Page 39 of Bossed By the Orc

I’d recognize the back of his horned head anywhere. It was Garrett. The slimy asshole had probably used his pretentious “oh shucks” facade to seduce my female into leaving the building. My phone had pinged with a notification when she’d scanned her card to open the doors to leave.

I hadn’t taken it seriously at first. I’d imagined that she wanted a bit of fresh air. As more than ten minutes passed without her returning, I’d pulled up the camera feed. Spotting the asshole Garrett with her, I’d been out of my chair in an instant.

She knows what she did.

I could see it in her eyes. The horror and the slight edge of fear. That emotion made it worse. She should be afraid. I was going to spank her pert, luscious ass until it was red and raw.

I strode forward, ignoring everything around me, the apex predator in me focused on the only thing that mattered.

Her.

She jumped up, her hands held up in a pacifying gesture, and the dickhead stood as well, turning to look at me. His eyebrows swung all the way up and he attempted a wavering smile.

“Mr. Everlock, sir. Did we take too much time? Did you need Penelope for something?” he asked, as if he didn’t know he was in deep shit.

Oh, but he will.

I ignored him, passing him easily and stopping in front of my mate. She blinked up at me, licking her lips as she did. That settled it. Even now, the sweet arousal in her scent told me that she wasn’t afraid at all. She knew what was coming and her body was softening for me. Preparing itself.

Good.

But then the prick stepped in between us. “Sir? Did you need something? We’re having lunch.

The rage that was boiling inside me poured out. He was blocking me from my mate? With a growl, I shoved him sideways, knocking him into the counter next to us. He was a big male so his fall was loud. My eyes snapped back to Penelope and her jaw was dropped open. I was about to take another step toward her when I heard an infuriated bellow from next to me.

Garrett wasn’t as much of a pansy as I thought. He ran at me, slamming me into the table they had been eating at. It crumpled under our weight and Penelope jumped back—away from us.

“Guys, stop!” she squeaked, reaching out to pull Garrett off of me. The male had one arm raised, ready to plow his fist into my face and she grabbed hold of his shoulder. He let her move the arm before gently detaching her. When she thought the coast was clear, he rammed me in the face with the other fist.

Even though I wanted to rip this male’s horns off and ram them somewhere unpleasant, I had to appreciate that he was gentle with my mate and made sure she wasn’t harmed when she foolishly tried to stop our fight. I’d be speaking to her about coming in between two males who outweighed her by triple.

Grunting, I shoved him off me, then grabbed him by the front of the shirt. One yank had him stumbling forward and I wrapped my arm around the back of his neck, putting him in a reverse headlock. He was off balance and by controlling his head, I directed where his body went. And I wanted it on the floor. He hit with a crash and I followed him down, pinning him to the ground.

I paused only because Penelope wrapped her arms around my neck trying to pull me off of him. We both stilled and I was able to lift her away from us and give her a hard look. “Stay out of this.” Then I turned and focused back on my target and punched the fucker in the jaw.

Penelope threw her hands up in the air. “Stop! Please!”

“He deserves it,” I growled. It was my turn to bellow from pain as he headbutted me. I grabbed my forehead for a moment because the hard-headed asshole had almost knocked me unconscious with that one. He tried to flip me to my back to gain the upper hand but I held firm, straddling his torso and hitting him with both fists. We were well matched, but he still wasn’t as strong as I was.

He was bleeding now, his cheek leaking from where my father’s ring had cut into his face.

Good.

I was about to hit him again—mostly because the fucker was glaring up at me the entire time like I hadn’t hurt him at all—when I heard a little sniffle from next to me. Looking over, I saw my female with her hands to her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

We both released sighs at the same time and I glared as I got off of the male and made my way closer to my female. Garrett was on his feet in no time, swiping his palm over the cut in his cheek.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she whispered, looking between us.

I clenched my jaw, noticing for the first time that everyone around us were all frozen and pressed up against the walls of the tiny space. I saw the owner—who I knew from the times I’d visited the deli for their phenomenal roast beef sandwiches—holding her phone. I stepped up, clearing my throat as I held out a card to her.

“Please call my assistant. He’ll reimburse you for the damages and loss of business,” I said in a low voice. The female nodded, taking it from me and then glancing at Penelope.

“Your mate?”

I nodded and she huffed, tsking and bustling away, muttering under her breath about orcs and their violent mating urges.

If she only knew.

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