Page 129 of The Orc Outcast's Miracle

“Get away from me!” Viravia snapped and pounded her fists against his chest and tried to claw at his face. Karthoc grabbed her wrists to stop her, though the hold was so light and tender she ripped out of it a second later.

“Put me down now!”

“I have to get you to a healer,” Karthoc said, his voice thick. “The babe is?—”

“He’s not yours! He’s not fucking yours!” Viravia snapped.

“Ovinia—”

“That isn’t my name!” She wailed, though her fight was ebbing. “Let me go. You have to let me go.”

Karthoc’s face grew tight, stricken, he shook with the force of his emotions before he said low, “Viravia, I can scent that he is mine.” Viravia sobbed even harder and Karthoc shuddered, stroking her face. “And you are my mate. My light. I would raise a thousand of your babes sired by other orcs and men if it meant I won you.”

Viravia went still for a moment, eyes wide as the words soaked into her. And then she began to sob again, then cried out as a contraction hit her.

She writhed and Karthoc was forced to lower her down, kneeling at her side. He gripped her hand as she worked through the agony. “You are strong.” He brushed her hair out of her face. “You are brave. You can do this.”

“Karthoc! I found the saber cat!”

Brovdir burst into the clearing. The poor male skittered to a halt, taking in the scene—a woman screaming in labor on the ground, Karthoc looming over her, and Govek clinging to Miranda, everyone caked in mud and grime.

“I-I?—”

“You found the saber cat? Where?” Govek snapped and Miranda was instantly tense. Oh god, what if it came after them again?

“Yes,” Brovdir said. “It’s dead. Downstream. Battered to death on the rocks.”

Relief flattened her.

“Downstream and battered . . . Miranda?”

She looked up into Govek’s terror-stricken face and she forced herself to explain. “I-it charged us and... and...”

He snarled. “Did it touch you? Are you hurt?”

Miranda shook her head as he looked her over again. “It ran past. It fell, but we did too. Oh god.”

He crushed her to him again. She relished it. The heat of him. The pine smell.

“How dare Ergoth do this?” Govek snarled so low and deadly Miranda shuddered. What did Ergoth have to do with this?

“Get away,” Viravia said to Karthoc, trying to push him away again. “Don’t touch me.”

“We must get you to the healer,” Karthoc begged but he did pull his hands away from her. “Let me lift you.”

“Don’t touch me!” the woman wailed before screaming in pain as another contraction descended.

“Let me,” Brovdir said, low, thick. Karthoc rounded on his brother as if he were going to challenge him.

“Let him! Brovdir, please take me,” Viravia begged and Karthoc’s face crumbled so piteously Miranda felt her own eyes prickle.

The male trembled, unable to speak. He nodded to his brother and Brovdir scooped her up in an instant, running down the hill at a faster clip than Miranda thought was safe.

“She told me she hated the war.”

Karthoc’s voice was devoid of emotion, his eyes fixed to the place where Brovdir had disappeared.

“She told me she wanted me to stop fighting. I laughed at her. Called her a...” Karthoc shuddered, raked a hand over his face. “I said horrible things to her. Vile threats. She left me after... I never knew she was with child.”

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