with her light. His heart thundered.

A knock sounded at the door.

“Fades spit,” Govek seethed. “It’s dawn.”

“They’re really getting desperate since we’ve been hiding out in the woods,” Miranda murmured with a chuckle. “Who is it?”

“Not sure.” The scents from Miranda’s cooking were too potent to get a good whiff, but he knew it must be someone from the clan. The scent of his brethren had been strong each night when they returned. They lingered outside the door, hammering away, wanting to talk to him, to drag him to the hall, to convince him to solve this merger problem that never should have been his to begin with.

Fuck Karthoc for forcing this into his lap.

“How long do you think they’ll knock before going away? I’ll bet you a kiss it’s five minutes.”

Govek’s blood warmed, and he smirked.

She tapped her chin. “Or I could just drag you off to our bedroom and we could, very loudly, pretend that we can’t hear them knocking.”

A barking laugh left his throat and his tension eased significantly. She certainly had a knack for knowing just what to say to extinguish his tension.

The knocking stopped.

“Do you think they heard me?” Miranda laughed. “Just the prospect of overhearing us getting down and dirty is enough for them to turn tail.”

Govek chuckled and went to the door. He inhaled sharply near the crack. Rogeth’s pungent scent came through, but it was fading. “He left.”

“Guess we should take this window of opportunity to escape,” Miranda said. “Unless you think we have time for a quickie.”

“I would much rather take my time with you at the falls.” Govek kept his voice low and was rewarded when Miranda shivered.

“Ooh, let’s hurry up then. Do you still want the breakfast leftovers?”

“Yes,” he said, cleaning up what he could before they left. “And the bread?—”

“Not the bread,” Miranda groaned, forcing another chuckle out of him. There hadn’t been any in the storeroom when they’d snuck over the day prior, so he’d made his usual recipe over the campfire at the falls, which used many nutritious roots and herbs.

And Miranda despised it.

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